UK-based manufacturers often seek to extend their markets by reaching out to customers based in other EU countries. Typically, an advert is produced for the UK market with an English voice-over. But if the commercial is to be shown in France, Spain or Germany, then it will either need subtitling or, better still, native language speakers producing voice-overs for local markets. It is quite an involved process and presents real challenges!
To be able to create voice-overs in any foreign language, you first of all need a script. The original English script needs frequent time-codes, so that the correct timing of when a particular phrase is spoken, is spot-on. The time-coded scripts then have to be translated into their respective target languages (in this case French, Spanish and German), so that the voice-over artists are able to produce VOs which have the correct timing and which can be accurately synched with the video footage. Of course it’s important to check that the client is 100 percent happy with the French, Spanish or German script before the VOs are recorded. That way, if the client wants a particular phrase used, or a specific product name or industry award to be translated in a certain way (or indeed, not translated at all!) then this needs to be established early on in the process, essentially to ensure that the final VOs are spot on and there is no need for our VO artists to return to the studio. Once the VOs are completed, they are then returned to the client, either as standalone audio files, or alternatively we return the final videos, with the VOs already embedded. Obviously the usage rights for the VOs have to be agreed before the voice-overs can be used internationally, but that’s another story altogether!
Need help?
Should you require our help with voice-overs do not hesitate to get in touch with us and our team will do their best to help you.
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