Being Award Announcer at the WTA Grand Slam of Voice Over One of the things I love about being a voice over announcer are the places and jobs it takes me vicariously or in person. This October, one of the biggest events in the female tennis world was held in Singapore. The Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) Finals Gala Evening. And though I wasn’t there myself, I was there in voice… performing the award announcements and spinning the stories behind each player. This high profile gig was ube...
Archive for category: My Voiceovers
Why Voice Over is the Key to a Successful PSA Your craft, profession or career, presents opportunities to be of service. To give back. For a voice over artist, performing the VO on public service announcements (better known as PSAs) hits that sweet spot for me. I’m currently sitting in a friend’s living room in LA, here this week nominated for an Award for my narration on a PSA, I’m also struck by the plights they serve. Top of mind now are the horrible wildfires devastating ...
Unlock Social Media Super Powers with Voice Over in Animation Say “animation” and most people think of series like The Simpsons or Family Guy. Both are definitely hilarious animated TV shows (and contain equally fun voice over characters). But the kind of animations that lengthen website visitor time and unlock your social media super powers are bite sized, often fun snippets that showcase you or your company. We’re talking about animated videos for your brand. The type of vi...
My Voice Over Life: Notes from the Scene of a Shoot I choose not to do a lot of on camera work. At least that’s what I tell myself. (And my agent.) Being a woman of a certain age (and waist size) the opportunities are slim. (see what I did there?) But today I happen to be on set as a principal actor shooting a lottery commercial (Lotto Max for Sid Lee) and having more fun than I planned. The process is reminding me of everything that I love and everything that’s tedious about acting in front...
Got VR? You will. Virtual, Augmented or Mixed Reality, 360…it’s known by several names and may morph into more before it takes over the world. Statista’s conservative prediction is that the market will grow from $3B now to $40B by 2020. Others in the industry think it’ll be much higher. Orders of magnitude higher. SO, have you been part of a virtual reality narration gig yet? Last year I did a voice over acting job for one. This year VR narrations under my belt number about 12. Th...
There are few things I love more in life than story. Nature, maybe. Water, but that’s a subset of nature. People aren’t things…well, not generally anyway. But the point of this big reveal into story at the head of my behind the scenes insights on audiobook narration is that the tales we tell and how we tell them, whether through aural or oral tradition, wrapped in celluloid, tramped across boards or lining the pages or screens of books has been my happy obsession for decades. Prep ...
Apart from the fact that they provide me, a professional narrator, with about 20% of my voiceover income, I must confess. I am obsessed with explainer videos. They’re nifty-swifty cool little bites of “Hello, My name is____” and “this is what I do.” I was surprised at an in-studio commercial voice over session the other day, when neither the brilliant copywriter nor the other (truly gifted) actor with whom I was dialoguing for the spot, knew much about them. So, voila! Animated, or dra...
Podcasts are gaining in popularity, big time. The soniverse (yes, I just made this word up) is exploding with podcasts in multi forms. So, let’s focus the spotlight on their burgeoning heyday and sort out how podcasting hasn’t killed the radio star, but reconstituted him/her onto another platform. As a voiceover talent, podcasts bring many opportunities for my work. I have been hired to provide intros and outros for financial podcasts, special guest intros for news and entertainment podcasts...
Is it rare to realize you’ve got a cool behind-the-scenes fact in common with a superstar like Scarlett Johannson? It is for me. And it’s also pretty freaking fun. In 2014 around Super Bowl Time, Scarlett did her famous and somewhat controversial ad for Soda Stream, the counter top invention that turns ordinary water into soda at home. Here’s her sensational spot: Just before its release, Scarlett became embroiled in controversy over her endorsement of Soda Stream. Competitor...
Spotlight on a Retail Video Ad: My Voice Over Life Ask anyone who knows me in my voice over life. I love video ads. In fact, if I had to choose only one form of voice work to do for the rest of my life, it would be commercial voice overs. The kind that sells things to the everyday Jane & Joe. Like this 15 second gem for Sears. Creativity within a Constraint I hanker for a good set of boundaries within which to play. I first realized this during a year long stint on a weather channel, where I...
