The Importance Of (not) Being Earnest

If you are deft at analyzing voiceover scripts  you will notice how many of them really seem to be written with these specs in mind:  sarcastic, witty, wry, ironic, with a “wink”, tongue in cheek…..
I think i finally figured out the reason – writers choose this career because to write is to think about things and then convey them to the world.  Writers are thinkers.  Now granted this is advertising and not Foucault, but a writer is a writer is a writer.  They consider themselves “thinkers”, “observers”, and keen ones at that.  No judgment here at all.  Just noticing this.  So if a writer is writing in his own voice, and i believe all writers’ do, then we can assume there is a level of pride coming through.  They believe in their ideas enough to write them down and share them with anyone who will listen.  To write is to be CLEVER.  Cleverness can take its form in sarcasm, wit, irony, and so on and so forth.  So this could perhaps be the reason so many scripts are written in this vein.  Let’s walk through some options for actually executing that and booking that voiceover audition.
There are subtle hints of wit in voice actor Anthony Arkin’s voiceover demo.  Just for fun I will tell you that Anthony is one of the sons of award-winning actor Alan Arkin, but lives by no means in his shadow.  So to hear his demo first and spot some of those hints of “winking” could help.  Now to do this yourself:  try intention first.  Your intention when reading a line will be to say it in a way that you don’t mean to be sincere.  It’s as if you are saying one thing but your intention is to convey the exact opposite message.  Intention can do a lot for a read and is just as much a technique as any other.  It might even be the strongest.  Next try these other angles:  reading the line “out of the side of your mouth” as if you realize you are saying something less than savory, reading the line with a slight snicker (a mischievous laugh), or reading the line and rolling your eyes while you do so.  Also, try homing in on the specific word or two that might really dirve home your point or convey that moment of insincerity the best.  Connect to your message, above all, and you will be led to the right way of delivering it.