… for Random Weirdness

Tip #423: 7 Reasons to Add Narration

Larry Jordan – LarryJordan.com

Narration adds power, speeds action and consolidates back-story.

This article, written by Jourdan Aldredge, first appeared in PremiumBeat. This is an excerpt.

For filmmakers, narration is truly a powerful tool — voice-over narration helps us understand what we’re seeing. Regardless of where you are in production, here are seven reasons you should consider using voice-over narration in your project.

• Beef Up Your Narrative. Adding narration can be a great way to beef up your narrative to turn a section from a weakness into a strength.
• Accelerate Exposition. Set things up much more quickly than otherwise possible.
• Add Depth to a Character.
• Lay Out the Broad Strokes. Especially with sequels, this helps jump start the action by quickly filling in the back-story.
• Make Your Film More Active.
• Add Humor to Your Scenes. Similar to making films more active, adding voice-over narration can also add more humor to your scenes.
• Raise Issues of Reliability. If you are looking to add narration to your project, it’s also worth considering making it less than reliable. An unreliable narrator can cause a very drastic thematic response when the truth is revealed to the audience.