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Voice actors typically rush as fast as possible to record auditions as soon as they come in. And while it's important to be timely, you want to make sure that you're being smart and preparing for that audition in a way that will help you win the job.
Prepare for your audition the right way.
Hey everyone. So today I'm gonna talk to you about how to prepare for an audition.
So a lot of times we get multiple auditions a day, and I think our first instinct is let's run into our studio and record. Fast as we can, because it's important that we, that we get our audition in first. But I think a lot of times we need to stop and take a moment to do a little bit of research.
The research that you do before your audition can be really helpful in determining the type of performance that you wanna give. It will also help you connect with the audience that your potential client is trying to reach. A lot of times we'll get that audition. We'll get the specs. We have an age, we have, uh, male, female, non-binary, whatever. We've got maybe an ethnicity in there. So those things are already spelled out for us. However, in the copy, we may or may not have clues or any indication about the actual storyline. It behooves us to take any of the words that we don't know, the company names if we're not familiar with them. And just put that into Google and do a little bit of research because you'll find out a lot.
First of all, if you know who the company is, definitely go to Google to research the company, take a look at their website, and see who they are, and what products they make. Maybe this copy is referring to one of those products. Maybe it's a new product and we don't know anything about it. However, we can still learn a lot about the company and maybe a little bit more about who they are as a brand, and that will really help you to color the audition the way the company wants to be represented.
Now, also, if it happens to be a specific product, go ahead and research the product as well. The more, you know, about what you're talking about, and what you're voicing, the more it will come out in your performance, there will be confidence. There will be, you will be coming from a place of authority and it will also be coming from a place of authenticity because you will have knowledge about that product.
And speaking about that will come through in your performance. Also, I want you to really take a good look at the beginning of the script, which will typically be an introduction, and the end of the script a conclusion, right? Maybe a tagline, maybe a summary. And then also in the middle, there might be a call to action, or there might be what I like to call a crescendo of that script.
And I want you to try to figure out the storyline of the copy. Again, we are storytellers as voice actors, and it's hard to tell a story when we don't know what that story is. So take a moment to actually read the script and read it a few times. And sometimes scripts are a little ambiguous and we don't necessarily know what they're talking about, and that requires us to scrutinize just a little bit longer. Maybe there are certain words in certain places, make sure you read them carefully. That will indicate what the copy is really all about or what the story is really all about.
I've had students that have read scripts in one way, and then I'd say, go ahead and read that line again and what do you think that line means? You have to really stop and think, well, I'm not really sure. I just kind of read the words, right? If you really take a look at each of the words and then compare them maybe to what's happening in the introduction of it or at the conclusion of it, you might find a relationship between those words, that you're not quite sure what they're talking about to the storyline.
Once you have the research done, you can then voice with a whole lot more confidence and a whole lot more authority, and a whole lot more familiarity. And that's going to give you a better performance and a more authentic performance.
Thanks, guys. See you next week.
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.