Comments on: Improv and Successful Voiceover Work?

By: 10 Top Voiceover Blog PostsThis Week - September 14, 2013 | Derek Chappell's Voiceover Blog

Sat, 14 Sep 2013 18:39:55 +0000

[…] Improv And Successful Voiceover Work? Connie Terwilliger […]

By: connieterwilliger

connieterwilliger — Wed, 11 Sep 2013 01:19:08 +0000

Yes, now I understand what you mean. We have to do that frequently when we are working in biotech or other very technical subjects. That’s when our understanding of sentence structure comes in handy. When you have no idea what you are talking about, but you catch the error because the sentence just does’t work correctly. Most of the time, we are right! In fact, sometimes not knowing everything about a particular subject helps you ask the right questions which can help the SME realize that they left out a few steps in their explanation on how to do something. They know how to get from A to D on auto-pilot, but someone just learning needs to know B and C in order to get to D. But a couple months ago, I put a pause between two words thinking that a punctuation mark had been left out. It came back to me with the client comment being – “She put a pause there. There wasn’t a comma there.”

By: J.S. Gilbert

J.S. Gilbert — Wed, 11 Sep 2013 00:32:44 +0000

I think that “playing smarter than you are” works very well for things like corporate narratives, medical reads, legal, etc., where J S or Connie the actor, may not quite comprehend what they are supposed to be saying. So, while I may not have a clue about much of what I am asked to talk about, it doesn’t sound like it to the listener. Knowing a little bit about many things tends to help with v.o., perhaps not in real life. I recall my needing to say something at the mechanics recently, simply because I know nothing about cars. I said “maybe it’s one of the belts”. Apparently it was a good guess, which then got the mechanic talking up a storm about the inner workings of the car. I felt like a waiter in a Chinese restaurant, just repeating every fifth word he said back to him, while nodding my head.

Yeah, playing smarter than you are tends to work well in voice over, but maybe not too many other places.

By: connieterwilliger

connieterwilliger — Mon, 09 Sep 2013 21:40:15 +0000

Thanks J.S. I remember a conversation I had one time when I was supervising the video department at General Dynamics in San Diego. There was some big project that we were working on and not a lot of progress had been made at the particular moment in time when the Vice President came down to the department almost dragging his Director with him wanting to speak to the Manager, who wasn’t there so he ended up with me – the Supervisor. I didn’t know the answer, so I tried to “play smarter” and got quite the lesson in not bull-sh*tting a bull-sh*ter. I think my reply should have been “Ah, Bach.” Or a simple “I don’t know, but I’ll find out and get you the answer.”

By: J.S. Gilbert

J.S. Gilbert — Mon, 09 Sep 2013 20:12:37 +0000

As someone who has been doing improv for over 30 years, I have told many aspiring voice actors that if there was only ONE training to have it would be improv. Listening is without a doubt a fundamental aspect of improv that works to the voice actors benefit. But I think that first and foremost I look at what are generally accepted to be the basic rules of improv.

1. Play smarter than you are
2. Say yes, and
3. commit
4. There are no rules

The above principles of improv tend to work very well as training for many professions and avocations.

(I won’t go into detail regarding the above, since there is a wealth of information on improv available

If I were to say what the greatest gift improv gives to the voice actor is that as voice actors we are often called upon to say things that people normally wouldn’t say and we are called upon to say these things in a very specific way. Additionally, good improvisers will also do what they can to keep their fellow improvisers involved and to have them look good. In our work as voice over talent, we must remember that we are not the stars, but the products, services, information or story we are telling is what is most important. We are the method of conveyance.

The last bit is that improv should be fun. We don’t go for the obvious jokes or plan to slip in a punchline, but through play, we develop stories. Sometimes, a person who embarks on a journey of doing voice over will fall short of even reaching meager financial goals, thus it is imperative that the journey be as enjoyable as possible. Otherwise we are left with nothing to show for our efforts.