Words are sometimes worth a thousand pictures.
Voice overs can be good, they can be shit, and I don't particularly hate or like them because they are simply one of many cinematic tools at your disposal. Some movies rely on them more than others. For instance, Fight Club relies completely on the voice overs to link everything together. It is a very very skilled use, and isn't corny in the slightest. If you just hate voice overs because they allow the filmmakers to loosen up on the visual aspect of their picture, then don't use them.
Words are sometimes worth a thousand pictures.
one word- Adaptation
<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">That's just one example. Another would be American Beauty.The screenwriter's rule book states: "The one thing you must never do is start a film with voiceover and boring exposition about where you are. And if you assume to use voiceover you must at least identify who the voice belongs to."
The Third Man evidently throws the rule book out the window. "What happened with The Third Man," Hare explains, "is that in the cutting room they couldn't get into the film, so they had the idea to put a prologue on the front in which they'd explain everything to the audience - thus breaking all the rules.
The man who speaks that prologue is not in the film. It turns out he's Carol Reed, the director of the movie, who simply went into a sound booth and did that voiceover.
"(In the film) you never know who that man is, he's never referred to again and he's not integral to the plot. And yet the genius of it is this 'clubland tone' the man has, as if he's sitting in a chair next to you by the fire and he is the storyteller. But at no point is it explained that he's the storyteller and it's the most extraordinary set-up for a film."
"She said we should meet at the club, right away. As I had never heard of the Club Rightaway, I suggested that we meet at Club Flamingo instead."
The Naked Gun. Best use of voiceover ever. [img]biggrin.gif[/img]
There are so many good examples of voice overs in so many great films. As others have commented, the point is the same as applies to many film techniques - if it's used poorly, and without careful consideration it's going to have a negative effect. The thing I didn't understand were the comments from people saying that they just don't like voice overs regardless of how and when they are used... I was wondering whether I was missing something...
Its interesting when the Voice Over interacts with the characters on-screen... like in Fight Club, with Edward Norton's narration.
Yep, that whole Ed Norton voice over sequece at the start of Fight Club is superb!
<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">yeah, that was me and Tongachud gave me critic at once... *laughs*Originally posted by Justin M.:
I've read a few comments on the board recently about how people 'hate' voice overs.
Ok, the thing is like everybody here said. Good ones and bad ones. I just don't think that VO's can add much to the movie (lot of times they just take away the possibility to think independently as a viewer by explaining everything), but there is movies that are more or less based on VO and that's a different thing. For example Trainspotting.
<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">There's much more in a movie than only VO's and spoken dialogue ;-) When I said I hate VO's I wasn't suggesting anyone to replace VO with only spoken dialogue...Originally posted by Justin M.:
I love voice overs in films - it gives much much more of an insight into a character's thoughts than can be achieved through spoken dialogue alone.
<font color="#a62a2a" size="1">[ April 21, 2004 06:55 PM: Message edited by: bigmasi ]</font>
I'm redrafting a script with VO, my first to include it. Like everyone seems to, I think it has its place. I disagree with you on one pooint bigmasi, I think a good VO can transform a film.
For example, say what you like about Blade Runner, but the difference between the VO cut and the "directors" cut is immense; they are two very different films. I happen to prefer the DC, but I suspect its appeal would have been significantly more limited than the VO cut.
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