WHAT IS VOICEOVER AND WHAT IS ITS ROLE IN VIDEO PRODUCTION
WHAT IS VOICEOVER AND WHAT IS ITS ROLE IN VIDEO PRODUCTION
Imagine looking out over a green jungle scene and a mesmerising sweeping landscape from an aerial view, enthralled by the heights when an epic, Freeman or Attenborough style voice booms out from somewhere behind the camera: “Nature… the great outdoors…”
That’s called a voice-over. It is often abbreviated to V.O. and is one of the most well-known and most-often utilised film tricks. Whether it is used as
a narration device
a shorthand tool for commercials or
as a comedic effect to add on to the humour in countless TV movies or short viral videos, most people are familiar with the voice-over technique. Its prevalence in pop culture and media being a major medium to thank to.
While most people know what voice-over is, few still do not know the basics and even if they have heard about 'V.O', they do not know its purpose or how it is done.
What is the purpose of a voice-over?
This is a question frequently asked at Radiance vision group by its audiences. Well, the voice-over is a film technique that is brought into use in virtually every film genre be it romantic, comedy or mystery horror. Voice overs are used by film-makers to provide quick exposition, tell stories, narrate sequences, or to provide an intimate look into the mind of a character.
First and foremost, A great voice-over will emotionally communicate with your audience about what your video is and what it wanted to convey. V.O gives a video a more humanized feel to it. V.O brings more attention to the film. People tend to pay more attention when they feel a narration that relates to what they see.
Voice-over narration is one of the largest genres of voice talent, frequently used in multiple parts of almost all movies, short-films, ad commercials etc. made. It is highly popular, but most people don’t even notice when there are voice-over narrators in a video. and thus most people had never heard of V.O or how it is used. That’s because the voice-over narrators are professionals, well trained in doing voice-overs to create the feel of storytelling: to give the viewer a whole different aspect to the video.
Whether it’s a narrator telling a story, asking the audience a question, or rallying a community to a cause, the voice-over should be passionate, clear, concise, and most importantly, important to the narrative.
