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Long Form Narration: Corporate, Medical and eLearning

In This Chapter

You’ll find more information about corporate narration and scripts at AOVA.VoiceActing.com.

Telling a Different Kind of Story

Sales presentation, marketing videos, in-house training tapes, point-of-purchase videos, film documentaries, telephone messages, and many other projects that are more than a few minutes in length all fall into the category of long-form narration, sometimes referred to as industrials. In a sense, industrials are similar to audio books in that they tell a story over a long period of time. However, their content, audience, and overall purpose are very different.

Writers of long-form narration are often inexperienced or tend to write copy for the eye (print). Some companies believe that assigning the copy writing duties for a marketing script will give their new-hire a better perspective on the business. Occasionally this works out, but often the resulting script is less-than-professional. Corporate copy can be full of statistics, complex names or phrases and terminology specific to an industry. There are exceptions to this, but overall you can expect copy in this category to be pretty dry and often un-inspiring, which can be a challenge for even an experienced voiceover performer. Still, there is a story in that script that needs to be told, and an audience who needs to hear it.

On the other hand, eLearning, documentaries and some other forms of narration are usually well-written and serve a somewhat different purpose. While most corporate narration is intended for sales and marketing, eLearning is designed for training and education, and documentaries are for entertainment and education.

As you perform a narration script, you are still performing a character and telling a story, just as for any other type of copy. You should know who your character is, who you are talking to, and what you are talking about. You also need to find a way to create a presence of knowledge and authority for your character. What is it about your character that gives him the authority to be speaking the words? Is your character the owner of the company, a satisfied customer, the company’s top salesperson, or a driver for one of the delivery trucks? To create an image of credibility, figure out an appropriate role for your character and commit to your choice.

Many scripts in this category are written for a single voiceover performer, but occasionally two or more performers will alternate lines or voice different sections. There may also be some interactive dialogue sections of the script or portions where an on-camera talent handles some of the voiceover. The complexity of a corporate script will vary greatly depending on the intended purpose, the content, the length, and the budget for the project.

Two rapidly growing genres of long-form narration are in the areas of medical narration and eLearning. Both of these types of projects can be loaded with incredibly complex phrasing and industry-specific terminology that can be difficult to pronounce. The narrator’s tone of voice must be one of knowledge, expertise, and authority. These projects include web learning, online training, medical procedure instruction, drug introductions, and more. Many of these projects can be an hour or more of recorded content.

It is often very challenging to deliver a script of this nature in a conversational manner, but it is possible. Facts, numbers, unusual terms, and complex names all contribute to a presentation more like a lecture than a conversation. However, the information is important, and the audience must be able to relate to the presentation as well as clearly understand what they hear. If the presentation of the information (your performance) is interesting and entertaining, the effectiveness of the communication will be much better.

Tips for Performing Long-Form Narration

The following will help you with corporate and narrative copy.

• Talk to the audience on their level, not at them, even though the script might be full of facts, statistics, and unusual names or phrases. You must know who you are talking to.
• Take your time delivering the copy. There is rarely any time limitation for corporate and narrative copy.
• Be clear on the facts and pronunciation of complex words. These are important to the client and need to be correct and accurate. You must sound like you say these words every day.
• Slow your delivery or pace in sections where there is important information; speak more quickly in other parts of the script.
• If you are alternating lines with another performer, and the script is not written for dialogue, be careful to not overlap or step on the other performer's lines.

Julie Williams is an authority on the subject of technical and medical narration with thousands of credits. She is the author of “How To Make Money in Voice-Overs Even if You Don’t Live in NY or LA: Proven Voice-Over Techniques,” and with her “Medical Mumbo Advanced Narration Workshop,” is one of a handful of voiceover coaches who teaches medical narration. I’ve asked her to share her thoughts about working in this genre of voiceover.

The Challenges of Medical Narration

By Julie Williams
(juliewilliamsvo.com - voiceoverinsider.com)

Medical Narration is its own animal. It’s a VO genre that presents unique challenges, but also offers great rewards.

