5 Tips to write great voice-over scripts
Do you need tips on how to write great voice-over scripts? Then you have come to the right place. Discover our 5 tips here.
VoiceProductions has been providing professional voice actors and voice-overs since 2017. So, do you need tips to write voice-over scripts? This is the place to be.
It would be good to realise that writing voice-over scripts that strike a chord with your target audience, and which will be remembered, is a special skill. After all, according to Edgar Dale, people remember only 10% of what they read. With auditive information, this percentage is only slightly higher: people remember 20% of what they hear.
But that also shows the power that a great voice-over text can have. Text and images are a powerful combination, as people remember 50% of what they both hear and see.
A well-spoken text adds huge substance to visual information. Even so, your text will have to provide clarity and not lead to confusion. The ideal text should not just appeal to your audience but also be unambiguous and simple at the same time.
And what other requirements do great voice-over scripts need? This article offers you the best tips for writing voice-over scripts.
Preparing your voice-over text
Before you start writing a script, you need to think hard about the message you want to convey. The first critical things to determine are your target audience, the purpose of the video, and which keywords you should use. If you fail to tell your target audience what they want or need to hear, they will stop listening. Any message needs a good story.
Whether you write a script for e-learning purposes, a corporate video, or for animations – a great voice-over text follows a logical structure. Every storyline has a beginning, a middle part, and an ending. This may sound obvious but it is often overlooked. Below, you can read more about what the beginning, the middle part and the ending of your text need to include.
1. The beginning: your voice-over script needs to grab the listener's attention
Make sure you have a strong introduction because people have the attention span of a goldfish. A goldfish? Absolutely, because goldfish are said to have the attention span of no more than 9 seconds. So use your first words to tell what your video is about and which message you want to convey. No matter what type of text it is – from promoting a product to a corporate video – the first 15 seconds of a voice-over are the most important. A good text makes the purpose of your video instantly clear tells your audience why it is interesting and relevant.
2. Use colloquial language
Written language is not suitable for voice-over texts. You certainly don’t want to have your voice-over sound like a boring newspaper article. So write your voice-over script in colloquial (spoken) language to keep it airy and more personal. A story can be well written for print or as a website text, but that doesn't make it automatically suitable for a video as your audience cannot read the text while they are listening. They only hear the spoken words, so you should avoid words that you normally don’t use if you were talking to someone.
3. Use short sentences
Tip 3 logically follows tip 2. Writing in colloquial language also means that you keep the sentences short. When listeners feel that someone is speaking to them directly, you also get their attention faster. This relates to all types of voice-overs, from animations, e-learning, IVR, audiobooks, commercials to corporate videos – keep your story short and powerful. Avoid long sentences. A concise and simple message is easier to remember.
4. Repeat your story
A good story speaks for itself, right? Your voice-over text is an addition to your video, but it should not raise new or more questions. That is why you need to repeat the key aspect of your video towards the end as the first and final seconds are the ones that people remember most vividly. Do you remember the name of the man we mentioned at the beginning of the article, the one who studied how much people remember? Probably not. So make sure to emphasise the key issues.
End your text with a clear call to action. This can relate to: Where can the product be ordered from? Where do I find more information?
5. Practice makes perfect: read your text out loud
Before you get a voice actor to read and record your script, you want to make sure it sounds perfect. The best way of finding out whether your story is a pleasant one to listen to is by speaking it out loud and possibly also record it yourself. Consider yourself as your audience. Be critical. A well-written voice-over meets the following requirements:
● Storyline: A story consists of three parts. The beginning instantly tells the listener what the video is about. The middle part gives the body of the message. The ending summarises the content and calls to action.
● Colloquial language: The message is conveyed in unambiguous phrases. More formal, written language must be avoided.
● Length of the sentences: A voice-over keeps the sentences short.
● Content: Your voice-over script has no strange combinations of words or other mistakes.
If you notice that there is room for improvement on one or more of the aspects explained above,soun we recommend that you adjust the text and go through the process again.
Your ideas put into words by a professional copywriter
Are you simply unable to come up with a good voice-over text? We gladly help you with writing a professional voice-over text. VoiceProductions collaborates with the best professional copywriters. An English script for your voice over? No problem. Profit from our excellent writers and voice talent or voice over artists.
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