Coloring Words

Stephanie Ciccarelli

June 19, 2007

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Join Voice Over Expert Julie Williams of Voice-overs.com as she explores “Coloring Words”. By learning how to color your words you’ll be able to authentically sell a product or service with your voice.

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Julie Williams, Voice-overs.com, Coloring Words, Proven Voice-Over Techniques, Adjectives, Selling, Vocal Exercises, Voices.com, Jobs.

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Julie Williams : Coloring Words

Transcript of “Coloring Words”

[music intro]
Julie-Ann Dean: Welcome to Voice Over Experts brought to you by www.voices.com, the number-one voice over marketplace. Voice Over Experts brings you tips, pearls of wisdom and techniques from top instructors, authors and performers in the field of voice over.
Join us each week to discover tricks of the trade that will help you to develop your craft and prosper as a career voice-over talent.
It’s never been easier to learn, perform and succeed from the privacy of your own home and at your own pace. This is truly an education you won’t find anywhere else.
This week, www.voices.com is pleased to present Julie Williams.
Julie Williams: Hello, I’m Julie Williams. I periodically, when time permits, check out some of the voice-over forums on the Internet and it’s very interesting what talent are saying there.
First of all, I want to caution you: A lot of people giving advice on forums don’t have a clue what they’re talking about, so before you act on their advice, be sure to check them out. Do a search on them and see that they are truly are working talent.
That said, I’m surprised by some of their responses to online lead services, like www.voices.com. Here’s an example of one I might read:
Voice one says, “I’ve been on such-and-such’s service, and I’m not getting any work at all.”
And voice two goes, “That’s just because there’s thousands of people on there.”
And voice one says, “Yeah, I know. I think I’ll switch to ‘competitive lead service.’ Maybe I’ll do better there.”
And voice three says, “I’m happy. I made my $200 back.”
There you go-three people who don’t know what they’re talking about.
Let’s start with voice number three. “I’m happy I made my money back”? Why settle for that? I wouldn’t be happy if I just made my $200 back.
I’m happy because my first job from www.voices.com – the first week I was one www.voices.com – paid me $1, 800. My friend Jennifer’s first job there paid $400 and my friend, Larry, gets jobs off of www.voices.com all of the time, but all of us are getting jobs there all of the time.
Don’t just try one site and, if it doesn’t work, get on another. Why limit yourself? Get on every site you can. If we can do it, you can, and I’m going to tell you one way to increase your chances.
My mom told me this saying once: If you refuse to admit your faults, you give up your power to change.
I’m sorry to tell you that, if you’ve been on www.voices.com for a while and you haven’t gotten any work, it’s not because there are thousands of people on there.
There may be thousands of people on there and not every one will get a job, but it’s not because of the number of people that are on there; it’s because of the number of people on there that are better at what they do than you are.
The good news is that you can do something about it. In my proven voice-over techniques workshop, I teach a number of specific techniques that help you make copy come alive, and I’m going to share one with you today.
I believe this technique, while it’s so simple, is probably the most effective way to make you read colorful. And it’s appropriate called “coloring words.”
Coloring words is so simple; I want you to do this with me right where you are. Say the word, making it sounds like what it’s saying. To do this, you’re going to have to feel what you’re saying and the listener will feel what you’re saying, too. That brings copy alive.
So, I’ll give you a word. You say it, feeling it while you say, and then I’ll say it, feeling it while I say it.
The word is “tiny.” Go ahead. Tiny. You make your voice get higher in that tiny pitch because you feel what you’re saying.
How about the next word: “exhausting.” Exhausting. You put air into that: I’m exhausted.
Here’s another one for you: “long.” It was a long day.
How about “fresh”? Yep, you put a lot of air in it. Fresh. They use only fresh ingredients.
Here’s another word for you: precisely. Precisely. You make it feel precise.
How about “hot”? This is another airy one. Hot.
Now say the word “cold”. Cold.
Now, granted, those were easy words to color but I really wanted you to get the concept of coloring words because, if you’ll apply this technique to your copy, your reads will come alive like a colorful parrot in front of a black-and-white background.
Any time you see a word like the ones we just practiced with, always color it. It’s typically, of course, the adjectives that you’re going to be coloring, and those are the words that sell. They sell the product to the end user and they sell you to the advertiser, all because they’ll feel what you’re saying.
So, when you first glance at your copy, decide which words you’ll color. It won’t be hard to find the right ones. Then circle them. Don’t just hit them harder or say them louder, unless that’s how you would color them, if that’s what the word demands that you do. Just color them. Feel what you’re saying.
See, it’s not about the voice. It’s about what you do with your voice, which is good news because not everybody was born with a good voice. But everybody is able to learn to use what they have and create magic when they read copy.
It does take training and practice, though. You can’t play the Philharmonic without lessons from someone who’s pretty good and even the San Antonio Spurs would not have won the championship, despite all of the talent on the team, if they didn’t practice.
Get some training so you can develop your unique style and learn some techniques that will set you apart from everyone else at auditions.
It doesn’t guarantee that you’re going to get a specific job, but I’m telling you, you will see a difference in the responses you’re getting from leads. You’ll see a difference in your bottom line.
[music continues]
Julie-Ann: Thank you for joining us. To learn more about the special guest featured in this www.voices.com podcast, visit the Voice Over Experts show notes at podcast.voices.com/voiceoverexperts.
Remember to stay subscribed. If you’re a first-time listener, you can subscribe for free to this podcast in the Apple iTunes podcast directory or by visiting podcasts.voices.com.
To start your voice-over career online, go to www.voices.com and register for a voice-talent membership today.
[music]

Your Instructor this week

Voice Over Expert Julie Williams
Julie Williams
“Voice-Over Chocolate”
Julie Williams is celebrating her 30th year in voice-overs. She has voiced thousands of commercials, narrations, video games, infomercials, documentaries, and other types of voice-over. Julie has been heard all over the world, and nationally on HGVT, WE, and other media outlets.
Julie Williams boasts such clients as Coca-Cola, Pampers, Pizza Hut, Billy Graham, The US Army, US steel, Imperial Sugar, Sunny Delight, Dominos Pizza, Adobe, and thousands of others. Currently, Julie is heard on national Eyeglass World commercials, The New Body Shaper infomercial, and Skincerity Skin Care Product ads, as well as hundreds of regional and local spots, and non broadcast flash productions. In addition, she’s the voice of the video game “Stevie Learns Pool Safety.” Samples of Julie’s work can be heard at www.voice-overs.com.
“I love how the industry has changed over the years,” Julie says. “Most of my work is recorded right in my home studio.”
Owner of Voice-Overs.Com, Julie Williams has taught hundreds of people how to refine their craft in VO. Author of How To Make Money in Voice-Overs Even If You Don’t Live in NY or LA, and Proven Voice-Over Techniques, Julie periodically teaches workshops as well.
“Voice-Over is not about the voice itself,” says Williams, “It’s about acting with your voice, and that’s a skill that can be taught.”
When not doing voice-overs, the single mom spends time with her teenage son, continues to hone her skills as a third degree black belt in taekwondo, and trains for long bike rides. She’ll ride from Seattle to Portland in July. Julie is also heard daily by four million listeners over the airwaves of K-Love and Air1 Radio Networks.

Enjoyed Julie’s episode? Leave a comment with your thoughts!