One of the greatest rewards in Medical Narration is repeat business. Once a client finds a talent who can confidently and competently rise to the challenge, he usually comes back time and time again. It’s not easy for clients to find someone who can do medical narration well. In fact, I’ve noticed that even many seasoned voice actors and actresses—not to mention some prominent coaches who have decades of experience—do not do a very good job with medical narration!

Why? Perhaps because they focus too much on pronouncing difficult terminology correctly—as if that were the big challenge of medical narration. It’s not. Sure, pronunciation can literally be a mouthful, but that’s easy to remedy. Find out how to say the words and practice saying them until they roll off your tongue like a fluent language.

The real challenge in medical narration is telling the story. And for good reason. In many medical narrations the terminology is so difficult, and the subject so foreign, that even the narrator can’t see the story! How can you tell a story you don’t know? Yet if the words are spoken in such a manner that the story is not told, the narrator loses the credibility in the eyes of the most important listener, the audience for whom the script was written. Whether it be doctors learning about a disease, students exploring biological processes, or patients being instructed on how to use a medical device, presumably, the audience will understand what is being said— even if the narrator doesn’t! And to that audience the narrator is supposed to be the expert! He or she is the one teaching the information!

So, how can you know the story? There are a number of techniques we practice in my Medical Mumbo workshop (where we use the most difficult medical copy you’ve ever seen in your life!) But for starters, don’t let the words get in the way. Don’t get so wrapped up in the medical mumbo that you can’t see past it to the underlying message—the story.

How to Approach Your Medical Script

• Go through the script arid make a note of every word or term you don't know.
• Do some legwork to figure out how to pronounce the terms.
• Go to m-w.com or howjsay.com and look up the word.
• Ask a doctor, librarian, or other medical person who may know the correct pronunciation.
• Ask the client.
• When in doubt, do two takes of that part, pronouncing it two ways so the client can choose.
• Read the script for the story.
• if you don't know the story, break down the copy until you do
• Tell the story (don't "announce" it!).

Medical Narration

Title: “Patient Evaluation”

Media: Medical training

Copy Notes: This is a case study dictation of a doctor’s notes and evaluation of a patient’s examination.

Patient CJ was admitted to the Imaging Center with indications of chronic neck pain. A procedure was ordered for an MRI of the Cervical Spine using a variety of imaging planes and parameters for visualization of suspected pathology.

Patient has a history of neck pain and a previous MRI from two years prior was used for comparison. Due to patient’s intolerance, no contrast or isotope was given.

General findings are as follows:

The craniocervical area shows normal foramen magnum with no Chiari malformation.

The paraspinal area shows normal with no visible mass.

Bones show no fracture, pars defect, or osseous lesion.

Cord shows normal caliber, contour, and signal intensity.

Cervical disc levels C2-C3 show no significant disc/facet abnormality, spinal stenosis, or foraminal stenosis.

C3-C4: No significant change has occurred. There are indications of moderate degenerative disc disease with central spondylosis and posterior disc bulge which partially effaces the ventral subarachnoid space but does not cause cord compression. Mild left foraminal narrowing is also presented.

C5-C6: No significant change has occurred. There is moderate degenerative disease with mild degenerative retrolisthesis at C4 and C5 and posterior spondylosis causing mild central canal stenosis but no cord compression. Mild bilateral foraminal narrowing is also presented.

C6-C7: No significant change has occurred. There is moderate degenerative disc disease with posterior disc bulge and spondylosis causing mild central canal stenosis but no cord compression.

C7-T1: No significant disc/facet abnormality, spinal stenosis, or foraminal stenosis.

In conclusion, no significant change has occurred and there is no evidence of cord compression. Foraminal narrowing from C4 through C6-7 is presented as described above.

• craniocervical: CRAY-nee-oh-SIR-vih-kuhl
• foramen magnum: fe-RAY-men MAG-numb
• paraspinal: pair-uh-SPY-nuhl
• osseous: AH-see-us
• spondylosis: spawn-di-LOW-sis
• retrolisthesis: reh-trow-LIS-thuh-sys

Corporate and Narrative Scripts

It’s easy to sound like you’re reading a brochure or website when delivering an industrial script—but that’s the last thing you want to do. The following scripts are typical of the kind of writing you’ll find in most long-form narration copy.

