Using Voice Overs To Speed Up Your Shoot
For many of us, standing in front of a camera and presenting is downright stressful, painful, frustrating and annoying. We use up a lot of time, we get annoyed, and sometimes we don’t even get the job done.
But there is another way.....voice overs.
Using a voice over can help you talk through your key points without having the additional stress of needing to concentrate on your presentation.
Narrating your videos can also be a great way to communicate more, provide a how-to, or re-emphasise points missed at the time of recording.
Ultimately, it can be a great way to speed up your shoot. And as you know - we're all about efficiency!
Whatever the purpose - this article and video should provide some pointers to consider before you start your video, as well as some tips and tricks if you are going to use a voice over on your next video.
Working with Voice-Overs
Shoot More B-Roll
So typically when we’re doing a ‘talking head’ video we don’t need as much b-roll because we can cut back to us talking/presenting. But if you use a voice-over, you’ll have none of this footage.
Result? You need to shoot more b-roll, or in the case of voice-over videos - a-roll. If you don’t you’ll have a lovely voice-over, but you’ll have a black screen for your viewers.
Plan Your Video
When using voice-overs, planning your video is important.
We need to make sure we have enough overlay footage - typically of your business in action, to cover what’s been/being said in your voice-over. So having a plan means that you don’t spend hours shooting one shot only for it to end up on the cutting room floor as you only needed a couple of seconds. Conversely, you might only make a quick shot, only to find out that your voice-over has created the need for a much longer amount of footage.
Record Your Voice-Over First
And, primarily for the reason mentioned above, it’s often better to record your voice-over first.
When we work commercially with voice-overs, we always make sure we have a confirmed script, shotplan and the voice-over has been recorded prior to shooting. It saves so much time during the shoot as you know roughly whether each section needs a lot or little footage.
How to Record Better Voice-Overs
Use a Mic
Sounds obvious, but its shocking how many people think that you can pull decent sound from a poor recording. So, use a mic.
If you’re planning on doing lots of voice-overs consider investing in one.
If you just need to get by or you don’t want to spend - the headphones that usually come with your phone can actually do a pretty decent job.
Consider Location and Mic Placement
A quiet location is an absolute must for decent audio. Sometimes the best place is inside your wardrobe - where the clothes will suck up all the extra sound. Reverb - when sound bounces off walls… or indeed any hard surfaces is almost impossible to remove. So get a clean recording upfront.
Strange fact - I’ve actually recorded some voiceovers in small office storage cupboards - the cardboard boxes storing printer paper helped suck up the additional sound….. And recording under your doona (bed covers) can actually be a great place to record voice-overs, although it can get a little warm.
Try and get the mic as close to the sound source as possible. You don’t need to shout at your mic, but having the mic close to your mouth means that you should get a full range.
Emotion
When recording voice-overs there is so much more emphasis in your voice. You need to try and emote passion in what you’re saying. Concentrate on your inflexion (the modulation of your tone) when speaking to try and bring some interest to your viewer’s ears
Reading the Script
Whilst this is the areas that can save you a lot of time - as you no longer have to present the script, as with any reading/presentation, the more familiar you get with the script prior to recording, the quicker and smoother things will go.
So practice ahead of times.
If you’re printing the script -
Larger fonts will help you be able to read the script
Break paragraphs onto different pages - there is nothing worse to turn a page, rustling into the mic, to finish 3 words on the next page, or worse yet, miss those last 3 important words.
But you could consider using your phone to hold the script. It’s usually quieter to scroll - just make sure it’s in airplane mode to stop any interferences - like noises or reception beeps.
Keep it Simple
My final tip here is to keep things simple.
Complex product names or numbers and even phone numbers are all things which can trip you up as you present. Think about what you could ‘write’ on the screen for your viewers - to help you get through the voice-over quickly and save time on the video. Remember, long advertising videos on social media are easily skipped.
Let’s wrap this up
So there you have it - using voice-overs to help speed up your shoot! Some tips, tricks and things you need to know to get the best from them.
As ever, I hope you’ve enjoyed the episode. If you have any questions please feel free to get in touch.
Until next time,
Beard Out
