Do I watch my doc while recording FINAL Voiceover?

[Anders Utterstrom]

Hi there,

Funny you should ask. Early in December me and our team watched a webinar. I immediately could tell that the two people doing the presentation were reading. It was so obvious. The story must come from your heart. Keep it simple and maybe have bullet points to trigger what you want to say.

Happy Holidays

Anders Utterstrom
Chicago, Illinois

[Bill Davis]

This from a VO talent and narrator who’s done literally hundreds of pro recordings over many years.

It’s extremely rare for a PRO VO talent or narrator to “read agains the picture” unless you’re doing ADR or something similar. Typically, the voiceover is done well in advance of the editing, – and the expectation is that the picture editor will adjust the timing of the shots to match the timing needs of the read.

That said the ONE notible exception is in COMMENTARY – which appears to be precisely what you’re doing.

It’s totally fine to watch picture and comment on it. Just realize that you may well find yourself with more to say than the picture time allows. So you need to decide if you’re timing will come from the READ or from the PICTURE EDIT. Often the best path is to build them together – something you have the option to do if you’re your own talent – and is more difficult if you have to call in a paid talent to expand or re-read copy you’ve tweeked to better match an edited scene.

Finally, as to the “naturalness” of the talent – that’s a function of the experience of the talent. Period.

A quality VO talent can make pretty awful copy sound quite natural. And conversely, a rookie doing VO can make great copy virtually impossible to listen to with ease.

Narration and VO are like any other performance art. As with singers or actors some folks have more natural talent than others – but over all, the more you do it, the better you get.

Hope that helps.

Know someone who teaches video editing in elementary school, high school or college? Tell them to check out http://www.StartEditingNow.com – video editing curriculum complete with licensed practice content.

[Mike Smith]

Recording to picture is a minority pursuit, useful when deadlines are very tight. It does offer a chance for personality to respond to or bounce off the picture, but it adds a layer of technical involvement that increases costs and often hinders rather than helps a talented and well-directed performer.

[Andrew Kimery]

I’m trying to picture how one could read VO from a script while watching picture at the same time. As someone previously said commentary tracks for movies are typically done this way but those are supposed to impromptu as opposed to VO which needs to adhere to script and time limitations. I’m used to final VO being read to time and cut in by the editor (or assist if you are so lucky).

[Fred Jodry]

Answer,
Make a copy of your “Doc” where a fade of what is coming next in the picture ghosts in maybe 6 seconds before the synchronized main one. Then, as you are reading your script, whether practice or a wrap, hold a big 3- inch ball bearing on your script page so you can see the picture, even though small and upside down. Of course there`s a teleprompter if you are in the studio.

[Bill Stephan]

Typically, the editor or producer will record a scratch track in the edit room and then edit that into the rough cut. Any copy that does not work can be rewritten to suit the picture cut. Then a professional voice-over person will read each section of copy knowing the length each section of v/o must be.

Bill Stephan
Senior Editor/DVD Author
USA Studios
New York City

[Bill Davis]

[Bill Stephan] “Typically, the editor or producer will record a scratch track in the edit room and then edit that into the rough cut. “

Yep, I’ve experienced a lot of that in TV workflows. Not so much in advertising or film – where the deadlines aren’t as relentless and the programs are not so much driven by breaking events but by scripts coming out of longer development cycles.

And I imagine the style of any edit shop will largely depend on the workflow they’ve become accustomed to.

FWIW.

Know someone who teaches video editing in elementary school, high school or college? Tell them to check out http://www.StartEditingNow.com – video editing curriculum complete with licensed practice content.