VO-BB - 20 YEARS OLD!

Bruce · Posted: Thu May 16, 2019 3:08 pm Post subject: VO-PP ... or voiceover pet peeves

Copy writers who use the term "forward slash" instead of just "slash", that often used symbol on the question mark key. Yeah, there's a "back" slash key over near the Delete keys but 99.99% of us never use it. It's for computer coding only. Just more unnecessary wordage for those of us who have to squeeze 200 words into a minute.

I mean we finally got to stop saying "http://" ages ago and now rarely I have to talk clients out of me saying "www." I mean that's 10 syllables if you speak regular English, 7 if you're from Texas etc.

It's time to move forward and not say "forward" slash anymore!

B
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Moe Egan · Posted: Thu May 16, 2019 3:45 pm Post subject:

This isn't a pet peeve per se, but I'm currently narrating an audiobook chock full of juuust slightly wrong sayings. "he was afraid he was going to lose heart and home", "it was her last resource" and on and on. The author gets a bit of a pass because English is not her first language, but where, oh where were the editors? Shocked

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Moe Egan
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todd ellis · Posted: Thu May 16, 2019 4:59 pm Post subject:

i had the very frank "double-you,double-you,double-you, dot? talk with a client a few weeks ago.

me: "it's 2 seconds out of your 30 second spot you could really use ... i could even talk slower ..."

them: "leave it in."

me: "got it."
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Moe Egan · Posted: Thu May 16, 2019 5:41 pm Post subject:

In those kinds of client talks, the voice in my head says, "Thank you sir, may I have another?"
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Moe Egan
i want to be the voice in your head.
~~~~~

Mike Harrison · Posted: Thu May 16, 2019 7:56 pm Post subject:

I see the mention of "forward slash" as an unnecessary attempt to show that copywriters now understand that their previous use of "backslash" was a mistake.

Also agreed that the "http(s) Undecided

/www." is a HUGE waste of precious seconds.

Not so much a peeve, but while on the subject of copy containing website URLs, we have those cases where the advertiser has a website URL containing names or words which, upon HEARING, could EASILY be spelled two or more ways. I've experienced that more than several times, in local/regional radio spots and scripts for telephony prompts. Either the advertiser or copywriter (or both) don't consider the high risk of listeners misspelling the URL, which would result in the connection going unresolved, thereby frustrating them and the advertiser getting no website hits. And, if they're short on time (or just don't realize the potential problem) they'll leave the URL as-is. Or, if they have the time, they'll spell out the URL, character by character (and some of the URLs I've encountered are not short).

On the narration side of things, I'll admit I'm old school; where "audio/visual" scripts were manually typewritten in two columns: the left half of the page contained all visual information, and the right half of the page contained the corresponding narration script, placed directly opposite the related screen action. (The company I worked for very often had productions of 10 minutes or longer and, when script changes were made, re-typing the entire script was often necessary.) I became very accustomed to that script format.

My peeve is, despite now having word processors with many great, time-saving features, that many clients will supply scripts in which visual information, footnotes, and all kinds of things are embedded in the narration text. Or, on a completely different note, the script is provided as part of a Powerpoint presentation. Here, the narration for each "slide" is composed IN Powerpoint, on the Notes page that accompanies each slide. Powerpoint WILL export text, but the export will include ALL text: whatever's on the Notes pages, as well as the text on all the slides themselves. For a VO talent without the ability to run Powerpoint and read directly from the Notes pages, he or she must first copy all the text on each Notes page (one at a time) and paste it into a Word document. If I were producing this stuff, I'd have scripts composed in Word, given to the VO talent, and then also import it into Powerpoint, if need be. (BTW: it's easy to approximate the length of a script in Word, using its Word Count feature. But, while Powerpoint will also count words, just like exporting text, it counts ALL words, in Notes pages and on the slides themselves.)

I just don't have a lot of patience with those who seem to thrive on complicating what should be simple.
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Mike
Male Voice Over Talent
I have taken leave of my sensors.

Lee Gordon · Posted: Fri May 17, 2019 1:38 am Post subject:

I completely agree there's no reason to say "forward slash." But when I hear "backslash" in a piece of copy, it's like fingernails on a chalk board.

And to add to Mike's point, I hate working from storyboards.
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ConnieTerwilliger · Posted: Fri May 17, 2019 8:40 am Post subject:

Agree with Lee. It really bothers me when talent actually says backslash when it should be a forward slash/or simply slash - when they KNOW it is a web address and not dot prompt coding.

And regarding storyboards. I want both. It is great to see the concept, but trying to read from one is a huge pain in the eyeballs.
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todd ellis · Posted: Fri May 17, 2019 12:31 pm Post subject:

Deirdre · Posted: Fri May 17, 2019 2:00 pm Post subject:

English is not Latin.
You may put a proposition at the end of an English sentence.

You may also split infinitives.
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Lee Gordon · Posted: Sat May 18, 2019 12:06 am Post subject:

todd ellis · Posted: Sat May 18, 2019 5:58 am Post subject:

i put propositions at the end of a LOT of sentences ... oh yeah!

Ninja

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"i know philip banks": todd ellis
who's/on/1st?

Bruce · Posted: Sat May 18, 2019 8:49 am Post subject:

I gained my chops at writing copy at my first big radio gig. The sales reps would hand us crap on paper and after asking if I could “spruce it up” a couple of times I was given blanket permission to rewrite away. Of course that led to spots like the one with Darth Vader going into a pet shop to buy a cute little kitty.

B
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VO-BB Member #31 Enlisted June, 2005

I'm not a Zoo, but over the years I've played one on radio/TV. .