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07.05.2008

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ENTRY #31


    CAPTAIN WILLARD (V.O.)
Saigon.  Shit.  Still only in Saigon.

                     [No, wait -- here: ]

    JIM (V.O.)
Thirty.  Shit.  Only thirty entries in two-and-a-half years.

[Jim, shirtless, sweating, types at the computer.  A large, blackcircular fan spins overhead, sounding like the blades of a helicopter.]

    JIM (V.O.)
And, yet I persist, re-surfacing with another offering whenever I feellike it.  How did I get to this ignominious juncture? “How.”  “Why.”  A lot of good those words do me now.

VOICE OVER

AND OVER

To use voice-over or not to use it.  It bears a stigma -- it’sregarded as a crutch for someone who lacks either the ability or thewill to incorporate exposition into the scenes of the story. Convention wisdom weighs heavily against using it.

So, what kind of screenplay calls for voice-over as a respectable and necessary contributor to the tone, style and story?

A highly complex and oblique story which needs a voice-over to keep theattention of the audience?  No, it’s the job of the writer and thedirector to make the story accessible -- unless obscurity is desired --in which case, there’s no need for voice-over.

A screenplay that’s “novel-esque?”  -- Because it’s an adaptationof a novel, of course -- a sprawling one with time-cuts of yearsbetween segments.  It requires a voice-over to catch up theaudience with all the events which occurred off-screen before the storyresumes.

But the voice-over can’t simply be filling in the off-screen actionbetween the years and seasons of the story.  That’s flatutilitarianism -- a criminal act.

So, the lead character does a voice-over (unless it’s the “observer”character who is spinning a tale about a memorable person).  Howis the voice-over written?  Will it sound like someone is simplyreading passages from a book?  Or actually talking to “you?”

It seems that the voice-over should sound like how this characterspeaks in the scenes of the film; tell a tale in his authenticvoice.  Maybe the voice-over should have an engagingcharacter/story flow unto itself.

But, in summation, I haven’t made anything clear about when to use ornot use voice-over narration, despite my attempt.  Maybe that’sbecause it’s entirely an instinctual call.  You have to feel thatit fits the style, tone and portent of the story.  And, well, youjust have to be right.

[Jim stops typing.  He lets his head fall heavily onto the keyboard.]

    JIM (V.O.)
The typing clanks along, in dysrythmic fits, like the broken clock oftime that sent me on a zig-zag trail to this outpost.  In the pasttwo and a half years, a lot has happened that you should know about ...