The Difference Between “voice-over” and “voice-acting”
In our workshops, we define "voice-over" as anything where you hear the voice but do not see the speaker. Technically, this is accurate and the definition covers the wide range of work that is typically considered to be "voice-over". In the strictest sense, anyone who can speak can do voice-over, but that doesn't mean that anyone who can speak has the ability or skill to effectively deliver a message. Every month I receive demos from "voice-over artists" who have recently completed a class and rushed into the production of a demo in an attempt to break into the business. Many of these individuals have some talent, but unfortunately, most have not polished their skills or honed their craft to a point where they can effectively compete. Occasionally, we'll receive a demo that demonstrates skill, versatility, variety and a level of professionalism that tells me the individual has made the transition from doing "voice-over" to performing as a "voice actor." "So," we hear you ask, "what's the difference?"
The difference can be summed up in a single word: "believability."
You can listen to the radio or watch TV any hour of any day and hear commercials that literally make you cringe. If you analyze the performance, most of these "bad" commercials have several things in common: they sound flat and lifeless, with every sentence ending on the same inflection; they sound like the script is being read; the performers sound like they are shouting or there is no clear focus as to who they are speaking to; the performer is talking "at" and not "to" the listener, or they are trying to talk to everyone listening at the same time; there is absolutely nothing interesting or compelling about the delivery of the message. In short, the performance lacks "believability."
Here's a simple way to determine if a performance is "voice-over" or "voice acting":
A "Voice-over" performance has one or more of the following characteristics:
1. Often "read-y" or "Announcer-y"
2. Content is information-heavy (primarily intellectual, often with many featured items) with little or no emotional content
3. The goal of the message is to "sell" the listener on something, and this attitude of "selling" comes through in the performance
4. The overall effect of the message is to create "audience tune-out" or in some way damages credibility of the advertiser
A "Voice Acting" performance has ALL of the following characteristics:
1. The performer creates a believable and real character in conversation with the listener
2. The message content is primarily emotional, with a single clearly defined focus
3. The goal of the message is to "tell a story" that the listener can relate to on an emotional level
4. The overall effect of the message is one of keeping the listener's attention and creating a memorable moment
There is certainly a place for "voice-over", and if done properly it can be quite effective. But good "voice-over" is usually done within the context of a larger performance or is designed for a very specific purpose, presented by a very specific character. The best "voice-over" is performed from a foundation of "voice acting."
Voice Acting is about creating real and believable characters in real and believable situations that listeners can relate to and be motivated by. To achieve this, the performer must be able to reach the audience on an emotional level. And as a performer, the best way for you to communicate emotion is to present the message (or the words in a script) from your own personal emotional experience. We all do this every day, but usually only in the experience of our own life. When we work from a script, we suddenly flounder: the words are not ours and the life behind those words is not ours. It's not as easy as it may appear to get "off the page" and speak from a written script in a manner that is natural, real and conversational. In order for us to speak those words from the point of view of a real and believable character, we must momentarily forget who we are and become that character. That's why it is vitally important to master certain basic acting techniques.
Learning the basic "voice-over" techniques for reading and interpreting a script are a good start. But don't stop there. Unless you already have some acting experience, simply taking a short workshop in "voice-over" will probably not give you the training you need to effectively compete and break into this business. If this is what you love to do, keep studying: take acting and improvisation classes; study commercials and analyze what the professionals are doing to create character and make their scripted words sound real; learn how to take direction; read every book on voice-over you can get your hands on; visit every talent website you can find and listen to the demos to discover what works and what doesn't; watch television programs about acting and theater (like Bravo's "Inside the Actor's Studio" on cable), and finally . . . take a few more classes.
Even if you are an experienced actor, you need to realize that the disciplines of "voice acting" are different from stage, film or TV. In all other forms of acting, your lines are committed to memory and you have time to understand and develop your character. In voice acting, you have only a few minutes to create a believable character, find the voice, and perfect your delivery as you read from a script. Someone doing "voice-over" will simply "read" the copy.
Voice acting is creative, fun and potentially lucrative - if you know what you are doing! Some professionals refer to voice acting as "voice-over work done for animation". If you look closely at what animation voice actors are doing, you will discover that they are creating real and believable characters. And isn't that what we need to be doing as we voice a radio commercial or corporate narration?
To be a successful voice actor, learn how to be natural, confident, real, and most of . . . believable.
James Alburger & Penny Abshire
The difference can be summed up in a single word: "believability."
You can listen to the radio or watch TV any hour of any day and hear commercials that literally make you cringe. If you analyze the performance, most of these "bad" commercials have several things in common: they sound flat and lifeless, with every sentence ending on the same inflection; they sound like the script is being read; the performers sound like they are shouting or there is no clear focus as to who they are speaking to; the performer is talking "at" and not "to" the listener, or they are trying to talk to everyone listening at the same time; there is absolutely nothing interesting or compelling about the delivery of the message. In short, the performance lacks "believability."
