For this week’s Voice Overs Of The World, I wanted to look at a few different ads that all do one thing considerably well: convey a sense of wonder. Each of these three advertisements would have been portrayed in a more traditional announcer-style voice just 20 years ago, but as we’ve moved to the conversational style of delivery in voice overs, each of these pieces’ delivery has evolved as well. In each commercial, the voice over at work doesn’t try to just convey hard, cold facts. Instead, they try to fill you with a sense of wonder at the technology or product involved, even though they’re for such simple products as carpeting, bird food, and heating/cooling systems.

In the first ad above, a visually stylish piece for SmartStrand Carpets, the female narrator evokes a sense of wonder form the very first words, “Something extraordinary is happening.” With a breathy tone and a slow pace, she heightens the “suspense” of the piece, as you wonder how all these various living room disasters are going to end. Notice the music that underscores the voice over is also very ethereal and atmospheric, heightening the mood of the piece. Even when she switches gears at the end of the commercial to pitch the product in a more traditional way (”Get a lifetime of built-in protection from Smartstrand with Dupont Sorona, only from Mohawk”), the delivery remains soft, slow, and breathy, rather than switching to a more announcer-type style, even though it culd have been done using the same voice.

Also notice that, although a non-slow-motion mom appears at the end of the commercial, chances are extremely low that the actress that appears on camera is the same actress performing the voice over.

In the Scott’s Songbird bird food commercial above, we find a very similar approach. The male voice actor shares how Scott’s food “attracted twice as many colorful birds as ordinary blends.” And much like in the SmartStrand commercial above, the dialogue in this piece lets you know right off the bat that Scott’s has “discovered something amazing.” But it’s the narrator’s slow, soft and pleasant delivery that really tells the tale. What I like about his approach is how he sounds almost a little surprised by the results, as if to convey that even Scott’s themselves didn’t realize how good their bird food was until they tested it. I’m sure the company strongly believes in its product, but by keeping the voice over sounding just a little bit surprised, it makes the company come across as humble and unassuming, something which seems to me would appeal to many bird watchers.

In the final commercial, for Mitsubishi Electric Heating and Cooling, the company takes an interesting approach to something that could easily be considered mundane: HVAC systems. But the company wants to liken their product to traveling the world and going to exotic locales where the air quality is pure, crisp and clean. The visual imagery is clearly paramount in the spot, but the voice over is like liquid wonder. In fact, it’s used sparingly, but it is extremely effective. Once again, atmospheric and ethereal music contributes to the overall mood of the piece. Interestingly, in this spot, the producers chose a voice with a vaguely European accent, and I think the vagary of the accent is 100% on purpose. This is a spot meant to make you feel as if you are journeying far across the globe to places untouched by man. With an accent that’s not clearly defined, the voice over adds to the entire commercial’s worldly feel, completing the effectiveness and exoticness of the piece.

I find all three of these ads to be extremely effective in their own right, but the expertly-cast and perfectly delivered voice overs in each one really cement each commercial’s sense of wonder.

In this installment of Voice Overs of the World, I thought we’d get into the spirit of the holidays and look at a classic Christmas Voice Over and a new one inspired by the original. In the above video, from Rankin-Bass’s classic stop-motion animated special The Island of Misfit Toys, the main characters are the well-known and well-loved Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, Yukon Cornelius, Hermey the Elf, and Charlie-in-the-Box.

The voice cast was made up not of celebrities, but rather talented voice actors who made a living with their voices. Rudolph was voiced by Billie Mae Richards, while Yukon Cornelius was voiced by Paul D. Mann. Meanwhile, Paul Soles provided the voice of Hermey the Elf and Carl Banas brought Charlie-in-the-Box to life. Billie Mae Richards played Rudolph in several Rankin-Bass specials and is known worldwide for her portrayal of the character. She was also a starring voice in the Care Bears television cartoon and movies. Larry D. Mann had a prolific career that spanned from the 1950s to the early 1990s, starring in such shows and movies as Scooby-Doo, Howdy Doody, The Pink Panther, and Return to Oz. Paul Soles had a shorter career but is fondly remembered for voicing Spider-Man/Peter Parker in the 1960s animated series Spider-Man. Carl Banas, a former radio DJ, has continued to act in voice overs through present day. He voiced characters in shows such as The Busy World of Richard Scarry, Babar, Hello Kitty, and Spider-Man, as well as numerous commercials throughout the years.

