The Visual List

 

You’ll often come across lists in voiceover.

The thing is, they can sometimes be hard to spot, and they can also be quite different from each other, in the way they read and the way they look on the page.

But the biggest difference is in how you convert any list from ‘written word’ into ‘spoken word’.

In this blog series of two, I want to look at those differences and explain what they are, and why.

 

What is a List in Voiceover

In both the commercial and non-commercial voiceover world you’ll have what I call a ‘visual’ list, a ‘check’ list or a ‘dot-point’ list.

And that was a list.

In this blog we’ll talk about the ‘visual list’.  The other two in the blog to follow.

I’m also sharing this as an audio lesson because it’ll make so much more sense to hear it, rather than just have me explain it in written word.

So, click on the audio now for the lesson.

 

Okay, so let’s look at a visual list.  You’ll find them much more often in non-commercial audio-visual production, where the items on the list can appear as a stand-alone visual; a close-up of just that item or a group of similar items.

And all you do with audio-visual lists, is simply say the name, with a neutral inflection.

And just to remind you about inflections in voiceover.  You’ll either have an upward inflection, a neutral inflection or a downward inflection.  Can you hear the difference?

I’ll do it one more time.   An upward inflection, a neutral inflection or a downward inflection.

So, with a visual list the word or words stand-alone.  Basically, we see a visual and you ‘name’ it.  Full stop.

 

Making Lists Make Sense

Let me give you an example of a visual list.  Here are some lines from an audio-visual for a new product created by Insurance Company AAMI or Aimee, as we now call it.

The product is called Complete Replacement Cover. I’ll just refer to one paragraph where they name the way someone could lose a home, and they promise to completely replace it.

In this script, the visuals are this.  An electrical fault, perhaps broken wires sparking.  The next visual is of a bushfire or forest-fire.  Then there’s a visual of a storm or storms.  And the final, a visual of children playing games with a box of matches.

In this script, what makes it a ‘list’ is that we have a word or phrase that supports a ‘series of images’.

The script reads,  ‘AAMI understand the trauma of losing a home better than most. Every year, across Australia, homes are destroyed because of – and here comes the visuals – electrical faults, bushfires, storms, or even children playing games.

The inflection is neutral.

Be careful to avoid any upward inflecting ‘visual-list’.  Like this.  Electrical faults, bushfires, storms.  That’s sounds more like a check list.   It won’t work against the visual.

And just a note.  We don’t always get to see the video when we’re performing.  We may just have the script. And we won’t know how long the vision of that list item will be on screen.  But it’s good to leave a short pause of about 2 seconds, which sounds a bit like, one two, between each visual, so the engineer can place it where it needs to be.

All we have to do with a visual list is say it as though it’s the only thing we’re saying.  It stands alone in the text.  I’ll read it for you again.

“Every year, across Australia, homes are destroyed because of electrical faults, bushfires, storms, or even children playing games.”

And when you work with stand-alone words that support a visual, give the words a sightly different feel from each other, one that works with the tension in the word or words.

Hope that was all clear to you.  I know it can be a lot to wrap your brain, and you tongue around.  But when you have these techniques working for you, they’ll book you time and time again.  Why? Because you’ll sound like somebody who knows what they’re talking about.

Happy voiceovering!!!