Welcome to the third installment of “How We Work! Behind the Scenes at Next Day Animations.” Today we’re going to focus on voiceovers. (Third installment, you say? If you missed parts one and two, don’t worry! You can find them here and here.)
Telling your story
We use a number of tools to help you tell your story through whiteboard animation, including persuasive scripts and engaging illustrations. Voiceover is another key element of a compelling and shareable video.
We work with many talented voiceover artists, each with a range of styles. Some even play a full cast of different characters! So how do we know which voiceover artist or style is right for you? Simple – we ask you!
Design Call
Selecting a voiceover artist begins with a conversation on the design call. In addition to asking you about things like colors, brand standards, and the types of characters you would like to see in your video, we also ask you about voiceover on the design call. You might have a voice in mind for the narrator as you work on the script, or you might not. Either way, we’ll help guide you through the selection process and identify qualities that you would like to hear in your narrator’s voice. Many of these will depend on your audience.
Age
Are you trying to reach millennials? Boomers? Professionals? Parents? You’ll want to have a narrator that your audience can relate to and trust. Oftentimes that is someone in their same general age range.
Gender
While it is a subjective choice, there are a few tidbits of information that can help steer your decision:
Research shows that while a voiceover artist’s gender makes little difference to women, it has a larger impact on male listeners.
- Generally speaking, a woman’s voice might be better at conveying compassion, trustworthiness, or have the ability to make something complicated seem more down to earth
- A man’s voice similarly might work better to convey technical expertise or authority
- Overall the most important thing is that the voiceover is someone that you think will reach your audience (even if that means not following these guidelines exactly).
Other characteristics
Is the topic of your video serious, and require a voice that is trustworthy and compassionate? Does your audience speak a language other than English? Is there a specific accent you’d like the narrator to have? Is your video cheeky and in need of character voices? These are other questions that you might ask yourself to help decide on the type of voiceover you’d like for your video.
Listening and selection
After we gather your preferences on the design call, we’ll send over a few demos for you to listen to. Pick your favorite, and that’s it! Our voiceover artist starts recording, and production of your video begins!
Is there a voice in your head that you’d like to bring to life in a whiteboard animation? Have a script and a vision but no voice in mind? Either way, we’ll work with you to find the perfect voice for your message.
