Narrating a news story generally goes better if you’ve written down what you have to say first. You avoid stumbles, unwanted pauses and other errors. However, reading your copy raises two contradictory risks:
- You’ll sound like a robot. Reading aloud, you may concentrate so much on using precisely the words written that your voice loses its life. Your narration becomes a monotone. That’s not only dull to listen to, but difficult to understand. Listeners rely on various forms of emphasis to figure out what’s important.
- You’ll sound like a caricature of an announcer. Try to put too much spin on your words and your meaning gets lost as well. Either you emphasize so much that the listener’s confused, or your “announcer” voice becomes a distraction.
Comfort in front of a mic comes with time. Marking up your copy – giving yourself subtle notes about emphasis, pacing and so on – not only helps you get through each reading, it also trains you to do better next time.
There is no one perfect way to mark up copy. Use the ones that work best and make sense for you.
EMPHASIS
A key to understandable copy is making sure the listener catches the words that carry the most meaning. Simple underlines (or double lines for extra effect) stand out well.
Reading: There are several ways to emphasize a word or phrase. Say it louder (or, on occasion, softer); draw it out or add pauses on either side; raise or lower your pitch.
PAUSING
There’s some crossover between this category and emphasis, but pausing can broader effects. Also, it keeps you from gasping. Two basic marks are the comma (regardless of grammar rules) and one or more slashes. A comma can mark a short pause. Slashes may indicate the length of a pause, and/or be used to indicate breathing points.
Reading: Silences tend to sound longer to the listener than the speaker. Don’t stretch out the gaps. When you’re pausing for a breath, make it a quick, sharp gulp.
PACING
This refers to the overall speed of your speech, not just gaps between individual words. Very fast speech flows past the listener (notice how quickly the announcers in health commercials or car advertising zip through the terms and conditions?). Very slow speech makes it harder to draw connections between phrases. When you do mark up for pace, simply writing “slower” or “faster” in the margin may work.
Reading: Aim for a steady, consistent pace. About 150 words per minute is average.
INFLECTION
In one sense, inflection is just another way of saying “emphasis.” However, the term can also take in the twists that make a word sound sarcastic, silly or so on. And it’s used generally as the opposite of monotonous delivery. Where it’s used to mean a rising or falling tone or pitch, many recommend small up or down arrows. In other cases, just using a wavy underline may trigger your memory.
Reading: Inflection is the tipping point between boredom and caricature. Fight against whichever is your natural impulse. If you’re generally a flat speaker, push yourself to add inflection. Think about addressing a courtroom, perhaps. If you tend to get flowery or bombastic, make a conscious effort to dial it back, and avoid making many mark-ups in your copy.
DIFFICULT WORDS
In your first read-through, circle words whose pronunciation you aren’t sure of. Instead of just marking them off, look up the pronunciations and rewrite the copy to add phonetic spellings.
Reading: If you are unfamiliar with a word, your listeners may be, too. Make a point of pronouncing them precisely.
REWRITING
Writing for the ear is different than writing for the eye. Language tends to be less formal. Long, complicated sentences need to be broken up – both for understanding and to give you a chance to breathe. Difficult or unusual words may need to be defined or replaced with simpler alternatives. Abbreviations and acronyms may need to be marked carefully so you remember whether to pronounce each letter (S-O-S) or not (Unicef).
Some of the sources used for this compilation:
Peter Drew: Analyze the copy first
VoiceOver Plaza: Marking the Script for a Better Read
The Show Reel: How to mark your script
I’d Rather Be Writing: Adding inflection
VoiceOver Workshop: Pacing your read
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