WRITING YOUR SCREENPLAY: VOICE-OVER
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.
NARRATOR
The librarian suddenly felt a pang of hunger and
a desire to listen to holiday music.
Voice-over can be delightful when done well, eliciting the same kind of conspiratorial joy of an actor in a play breaking the fourth wall and inviting us into their private thoughts. The emphasis here ought to be on “breaking” the wall or the rules/conventions. It’s not natural to situate ourselves inside a person’s head. Similarly, in films, which evoke a certain sense of naturalism, it can feel jarring to hear a storybook-style narrator.
This week, we’ll look at scripts where voice-over plays a critical role. We’ll dissect the devices and methods used to make it feel effortless.
Before we get started, let’s clarify one thing. Voice-over is often delineated in scripts with the character’s NAME and (V.O.) in parentheses next to it. Writers take different liberties in writing voice-over, but this is the generally accepted practice. Voice-over is different from off-screen (O.S.) or off-camera (O.C.) dialogue. It’s the internal voice of an individual or it’s the voice of the narrator/God.
If debating including voice-over in your script, ask yourself these questions—
Is there a more compelling way I can SHOW this information without needing to explain it in voice-over?
Does the V.O. enrich, comment on or add to what we’re seeing on screen?
Does the voice-over (or narration) help to involve the reader more cleverly in the script/film?
For additional questions about these and other scripts, as always, e-mail library@wgfoundation.org
Until next time, happy writing!
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