Voiceovers can be a career, or a little extra money on the side, but it's always fun! First, forget any preconceived notions that you have about the business. If you are returning from a break from VO... understand technology has completely changed the anture of the animal!
For example, if you want to get into voiceovers simply because people say you have a nice voice... consider this. Voice is less than 10% of what's needed to do voiceovers. VO is a skill that requires training, preactive, and technique. In fact, if your voice is too good, it can work against you, if you are not skilled enough to be transparent. Clients don't want people to notice the voice... they want people to notice the message the voice is communicating.
If you want to get into voiceovers because you think it'll be easy... and won't cost much to get into, you're only partly right. Compared to franchises (like Subway, Curves, etc.) that will be starting a business, and you will need investment capital. You'll have expenses for training, marketing, equipment, etc. just like in any other business. If you can't afford to start a business right now, you can't afford to get into voiceovers right now. However, if that is the case, and you may want to enter the field in the future, DO take advantage of all the free services available to you, to research your possible future career!
If you have been told by an agent or client that you need a demo CD, and you are wondering what to put on it, STOP! You do not want to do your own demo! And any reputable coach I know will not do one for you if you don't have training, because they don't want to take your money knowing that you won't get any work!While it's obviously not their job to get you work they don't want to take advantage of your desire to enter this biz... knowing that you will definitely not get work--since you have nothing to offer yet but a voice (which is worthless without skill.)
Unfortunately, there are a number of unscrupulous cmpanies and coaches who prey on the dreams of wanna-be voiceover talent. For liability reasons, I obviously cannot name any for you. As a rule, I'd suggest you train with individual coaches, rather than big companies. As with mom and pop businesses, they tent to care more about you and your success. I also suggest you avoid voiceover training that studios provide. FOr th emost part (not always) they know a lot about technical, but not as much about VO itself. And you typically should not learn how to be better at voiceover from a coach who does not DO voiceovers! Another red flag... do they have a "curriculum" in which your demo is produced based on a formula? This class + That class = demo? That doesn't really add up! You need a coach who does your demo when you are ready!
Written by Julie2
Listen to Julie2's demo here
http://www.voicesonlinenow.com/
No comments:
Post a Comment