Marinda Botha

South African Voice Talent


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Punctuation. When NOT to use it.

Now you may think: “Punctuation marks? What’s that got to do with being a good voice over artist?” Well, it’s very important. So important, that it’s a good thing to try and ignore punctuation as much as possible. What do I mean? Well, as a voice artist, you have “license” to change or ignore punctuation marks, if it will make the flow of your read better. Learn how…

 

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TRANSCRIPT

Hi there, I’m Marinda Botha, a South African voice over artist and native speaker of Afrikaans. I’ve been in the VO business for well over a decade and the one thing that you always have to deal with, is punctuation marks.

Now you may think, punctuation marks? What’s that got to do with being a good voice over artist, with giving the best vocal performance that you can. Well, it’s very important. So important, that it’s a good thing to try and ignore punctuation as much as possible.

Now what do I mean? Copywriters use punctuation marks, because a script is originally written for the eye, to be read. Punctuation marks assist in bringing the meaning across in the sentence, when the sentence is being read. However, we don’t use punctuation marks when speaking in conversation.

As humans we speak in half sentences, we place longer pauses in between words when we are consumed with a thought, we place emphasis on certain words that seem important to us, without there being any grammatical reason to do so. Part of your job as the voice talent, is to take the words “off the page” and make them real and believable. And this sometimes means that you have to ignore the punctuations marks you see before you, and rather trust your ear, go with what sounds natural for you to hear.

Allow the scripted punctuation marks to guide you, but don’t take them too literally. Sometimes, a simple change of punctuation can make a big difference in interpretation, thus improving the performance. For example, take the below script for a TV commercial:

Training Corp understands the pride you take in your work. We are ready with advice and resources – like a manned telephone line 24/7 – to guide you, every step of the way, in your pursuit for valued training for your clients. Training Corp. We take pride in your work.

Now, ignore the punctuation and read it again for yourself. Allow the lines of the script to flow into one another as they would if you were telling the story to another person, not reading it.

You can also Place emphasis on words you want to stand out, thus highlighting the importance of that word.

Then of course, you can use the pause. …A pause is much more than just a beat of silence between words and phrases. It is a powerful tool you can use. A pause in your delivery can be any length form a split second to a few seconds, depending on the script. To be effective, and this is extremely important!, there must be something happening in your mind, that fills the silence you create with a pause.

Thus, for our example TV advert, I would do the following: I would ignore the comma between to guide you and every step of the way, as it flows better for me. I’d place a pause in between valued training and for your clients. And I’d place a slight emphasis on the words “pride” and “your”. These are my choices and by no means the only way to do it, but have a listen and compare it with the correctly punctuated sentence you see before you.

Training Corp understands the pride you take in your work. We are ready with advice and resources – like a manned telephone line 24/7 – to guide you, every step of the way, in your pursuit for valued training for your clients. Training Corp. We take pride in your work.

So, to re-cap: Don’t necessarily “work” the punctuation marks. As a voice artist, you have “license” to change or ignore the punctuation marks, if it will make the flow of your read better. Obviously the over all meaning of the copy should not be changed, but by ignoring punctuation marks, you may create a better illusion of reality in your performance. Let your delivery dictate the punctuation.

I’m Marinda Botha. I hope this video has been useful, thanks very much for watching.

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