I don’t think I have to say too much about the voices behind these characters. The Rudolph specials have been on the air since 1965, and they get repeated every single year without fail. Millions of children across the world have grown up to the sounds of the characters created by an incredibly talented stable of voice actors. If that doesn’t speak volumes, I don’t know what does.

The next video is a Verizon commercial that’s been airing for the past month or so, in which the iPhone ends up on The Island of Misfit Toys due to its supposedly limited coverage area. I’m not sure if that’s Carl Banas doing the voice of Charlie-in-the-Box or not, but as he is still alive and active in voice overs it certainly could be him. If it’s not him, it’s definitely an uncanny mimicking of his voice. What I like about this ad is the fact that Verizon didn’t go halfway with it. In addition to recreating the world of the Misfit Toys in stop-motion like the original specials (and with a pretty uncanny attention to detail), the voices and music are all perfect recreations of the style of the originals. While this is a clever ad that takes pot shots at Verizon’s main competitor, it was obviously created with a sense of appreciation for the original source material.

It just goes to show how enduring the original Rudolph specials (and the voice talents behind them) are when 40+ years after they originally aired, they’re being used as inspiration for advertisements.

From all of us here at Voice Coaches, we hope you all have a wonder-filled and wonderful holiday!

In this installment of Voice Overs of the World, I want you to see an interesting and innovative viral video from Raisin Bran. (I know, I know… Raisin Bran?) In this new online promotional video, a rather grotesque looking alien creature rambles on about  life in general, and eventually gets around to mentioning his new diet (which includes Raisin Bran Crunch, of course.) It’s an extremely clever ad (and I recommend a second viewing; some of the jokes really take a second to sink in), but it’s clear that the voice over is what really makes this piece work.

By casting a Ricky Gervais-like British voice in the role of the alien, the ad makers have given us a classic staple of ironic humor: subverting our expectations and giving us the complete opposite of them. While you might expect an alien that looks this ferocious to have a deep, growly bark for a voice, instead it’s a pleasant British chap who goes on about bowling and online dating in the same tones as he does devouring the garbage man. The voice over actor does a really terrific job of sounding like your average, everyday neighborhood “hellbeast bent on destruction,” who’s really just a misunderstood guy. He also does a terrific job of sounding like he’s just rambling on and on, in kind of a “customer testimonial” sort of way. Now, I’m not privy to the behind the scenes of this video, but I would guess that while he may have ad-libbed a few lines, there was probably a pretty tight script at work here.

What’s subtly effective about this ad, too, is how much of it isn’t about Raisin Bran Crunch. Aside from a few lines at the beginning and again at the end, the product is hardly mentioned at all. Sure, the box of cereal is present in almost every shot, but the focus is really on the alien and the character the voice actor creates. It’s his performance, along with the humor of the dialogue, that keeps you watching for the entire 3-minute running time. I think it’s pretty brave of a major company to put out an internet video that barely talks about its product at all (and even when it does, it doesn’t truly convey any meaningful information except that it has fiber in it), but thanks to a creative approach and a really top-notch voice over, it works extremely well.

For this edition of Voice Overs of the World, I wanted to take a look at a spoof video that’s made its way online. This fake Harvard Infomercial is a pretty funny parody that pokes fun at Ivy League colleges. What I like about it the most, however, is how it really nails the look and feel of the real-life infomercials and commercials that we see on late night cable ads.

Of course, that extends to the voice over as well. A little ways into the commercial, a great parody of the stereotypical infomercial announcer comes in. Not only does the voice actor get the timbre and pacing of the voice right for this kind of part, but the editing really sends it into overdrive. By piling the words on top of each other in rapid succession, the impression that’s given is of an announcer that’s reading titles that are so pretentious, he can’t even keep up with himself. It’s a nice touch that really highlights the humor of the piece. Also, note how the music changes to underscore the approach of the voice over; it changes from soft, pleasant music to a hard edged rock, to really kick in the announcer/salesman style of VO.

The voice over comes in twice more throughout the piece, and each time the actor approaches the lines with a combination of announcer energy and stilted line-delivery, to really accentuate the awkwardness that often arises from infomercial announcers who are clearly just trying to read their lines as fast as they can.

What’s also great about this video is that it’s not a commercial, television show, or radio advertisement. It’s an online video, which just highlights the wide range of opportunities out there for voice actors. These kinds of short videos are everywhere these days, and they’re being created by everyone from bored college kids to major corporations. You never know when you might be called upon to provide the voice for an internet short, and they’re just as valuable and exciting a job as any other voice over work out there.