Portraying heartbreak
As one of the first commercials I recorded this year I was asked to voice this ad for a divorce lawyer. (January is boom-time for divorces, apparently). My brief was to sound heartbroken, scared and desperate. I was also asked to sound as 'real' as possible. This was challenging as…
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The bliss of creative freedom
Sometimes I'm given total creative free rein on a project. Trust me, it doesn't happen often. In fact, it's only happened twice in my whole life. Many's the time a nervous client will micro-direct EVERY SINGLE SYLLABLE* in a script and I genuinely enjoy…
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“Dear Emma Clarke, do you do men?”
Reader, it's a question I'm sometimes asked. In this case, the follow-up question was "Specifically, do you do Yorkshire men? In a comedy way?" O the answers I could've supplied. As a pro voiceover the requests I get from customers are rich and varied. "Can you sound normal?" (Tricky, but…
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“I want to hear the sexy.” The joy of giving direction to a professional voiceover.
I love it when clients are passionate about what they do. I love it when clients give me direction. I ask them to imagine I'm the audio equivalent of plasticine; I want them to shape me into whatever form they prefer. Many clients take giving direction to a…
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“Can you sound as if you’ve been on a skiing holiday in the past 12 months?”
Now I'm all for advertisers having a clear idea of who they're targeting. Actually, I love it. Just look at Sky AdSmart, Facebook advertising and the wonder of Spotify. It means advertisers can target consumers by postcode, demographic,…
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