Many thanks to those of you who have sent in questions for this blog. Here are a few...
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Q: For a script with voice-overs are there any guidelines for too
many, or too few?
A: There are no hard-and-fast rules about the use of voice-over. The main things to be aware of when including voice-over in your script
are:
a). Avoid wall-to-wall voice-over. That sort of thing can be
really annoying. A little here, a little there is fine.
b). Don't have the voice-over tell us what we're
already seeing. In other words, if your character walks into a room and sits
down at a desk, don't have the voice-over say, "I walked into the room and
sat down at the desk." The voice-over should give us entirely new
information to the scene and/or what the character is thinking/feeling. Having
voice-over that actually contradicts what we are seeing can also be
interesting.
c) If you're going to have a voice-over at the end of your story,
make sure you have it at the beginning of your story. It's very jarring to
suddenly have a voice-over in the final moments of the film when it wasn't
established earlier on.
Many films have used voice-over
effectively. Here are some that come to mind:
SUNSET BOULEVARD (1950)
TAKE THE MONEY AND RUN (1969)
TAXI DRIVER (1976)
APOCALYPSE NOW (1979)
FATHER OF THE BRIDE (1991)
THE SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION (1994)
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Q: At the end of many movies, there are graphics describing what
has happened to some of the characters in the film. What is the best format for
this, rolling titles, or separate screens?
A: I say just keep it simple and keep it uncomplicated. If the
director wants to use graphics/photos or rolling titles or whatever, let him
make that decision. Your job is to tell us the movie is over and there
are some final words about the story and/or characters. There are several ways of
accomplishing this. Here are a couple:
BLACK SCREEN. Over this, SUPER legend: “Johnny Denton was killed
in a car wreck on April 2, 1975 …”
Over BLACK SCREEN, SUPERIMPOSE: “Johnny Denton was killed in a car wreck on April 2, 1975 …” [Make
sure you put quote marks around the word that are to appear on screen.]
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