There are two common definitions for INTEGRITY, and both play a role in your voiceover success. The first one is the quality of being honest and having strong moral principles. The second is the state of being whole, undivided, complete. Both definitions do play a critical role in the successful voiceover audition, but especially the latter. Let’s start with the first – being honest. In the last blog we talked about Voiceover Authenticity and this reinforces or rather foreshadows it’s importance here in discussing the concept of being honest. An “authentic” performance is honest, in the same way that good acting is. While it may not feel honest to be selling detergent or doughnuts, there is a way to be inside that reality and relate. This is discussed in more detail, so read that blog! Honesty in this universe of commercial advertising is about finding a way to be authentic to the degree you can relate to it as a human being. Don’t see the product. See the writer, the style, the personality behind the script. If it’s wry, honestly connect with the wry side of you. Go back in time to find a moment of wry truth in your past. If it’s written with warmth and sincerity, connect your own life experiences to that. There IS a way to rise above the “sell”, and it’s by being an aspect of you that you’ve experienced before that the writer is asking you to be again, now. There’s nothing dishonest about that.
Connecting with the concept of a voiceover script being “whole” and “complete” is a great way to understand what you need to do each and every moment that you’re reading. Understanding the writing is the “honest” part, but delivering that truth – line by line – is the part where being whole and complete create integrity in the read. One of the most important things for a “character” performance is to stay IN character from your first breath to your last. Using the term character loosely (to help us explain any personality style that the writer wants the script read in), if you’re supposed to be friendly, warm, and confident in a script means you must be those things in every sentence. If there is one sentence that seems more confident (“No late fees EVER) then confidence will shine through there more than the warm or friendly aspects. The point is, each sentence is an opportunity for you to make sure this read is complete and whole. If you drop out of character on a sentence, or even a word, then you’ve created a divide in the integrity of this script and of this character. It’s no different from baking bread. If you leave out the yeast, you’re missing a part of the whole. The bread won’t rise. The integrity of the bread is damaged. Be honest, complete the circle the way the writer has drawn it, and “raise” your performance to its highest level of integrity. Sorry, can’t resist a good pun opportunity.