Among the many voiceover techniques I have laid out for you, this is by far the most practical. Understanding the script and its message is the most important job you have before you start reading the script out loud, or else you will sound like you’re reading the script out loud. In order to gain an emotional connection with the copy, you must understand it. First you must understand it on a general level – tone, mood, style, etc. The next step is understanding it sentence by sentence. It seems like a lot of homework to do before each and every script is read, but after you do it for a while your brain will be on autopilot and you won’t have to anymore – you will naturally begin to connect with the copy in a more organic way, I promise. But for now you have work to do.
After you have gone through that first step of understanding the big picture, get out a pen, and make sure you have a printed copy of the script. (I don’t want anyone damaging their computer screens.) Ok, line by line now – what are the points you are making? Let me use a sentence as an example. “Sometimes you just want a great latte.” This one is tricky. You are selling a delicious coffee drink. Do you emphasize “latte?” Perhaps. But what kind? A “great” one. So perhaps you emphasize both those words and let everything else in the sentence lay low so those two words can “pop.” Maybe you think you should make it all about them and so you feel like emphasizing the “you.” No right or wrong here, though I have opinions. So – best way to tell what might make the most sense is to try them out loud, all those ideas. Say it out loud emphasizing just “latte”, then “great latte” and then finally “you.” Try emphasizing too many of the words at one time and notice how none of them get special attention anymore. The point is, going through line by line and underlining the words that seem to convey the “point” you’re making helps you to connect, and that means you sound like a person, and not a “reader.”