0740 – The Tonal Scale on Political Voiceovers

2023.01.10 – 0740 – The Tonal Scale on Political Voiceovers

With negative ads, you are unlikely to be shouting and screaming in fury, instead, your style will be more measured and composed although still somewhere on the scale of:

·        Bewilderment

·        Disappointment

·        Concern

·        Incredulity

·        Sarcasm and snark

·        Dark sincerity

·        Righteous contempt

·        Quiet aggression

·        Disgust

·        Anger

Negativity is not necessarily ‘shouting’. You don’t need projection and volume, you need to have mood and feeling. An attitude. And although unlikely on every line, if mentioning the candidate from ‘the other side’ you may want a tone of disgust or disbelief, when you mention ‘your guy’ you say their name with a lightness, a sense of hope and aspiration.

So instead of projection, you can use elongation to highlight words and phrases: stretch out key words to mark your ‘disgust’, making them longer rather than louder. It’s what Maria Pendolino (of https://www.bluewavevoiceover.com/ ) calls “like pulling mozzarella”:

·        “…spent millions on failed personal projects…”

·        “… his entire career”

And you’ll find it easier to get the appropriate attitude or ‘strength of snark’ if you use body language along with the scripted language: a shake of the head, a squint of the eye, pupil-rolling, eyebrow-lifting, and lip-snarling: “really?!”.

Positive ads are a little softer, to heighten sympathy and bring reassurance to engage the voter.

Again, there will be a range within this tone: from positive, to more positive, to hopeful and heartbreaking. 

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