Sunday 31 October 2010

Voiceover News October 2010

It's been another incredibly busy month for BigFish Media. We continue to be very near the top of page one on Google for the vital key word "voiceover" and its variants.

Ricky recorded E-learning modules for the Ministry of Defence, voiceovers for the Pen Warehouse website, sponsor break bumpers for M150 for Sky Sports TV, in-store announcements for Westfield Shopping Centre in Derby and a corporate video for Pelagon.


Ricky's on-hold prompt clients this month were Claims Helpline, Hi-Speed Services, Anglia Freight and Ancar Technologies. He was also the Voice of God at the Live POPAI Awards (celebrating the best in point of purchasing advertising) at the Sheraton Park Lane Hotel in London with comedian Adam Bloom.

Congratulations to Steph who has been nominated for a Promax Award for Best Radio Promotion (for a trail aired on BBC Radio Scotland). This month Steph also recorded the narration for the Kilomothan Scotland Running Race shown on Sky Sports TV and a commercial for Vogue Furniture for Real Radio and Clyde FM.

We recorded voiceovers by an African Male Voiceover Artist and an Indian Female Voiceover Artist for Astro Mirage. And we made a showreel for Portuguese Voiceover Artist Joana Raio.


And here is what the other BigFish Media voices have been up to:

Peter O recorded a corporate video for Cega Air Ambulance. Jason H recorded commercials for the Glasgow Housing Association. Sara recorded on-hold prompts for LG Electronics. Richard recorded a voiceover for TNT. And Lynsey recorded a voiceover for the Original Volunteers website.

And we are delighted to welcome American Voiceover Artists Lisa and Chris M, Spanish Voiceover Artist Luis , African American Voiceover Artist Lowell and Italian Voiceover Artist Lara

And no sooner had we take on Southern Irish Voiceover Aritst Grainne that we got her - and Andrea - to record voiceovers for Lifeline Screening,

Can it really get any busier? Find out at the end of November; we'll certainly need that Christmas break!


Saturday 23 October 2010

How do I write a Voiceover script?

If you are looking for a voiceover artist to record your radio or TV ad, website or corporate video or podcast for your finished product to be effective, firstly you need a good script.

No matter how good the voice talent is, if they are reading a badly-written script, your potential clients aren't going to get the most out of your project if they are unable to take in the information which you want to convey.



There is a huge difference between writing for a newspaper or online and writing for broadcast. Or to put it another way you need to write for the ear not the eye. And it's not as easy as it sounds. The script needs to flow easily, be conversational and not be full of sub-clauses or long, complicated sentences. Your sentences need to be short and to the point.

If you, while reading this blog, doesn't quite get a point at first or mis-understands an idea, you can simply re-read it. With the broadcast media - and your voiceover - you don't have that luxury


Saturday 16 October 2010

How do Voiceover Agents earn their money?

One of the jobs of a Voiceover agent is to go through all the voiceover reels that they get sent (mostly via email these days rather than CDs in the post). They then have to choose the voiceover artists, who they think, they can make money from.

The first thing - the very first thing - that you will need is a professionally-produced showreel If you don't have one you will never, ever get a Voiceover Agent. Just because you are presenting programmes or reading news or travel bulletins on the radio or tv, doesn't make you a Voiceover Artist. We don't want to hear you broadcasting because our clients don’t want to hear it. They want to hear what you might sound like selling or promoting their product.


There is only one instance in which this is useful - and that is in assessing whether we can make you a voiceover showreel.

Many voiceover agents won't even reply to unsolicited voiceover reels, so do bear with us if it takes a few months to reply. It's hard work - and long hours - running any business and this aspect of the job is a low priority. Don't be offended, that's just the way it is.

Voiceover agents listen to many howreels from many “wanna-be” voices and make their decision to listen further within the first few seconds. If they like what they hear on your voiceover showreel and take you on, there is no guarantee that you will get any work -let alone regular work - as a voiceover artist.

The agent handles the details of the booking and negotiates contracts and your fee. Most Voiceover Agents take a 20% commission.


Potential employers rely on the Voiceover Agent as a “filter”; they know that Voiceover Agents are bombarded by people wanting to get into the voice-over business, most of which are not talented enough or ready to break into it yet.

Even as an existing voice talent, it’s still difficult to get an agent;  most try to keep their pool of voiceover artists to a manageable size. They will also want variety among their performers; they won't represent a voice or style that they already have. These are the two main reasons for rejection.


Saturday 9 October 2010

Spammers bothering a Voiceover Artist

Why don't spammers and cold callers do their homework before bothering us?



Having had a phone call from, what eventually turned out to be, someone selling Google Adwords on the phone (which we are more than capable of managing ourselves thank you very much), recently we received this email via our voiceover website. We make no apology for publishing their details. Perhaps their email address might get abused in return.

"First_Name: Carrie

Last_Name: Cain

Address:

Postcode: 18235

Telephone: 0120120120

Email: ceceliamaloney15@gmail.com

Subject: Marketing suggestion for your website

Message:

Want more clients and customers? We will help them find you by putting you on the 1st page of Google. Email us back to get a full proposal"

And where do you think these idiots found our voiceover
website? Yes, on page one of Google.


Saturday 2 October 2010

Voiceover News for September 2010

Here is what we were up to last month:

Our listings and hits on Google shot up this month: our position as a voiceover agency is very close to the top of Page one.

We had an extremely busy month: easily our busiest ever!

Lynsey recorded a voiceover for the Original Volunteers website. Elliott recorded a voiceover for Zenith Optimedia. Mark W recorded a voiceover for Wendy Wu Tours. We recorded a young DJ for a podcast for the National Union of Students.

Ricky recorded on-hold prompts for the NHS, Anglia Freight, Superbreak, Hastings Direct and Ancar Technologies and for corporate videos for Pelagon, Croda, Postsaver and Centrica as well as more voiceovers for the Pen Warehouse website.


We were delighted to welcome on board: American Voiceover Artists Lisa and Alexandra; Southern Irish Voiceover Artist Grainne; young Eastern European Voiceover Artist Yanac and Greek Voiceover Artist Manolis.

We made voicereels for Radio Presenter Sue Lloyd and aspiring Voiceover Artist Rachel Brooker.

Helen S recorded an in-vision presentation for NovoSeven at a TV studio in Surrey, followed shortly afterwards by a voiceover session for the same video.


We also broke the back of the work of recording and edting half a dozen male and female voiceover artists in Punjabi, Hindi, Urdu, Bengali and Gujarati for a series of web videos for the NHS.

And no sooner had we taken on BBC1 TV's longest-serving Continuity Announcer Peter O than we landed him corporate voiceover work for DRL.