Billy leaps into the convertible, and they speed off toward a flat horizon.
Tom (V.O.)
Billy and I cut through the desert on an antique road that seemed to hit only the deadest towns in America. He seemed content with the scenery, and I liked the people. Shut-ins, outcasts, people who knew harder things than the rest of us, drinking 20 hours a day, working at gas stations, catching rattlers at dusk.
The convertible slows as it passes five buildings that signal a new community. The men gaze as various characters sitting out on porches and chatting on parked motorcycles.
Tom (V.O.)
They had a way about them that put you at ease and also on notice with a single glance. They didn’t care about the stock market or primetime television or anybody’s history. Billy liked the goings-on, so we settled in a little town called Preacher’s Pit – a title almost in defiance of the place it really was.
The convertible ambles past a sign declaring “Preacher’s Pit” and turns into the dirt parking lot of a dilapidated motel.
There are a lot of ways to screw up a voice-over. It can seem overly complex, repetitive against the action on the screen or just plain dull. But it does not have to be the “flaccid, sloppy writing” that a caricature of McKee demeans in Charlie Kaufman’s exemplary film Adaptation. If you fancy writing a voice-over in your screenplay, here are three simple rules to put you on the right road.
- Be Clear and Consistent
Always remember that your audience has one shot to understand your voice-over. They can’t linger on the words like they can prose in a book. They also are keeping tabs on the what’s happening visually, so try to manage the voice-over against the action so that they compliment one another and do not get in each other’s way.
Be precise with the language and match it with the tone of the story and the character speaking. Forrest Gump’s narration should be simple and staccato, while Shawshank Redemption’s can be more cerebral and introspective. Do not go for a haughty one-liner if it is out of character for the narrator, no matter how good the line is.
If your narrator is just that, and not a character in the story (see the sublime narration in Vicki Christina Barcelona for an example), then develop it like it’s a character anyway, and don’t stray from the tone of your movie and the vocabulary of your characters. This type of consistency will encourage viewers to trust the voice-over and lean forward in earnest when hearing the voice.
The following is a voice-over from Amelie that is clear and consistent.
- Provide New Information
To create a truly great voice-over, you must make it indispensable. This means it must provide information not otherwise evident throughout the film. Do not simply reinforce what is on the screen. You must provide insight so that viewers consider the words worthwhile and, hopefully, revelatory.
The following is a voice-over from The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford that provides a torrent of introductory information that is only hinted at with the images on the screen. It does elegantly in two minutes what would take thirty minutes of screen time to establish without the voice-over.
- Make It Memorable
Make your voice-over distinctive. While obeying the characters and tone you have set, try to give the voice an idiosyncratic personality. Do not neglect its development while writing the rest of the story because it sometimes becomes the most blatant part of the movie. If the voice-over does not impress, strong characters and dense plotting often will not make up for what the audience will perceive as a half-assed outer layer.
Can you imagine the opening of Trainspotting without that gloriously manic narration? Would the teenage meanderings of the road trip in Y Tu Mama Tambien be as effective without comparison to the uncompromisingly mature voice-over? We remember these films as we remember their voice-overs. The narration leads the charge, so to speak, in embellishing our imaginations. A unique voice-over makes a unique film, and let’s be honest; that’s what we’re all striving to write.
The following clip features one of the most unique voice-overs in recent memory. It’s what many people think of first when they hear the term “voice-over,” and it requires no further introduction.
~Matthew Wayt, Guest Blogger
When you think of voice-over what films spring to mind? What is it about the voice-over that resonated with you?
I was reading blog and wanted some info. I'm a local comedian and have been practicing voice over work for about six months. I have a distinct voice and want to utilize it. I was wondering if there is any other training opputunties or anything else available. Please contact me at flagship25@hotmail.com
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