Voice Over Sydney: Marking the script for a better read
Working with varying qualities of scripts is something that you have to get used to in the voice over sydney industry. Some scripts you get will be absolutely fine, spelled correctly, appropriate use of punctuation, good grammar etc. Others won’t be! In our experience some clients even come with the script unfinished and there is time wasted waiting for them to finish it
It’s the job of the voice over sydney artist to take the copy, interpret it and deliver it in a style that the client likes. This means that you might need to make some minor additions or changes to make it more readable and to flow better.
Some voice over sydney tricks that help with reading the script include:
– The simple comma. Sometimes you will get scripts that are fine. Other times you will get copy with no commas in at all or copy with commas in the wrong place. Where there is a comma, there is a natural pause in how you deliver the copy, so mark up the script, put the commas in where they should be and this will allow you to pause and take a breath in the appropriate places.
– Underlining. If there is a particular word in the copy that needs more emphasis then underline it to remind you that you need to place extra gravitas on that word. This word might be the company name or a particular brand.
– Circle. Circle words where you are unsure how to pronounce them. These might be jargon words that the company uses or words that an American might pronounce differently from a Briton. Check with client on how they want the word to be pronounced.
These are just some of the ways that you can mark your copy to help you with the overall interpretation and delivery of the voice over sydney script. Marking your copy is a personal thing so come up with a method that works for you.
Just a cautionary note – use them sparingly. Don’t litter your script with markings all over the place because you will just get confused and find the script difficult to read. If you mark the script appropriately you will find it will help you deliver a better read.