Here's a simple way to determine if a performance is "voice-over" or "voice acting":
A "Voice-over" performance has one or more of the following characteristics:
1. Often "read-y" or "Announcer-y"
2. Content is information-heavy (primarily intellectual, often with many featured items) with little or no emotional content
3. The goal of the message is to "sell" the listener on something, and this attitude of "selling" comes through in the performance
4. The overall effect of the message is to create "audience tune-out" or in some way damages credibility of the advertiser
A "Voice Acting" performance has ALL of the following characteristics:
1. The performer creates a believable and real character in conversation with the listener
2. The message content is primarily emotional, with a single clearly defined focus
3. The goal of the message is to "tell a story" that the listener can relate to on an emotional level
4. The overall effect of the message is one of keeping the listener's attention and creating a memorable moment
There is certainly a place for "voice-over", and if done properly it can be quite effective. But good "voice-over" is usually done within the context of a larger performance or is designed for a very specific purpose, presented by a very specific character. The best "voice-over" is performed from a foundation of "voice acting."
Voice Acting is about creating real and believable characters in real and believable situations that listeners can relate to and be motivated by. To achieve this, the performer must be able to reach the audience on an emotional level. And as a performer, the best way for you to communicate emotion is to present the message (or the words in a script) from your own personal emotional experience. We all do this every day, but usually only in the experience of our own life. When we work from a script, we suddenly flounder: the words are not ours and the life behind those words is not ours. It's not as easy as it may appear to get "off the page" and speak from a written script in a manner that is natural, real and conversational. In order for us to speak those words from the point of view of a real and believable character, we must momentarily forget who we are and become that character. That's why it is vitally important to master certain basic acting techniques.
Learning the basic "voice-over" techniques for reading and interpreting a script are a good start. But don't stop there. Unless you already have some acting experience, simply taking a short workshop in "voice-over" will probably not give you the training you need to effectively compete and break into this business. If this is what you love to do, keep studying: take acting and improvisation classes; study commercials and analyze what the professionals are doing to create character and make their scripted words sound real; learn how to take direction; read every book on voice-over you can get your hands on; visit every talent website you can find and listen to the demos to discover what works and what doesn't; watch television programs about acting and theater (like Bravo's "Inside the Actor's Studio" on cable), and finally . . . take a few more classes.
Even if you are an experienced actor, you need to realize that the disciplines of "voice acting" are different from stage, film or TV. In all other forms of acting, your lines are committed to memory and you have time to understand and develop your character. In voice acting, you have only a few minutes to create a believable character, find the voice, and perfect your delivery as you read from a script. Someone doing "voice-over" will simply "read" the copy.
Voice acting is creative, fun and potentially lucrative - if you know what you are doing! Some professionals refer to voice acting as "voice-over work done for animation". If you look closely at what animation voice actors are doing, you will discover that they are creating real and believable characters. And isn't that what we need to be doing as we voice a radio commercial or corporate narration?
To be a successful voice actor, learn how to be natural, confident, real, and most of . . . believable.
James Alburger & Penny Abshire
Tags: abshire, acting, alburger, announcing, james, penny, voiceacting, voiceover
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Permalink Reply by Daniel Wallace on -
Joey, there are many scam artists out their who promise that, If you take their classes and buy their books and at the end of a weekend workshop you will have a fully produced demo and be ready to book gigs. Yes indeed they are full of it as you say. For every aspiring voice, film or stage actor I say this. RUN in the opposite direction.
There is another group however that don't make these promises that offer and teach amazing workshops and one walks away feeling that it was money well invested. I went to such a workshop in 2007 taught by Penny Abshire and James Alburger. What I learned in that three day intensive would have taken me years of trial and error if ever to piece together.
The idea that somehow that those who can't do teach is absurd. There are many gifted actors, athletes and professionals who had great careers in what they did and then went on to teaching, and yes are paid well to do so. Teaching is not something to be looked down upon but to be held in high esteem.
I respect your right to your opinion. I just don't agree fully with this one.
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Permalink Reply by James Alburger on -
I find it interesting that you are basing your premise, and apparently your opinion, on a quotation from a character in a George Bernard Shaw play! There is controversy as to whether the phrase even represents Mr. Shaw's personal opinion or only that of the character he created. There is, however, ample documentation that Mr. Shaw expressed many critical views of the educational system during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. To apply his statement to today's educational systems - and even to those professionals who teach outside of accredited universities - is completely unrealistic. His famous phrase was written, after all, in 1903!
