If there's one thing I hate it's blanket statements. The burr
under my saddle today is "voice overs don't work." Next time someone
says this, I'm not going to correct them with words of wisdom such as,
"I'd qualify that. Bad voice overs don't work." No, instead, I'm going
to tell them to watch Kind Hearts and Coronets. No, check that, that's
in black and white and English, and anyone who would make such a
ridiculous proclamation probably wouldn't know Ealing Studios from East
L.A. No, I'm just going to make them watch this scene from Goodfellas.
Once I heard someone pulled a stunt on some script readers. This prankster genius took the script of Casablanca, changed the title, names and a few other identifiers and submitted it to agents and producers. It was roundly rejected. I'd like to do that with Goodfellas. I have this theory that when the reader would come to the first (V.O.) they'd throw the script in the recycle bin. It's a knee-jerk rejection by some "industry" folks.
It's a tool, people, okay?! Like everything else in the cinematic arsenal, voice over can be used for good or evil. How you employ it is what makes it work or not. I mean, this is obvious, right? But this attitude is prevalent and has seeped into many screenwriter's consciousness. So much so that I've been toying with the idea of writing a screenplay that relies heavily on voice over just to prove this perception wrong. Of course, this wouldn't be wise because once the readers saw that first (V.O.)...
So, here's what I'm suggesting: Let's start a Voice Over Renaissance. We begin here with you, dear reader, listing the best uses of voice over in cinema.
Along with the two I mentioned, I'm also going to throw High Fidelity in there. Now it's your turn. Ready? Go!
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