JoJo JensenWriting a script to be read aloud isn't easy work.
It doesn’t matter if you are writing a commercial, a marketing video or an on hold message, you have to use the right words in the right order to create the right impact.
The voice talent’s job is to bring your words to life. The last thing you want your voice over (VO) talent to do is guess what you mean or how you want them to say something.
Here are 5 solid points to help your voice talent read the copy the way you mean for it to sound!
1. NO CAPS
A SCRIPT IN ALL CAPS IS LIKE YOU’RE YELLING!!
Not only does it feel like the writer is pitching a fit, but all caps is harder to read. And harder to read is a recipe for mistakes in both text and context. To a voice talent ALL CAPS means emphasize, but it’s better to use a bold or underline rather than all caps if you would like your VO talent to give the words or phrases a subtle yet discernable emphasis.
To voice talent proof your script use simple sentence case in a nice, easy to read font such as Arial in size 12 or 14.
2. Give Pronunciations
The last thing you want to hear in your project is the voice talent mangling your client’s name or their product. When it comes to pronunciation of any kind, I say, “When it doubt, spell it out.” Sure, voice talents can hit up Forvo.com (a pronunciation site) or cull through YouTube videos to try and find the right pronunciation, but it’s much more accurate, and fast, if you let us know how to say it correctly as a note in the script.
Some producers send me an Mp3 with the correct pronunciation two or three times in a row. This cuts down on pickups and patches, and you end up with a much smoother narration. Truth: if there is a way for me to mispronounce something, I will find it. To talent proof your script, let them know exactly how you want something said before they start recording.
3. Zero or “O”
Numbers are tricky. Percentages are shifty. And fractions…forget about it. Voice talents can say numbers in so many different ways and combinations, and invariably, the client would like them read the other way.
Pop Quiz. Say these numbers:
- 1578 – Fifteen seventy-eight or one-five-seven-eight?
- 7.049% – Seven point zero four nine percent or seven point “O” four nine percent?
- $20,995 – Twenty-thousand, nine-hundred ninety-five dollars or twenty-nine-ninety-five?
- 2013 – Two thousand thirteen or twenty-thirteen?
Told you. Numbers are crafty and completely open to interpretation. Take the guesswork out of numbers for your voice talent and state your preference.
It’s that easy.
4. Punctuation is Your Friend
The power of a voice talent is their ability to connect to the material and make it sound believable and natural, and punctuation is key to making that happen. When voice talents don’t have a punctuation road map to follow, we will take pauses when we need to breath or where we think is a good place, which might completely change the context of your script.
The well-placed comma is a thing of beauty. The word “pause” in brackets is fine, but I’ve been known to read those. While it makes for comedy and great out takes for the Christmas party, it means extra time in the studio.
If you want your voice talent to take a thoughtful pause in your script, use punctuation to show us where and for how long.
5. How Do I Read A – (Dash)?
What do you see when you look at Monday-Thursday? Do you see Monday through Thursday? I don’t. I see Monday dash Friday. How about this: www.cool_website.com/callme? It might be obvious to you as the owner of the website, or the writer might have cut and pasted the web address into the script without thinking about how badly I can trash it. In that simple web address, I see all sorts of landmines. To voice talent proof your script, fully write out any of these questionable names or phrases once in a script note. It might look like:
An Example Web Site URL:
www.cool_website.com /callme
Now Written For Narration:
w w w dot cool underscore website dot come slash call me
With this simple step, you won’t have to hear the many variations that voice talents can come up with to say your name or deliver your information incorrectly.
Trust me, I do this for a living!
Does That Help? Let Me Know!
The easiest way to get your message across the way you want it is to voice talent proof your script. You don’t need to spend hours in the studio to get the read you want for your project. All you need to do is write your script so that your voice talent knows exactly what you want to hear. Ask any questions you have below!
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Good stuff JoJo! On the subject of numbers, I find it much easier to read (and interpret) them written as numbers. But you are right, there can be multiple ways to say them. I make a point of having that discussion with the client before beginning to read.
Thank you Chris!
Great point — it’s better let voice talents know how to read numbers at the beginning of a session. I also have a mental list of words with a more than one acceptable pronunciation; via and data are two that come to mind.
Thank you for reading the article and for taking the time to comment!
JoJo
As a voice talent – and someone who spent more than several years as a typesetter – my only comment is on the subject of text typed all in caps: it is *secondary* that it is seen as shouting. It first and foremost is uncomfortable to the eyes and tiring to read.
Apart from voice-over scripts, capital letters are for initials/acronyms, the beginnings of proper names and sentences, and… headlines. Words of emphasis.
The proper mix of upper and lowercase letters is best for reading because we’ve had hundreds of years of proof:
How many newspaper or magazine articles have we seen in all caps? It was learned early on that text of any length – if we want it to be read in its entirety – must use a mix of upper and lowercase letters.
Omigosh!
I got so wrapped up in what I was writing, I forgot to thank you for writing thus blog post, JoJo!
Excellent points made here, JoJo!
Hi Mike,
You are so right! CAPS are hard to read – and I stumble a lot more when reading. And keeping my eyes happy is important!
Thank you so much for your comments and I hope you come back and read more — and sharing your thoughts.
JoJo
Hi Lisa,
Thank you for your nice comment! Let me know if I missed any other points and I’ll write another article!
Thank you!!
JoJo
Nice to read this article about the voice over talent. You have done good work by writing this article about voice over narration.. I am an voice over article. I really need this type of information. Thanks for sharing this interesting information.