You’ll find more long-form scripts and associated recordings at AOVA.VoiceActing.com.

Documentary

Title/Media: “All About Imagination”

Target Audience: 12-60

Style: Conversational. Explainer video.

Talent: 1-Male or 1 Female

Copy Notes: Friendly tone with a sense of awe and authority.

Virtually everything man-made that exists in today’s modern world is the direct result of imagination. It is this amazing ability to think of an idea, a concept, or an efficient way of doing something, and then put that thought into a physical form, that makes the human species unique and superior to all other life forms on this planet.

By definition, imagination is the ability for an individual to create a visual picture or image in his or her mind. Although this imagined picture exists only in the mind, it can be very real to the person creating it. It can be in vivid color, move very fast or in slow motion, and even have sound, flavor, odor and texture—all depending on the individual. It is what dreams are made of!

Imagination is a marvelous thing! With it, the boundaries of time and space can be instantly removed. Yet, it is also a very individual thing. When a complex image is created in the mind—or imagination—elements of the individual’s personality past experiences and expectations all contribute to the development and final visualization. In other words, each person’s imagination is every bit as unique as the individual.

Simple concepts generally produce the same, or similar, basic image in most people’s imagination. For example, if asked to imagine the common citrus fruit known as the orange most people will create the same basic image, with similar color and texture. Some might even be able to imagine the smell and flavor of the fruit. After all, an orange is an orange! Or is it?

If asked to simply imagine “orange,” without any other details, some would see the fruit while others would see the color or an object of that color. When a concept is non-specific or complex, the imagination can run wild.

Educational-Theoretical

Title/Media: “Gravity: A Look at the 4th Dimension” - Video/Online

Target Audience: Physicists, Electrical Engineers and students

Style: Explainer video. Educational.

Talent: 1-Male or 1-Female

Copy Notes: Authoritative, educational, professorial. This program covers some complex concepts and theories.

It is commonly understood that gravity is what holds the planets in orbit around the sun and keeps the moon in orbit around the Earth. It is the gravitational pull of the moon that creates the ocean tides by pulling the seas toward the moon. Gravity is considered to be the fundamental force that has brought the material of the Big Bang together to form planets stars and galaxies.

For hundreds of years, gravity has been studied and analyzed, and numerous theories have been developed to explain it.

According to superstring theory, the universe is made up of 10 dimensions. M-theory suggests 11 dimensions and bosonic string theories suggest there may be as many as 26 different dimensions.

Most scientists agree that we, as human beings, exist in 4-dimensional space-time experiencing the three physical dimensions of length, height and depth, and a fourth dimension of time.

But what if our universe actually exists in a space-time having more than three physical dimensions? There is evidence that this fourth physical dimension exists. Even though we cannot see or feel it, we can make some core assumptions as to the behavior of this fourth physical dimension by setting up three-dimensional, or even two-dimensional analogies.

Think of a two-dimensional universe where awareness is restricted to a flat plane—like a sheet of paper. If we turn the paper on edge, into the third dimension, we then are thinking of a third (or higher) dimensional extension, but we are still looking at only two dimensions. In much the same way, we can take a cross-sectional plane, of two dimensions, through a four-dimensional space-time. On this two-dimensional surface we can chart forces which take place in that “inaccessible” fourth dimension. Forces which result in electromagnetic radiation, electrostatics, magnetism and gravity are believed to reside in this fourth dimensional extension to our universe.

Physicists typically think in terms of “Why is it so?” Electronics engineers generally think in terms of “How can this be applied?” Since the mid-1900s there has been an increasingly active merging of the best minds in physics and electronics to investigate, study and control gravity.

Today, dozens of private firms and the Military have active projects under way to ultimately apply and control gravitational forces.

One early study by the late Charles Francis Brush made some interesting discoveries which showed that certain types of aluminum silicate clays had less gravitational attraction than their mass would demand. Perhaps the effect is on the molecular or nuclear level, or perhaps it is due to some kind of tension set up in a crystal lattice. The question has not been answered, but the effect is still there.

Experiments in high voltage techniques have found affects where the intense fields appear to partially cancel gravitational attraction. The fact that this can be demonstrated in high vacuum shows at least that the affects are not due to “electric wind.”