It’s a great campaign to encourage kids to get outside and enjoy the wonders of nature, and I applaud the Ad Council and Forest Service for getting the word out about…well…getting out!

The place that I keep running into this ad is at the gas station, where it’s in frequent rotation on the pump-top media system.  I swear that I hear it at least once every time I stop for gas, and it’s been running there for months.

What I find funny is that the voiceover in the pump-top version of the ad — which is a truncated version of the one above — still says, “Ask your parents to take you there,” even though it’s running at a gas station, where the vast majority of the people to hear it are adults who can drive themselves to the forest quite easily.

Methinks someone in marketing overlooked that detail.  Perhaps they need to get out more.

I hear the forest is nice.

Why am I so excited about this?  Let’s just say that I find Kristine’s approach to be a breath of fresh air compared to some other resources I’ve seen online.  For one thing, she’s sharing what I feel are valuable insights in these intro videos, instead of just teasing viewers with “here’s what you could learn” and then withholding all real content for subscribers only.  After watching the intro videos, I have concepts to consider and techniques to apply that could make a real impact on my business.  All that it cost me was the time to watch them.

It also feels like Kristine genuinely cares about what she’s sharing, and that she wants as many people as possible to benefit from what she has to share.  While I gathered that the videos were teasers for this new service that she’s developed, they didn’t feel nearly as “markety” as what I’ve seen from some other people who market to voiceover artists.  While I’ve also learned things from some of these other folks, I’m SICK of the not-that-clever (or overly-important-sounding) catch phrases, the “you can’t afford not to” or “how much is your dream really worth” guilt tactics, the mile-long web page sales pitches, and especially the over-promised-but-under-delivered content.

Finally, I’m excited about what Kristine has to offer because there are several people who I admire in the voiceover industry who area already familiar with her work, and who are either contributing to this new endeavor, or have strongly endorsed her prior products.  I haven’t heard these folks endorse many other things when it comes to resources for voiceover artists.  The fact that so many are supportive of her and this new site she’s assembling has definitely got my attention.

Okay.  I’m done.  Go see what Kristine has in store at The Actor’s Library!

However, despite the massive effort to perfect the look of these visual effects, their only purpose is to serve the story.  Without a solid and compelling story, the best CG imagery in the world is just eye candy, and one doesn’t have to look very hard to find examples of high-quality CG animation and effects that were created to accompany lackluster stories.  In some of these cases, the filmmakers might have felt that the audience would be drawn in by the visual elements, and that the story didn’t have to be that great.  In fact, it wasn’t long after Pixar released Toy Story that aspiring filmmakers began talking about — and trying to achieve — “the Pixar look”, as if the specific look that Pixar created for their film was the reason for the film’s success.  They completely missed the point: Pixar had created a compelling story.  The computer-rendered visuals were simply one of many components that they used to help tell that story.

In the field of voiceover, one of the most troubling examples of this “looking beyond the mark” behavior that crops up on a regular basis is when a hopeful voiceover-artist-to-be utters the phrase, “A lot of people have told me that I have a good voice, and that I should consider getting into voiceover.”  What they fail to realize is that the specific sound of a person’s voice is one of the least important ingredients behind an effective, engaging voiceover performance.  They don’t realize that the key to effective voiceover is the same as the key to effective animated filmmaking: story.

The voiceover artist’s job is to tell a story.  That story could be about a little boy walking through the dark woods, a sale on watermelons, or the proper procedure for treating an asthma patient, but it’s still a story.  The trick lies in knowing how to best present the story using the human voice so that the listener is engaged.  Without a sense of story, the most appealing voice in the world couldn’t keep the listener from disengaging and moving on to something that does capture their attention.  While filmmakers have generally figured out that it’s the story, not the look, that makes a great animated film, fledgling voiceover talent are still getting caught in the same “I’ve been told I have a good voice” trap that snared many of their predecessors.

Before spending any money on pursuing a voiceover career — even on training — voiceover hopefuls should have a firm grasp on this fundamental truth of the industry: If you want to make it in the world of voiceover, don’t get too caught up in the sound of your voice.  Learn how to tell a good story.  Similarly, if you’re looking to hire voiceover talent, don’t get too distracted by the specific sound of the artists’ voices you’re hearing.  Look for those who are effective story tellers first and foremost, and then narrow the field to the folks who you feel would do well at telling your story.

What?  You don’t know what story you’re telling?  No problem.  Drop me a line and we’ll figure it out together!

Many thanks to Jeffrey for his hard work in assembling this wonderful compilation, and to my growing list of friends on the VO-BB for their friendship and continued support.

He must have a lot of cats by now.