Voiceover on a Cartoon Reel
A voiceover on a cartoon reel should say what the drawing does not. Record short lines, one per beat, and caption them.
Put a voiceover on a cartoon reel so the drawing and the voice split the work. The drawing shows the object. The voice says the reason or the instruction. If both say the same sentence, the reel feels slow. If only the voice has the point, mute viewers miss it, so mirror the instruction in a short caption.
One breath per beat
Write lines you can say in one breath. A beat that needs two sentences needs two drawings, or a shorter line.
Do not narrate the title twice
If the title is already on screen, start speaking at the problem. Reading the title aloud and then showing it wastes the opening.
Your voice is allowed to be yours
A clean phone recording is enough. A cloned voice is for the weeks you cannot record, and it should still sound like the account, not a new announcer every reel.
A worked example
Title on screen, unspoken: "One price." Voice on beat two: "Six tags and they guess." Voice on beat three: "Leave one." Caption matches those two lines only.
Before you post
- Each line fits one beat.
- You are not reading the title aloud.
- Captions match the voice.
Where Scro fits
Scro can use the take you record, or a cloned voice in 21 languages including Hong Kong Cantonese, then caption it. The cartoon stills are approved first so the voice is not stuck to the wrong picture.
Record the lines per beat. Finished samples are on the examples page.
Related: Faceless Cartoon Tutorial Reel.