Writers and art directors, here is what I would like to tell you about radio:
- Radio is usually :30 or :60. Time your scripts accordingly. (This applies to TV, too.)
- When timing your scripts, read it aloud, and read it slowly. Don't kid yourself. Read slow.
- If your script comes in at :32 seconds, don't tell yourself you'll just have the talent read it faster. Edit. Even if it hurts.
- Rule of thumb: 80 words for a :30, and 155 for a :60.
- Find the little ways of making your spot real. If your spot takes place in bed, consider having the talent lie down while they read your script. If they're supposed to be tired and sweaty, have them do jumping jacks before each take. If they turn their head away from the person they're talking to, have them turn their head away from the microphone.
- Make sure your script goes somewhere. Don't just tell the same joke three times in sixty seconds. If it's not building, it's not award-winning.
- Great art directors can (and do) help create great radio. Radio is visual. Ergo, art directors can help create great radio.
Great guidelines. Question though (which I would love to see as a post in its own), what are some guidelines to make great radio when you have a client who doesn't have enough budget or has a relationship with the local station and you are stuck with the same voice talent over and over? What are some thoughts on making compelling radio in that scenario?
ReplyDeleteNot knowing the particulars of your account, Tyler (and to be honest, never having been in a situation where I have to use the same local station), I can only give you a couple of thoughts on how I might approach this.
ReplyDeleteWhat you're essentially talking about is a form of handcuffs--limitations that keep you from really going anywhere too creative. Handcuffs come in all shapes and sizes, from imposed taglines to required celebrity spokespeople to restrictive campaign formats.
What I usually ask myself when I have something like that tying me down, is how can I embrace it? How can I build creative around it, using it as a central element that you work around? I do this a lot when we're forced to include cumbersome product demos in our spots. Sometimes the simple question of "How can I use this thing in a way that has never been done?" or "What is the most WRONG way I can think of to use this thing?" can lead to some interesting ideas.
So that's one way to go. Another might be to do some side-work. What I mean by that is to produce the thing that's you're more or less being forced to do, but find a way to do something additional that you really like. It might be another spot with the talent. Or using part of what you have to work with in another way (a few years back, we auctioned off a prop from one of our TV spots and created a video setting it up, which got a fair amount of buzz). Again, not knowing your specifics, it's hard to say what you could do. But as a random example, could you, say, create an app with your spokesperson's voice? Do some sort of spokesperson-off contest? If you can pull something off like that on the side then take it to the client as a "bonus" extra, they usually really appreciate the effort.
I guess my advice in a nutshell is to recognize the box you're in, and then ask what you can do that's new within that box or do something in the box and then experiment outside of the box "on the side."
Hope that helps somewhat.