voiceover formatting?

[bethany]

This is a small problem, but it's baffling me...

Okay, I'm working in final draft 8, and my question is, if I want to have the character speak, followed by the character doing a voiceover, what is the format for this...

What I'm getting is

Parker
talk talk talk

Parker (V.O.) (Cont'd)
talk talk talk

I know this isn't right, but I'm not sure how to indicate that the dialogue becomes voiceover (or the voiceover becomes dialogue).

[clockwork]

I think what you've got is fine. What you're writing will have to be recorded separately so it needs its own character name and voice over indicator which is what you've got. But I'd lose the (Cont'd), it's a bit redundant.


ETA - This is from the Flight Club screenplay and it's how they did it too--

JACK
Why are we both ... caught up like this ... with ...?

JACK (V.O.)
I came so close to saying Tyler's name, I could feel it vibrate inside
my mouth.

Marla looks at him curiously, waiting.

JACK
Why does a weak person go out and find a strong person to ... hang
onto?

[Jim McLain]

I think Clockwork has it right although I'm not sure MovieMagic would let you dispense with the (Cont'd). Of course, I never tried.

[clockwork]

You can turn them off in Final Draft, not sure about MM but it's probably a good idea. The VO really is a separate character and not a continuation of the original. Technically, this is more accurate--

Parker
talk talk talk

Parker (V.O.)
talk talk talk

Parker (Cont'd)
talk talk talk

But if you have a long string of a character talking and narrating it could get quite ugly...

Parker
I'm a good listener.

Parker (V.O.)
I was lying.

Parker (Cont'd)
I enjoy long walks in the park...

Parker (V.O) (Cont'd)
More bullshit.

Parker (Cont'd)
And I love cooking.

Parker (V.O) (Cont'd)
God, I'm good.

It's cluttered and going to look ugly on the page. Best to just leave them out and trust that (V.O) is enough to indicate when which character is talking.

Parker
I'm a good listener.

Parker (V.O.)
I was lying.

Parker
I enjoy long walks in the park...

Parker (V.O)
More bullshit.

Parker
And I love cooking.

Parker (V.O)
God, I'm good.

[Paradis]

good posts, and question.

[ComicBent]

You can turn off the Character "continued" feature in Screenwriter. You do it under Format | Element Styles ... Character Name.

What is happening when the character suddenly speaks in Voice-Over? Obviously, the character was on screen until that point. Did he just vanish?

There is nothing wrong with going from plain dialogue to Voice-Over, but something has to account for the absence of the speaker who was there a moment before.

[clockwork]

Well, in this instance we're talking about internal monologue. You're hearing what the character is thinking in that moment so they don't go anywhere.

[killbox]

I wrote a script that featured the protag narrating his life from the moment of his birth. It worked great in the beginning, but by time you get to the serious back and forth dialogue in the script, it turned into a mess. Everything was a CONT'D and if you turn it off in FD, it turns it off completely.

Which is why a lot of people suggest this type of writing in moderation, or finding unique ways to limit the amount of internal dialogue/narration just because if every other few sentences is more internal thoughts- your script is going to start looking pretty funky by the end.

So from my experiences, get creative and keep it in moderation and your script should look fine.

[nmstevens]

You can turn off the Character "continued" feature in Screenwriter. You do it under Format | Element Styles ... Character Name.

What is happening when the character suddenly speaks in Voice-Over? Obviously, the character was on screen until that point. Did he just vanish?

There is nothing wrong with going from plain dialogue to Voice-Over, but something has to account for the absence of the speaker who was there a moment before.

You have to distinguish between Voice Over and Off Screen.

The same character can be On Screen and speaking in Voice Over (V.O.), but obviously can't be On Screen and speaking Off Screen (O.S.).

They're two different things and mean two different things.

When someone is speaking off screen, it means that, while they are not visible to the viewer, they are nevertheless present within the physical *world* of the story -- in another room, locked in a closet, on the other end of a phone or a voice box, or a radio receiver. The point is, the voice that the audience is hearing is likewise audible within the fictional universe of the story.

A Voice Over, on the other hand -- unless you're dealing with some kind of fourth-wall-breaking, is audible only to the audience. Somebody in the world of the story doesn't hear it.

It is either a narrator speaking to *us* -- whether that narrator is someone within the story or separate from it, or else we're hearing the thoughts of a character (and we're not talking about telepathy here -- but literally hearing or being told what somebody is thinking).

But in any case, the Voice Over isn't audible in the "real world" of the story.

Only *we* -- the audience, hears it.

Take something like Goodfellas -- it's full of Voice Overs. Even different characters speak -- and *they* -- the characters in question, are always on screen when they -- the characters, are speaking in Voice Over.

NMS