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Imaging ~ Promo ~ Trailer

Voiceover for radio, television and film industries

In This Chapter

You’ll find more about promo, trailer and imaging voiceover and more scripts at AOVA.VoiceActing.com.

Voiceover for radio, television and film industries

Radio Imaging

The Radio Broadcaster's Brand and Signature

The term imaging refers to the niche area of voiceover work that specifically promotes a radio station’s sound or marketing image. The best imaging voice actors come from radio station production departments where they learn first-hand what station imaging is all about. An imaging production is usually fast-paced with lots of rapid-fire, short liners, call-outs, station call letters, station slogan or USP, punchy music cues, catchy sound effects, and processed voice tracks that define a station’s “sound” within its format.

An imaging voice talent will be voicing a station’s IDs, promos, sweepers, and liners, and in some cases may even be handling the production. If you don’t know what those are, or if you don’t have at least some experience working in radio, imaging may not be for you.

If imaging is something you are interested in, you’ll need to know how radio stations promote themselves, and how your voice will be used as an identifiable part of that promotion process. You’ll also need to understand the differences between the various radio formats, and you’ll need a separate demo for each format. Imaging formats include: Contemporary Hit Radio (CHR), formerly Top Forty; Adult Contemporary (AC); Hot AC; Urban Contemporary; Alternative; Modern; Jazz; Oldies; Classic Rock; Country; News/Talk, and a few dozen more. Each format has its unique style and associated sound.

Most of the top radio imaging voice talent have a radio background of several years working in many cities and a variety of formats. They also have a solid background in production with an almost uncanny ability to instantly change their attitude and tone of voice to match specific radio formats.

Radio stations and station groups often hire their imaging voices because the voiceover performers are very versatile at delivering short copy at a variety of energy levels and have naturally extreme or “wild” personalities. Although there are many imaging voice artists who provide only dry voice tracks, there are many more who also handle the highly specialized production necessary to create the final imaging spots.

To sum it up… radio imaging is about promoting the station’s image, attitude, and programming through your tone of voice and delivery. It’s definitely not for everyone.

Television Promo

This category of voice work is for television and film promotion, which is very different from radio imaging, although there are similarities. While imaging covers station IDs and programming transitions to establish a radio station’s audio brand, promotion is generally considered to be advertising for a television station’s programming products. Promo voiceover work usually refers to television station promos, although it can sometimes apply to radio. Trailer voice work, on the other hand, refers to the promotion of motion pictures.

Originally promo and trailer voiceover work were lumped into the same category because of the similarities of style and purpose for the product. However, as the voiceover world has become more and more niche oriented, the two genres of voiceover work have each become specialties in their own right. Both are essentially storytelling and the differences in style have evolved over the years.

Let’s discuss promo voiceover first: As with radio, television stations present a specific image in their market. While radio must rely only on audio, a television station has the advantage of adding pictures and graphics to their broadcast image. If you watch much TV, you’ll notice that each station or network has its own look and sound. The pictures, graphics, and voiceover will be consistent for just about everything the station airs to promote its programming and image. This is true for all television and cable broadcasters, from the local station to the national networks.

A network promo voice talent will generally work to an already-edited video with a music track, sound bites and a temporary voice track that set the tone, pace, and attitude of the promo. The delivery will be one that is involved with the story and characters. For local television stations, promo voiceover will often be done as a dry voice track, recorded as voice only, before editing begins, and without the benefit of seeing the picture or hearing the music.

Working as a television promo voice talent can often mean the talent is “the voice,” or one of the voices, of the television station. A promo voice talent will voice station IDs, program introductions, program promos (commercials for the station’s programming), program VOCs (voice over credits — the “coming up next” voiceover you’ll often hear at the end of a program), public service announcements, news opens, news promos, and possibly even station marketing and sales videos. As the voice of the station, you may be asked to voice anything and everything that serves to promote the station. Depending on the station and market, a television station might have two, three, or even more voice talent to handle specific promotional needs. One might voice only news promos, while another might voice the day part VOCs and program promos. Still another might only voice the radio commercials for the station.

Landing a job as a station promo voice can mean a lot of work on a regular basis, but it can be a tough job to land. It used to be that you would have to travel to the station’s studios to record your voice tracks. However with today’s technology, you will most likely be recording tracks at your home studio and delivering them via the Internet, or you’ll be connected to the station for a live session via Source Connect, ISDN, or other Internet technology. Promo work is usually recorded on a daily basis, and most promo voice talent are “on call” in the event of a major breaking news story that needs a promo produced quickly.

Network promo voiceover is a completely different animal. At one time the networks hired one person as “the voice” of the network. However, today the major networks will use many different voice talent for different aspects of their promotion. There might be a specific voice talent hired for comedy promos, dramatic promos, political promos, and so on. Most voice talent who are hired to work on promos at the network level have several years of voiceover experience and understand the performing styles for voicing promos.

In most cases, television promo work is about telling the story of the program being promoted or the station sponsored event in a manner appropriate to the story. The copy will often fill the allotted time for the promo and, depending on the subject, there may be SOT’s (sound on tape) included that separate the voiceover tracks.

