Click SUBSCRIBE so you never miss a new video!
Sometimes, voice actors feel the need to look away from the page when they are reading conversationally. That's a mistake. In this video, Anne talks about why it's so important to play the paper.
Play the paper, it's that simple.
What the heck is playing the paper? Well, a lot of times when I'm coaching my students when they're reading the script, they'll periodically skip a word, skip a line, stumble over a word. And a lot of times when I will ask them, where are their eyes at that very moment when they miss a word or stumbled, over the line, they'll tell me that they were trying to make it more conversational and so they weren't looking at the script.
So I think it's super important that when we are reading a script, we keep our eyes on the paper, no matter what. Don't take your eyes off the words at any given moment, because you're not only reading those words, but you're acting, I want you to act to that piece of paper as if there is the person that you're talking to right on the other side of that piece of paper, and that maybe that paper is transparent and you can see them on the other side. So you're playing the paper as if that is the person that you're talking to.
Right now, I'm looking into a camera. So guess what? I'm playing to the camera. Well, when you have a script in front of you, you wanna play that paper and that's gonna help you to always get the words right. Because that's one less thing you have to worry about, right? You wanna spend the majority of your time acting. If you keep your eyes on the paper, you're always gonna know what the content is.
And you can spend that time that you would normally be acting with someone else. If you were acting on stage or acting in front of a camera, you can spend that time acting and playing to the paper. Also, if you play the paper, if there are any last-minute changes that come your way, you are going to be able to execute them flawlessly.
So if you are not looking at the paper, or I know some of my theater students or my students that are also theater students, if they act they memorize the script and then they try to just play to the microphone. Well, a lot of times they'll miss words when that happens. So again, Take that piece of paper and play that piece of paper. If you get changes, you're going to be able to still continue to play that paper and execute the right words.
Thanks for reading!
Keep on rocking your business like a #VOBOSS
About Anne:
Anne Ganguzza is a professional voice actor and award-winning director and producer who works with students to develop their voiceover and business skills - including voice over Coaching and Genre-based Demo Production. She specializes in conversational Commercial & Narration styles, including Corporate, eLearning, Technology, and On-Hold Messaging. Located in Orange County, California, Anne offers private coaching and mentoring services to students via ipDTL and Zoom.