VO-BB - 19 YEARS OLD!

[Mike Sommer]

I always enjoy the opportunity to work on challenging scripts, this promotes
growth and imagination. As we know when one auditions, there is little if any
feedback of ones performance. Here I'd like to offer the opportunity for
everyone to perform and discuss each others performance honestly with malice towards none.

Here is a fun little script, that I've seen more then a few fall flat on.
(Though the copy calls for a male, of course the lovely ladies are welcome to join in the fun).
Though I don't have a box of chocolets to offer, the unmitigated satisfation of knowing you got it in under 60:,
and hit all the copy points, and the admiration of your fellow Voice Actors should be rewarding enough.


Deadline: Wednesday

Client: Pacific Bell
Product: Call Management
Job Title: “Cell Phone”
Descript: :60
We are looking for a male announcer, 35-45 years old to deliver a conversational read. He is down-to-earth, familiar and casual.
Maybe even a tad ironic. He is NOT an authority. He is not telling information the listener could not figure out for him or
herself. “Entrepreneur NOT Board member”

If talent needs direction you can offer up John Corbett’s conversational attitude when he is playing his disk jockey
character on Northern Exposure. We don’t want him sounding that hippy, but we do like his Approachability and tone.


Okay hands up everyone, whose first conversation on their new cell phone was
“Hi honey, guess where I’m calling from?” Then everyone had one and it wasn’t
new anymore. It wasn’t a way to stay ahead of the competition; it was
a way to keep up. Which brings me rather neatly to Pacific Bell Call
Management. Call Management is another innovation you’re about to
become much more familiar with; It’s Pacific Bell Information Service’s
name for a powerful new technology that practically reinvents the way
we use the phone.

It’s literally hundreds of ways your business can become more effective
and make your clients happier too:From making sure no-one who calls you
ever goes on hold, to giving you and your customers automatic access to
data that’s anywhere on your network, from anywhere in the world.
And because Pacific Bell designs Call Management individually for every
business it works for, you won’t get stuck with technology you’ve outgrown.
Probably quite a relief, when you remember what your first car phone looked like.
Call your Pacific Bell account executive, or 1-800-570-8500.
They’re ready to tell you lots more about what Call Management can do for your business.

Good luck
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The Blog:
http://voiceoveraudio.blogspot.com/

Acoustics are counter-intuitive. If one thing is certain about acoustics, it is that if anything seems obvious it is probably wrong.

[louzucaro]

Ok, I'll bite

Clickity-Lou
_________________
Lou Zucaro
http://www.voicehero.com

"Well, yeah, there's my favorite leaf!"

[tackerman]

I haven't played for a while. Trying out my new chain... sounds ok in editing buy playback in WMP sounds hot. LINK

[robert jadah]

Great fun!
(And I needed a bit of a lark after two weeks of slogging through the entire New Testament.)

If I hurry, I can even run a solid third place for a while.
http://www.hemmingfordbaseball.com/bbChallenge_jadah.mp3

[ricevoice]

Excellent idea, Mike... I, for one, need all the practice I can get!

Link-a-roo-ski
_________________
Chris Rice - Noisemaker
www.ricevoice.com

[Don G.]

Here's another for the collection. (Would have been much better as a :70 )

[Mike Sommer]

Thanks guys, Hey Where are the gals??

Good job guys. Good reads all; you got the words off the page and on time, now it's just a mater of bring the charters to life, the character needs to be flashed out a little more. Remember when auditioning there could be as few as 300 people bidding for the part, you need to make your self stand out in the crowd. You do that by, "not being afraid to be lousy!"

Some of you got the playfulness of the character, but I wouldn't be afraid to make something like this my own.

This may not seem like a tough script, but what this script dose is break the first rule in advertising with it's opening line. "It talks to more then one person." And that's the trick, because you first speak to a group, then you turn your attention to "honey" on the phone, then back another person.
To make this an effective commercial you need to focus on One and Only One person, even when speaking to a group you "zero" in one person in that group. Then pick a person you know that owns a small business, and let's say his or hers cell phone communications are all messed up, and they come to you seeking your wisdom on the matter and you just happen to have the solution.

Next you are selling a "cold" commodity, you need to warm it up; make it approachable, friendly and interesting. Banks and health services are another set of lifeless cold commodities, when you hear such commercials everyone cares about you, "are you comfortable," "can we get you more free checks," "our staff provides gentle soothing relief of your suffering" in our cold Ivory towers of health and fiance.

Lastly don't just read the words, articulate your characters thoughts (remember we can't see you). Be a little more conversational inject vocal pauses such as "uh" and "um" and "well" anything to lend us to believe that the character our playing is alive and thinking. And play with your upward and downward inflection, but don't change the meaning of the of the message.

[robert jadah]

Ah...where to begin? Oh yeah, with the nice stuff.
I liked your second take, Mike, and really enjoy this kind of brainstorming.

But...
Firstly, I hope that few of us have the time to invest in rooting too deeply into the psychology of a fun-time - and even non-chocolated - audition. In fact, I don't even participate any longer in the PTP sites (oops; Scrip for Scraps sites, that is), because it's simply pointless to spend any more than seven minutes on an audition that will likely disappear into the ether. For the purposes of this exercise, I only tried to sound less than breathless in :60.
Secondly, any time an advertiser seeks to cram this much junk into one minute, a prime objective should be to make the message sound relaxed and easy-going, even though it's not.
You may seek to project to as many singulars or crowds as you wish, or warm cold commodities to lava-like temperatures; if you sound rushed, it becomes stressful to the ear. The listener shuts off long before your audience play enters into the equation.
Thirdly, there was no time for any easy-going "uhs" or "ahs", or vocal pauses of note. The copywriter in me would have easily squelched the incongruous "probably a relief.....first car phone" phrase to make time for some everydayness. I note that you didn't manage to squeeze in any casual interjections either.

Good stuff. I'd love to hear the other 296.(Or some of them, anyway.)

[louzucaro]

Yeah, I have to say Mike, I'm having a bit of a hard time reconciling your comments with your reads.

As Robert said, not really much time for playing around with this much copy in a :60, either.
_________________
Lou Zucaro
http://www.voicehero.com

"Well, yeah, there's my favorite leaf!"

[Diane Maggipinto]

[louzucaro]

Pshaw, I say!
_________________
Lou Zucaro
http://www.voicehero.com

"Well, yeah, there's my favorite leaf!"

[Don G.]

I agree with Robert. I'd have loved to have the time for "ums" and "uhs". As I said, it might have made a great :70. Copywriters want personality and conversational feel, but then say "I've already trimmed as much of the copy as I can. In fact, the client want to add______."

[Mike Cain]

Mike here is my vocal submission:
http://www.supload.com/listen?s=5VDF1CNBDWY7
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A positive attitude may not solve all your problems, but it will annoy enough people to make it worth the effort.

[todd ellis]

too much copy ... whew.

mike, i am astounded by your vast knowledge! really amazed ... kudos! i'm interested in your background ... what path has your voiceover journey taken you down so far? technical training? places i might have heard you had i been paying attention, and so forth ... i tried to find you on the interwebs but had very little success.
_________________
"i know philip banks": todd ellis
who's/on/1st?

[Mike Sommer]