Last week we covered reading Voice Over copy backwards to capture each word on the page, and using constriction and release to avoid falling into a melody. On today’s blog, we cover another great technique to avoid the melody trap.
Just to review, we all have certain patterns that we fall into when reading aloud without giving much thought for how we read. While that may have worked in school, this won’t fly in the audition room. So this is when changing up the energies in your read will come in handy.
There are two different energies you can use to read VO copy: Kinetic and Psychological. Kinetic energy is characterized by being loud and projected. (Ex: Come to Toyota-thon! Sale ends today!)
Psychological energy is confidential, intimate. As if you were confiding in someone who’s sitting right next to you. (Ex: Visiting Nurse Service of New York. We’ll take care of your grandma.)
And there’s a third energy… Nervous energy. (To learn how to create and use nervous energy to your advantage in your reads, please click here)
We all get nervous sometimes. The trick is to channel that nervous energy into kinetic or psychological energy when you start to feel those nerves kick in.
Next week we’ll cover voice placement and creating different feels with your reads using Kinetic and Psychological energies.
Please share your experience using this technique at your next audition in the comments section. And for more great Voice Over tips, info on Voice Over Coaching, Bilingual Voice Over production and Songwriting, please visit the Berne Media Enterprises page.May ‘The Voice’ Be With You, and thanks for spreading the word!