Movie Trailer Voices: Endangered Species?
Recently observed by one of the VO-BB members: a string of movie trailers, seen at the Apple Trailers site, with no "traditional" voiceovers. The only voices used, when at all, were character narratives provided by the film's actor(s). This begged the question: " Has that revenue stream dried up altogether?" ("That" being movie trailers as voiceover work.)
It's a good question, but it seems that the answer is a qualified "no". As another VO-BBer pointed out, it may be that the Apple Trailer site doesn't carry certain trailers which would require them to pay royalties to the voiceover artist*; this doesn't necessarily mean that the same trailer shown on the big screen is without a voiceover. It seems likely that studios are producing voiceless trailers for Apple and other internet sites in order to comply with these stipulations and still promote the film. Considering that Don LaFontaine remains as busy as ever doing trailers, as do other top artists in that field, rumors of trailer-voiceover demise seem to be exaggerated.
Here's the caveat: there has been something of a trend away from the gravelly "In a world..." style of movie trailer. Standup comics have been lampooning it as a cliche for years now, and so have the trailers themselves. It's a tendency that mirrors a shift seen in radio imaging and commercials as well.
A while back, I decided to have a little fun with the official trailer for Clerks 2. The original features text in place of a VO announcer, making it perfect for an exercise in voicing a trailer in the right style. The irony, of course, is clear; I'd never have been able to use the trailer for that exercise had it not followed the trend away from traditional VO in the first place.
Lots of TV commercials follow that same style, but I don't think there's much danger of voiced spots disappearing altogether, nor is DLF's trailer-voice career in any real jeopardy. As I joked on the VO-BB boards: even if major-movie trailers were to completely forego voiceovers, the odds were against 99% of us voice talents ever being in that club anyway.
Not to say that we shouldn't try, just offering a bit of perspective.
*It's not yet clear what Apple's policy is on this. If you have additional information, feel free to let me know...