News promotion, however, can have a “sound” all its own. Daily, topical, promos will often be voiced by the station’s news reporters or by a contracted voice actor. Either way, news promos will often have a somewhat detached sound with a sense of drama and urgency underscoring the delivery.

Trailer

Although similar to promo voiceover, trailer work requires a somewhat different form of storytelling. Trailer copy usually consists of very short one-liners that are used to tie the story together and are interspersed between SOT’s, or clips from the film. Trailer copy is also usually read wild, meaning there is no picture or sound reference, but the lines must still be delivered within a specific time.

While a promo may be delivered with a range of delivery styles from conversational to intensely dramatic, trailer voice work will generally treat almost every word and phrase as the most important, dramatic, or impactful word or phrase ever spoken. The style is often one in which the voice actor is less involved with the characters and moves the story forward with a very dramatic, detached or almost “announcer-y” delivery. A conversational style used for a commercial or narration will usually not be effective for trailer voiceover.

Tips and Performing Imaging, Promo, and Trailer

• You are a storyteller, and stories are always about relationships. Find the relationships in the story you are telling.
• Look for the message, image, feeling, or unique quality of the program or station. This can often be determined by listening to the music and sound bites for a promo, or getting a sense of the energy of a radio station for imaging.
• Determine the creative strategy that will enable you to build dramatic tension and allow for expression of the message. Use sense-memory techniques to locate tension in your body and speak from that place.
• Find a way to deliver the first line of copy in a way that will interrupt the listener's thoughts and bring them in to listening to your story.

Imaging Scripts

Note the station format for the liners below. Each radio format has its unique sound and attitude. Some typical formats are below.

Rock: (edgy with an attitude)

• We give you all the classics... all the time! What you do with them is your damn business! Rock 97.3.

AC (Adult Contemporary): (Friendly, conversational)

• There are many radio stations in San Diego... One for your kids, one for your wife, and even one for that surfer dude next door. But there's only ONE station that's perfect for you... Hits 104.5, KVAA. The best of the 80s, 90s and today.

Jazz: (hip)

• Smooth Jazz 103.9. The cutting edge blend of smooth sounds, cool jazz and just a hint of soul. 104.5 Smooth FM.

Country: (relaxed, casual)

• Commercials? Naw! More Hit Country music? Yeah! That's how we do it around here. Today's Hit Country starts now on Country 99.5.

News Talk Sports: (authoritative)

• The acknowledged leader in local news coverage, this is KVAA News 103.
• Traffic on the 10s. Weekdays here on Talk Radio 1020.
• Tomorrow the Chargers meet the Raiders in Sacramento. Pre-game at 9; Kick-off at high noon on Sports 107.

Prize Winner: (extremely excited)

• I can't believe I'm going to Mazatlan! KVAA-FM is playing my music!

Promo Scripts

Each of the following is a separate promo. Uncover the tone, mood or attitude of the story and find an interesting way to tell it:

Channel Lineup #1: (With a tone of quirky fun)

Channel Lineup #2: (A bit tongue in cheek)

Channel Lineup #3: (With an air of suspense and drama)

Sports: (Big and bold with an edge.)

Comedy: (Lots of smile)

News—General: (:30 News Team promo. Serious tone.)

Trailer Scripts

For each trailer, find the underlying tone for the script as you tell the story. Make every phrase the most important words every spoken. Deliver with intensity, but not over the top. Remember that lines in trailer copy are often separated with sound bites from the film.

DRAMA: (serious tone)

• Through every crisis.
• Through every argument.
• Through every disappointment.
• A family on the edge of disaster.
• Discovers… the only thing that can save them...
• Is the one thing they have in common.
• Each other.
• Stevie Long... Reid Shannon... Susan James...
• “Each Other.”

MYSTERY, SUSPENSE: (build anticipation)

• Just as it seemed to be getting better.
• His world fell apart.
• Magic was everywhere.
• But nothing was real.
• Living a lie was his only revenge.
• And revenge was only an illusion.
• Reese Whitney… Anton Ross…
• “Presto.”

COMEDY: (light-hearted with a smile)

• He’ll do anything to keep his job.
• Including inventing the perfect family.
• Now he’s getting everything he expected and a whole lot more.
• And his perfect family is anything but …
• Kevin Thompson…
• Perfect!

SCI-FI, ACTION, ADVENTURE: (dramatic with an edge)

• They built it to be their home.
• They built it to be their sanctuary.
• They built it to last forever.
• But nothing…
• Lasts forever…
• 10 light years from Earth.
• When everything goes wrong.
• No one can hear you scream.
• From the director of Dark Side.
• Where will you be on…
• “The Last Day.”

FANTASY: (light, friendly, with an air of mystery)

• Three thousand years ago, something magical happened.
• Today, it’s going to happen again.
• Magic was his life.
• Illusion was his world.
• What happens next will turn his world upside down.
• Everything he believed to be true will be proven a lie.
• And every illusion he created will be real.
• What is the difference…
• Between illusion…
• And...
• Reality!