Recently, I read this fascinating book called The Extended Mind, and there was a chapter all about gesture and how it helps us make sense of words, remember things better, and learn more quickly.
And even if we can’t see someone, another study has found that we can actually HEAR gesture in the human voice. One scientist “discovered that upper limb and wrist movements created acoustic imprints on vocalizations.”
It’s not hard to see the potential importance of using your hands in voiceover.
A while back, I attended the virtual OneVoice conference, and got to participate in the voiceover workouts held by Steve Pogatch from Pandora Radio.
My biggest takeaway from that workout: USE YOUR HANDS!
It’s advice Steve kept repeating over and over. And it’s now written on a post-it on the wall of my booth.
Our job as voice actors is not just to speak words aloud, but to convey ideas.
Just speaking doesn’t actually do it. This is why not just anyone can read a script and make sense of it to an audience.
Gesture helps us connect to the text, rather than just reading it. To embody the ideas that we are verbalizing. Anything that helps us do that is going to help the listener comprehend those ideas, thoughts, and the accompanying emotions better.
Using your hands while you speak energizes your read in a natural way that doesn’t sound forced. It helps you put emphasis on words without sounding like you’re TRYING to put emphasis on those words.
Now, this isn’t necessarily mind-blowing stuff for anyone who’s been in the industry a while. If you watch animation actors, you’ll see they’re all over the place!
But even if you’re doing a corporate narration about the mechanics of water pumps, this technique can help.
In fact, I would argue that it’s even more important for these types of scripts—the kind of script where you vaguely understand about half of what you’re saying and the rest is industry jargon that barely computes—I’m sure you’ve been there!
This works because gesture also helps us organize packets of information, and make sense of more complex verbiage and sentence structures. It helps US understand what we’re saying, which in turn helps our listener understand what we’re saying.
How much are you using your hands when you do voiceover?
If you’re not, give it a try! And if you already use gesture, try doing more.
I’d be willing to bet it makes a HUGE difference.