Monday, July 2, 2007
What the hell happened to voiceovers?
I know styles change, and people like this are mostly out of the picture, but the nasally, sarcastic Penny Marshall-like grumbling that passes for most VO work these days is getting to me. (Check out any of the ‘Life comes at you fast” Nationwide spots for an example.) If that’s the new aesthetic, you can have it. Used to be that just one guy did it for Doritos or something. It was snarky, smarmy and oh-so-hip, but at least you could deal with it because he was the only one out there who sounded like that. Now, almost everyone uses that same tone in their spots. It REALLY needs to stop. Like, now.
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7 comments:
I love the Nationwide tagline....
In regards to voiceovers though, there are always tendencies that come and go. The summer blockbuster tone to get in touch with people who want drama with their advertising. The smarmy BS tone you mentioned so the sarcastic Gen Xers can have something to relate to. The velvety smooth tone so people can feel trusting of the company while illogically aroused. The extreme radical tone to talk to all those Xtreme youngsters. The monotone beer drinking tone because apparently you never modulate if you're drunk.
What it all boils down to is that voiceovers are often done to cater to the likes and dislikes of the client not to mention the preconceptions they have of what their audience wants to hear when they mention their brand. Illogical? Why yes. But tell me, how often are clients logical?
There's still room for the IBM Sam Eliott conversational tone, which I prefer when doing VOs.
I've been forced to do the Super Battle of the Monster Truck styled VO in the past, and that will make you feel like a cheap slut sex poodle.
But yeah, even the tampon ads now feature a super cool can't give a shit female VO.
I think maybe our culture is slipping into a can't give a shit hipness overall.
it's the ghost of Mark Fenske... Or David Spade... Whatever.
The industry's so homogenized it's pathetic. Even when i'm dumb enough to take a gig here and there and talent recos come up it's the same recycled crap: I want a young, hip, sardonic, blah-blah-blah...
So i give 'em a white guy who sounds half awake acts like he's God's gift and they eat it up.
jp, voices with character I don’t mind, whether from a celeb like Sam or Baldwin, etc. The right one can set the tone. But not a tone of voice that detracts from teh piece.
joker - multiple genres, sure. Different strokes for different genres I iunderstand. I don't resalistically expect there to be one smooth, delicate voice for everything.
It sure seems however like the me-too bug has caught on with brands/agencies and this smarmy tone of which I rant is now found in all types of categories. Snack foods. Insurance. Jetpacks and his tampons.
It’s gettin nutz I tell ya.
(And yeah, I totally agree with this:
“I think maybe our culture is slipping into a can't give a shit hipness overall.”)
They're not my tampons, Bill.
Guys... It's not just VO's. It's the way everyone fucking talks now. Unless, as I posted on AdScam, they're on BlueTooth... Then they scream!
Cheers/George
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