Doodly Intermediate Tutorial

Syncing Voiceover to Text

Intermediate Tutorial #10

Syncing Voiceover to Text

One of the first instincts for beginner doodlers is to sync their voiceover with the text on the canvas. Syncing the text is not completely wrong in all situations but I urge you to take a few of the examples from people that do advertisements for a living and find only 1 that keeps your attention that syncs all the text and voiceover together throughout the advertisement.

When is it bad to sync my audio to the text on the canvas?

When you are:

When is it okay to sync my voiceover to text on the canvas?

When you are:

Example:


What Makes Computer Fast

Here is a video I created specifically to test this hypothesis when I was learning Doodly. This uses a combination of images, text and is within 30 seconds because Google business only allows 30 second videos.
What makes your computer fast

Suggestions:

Some things to keep in mind when designing a doodle:

  1. As a video designer, we have 2 to 5 seconds to catch someone’s attention and then we must keep their attention throughout the entire doodle.
  2. Some examples of stress words are: Sale! Buy Now! Don’t Forget! Ends Soon!
  3. Remember, images sell, text describes and audio enhances.
  4. Use images to your advantage. If you want people to know about a product or service then provide them an image to know about a product or service. People are inherently lazy. People want to be entertained. They want to see what comes next. They don’t want to read what comes next. If you are expecting people to stay for your advertisement, then use the K.I.S.S. method (Keep It Simple Stupid).

Feel free to comment if I missed any examples or if you agree or disagree.

Frequently Asked Questions

Find answers to the most common questions regarding this topic.

You should generally steer clear of matching your audio exactly with your on screen text if your video is longer than ten seconds or if you are already using subtitles. Doing this can quickly bore your audience and cause them to lose interest. It is also not recommended for videos that rely heavily on text rather than images.

Stress words are specific phrases that you want your audience to remember, such as a call to action. Examples include phrases like Buy Now or Ends Soon. These are usually short phrases of one or two words that you can sync with your audio and highlight with special effects to make a strong impact on your viewers.

No, it is usually a bad idea to match your spoken words exactly with the text shown in an ad. Professional commercials on major platforms rarely repeat on screen text word for word because viewers want to be entertained rather than forced to read. Images should be used to sell the product while the audio enhances the experience.

As a video creator, you only have about two to five seconds to grab a viewers interest. Once you have their attention, you have to work to maintain it throughout the entire length of the video. Keeping things simple and using engaging images rather than heavy text helps keep viewers entertained.

It is perfectly fine to have your audio match your text when you are creating closed captions or putting together a music video where displaying the lyrics makes sense. It is also acceptable if you are just making a fun project for your friends and family or if you are highlighting short stress words.

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Wayne Leiser
Wayne Leiser
Editor & Contributor
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