At the very least, the phrase is self-contradictory - and has proven to be a myth numerous times over. It has, however, become a favorite catch-phrase of those who prefer to see teaching as a second-class profession. In today's world, teaching is anything BUT a second-class profession.
How can one be a competent teacher if he cannot first do what he is teaching? Teaching anything requires a mastery of the subject and an ability to effectively communicate the concepts and information in a manner that the holds the student's interest and that the student can use and apply. Teaching is one of the most challenging professions there is! Of course, if you've only "done" and never "taught," you wouldn't understand this. And if you don't really care about your students' education - or if you see teaching as "all about the money," it really doesn't matter anyhow. Nothing any of us who teach say can change your mind.
Now, before you get in a huff, I'll be among the first to agree that there are some less than competent voice acting teachers around, but that doesn't necessarily mean that they don't do the work or know what they are doing, or even that they aren't successful. And I agree that there are those who do teach only for the money and have little regard for their students. But, fortunately for us in the world of voiceover, those individuals are relatively few - and the VO professionals who teach with integrity know who they are!
Penny and I have studied and worked with with some of the top voiceover talent in the world - many of whom teach what they do - and one thing each of these teachers has in common is that they are completely honest with their students about what it takes to work in voiceover and they approach both their teaching, their business, and their performing from a point of view of passion. These professionals are definitely NOT the "scammers" you imply them to be. They LOVE what they do and feel compelled to share their knowledge and wisdom with others. As a "protege" of Daws Butler, you know that he was very passionate about his work and was more than eager to share of his knowledge - and, yes, even he charged for his coaching. Any "student" who receives their training for free absolutely deserves what they get for the price.
If you base your determination of a teacher's competency on how many students become "successful," or on the number of credit lines on a movie database, I fear you have a basic misunderstanding of why people teach and why people enter any area of show business (or perhaps, you've simply forgotten). You also probably have a biased concept of "success" that implies that in order to be successful, one must be making a ton of money or have a long list of credits! The majority of our students never pursue voiceover as a profession. Many apply what they learn from our coaching to their daily lives and current work. Of course, there are many others who feel a passion for voiceover and are driven to learn whatever they can from as many teachers as possible - and this is something we encourage because we believe that what we teach lays the foundation of both the business and performing skills for working in voiceover. We also believe that a single course does not qualify one as a professional voice actor. And even more than that, we know that what we teach works and is valuable for our students. Regardless of how a student applies what they learn, it is not up to us to determine whether or not they are "successful." Success has a different meaning for each student - and judging from the comments we receive from our students, the vast majority of them consider themselves to be successful. You can read what they tell us on the numerous pages of unsolicited testimonials at www.voiceacting.com.
And finally, with all due credit to Mr. Shaw, his oft-quoted phrase has frequently been proven to be little more than a myth. After all, it is more than a century old and referred to conditions at a very specific time in our history! It is truly rare to find a top performer who also has the ability to teach. And many of the best teachers in the world have moved beyond the mere "doing" to a career of teaching the skills and techniques they have spent many years mastering. Fortunately for those of us who study voice acting, we have a number of extremely proficient performers who also have the ability to teach - and many of their names do not appear on IMDB. Some are even difficult to find with an Internet search - but that bears absolutely no relation to their level of experience and their ability to teach. To even imply that these highly skilled and qualified individuals have somehow entered a second-class profession is nothing less than an insult!
Of course, one of the unique things about us humans is that we can "spin a phrase" to mean whatever we want it to (even when the phrase is a century old and no longer has any meaning to current day circumstances). And, with enough determination and stated information (accurate or not) we can prove virtually any point.
Here's a link to an article from someone who used to agree with the phrase penned by Mr. Shaw, but now has a completely different perspective. http://technews.iit.edu/index.php?id=66
In closing, I'm left wondering when (and from whom) you took a VO or acting class that left you feeling as though you got "burned." Judging from your IMDB credits and your performing history, my guess is that it was quite some time ago. It's time to let go of it and stop insulting the professionals in this business who truly have their student's interests at heart.
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Permalink Reply by James Alburger on
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And here's another article that make the point that even better that "He who can does and he who cannot teaches" is a complete fallacy in today's world.
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Permalink Reply by Jack P. Norris, Jr. (aka Kevin) on -
Mr. Alburger: You are exactly correct. Even the univesities across the country hire adjunct professors directly from successful businesses to come in and teach their unique skill sets to different classes in which cases we have the flip side of that which implies, ".. those can do and those who can also teach...."
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Permalink Reply by Connor Carson Heim on -
James -- thanks for that! My husband is a college professor, and it's very frustrating that people make that assumption. After working as a successful consultant, earning a PhD and publishing dozens of papers I think he has proven that he can, indeed, "DO."
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