Topics: TV And Film, Entertainment, Social Media, Gen Z
There's a Hollywood actor responsible for heaps of voiceovers in the late noughties - and now we think about it, his voice sounds so familiar.
Tawny Platis is a voice actor from California who regularly shares videos on social media about her career, voice acting in general and our relationship with certain shows and ads.
In one clip, she explained how the tone of voice actors in TV adverts has changed in response to the different generations, revealing how it was one actor in particular who switched up the high-pitched, overly enthusiastic tone for something more conversational.
Turns out, Jim Halpert from The Office, played by John Krasinski, was the first to adopt a more friendly approach when recording commercials.
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Tawny explained: "The way he did it at the time was groundbreaking, because TV commercials were always very performative, there were a lot of bright voices. But John Krasinski used his Jim Halpert voice from The Office that was basically just like 'hey, I'm just a guy, I'm not really an actor, this is actually how I feel about this thing I'm showing. You can trust me, it's like you're talking to a friend. I'm not announcery, I'm conversational."
Tawny explained that from 2010 until around four years ago, every script for every voice actor audition requested a conversational tone.
However, a few years ago, Tawny explained that there was a shift, marked primarily by the fact that Gen Z had become 'old enough to buy stuff'.
"They think that conversational voice and emotion in general is corny, so now what we see in our scripts and commercials is something called 'detached', which is supposed to sound flat and like you're talking to someone without looking up from your phone," Tawny explained.
"... It's interesting that it's very similar to how Gen X was depicted in the 90s when it comes to that apathetic and blank vocal style that was devoid of any affect except judgement. Just because I'm pretty sure that most of Gen Zs parents are Gen X and usually kids try to differentiate themselves from their parents."
Tawny explained that ultimately, this explains why every ad on TV sounds like either a millennial who is 'casually confiding in you' or Gen Z who 'cannot be bothered'.
People found Tawny's comments super interesting, with one writing on the video: "I feel like this could be a college level course and I would have taken the class."
While another said: "Which is funny because Boomers grew up with announcer voices. Generations go by and the pendulum swings."
