The Many "Faces" of Voiceover!

A Voice Actor makes his or her living providing the voice over for commercials, radio voice overs, or narration for long-form television productions, animations, educational materials, phone messaging and many other mediums.

A professional voice actor may specialize in a certain genre rather than perform for all forms of voiceover.

In the broadcast realm, voice over for TV, or radio voice overs The many “faces” of voiceover encompass a wide range of applications.

Most commercials are produced by an outside ad agency and, and airtime is purchased from a channel or network in exchange for sponsorship of its programming.

Voice over for commercials: Like any other broacast production, commercial radio voice overs, and voice over for tv have their own respective genres. Some other these include, infomercials, promotions, branding spots, sponsorships, ID promos, and in the case of television, product placement .

Television Commercial Voiceover:

When most think of voice over for TV, the television commercial voiceover is most commonly identified with the :30 or:15 second length network or local spot “units.”

Unlike these conventional spot length productions, voiceover for tv is also an integral part of many Infomercials. Infomercials are television commercials that run as long as a typical TV show.(roughly thirty minutes or an hour). As in any other form of advertisement, the content is a commercial message designed to represent the viewpoints and serve the interest of the sponsor. Infomercials are often made to closely resemble actual television programming, usually talk shows, with minimal acknowledgement that the program is actually an advertisement. Television commercial voiceover in this format is often for the purpose of program intro/outro, product description or shorter spots within the context of the larger infomercial.

Long-form documentaries are another venue of voice over for TV Far removed from the
function and role of the voice talent for television commercial voiceover, the voice talent as Narrator assumes the role of storyteller, providing the information to the listener. Long Form Narration pertains to that material which is of significant length (50 pages or more). Long Form Narration is often associated with training material or documentary voiceover. Short Form Narration would be 1-10 minute video presentations with Voiceover Narration.

Voiceover for TV is also heard in the form of television Imaging or network/station promos and transitional elements.

The purpose of Television Imaging is to stimulate a viewer's awareness of who they are watching by recognition of a particular voice. That voice is responsible for delivering Teases, Bumpers, Promos and any audio pertaining to “selling” the station or network’s programming and “branding” its identity in the marketplace.

Check the Mike Shepherd Demos Page to hear samples of Television commercial voiceover and
Voiceover for TV Imaging Demos

For Television Commercial Voiceover or Voiceover for TV Promo Demo CD Click the “Contact” Link!

Radio Voice Overs:

Radio voice overs most typically conjures up the sound image of the radio commercial or station promotional “imaging.”Radio commericals debuted as an important business in the early 1920s. Radio voice overs are the lifeblood of radio station branding through on-air promotion Radio Imaging may include clever writing, high impact audio production elements,or straight forward delivery depending on station format.

The purpose of Radio Voice overs for Imaging is to create a listener awareness of who they are listening to by recognition of a particular voice.

Check the Mike Shepherd Demos Page to hear samples of Radio Voice Overs for Commercials
and Imaging

For a Radio Voiceovers Commercial or Promo Demo CD: Click the "Demos" or “Contact” Link!

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© 2001 Mike Shepherd. Commercial.Narration.Multimedia.Voiceover Internet Talent