Voice over sync workflow – Any VO-artists here?

[Johannes Schwarz]

Hi Jean-Christophe,

thanks for your detailed and encouraging response.

Ok. After all the helpful tips I received in this thread, this is what I come up with and hope you experts approve:

1) a video with colored time code (count down)
I did a rough sketch here: https://vimeo.com/50244233 (Password: beta3mc)
At 1:50 I use a color cue for the timing of specific words.

2) plus: the paragraphs (and also specific cue points) of the script will be colored in red and blue, so if you have the video in the corner of your eye while recording, you know if you are on track or need to do the last section longer or shorter.

What do you think? Provided I have good translations/adaptations, would this be usable for the voice over talents? Or am I still asking for super human abilities?

Thanks,
Johannes

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[Jean-christophe Boulay]

I think that is already going above and beyond the call of duty and should be more than enough for any voice talent. I’m actually kind of jealous that I work on North American projects and not German ones.

Good luck on the rest of the project.

JC Boulay
Technical Director
Audio Z
Montreal, Canada
http://www.audioz.com

[Johannes Schwarz]

Thanks, that’s reassuring.

Side-Note: I’m actually an Austrian living in Liechtenstein, but I gladly subsume the positive qualities the attribute “German” seemed to carry in your post. 🙂

Cheers,
Johannes

[Jean-christophe Boulay]

Germanophone, then.

JC Boulay
Technical Director
Audio Z
Montreal, Canada
http://www.audioz.com

[Bill Davis]

Look,

If I may inject something here…

I’ve been doing professional narration for about 20 years now. I’ve done literally hundreds of sessions tho nearly all in a single language and I fully understand that you’re struggling with translation issues – not straight narration.

But that said, TOO MUCH trying to solve problems for professional talent in advance of their performance can be a BIG mistake when going into a recording session.

By that I mean that the reason we’re professional talent is that we’ve been around long enough to understand how to solve the typical problems that arise in recording sessions on an “as needed” basis. If a piece of copy is a bit too long, or a emphasis point hits in the wrong place between the copy and the picture – an experienced narrator can work with you to alter or re-arrange the copy to make it fit better on the spot.

Honestly, one thing that annoys me the most in a session and makes me think that the director is inexperienced is that they try to “pre-solve” things that actually don’t really present major problems. The moment a director STARTS OUT with line readings, I know the session is gonna suck. By all means it’s the directors job to direct, and if after he or she has HEARD my initial delivery they need or want another interpretation, I’m absolutely there to give them what they need. But too many sucky producers think the ONLY way to read a line is the way they “heard” it in their head when THEY were reading it and that might NOT be the most effective way to interpret it via that narrators voice/personality/toolset.

In this discussion, I guess I’m saying that trying to arrange color flashes linked to word timings and such is a bit much, IMO.

The narrator will UNDERSTAND what you’re saying,since they speak the language. If you point out a visual cue they need to hit – they can likely arrange things – at the session – to HIT it – and they’ll be familiar enough with not just the language but that native speakers colloquialisms and meaning to do it properly.

So TRUST them.

Just provide the script. And an open mind. And let them do their job.

My 2 cents, anyway.

(after hundreds of narration sessions)

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.

[Ty Ford]

Bill,

not everyone has your chops. (or something like that) 🙂

Regards,

Ty Ford
Cow Audio Forum Leader

Want better production audio?: Ty Ford’s Audio Bootcamp Field Guide
Ty Ford Blog: Ty Ford’s Blog

[Johannes Schwarz]

Thanks Bill, for the input.

The whole point is that I am inexperienced at this. I’ve never tried to put 7 language tracks to one video (nor 2 for that matter). I’ve always had wiggle room on the video side. And since I can understand your frustration with in-experienced directors this is why I posted here. 🙂 I’m inquiring about how to do things that need to be synched (or at least timed); about what voice talents require to do their job.

Ok.

So you’re basically saying: send the video, send the script, all will be fine, because you guy’s know what you are doing and can work fine with just that. Rewinding, going back and forth until you know the video sequence and nail the timing is just part of your job. No reason to worry. Sounds great to me, because it means no additional work on my end.

Or would you consider a general time code of the individual parts still desirable – I just shouldn’t go apes with flashing color cues for obvious things?

Note: I will not be there to direct (or bug) people. Voice talents will have to work in their own studio and send me the finished file.
I have to trust them.

Lastly, a more general note: On the “understanding the text” part from a director’s side. I have worked with voice talents and I have found that understanding the language and words is not the same as understanding what they mean – at least when you leave the realm of every day things and venture into more specialized fields (as is also the case with this project). Working once before on a series on philosophy and theology I came to learn this the hard way. My english voice talent read things beautifully – with a cute british accent and all – but only the historical parts were good. To the target audience it was clear from the intonation and emphasize that the narrator did not really know what he was talking about in the other parts. So when you say “The narrator will UNDERSTAND what you are saying” at times this may be true as an expression of hope rather than fact.

Thanks,
Johannes

[Bill Davis]

Johannes,

Look, the whole process of narration recording has somewhat changed over the past decade. What used to be a studio process that involved a team working together to produce quality results has pretty much devolved into an industry seen as a necessary nuisance by far too many producers. During the bulk of my career, I expected to record in a setting with typicallyy at least three players. The recording engineer concentrated on achieving a quality recording. The producer was responsible for judging the accuracy and suitability of the performance. And as the talent, I was responsible for not only voicing the copy properly but interpreting it acceptably via pacing, energy and emphasis.

That process WORKS because it divides the responsibilities and provides checks and balances in each area as to quality control.

Today, it’s common to face what you’re talking about. A “producer” who seeks efficiency and savings by cutting that team down to ONE player. Asking one individual to produce, voice, record and ALSO translate simultaneously? Heck, what could possibly go wrong in that scenario?

Well, you mention something directly. Experience with a talent that could do some of the tasks well – but who fell down on the translation. Are you surprised? How would he or she even KNOW that the interpretation was wrong without the producer involved monitoring the recording?

I respect your instinct to try to *control* the variables via remote tools like your color codes and similar prep – but I doubt that it’s going to represent a real solution here.

VO is a “real time” performance. If its not being monitored and corrected in real time – by someone who knows both the quality standards AND the language – you WILL have avoidable problems creep into the work as you have already experienced.

That’s just how this works.

So the big decision is whether and how much you value quality over efficiency.

FWIW

For what it’s worth.

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.