The way we physically express ourselves using our body language and facial expressions to show our emotions and intentions is similar to how we do it by just using our voice. It is in my opinion a lot harder because we have to act and convey the emotions with just our voice.
As we all know there are so many different emotions such as love, hope, anger, frustration, anxiety, boredom, fear, exhaustion, suspicion, hysteria, shock etc. When we have to express these in a voice over, it is very important to read the script a few times and not be rushed.
There are some fundamental things that need to be considered
What has the script been written for? It could be for a narration, a radio or television commercial, a corporate video, an IVR (Interactive video recording), a phone prompt or a character voice.
What is the backstory?
Understanding the audience is very important
It is important to get under the skin of the character, in case it is a dubbing project where you play a character through the voice. In this case you will also get to look at the actual character you have to voice so the physical emotions can be gauged but the lip sync is crucial.
So as you can see you are a storyteller in whatever genre you are voicing for. Engaging with your audience, feeling the part and conveying it using your voice is the key.
You have to feel confident enough to own it.
Many more tips to follow in subsequent blogs.