Selecting The Right Voiceover For Your Video
Imagine you have been called into a business meeting and the presenter walks in looking all good and set to make his presentation. The power point presentation is played and the content and visuals are top notch. The effort that went into the collection and consolidation of the data too was worthy of applause. However, it still lacked in one area which was the feeble, monotonous voice of the presenter! The presentation was good to see, served its purpose but did not have a good voice that could leave a lasting impression on its audience. Similarly the voiceover for a video is as or more important a requirement, to reach its audience.
As an organization, whether you are in the products, services or any profitable line of business or non-profitable one, your motto is to promote your agenda. The voiceover that you choose for the videos that you have placed online or aired becomes the voice of your organization.
There is generally a recording studio where the script is given and the voice over artist reads the script. It is possible that there are other voice inputs or sounds that will be inserted into your recording. Voiceovers are also an important part of animations and a lot of recordings happen in animation studios. The video production process can be considered a success when all elements such as content, visuals and audio are of high quality.
What sells more- male voiceover or female voiceover?
You may have one or more voice over artists for your video and they could be male or female depending on the need of the video. If it’s a beauty product and the target market constitutes women and the video is about experiences, then there are chances that the voice over artist is necessarily a female. So it is not whether the voice is male or female, but whether it suits the requirements of the video that sells more. Understanding the requirements such as who is the target audience, what is the message being sent out, is there a need to coax and convince your audience or is it purely informative in nature will help you decide on the voice and the qualities required.
Essential Voice Qualities
The tone, pitch or tenor of the voice should be right for your company as it reflects the attitude and intention of the company. A good voiceover artist will be able to use his or her voice effectively either to narrate dramatically or excitedly or just read in a calm but profound manner. If the business wants the artist to use a particular tone or manner of reading, it basically intends that the listener perceives their brand in a certain manner. If a dramatic voiceover tone is used, a viewer who is watching, say a product promotion video, will be going through a certain emotion that is different from the one evoked by a neutral and profound tone. It is not just the tone, but accent, pronunciation and volume that need to be considered while selecting a voice over. If the accent is annoying, the listener may just mute the video or not go through with it till the end and this may essentially mean a loss of your revenue. The voiceover can never be funny unless the voiceover artist brings in a certain element of fun in his or her voice. The same is required for a voiceover with a serious tone or just to be plain and informative. Whatever the case may be the decision to choose the voice over artist should be a well-informed one. You may interview as many voiceover artists as possible as this decision can make or break the success of the video that has been put together.
If you would like to share your thoughts on this post, feel free to post your comments below.
