AS Language: Text Types

Voiceovers and Scripted Speeches

VOICEOVERSVoiceover = the voice of an unseen narrator, spoken material.In the exam you may be asked to write the script for a voiceover. The type of

voiceover i.e. whether it is persuasive, promotional, discursive, informative, will depend on your AIM – i.e. what the question asks you to do e.g.

Write the script for a voiceover of a radio programme aimed at teenage audience called Brave New World. In the programme, a student on the point of leaving school describes her or his feelings about moving into a new stage of life. In you writing, create a sense of the hopes and fears that the narrator is experiencing.

From this we can deduce:• T – TYPE: voiceover• A – AUDIENCE: teenagers• A – AIM: convey the hopes and fears the teen may be feeling at the point

of leaving school – To discuss, inform...can even be entertaining• T – TONE: informal, humorous but also element of seriousness so as not to

undermine the life change the teen is about to embark on

ELEMENTS OF A VOICEOVER SCRIPT:

SCRIPTED SPEECHES:Scripted speeches are those that are prepared and written down in

advance in contrast to the kind of spontaneous conversation and dialogue we use in everyday situations. Scripted speeches may be political speeches or speeches addressed to particular organisations or gatherings. They may be intended for public mass audiences or for more local and private meetings. Such speeches:

• Seek to engage their audience in a range of ways, often with rhetorical techniques similar to those used in persuasive writing; they may or may not offer counter-arguments

• Tend to offer a particular line or point of view and attempt to persuade listeners to share their vision

• May try to establish a particular mood, a particular attempt to come to terms with issues or events or a vision of the future; they may draw on a range of techniques to achieve these ends.

KEY TECHNIQUE: THE DIRECT APPROACH

• What is the main point that Aung San Suu Kyi makes in this speech?• How would you describe the mode of address? Is it direct and straightforward? Or more subtle and complex?• How can you tell?

SCRIPTED SPEECHES: CONVEYING TONE OR MOOD

FURTHER RESEARCH: For more examples of scripted speeches visit the following websites:www.historyplace.com/speecheshttp://www.nobelprize.org/index.html

KEY FEATURES/CONVENTIONS OF SCRIPTED SPEECHES

Recap your persuasive techniques in order to effectively summarise the conventions o scripted speeches under the following headings:

• LAYOUT/STRUCTURE• STYLE• AUDIENCE• AIM• TONEHint: Consider things like rhetoric; emotive language (figures –

metaphors, similes etc - and parts of speech); repetition in the form of words, phrases, ideas, themes or images; use of personal pronouns; contrasting images, ideas, themes that may or may not be juxtaposed to achieve a particular effect; discourse markers; personal anecdotes; a call for action.