Ode to the drama! The tragedy and comedy! The highs and lows!
Voice acting isn’t always Shakespeare and Pulp Fiction…
It is an ART in communication. You as a voice actor MUST move your listener emotionally. That’s name of the game.
If you don’t, you risk sounding like you’re simply reading. The result is an unmoved and disconnected audience.
How To Develop Voice ACTING Skills?
Personally, I learned a method called ‘transference’ from my acting teacher. This method has served me well in my voice over career (thank you Mr. Bell!).
Transference is the process of attempting to find counterparts from your own experience for words you narrate in the course of your performance.
In VO, there are generally three primary emotions to portray. They are:
Excitement-Joy-Comfort
Want To Grow Your Voice ACTING Skills?
Try these 5 steps!
Every day spend time in an emotion. Let’s take ‘joy’ for example….
First, feel this emotion when doing normal life activities. Experience ‘joy’ while doing dishes, driving your car to work or when doing anything.
Second, sustain this feeling for at least 10-minutes per day. To find the feeling of ‘joy’ think of things that make you happy. By the way, in my experience as a voice acting coach, this likely isn’t the type of joy you feel when obtaining something or winning. It’s more of a child-like feeling, similar to joy children feel when playing…very free and open.
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Third, once you’re able to sustain ‘joy’ on a regular basis, day-after-day, transfer this feeling to the written word.
Fourth, pick up a cookbook, a sports magazine or any book. Feel ‘joy’ while reading the words out loud. Transfer your internal feelings to what you’re reading.
Fifth, once you recall the feeling quickly while reading anything and everything…transfer this practiced emotion to VO copy.
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The Key To Recalling Emotions Quickly
You must lock in the feeling while reading anything and everything!For this exercise, the emotion is more important than the content. It DOES NOT matter what the content is.The goal is to recall emotions on cue…no matter the type of copy.So, when a director’s notes say ‘with an uplifting, happy, relatable tone’ you’ll just naturally nail it!
