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Five Key Characters

Lesson 12 from: Voice-Over for Real People: Complete Freelancing Guide

Keith Harris

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Lesson Info

12. Five Key Characters

Next Lesson: Tongue Twisters

Lessons

Class Trailer

Welcome to the world of Voice Over

1

Introduction

02:13

What Is Voice Over?

2

Myth Busting

03:17
3

Where is all the money?

02:54
4

Quiz: What Is Voice Over

The Voice Over Performance

5

A Conversation With One Person

03:34

Lesson Info

Five Key Characters

So you've done it, you've practiced your skills, you're reading out loud, you're the master of elongation and creating lists and you get your first client and you freeze. What are they looking for? Where do I start? Not to worry. This is a common concern for all new voiceover actors and there is a very simple solution. I have found that most scripts fall into five basic categories. And if we develop five basic characters to match those categories we can make very efficient use of our time at the mic. The five basic characters are number one, high energy, number two good energy, Number three guy or gal next door. Number four, subdued and number five monotone. Let's break each one down a touch. High energy. This is your over the top. Super excited guy for example, maybe car sales question, what are you doing here? Yes, you innovation technology education Mauritius the next one is good energy. This is someone excited about something but not so over the top. If you like to live fast then y...

ou could be our next league champion. Are racing leagues are the newest and hottest sport in town, providing competition. That's the most fun and addictive experience. You'll have all week. Now we come to a guy or girl next door. I always think of this as the technology guy read very friendly and down to earth. We're more than just a home improvement store with years of experience and specialist industry knowledge. We're the only place you need for quality D. I. Y advice and the tools to help you finish the project on time and within budget. Next on our list is subdued. I use the word subdued but don't confuse this with upset or board. For example, this might be a good energy level for a script on health care. Like the script for breast cancer research at ST jude Children's research hospital families never receive a bill for treatment, travel, housing or food because the only thing a family should worry about is helping their child live. The last character is monotone. It's basically the very low or even I don't care energy. It happens every summer and this year is no different. Thousands of wildfires ravage millions of acres in the western arid states destroying homes and huge swaths of forest and wildlife habitat as well as taking lives by combining. What are you saying with one of these characters? You will get to the heart of a read very quickly for example, let's take a read where the character is serious. You are reading a script explaining to a teenager the dangers of drugs, you might find the subdued or monotone characters make this read very powerful. Let's say you've just seen the greatest movie ever and are sharing it with a friend. Maybe good energy is the fun character to deliver this message. Or let's say a client offers you a script on how to put a shelving unit together. This information is not particularly exciting. But we also do not want to bore our audience either you might find guy or gal next door is the perfect person to help build this shelving unit. As you work on your practice scripts. Start applying these five characters to your reads, the more you practice each character, the more natural they will become, I promise. And this will not only increase your efficiency in the studio, but it will also make your time in the studio a lot more fun. I am quite happy to share with you that I really enjoy my time in the studio and I know you will too coming up next tongue twisters.

Class Materials

Bonus Materials with Purchase

Audio Assignment
Tongue Twisters
Practice Scripts
Video Template (mp4 video)

Ratings and Reviews

Joe Wiese
 

Keith Harris is an amazing teacher. His coarse is timeless. Thank you Keith. Please come up with another coarse.

Matthew Longmire
 

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