Two months ago the BETC agency contacted me to record an “animatic” (an animated story-board model used to illustrate to a client what their future commercial will look like). Generally speaking, a voice-over used for a story board is not the one used in the final make of a film. The voice used in an animatic serves as trial “stand-in”.
Recording the text for an animatic gives the producer a chance to set the script, make changes to it (lengthen or shorten if necessary), and to see in real life how the text matches up to the images. It also helps define what intention and mood the voice should express depending on what has been decided by the creative and editing teams. It’s an experiment! As a matter of fact, for this Blédina commercial, they were aiming for a warm, reassuring and paternal voice. Well, well, well!
And so, the text was sent to the client for validation. A couple of months go by when one day I’m told that the work I did for the animatic has been selected for the final version.
- Jean-Marc Lancelot