Amazon Books | TV Commercial

I was delighted to the provide a TV Commercial voiceover for this Amazon television campaign – using a light South Wales accent. This advert focussed on Amazon Books and was one of 4 black & white films created for the “Amazon Thinking” campaign – promoting various aspects of the Amazon.co.uk online store. The advertising Agency, HHCL & Partners, had the idea of showing people in various professions and then have their thoughts projected as voiceovers – linking their stream of consciousness to customer benefits experienced when using Amazon. The grainy, black & white footage was shot on the River Thames in London, aboard a guided-tour boat. You can hear the tour guide speaking in part of the advert and the chug of the engine throughout . The famous Tower Bridge is seen in the background.

The history of this voiceover job is unusual; Via an acting audition I first landed the role of the photographer in the scene. After we filmed on the boat, the agency asked me to record some voice samples to give them ideas on what might work as the thoughts/voiceover of the photographer. This involved me sitting in the front of an old car with the sound man from the film crew. He held his boom mic in front of me with the “dead cat” attached – it was pretty cramped in there! I offered a range of accents and styles;  Standard English, Cheshire (my birthplace), South Welsh (my fathers family are from Ebbw Vale and its an accent I grew up hearing) and Scottish, which I had always enjoyed doing. It seems the South Wales lilt was a hit with the agency and client – I was hired to do my first national TV commercial voiceover! The voiceover was recorded at the excellent Scramble Soho Studios in London and the commercial screened for several months in the UK.

AMAZON

Amazon is an American electronic commerce and cloud computing company with headquarters in Seattle, Washington. It is the largest Internet-based retailer in the world by total sales and market capitalization.

Amazon Website: Amazon.co.uk

Task

Provide a naturalistic, conversational TV Commercial voiceover using a light South Wales accent.

Skills

  • Provision of voice samples using various accents and styles for the agency to consider
  • Voiceover with South Wales accent.
  • Follow agency / client direction at London recording studio.