VO-BB - 20 YEARS OLD!

[Philip Banks]

I was approached by a production company a while ago about doing a corporate video. Today I received an email telling me that it's a go and will be needed by next Friday. Fabby!

Next email "My clients wish to know what the typical words spoken per minute is for your voice over so that they know how much to write?"

This was my reply.

"Regarding the question in your second email it's one I have never been asked before. The trick is to allow the pictures to do the talking and write only what can't be seen or what reinforces a point. Take a look at this ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5qBnmEBrEh0

Question for the client, not joking. How little can they write and get their message across?

[Eddie Eagle]

[Mike Harrison]

Something I've been wanting to ask for decades.

OK, I'll post it again (it's always good to read):

"Literary aspirants should religiously eschew polysyllabic orthography. The philosophical and philological substructure of this principle is ineluctable. Excessively attenuated verbal symbols inevitably induce unnecessary complexity, and consequently exaggerate the obfuscation of the mentality of the peruser. Conversely, expressions which are reduced to the furthermost minimum of simplification and compactness, besides contributing realistic verisimilitude, constitute a much less onerous handicap to the reader’s perspicacity.

"Observe, for instance, the unmistakable and inescapable expressiveness of onomatopoetic, interjectional, monosyllabic utterances, especially when motivated under strenuous emotional circumstances. How much more appealing is their euphonious pulchritude than the preposterous and pretentious pomposity of elongated verbiage?"

(Published in The Writer, A Monthly Magazine for Literary Workers, Volume XXIII January - December 1911 )
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Mike
Male Voice Over Talent
I have taken leave of my sensors.

[steveanthony]

A couple of lines from Hamlet come to mind:

"... brevity is the soul of wit." (Polonius)

"More matter with less art" (Queen to Polonius as he danced around the subject of Hamlet's madness)

[Dayo]

Can't count how many times I've looked at a script and thought "well, it ain't exactly Shakespeare, but let's see what we can do with it". And, while yes it would be wonderful if every piece of copy had the brevity of Hemingway, but in the real world there can be very practical reasons why less savvy clients ask questions like the one Philip had. We work in a world that's an odd mix of art and commerce. With a mortgage to pay off, two and a half words per minute feels good to me.
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Colin Day - UK Voiceover
www.thurstonday.co.uk

[Philip Banks]

Agree absolutely! My business is about paying my bills, same for all of us.

Should a client send me a script that does not serve them well and they are happy with the content it will be recorded to the best of my ability . If they give me an opportunity to suggest a better approach to writing it I will always plant a seed and see if it grows. It is not my baby so ultimately it's their call.

My favourite phrase during sessions, when appropriate.

"Try this, see if it works"

The key is - When appropriate.

[Karyn OBryant]

How little, indeed. Good point!
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* * * * * * * * * *
Pretending to be other people since 1986.

www.karynobryant.com

[todd ellis]

i like to call it "polishing a turd"
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"i know philip banks": todd ellis
who's/on/1st?