A voiceover is a profession in its own right. But that doesn’t mean you can’t do it yourself. But keep a number of things in mind. So that it sounds as professional as possible.

Tip 1. Microphone with voiceover

If you record your voiceover using your laptop, it is a good idea to connect a separate external microphone. You can record your voice with the internal microphone of your laptop or computer, but this usually sounds a bit sluggish. 

Tip 2. Colloquialism

Use spoken language. As soon as you work out your voiceover on paper, you may end up writing very formal written language. And that usually doesn’t come across so well in a voiceover. So use spoken language in your preparation.

Tip 3. Experiment with Voiceovers

A voiceover requires a little more “enthusiasm” here and there. In terms of emotion, you do not have to cry or laugh but the story must be sensible. Experiment with that so you find your voice-over voice. For example, by deliberately exaggerating the pronunciation of something, or by the tempo, or by intonation.

Tip 4. Pre-read

Before you start recording, it is useful to read your text aloud, especially with longer texts. Good preparation makes the actual recording time a lot shorter. You don’t have to re-do anything so often. This also saves a lot of time during the editing process.

Tip 5. Record you Voiceover while Standing 

Experience the difference between recording sitting down and standing up. Standing helps to tell the story with more swagger. You can also try to walk around, maybe you like that more. 

Tip 6. Tea and honey?

Your voice is the instrument of a voice-over. That means it has to be well lubricated. Coffee, alcohol, cigarettes…they don’t help much. It is better to have a little water at a time, or tea. Of course, having a cold doesn’t help either.

Tip 7. Breathing

In the past, clearly audible breathing during a voice-over was more or less not so done. Of course, you have to breathe (duh!), but if you were a voice-over specialist back then you practiced breathing more quietly. If you are an entrepreneur doing your voice-over, you are not that specialist. But you can reduce the effect by breathing in logical places. So not in the middle of a sentence. Rather, cut your sentence into chunks. You can also turn your head away from the microphone during a breath. Unless you are breathing lightly.

Tip 8. Descend or Ascend during Voiceover

If you ask a question as a voicover, your voice usually goes up a little. In other sentences, it will go down at the end. So that a clear point can be felt by the viewer/listener. The latter does not always happen: often a voice goes up to where it should end up down. Incidentally, this is also more pleasant for the editing. If a sentence has to be taken out (without detracting from the story) it is easier if the points are correct.

Tip 9. The gremlins: uh…oh…Uhm

Too many uh’s and Uhm’s have to do with not being well prepared. If you know your story well you can minimize this or even eliminate this. It doesn’t mean it can never happen, especially if it is a functional part of your text. Depending on the type of video, it won’t always bother people right away. But if you notice it once it becomes a pattern throughout your voiceover, you keep hearing it. That is not pleasant to listen to, so try to minimize it with practicing.

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Optimize the settings for better videos

Before we start explaining the settings, it is important to always use the camera on the back of your phone. The quality is much better than the front camera.

One of the best ways to optimize the quality of your video is to dive into your phone camera settings. The better you understand and can apply all these settings, the better your images will look. Frames per second (FPS) refers to the number of frames you film per second. Even though videos seem like a smooth slideshow, they are a bunch of photos, which when play it creates the illusion of movement. There are different types of FPS settings that you can use. In your camera setting, you can choose to film in 24 FPS, for example, with which you can also run at 4K or super high resolution. But if you prefer a cool slow-motion, you could opt for 120 FPS with a resolution of 1080P. 

In addition, we have another miracle maker called Gridlines. Many digital cameras have this option. These grids, which will not be seen in your video, are a visual way to make your better videos and more aesthetically pleasing. 

Are you filming an interview? Then sit on one side of the shot, the empty space you then have on the other side is the direction you are looking.

Make your own tripod

A tripod is nice to have and is definitely recommended, but if you don’t have one, try to put the camera at eye level. This makes a nicer angle than from below. Use books, boxes, pillows to bring your camera to the right height. It is of course always better to purchase a tripod, and that doesn’t have to cost the highest price. 

The perfect lighting for better videos

The exposure refers to how bright the light is in your shot. Shots with too much light are overexposed, and shots that are too dark are called underexposed. In all cameras, not just your phone, the exposure is controlled by the shutter and ISO. The camera can be adjusted according to how exposed or underexposed your shot it. 

You can set the exposure settings to automatic, but you can also adjust them. First, frame your shot and then tap the chosen subject on your screen, this can be a person or an object. You will see that if you tap on the subject, a sun will appear. Here you can adjust the exposure. Tap the sun and move the slider up or down. 

The view out of a window is nice, but without lighting you probably only see white. Rather use this light to focus on your face, this ensures nice natural lighting and also a good basis for later adjustments. Try to ensure that this light remains constant, the sun in your face is of course nice, but if there are always clouds, it takes the continuity out of your video. .so film in broad daylight or even gray day. 

Get the most out of your microphone

First of all, it is important to know where the microphone is on your phone. You can usually find it at the bottom of your phone, where you talk, and near the cameras. Then make sure that your fingers or phone case is not blocking it.

A general rule is to keep your microphone as close to the person as possible. If you have 2 phones available, you could hold the second phone above the person’s head to pick up the best sound. Stick it to a broomstick to create your own tree, or hold it.

Another trick with a second phone: stick the microphone attached to your cord. Or one of your wireless EarPods, into the collar of the speaker. Start a memo recorder along with the movie recording. Give a blow to the image (yes, that’s what they are for) so that this sound recording can be seamlessly superimposed on the image during editing.

Make sure that there are not many background noises. You will not always have time to adjust to the environment, but try to make it work as much as possible. If it doesn’t work then try a voiceover in a soundproof environment, this will make sure you have better videos.

Finally, before you start recording, put your phone on airplane mode. Of course, you want to prevent your ringtone or the vibration of notification from interrupting you while you are recording.

Keep it short

We all know them, the endlessly long vlogs that can be found all over the internet these days. People are simply programmed to talk with ease. That is great for a party or when you’re having coffee with your distant cousin, but not if you want to convey or make something clear. People have a short attention span and you have to respond to that. If you don’t catch them in the first 8 seconds (yes really!) of your video, they are more likely to click away.

In addition, it has been proven that videos that are between 30 seconds and 1 minute long are the most liked and shared. So you immediately get more engagement with better videos than if you put a half-hour vlog online. 

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The eight benefits

Animation makes any complicated message a lot easier to understand. Think about explaining something medical or something technical.

Heavy, sad, or boring topics become more light and easy to watch when using animation.

Animation can give a recognizable appearance to any brand or company.

The sky is the limit! Animation can create anything you can imagine, or not even imagine, without using expensive or complicated special effects. Do you want a cow on roller skates? A ballerina dancing on the moon? Everything is possible!

Also, when creating an animation you don’t have to worry about unexpected weather. No storm, rain, or snow to ruin the plans.

An animated ‘person’ has a lot of likeabilities and can grow into a popular character. Your character and your brand can become famous!

Are you an irresolute person? Don’t worry, because animation gives you so much more control over the amendments. When you change your mind about those specific shots at the beach, in a ‘real life’ video you would have to do the entire video over. In animation, it’s way more flexible and everything can be changed until you like it.

You might not expect it, but an animated commercial is a relatively low-cost way to deliver a message. No dealing with locations, models, or props. Keep in mind: an animated car crash is a lot cheaper than actually wrecking a vehicle. Just sayin’.

We hopefully inspired you to see the perks of animation. In case we got you overly excited, Caribbean Legacy does animations too. Check out our work!

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