Did you know that the Writers Guild of America West has a foundation devoted to enabling/helping writers? And that the Writers Guild Foundation has a blog?
We just found out ourselves, and on our first visit, we saw this.
via Writers Guild Foundation
LIBRARIAN (V.O.)
What a fraud I am! Who am I to impart any kind of
screenwriting wisdom? My foot hurts. AHHHHH!!!
The above is a bit of what we like to call voice-over narration — a practice in movies whereby a character or narrator talks or shares their thoughts OVER the action we see on screen.
Voice-over is likely derived from the choruses of ancient Greek theater, narration in novels, and the voices that provide omniscient commentary in documentaries, newsreels, and educational films.
Whether the narration in a movie (or TV show) comes from an unseen narrator or a character in the story, the purpose is exposition and perspective to help the audience better understand and feel the action. In the voice-over at the top of this post, you see my secret thoughts and feelings, but they’re different from the tone and content of this piece. The voice-over gives you extra insight.
A chorus in a play clarifies what a character is thinking when the character won’t say it or when we can’t see it. A narrator in a novel tells us what we see, hear, and sense, so we can form a picture in our mind’s eye. A voice-over in a documentary explains what we’re seeing to round out our understanding.
Voice-over gets a bad rap when it’s used for the sole purpose of telling us something the screenwriter/filmmakers have failed to SHOW us. Voice-over is sometimes used inelegantly as a fix for story holes.
A helpful metaphor is to think of voice-over like the garnish in a recipe. You can make yams WITHOUT cinnamon sprinkled on top, but cinnamon without the substance of the yams is NOT a meal. Voice-over is there to sweeten and specify once you have the main dish worked out….