After you have captured all shots that will be used in your safety video, you’ll want to select a professional narrator before beginning the edit process. It’s important that you work with a professional narrator instead of recording it yourself because a professional’s voice will work much better in keeping the attention of your new employees, contractors and/or site visitors. Plus, using a pro will make a better first impression. Trust me!

There are several ways you can find a professional narrator for your safety video.

1. Call your local radio stations and ask if they have any voiceover talent you can hire for a safety video presentation. Once you get connected with one of their on-air hosts, ask them to send you samples of their non-radio narration work. If they don’t have any samples of work completed off-air, ask if they would mind recording a brief sample using your safety video script for you to listen to. If they are truly interested in working with you, most will oblige. If they give you a hard time about recording a quick sample, I suggest you move on to another talent. If a voiceover talent causes problems for you early in the process, odds are good they will be tough to work with throughout the project as well. Regardless of who you select from a local radio station, make sure the rate they quote you includes their time, plus the time spent in the studio to record your narration. Sometimes there are two rates associated with one recording. 

2. Call a local talent agency with the same requests as above. Talent agencies will often have actors and actresses who also serve as professional narrators. Just be sure when outlining your specifications that you require them to provide the recording studio. That’s a hassle you don’t want to deal with. Also, keep in mind that talent agencies usually add 15% to 20% to the overall bill but it can be worth it considering that they’ll be doing all the leg work instead of you.

3. Ask your safety video producer to take care of locating, securing and paying the professional narrator as part of your overall project. This is by far the best option because you don’t have to worry about it. The safety video producer simply pulls together narration auditions for you to listen to, you choose the one you like best and he/she takes care of the recording session and payment. My preference for finding, reviewing and selecting a professional narrator is to use a subscription narration casting service. With my subscription, I fill out what I’m looking for in a narrator for my client’s safety video, the type of voice I want and what the narration budget is and within 24-48 hours, I get numerous auditions in my email inbox to review. When I select my favorite choices, I share the link with my client so they can have final say on which narrator will be selected for their safety video project. This approach requires the least amount of time for both me and my client, and it yields the best possible narration talent for their project. Win-Win!!

Interested in producing a safety video for your business?

Contact Kris Simmons with Fire Eye Productions, Inc. today at 423.757.9585 or via email at kris@fireeyeproductions.com.