voice overs

Most screenwriting gurus don't recommend voice-overs but I just finished watching Love Actually and In America on DVD and both of them start with voice-overs. What do you all feel about them (voice-overs)?

Oh right... this is the third week of the month so it's time to talk about voice overs again.

First week of the month - Debate over "We see..."
Second week - Use of flashbacks
Third week - Voice overs
Fourth week - Debate over the 3 Act structure.


If you can do it well, go ahead and use voice overs. If it's simply a means for you to reveal exposition in a dull manner, don't use it.

The reason new writers are cautioned against voice overs is because they tend to do it exceptionally bad. If the tool (we see, voice overs, flashbacks) manages to give information you wouldn't have had otherwise in an entertaining and compelling way, by all means use it.

Learn to use the tool - find all movies with voice overs you can find and read their scripts. American Beauty and Casino come automatically to mind. I'm sure if you start a thread over on Films to ask for films with successful voice overs you'd get a ton more titles.

Voice overs have such a bad rep. But when they're used well they can help illuminate an otherwise muddy narrative.

Just use them in moderation...

Winter in New York

Geevie's Plato sig line works well as a piece of advice.

If it is necessary, then use it. Just as a playwright might find it necessary for a character to breakdown the fourth wall and communicate to the audience. Do not, however, use voice over for the sake of using voice over.

I don't think Sunset Blvd would have worked so well without voice-over.

Well, I’ve just watched 'Goodfellas' and it’s obvious a justified V/O is a powerful story telling tool.

Wow that was, erm, obvious...

I don't understand why the "experts" and all their books say you shouldn't use VO.

VO are used in so many movies! do the people writing these books actually watch any movies...? I can't remember which book, but in a column I read in "script mag", they were talking about you shouldn't have voice over from other than the main character.

I just finished watching "the last samuri"... VO all over the movie and the big VO at the end of the movie... NOT from the main character.

I hate to quote jack black in school of rock but...

those who can do, those who can't teach...

Okay, when do we get to bitch about brads? How many? Which holes? Can he carry a movie?

Can I draw a picture on the cover of my 550 page ring bound script? I used green paper by the way, as it looks nice.