Last Minute Voice Over Project: When Panic Turns Into Productivity

I ran across this quote the other day and burst out laughing because yeah, that very thing just happened to me. “You can’t just turn on creativity like a faucet. You have to be in the right mood. What mood is that? Last-minute panic.” — Bill Watterson Yah know that feeling when your day’s moving along, everything’s right on track, but there’s this little tickle in the back of your brain telling you you’re forgetting something? And then you run down all the things you’ve done for the day and settle on the fact that, nope. You’ve forgotten nothing. It’s just that you’re not usually so far ahead of the game, that’s all. Good for you! As it turns out, a last minute voice over project can absolutely kick your brain into high gear. Last Thursday I had a dog club Fun Match to get ready for, and I needed to knock off at like 3/3:30 PM because I had to be out the door at 4:30. So I’m getting things ready, preparing a quick, very early dinner because I can’t eat while I’m judging…and then it hit me. I FORGOT A PROJECT! $#&%! $#&%! $#&%! I promised it today! I’ve already shut down the rig! AAAARRRRGGGGHH! Nothing gets your systems moving faster than realizing a last minute voice over project is due basically now. So I get myself fired up. “Ok, the day’s not over and I can skip dinner if I need to. Let’s do this.” Luckily I had glanced at the script the afternoon before and was aware of some technical terminology within, and quickly applied a shorthand version of my corporate narration process.

• I carved out the text for flow.

• Assigned some attitude to sections.

• Highlighted the tricky techy spots with numbers and terms.

• And very quickly reviewed past work for this client so I could deliver a similar read.
  

I had that baby voiced and edited by 4:05.

Whew!

And in the end, the client left me great feedback! If they only knew the panic that led up to it!

You’d be surprised how efficient you can be when two things you love are pushing up against a deadline. Apparently voice over and dogs really move me!

So, while I don’t recommend creating a last minute voice over project for yourself on purpose, I do advocate for having systems in place that make you efficient when you need to be!