As I haven't had a lot of experience within voice overs, I decided to research into the use of them in character based films, such as comedies, dramas etc as I am confident that the voice overs would be used differently throughout each genre. I want to make sure we are using voice overs appropriately in our comedy. Throughout my research I found that films use "voice overs to provide quick exposition, tell stories, narrate, and provide an intimate look into the mind of a character" (Laughman, n/d). Looking at this, I think that the voice overs we need to add to the edit are to tell the story, and to possibly narrate the story. We need a couple of lines to help transition from one scene to another, this would be to help tell the story and explain how we got from one scene to another.
Voice overs can also be used to "talk about events as they happen on screen" (Laughman, n/d). We have planned to get some GVs of the van driving around which we think would combined nicely with a couple of lines of dialogue. By using the voice over here, we would have Tim explain why they're driving around and where they are heading. This would show him talking about the event that is happening on the screen. A benefit of using voicer over is that it can be played "whenever it is convenient, and the audience know that it is being spoken to and by whom" (Laughman, n/d). As we are planning on using the first voice over at the end of the second scene, we would have given the audience 4 minutes and 55 seconds to establish who's voice is who's between the main two characters (based on the timings of rough cut 2 - this will become shorter the more refined the film becomes), which for a short film, is a substantial amount of time.
VOICE OVER DAY
Cast
Tim Stewart - Ed Allenby
Luke Lucas - Daniel Hemsley
Crew
Producer / editor - Melissa
Writer / director - Alex
During the edit, we have a couple of transitions between scenes and a few shots where we are just watching the van. Instead of cutting these shots, Alex suggested getting a few improvisation dialogue clips from our two main characters to put over the shots of the van. I may also be able to put these elsewhere in the edit to help tell the story.
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| Voiceover day with Alex, Ed 'Tim' and Dan 'Luke' |
Although I was working as the editor on the voice over day by working on the computer to record and save their dialogue. I had to think in the mindset of a producer as well, by making sure we recorded all the voice overs that know we definitely needed. I liaised with Alex prior to the day to work out what scenes exactly we needed the voice over for and I took a note of them. With this, I was able to tick off each scene after Ed and Dan created a few different stories for each one. This method was the one I used to make sure we got all the shots listed on the shoot days. As this worked, I felt it would be best to use the same method for the voice over day.
The scenes I noted down where we definitely needed voice overs for were:
- Scene 2 - when Tim reverses the van off the drive
- Scenes 6 - 7 - when Tim and Luke are driving from Sheila's house to The Kent Owl Academy
- Scene 13 - when Tim drives the van out of The Bell Inn car park
We see the van driving away at the end of scene 2. This is the first time that Tim has seen the van and the slogan is revealed. As the editor, I have the opportunity to simply cut the shot of the van driving off the drive, however, I wanted to see if I could work in a comedic voice over clip before considering cutting it. As VET-MAN is a comedy the editing needs to be sharp and quick in order to build on the humour. As we have a relatively long time within the post-production stage, this is the opportunity to try the voice over and if it still feels too long and not in time with the rest of the snappy editing, then I will return to my first idea of cutting the van driving off the drive.
There was no script for the voice over day, we wanted Ed and Dan to improvise a couple of stories for us. During the shoot days it was obvious that the pair got along and would make each other laugh regularly with odd comments. When we reviewed the GoPro footage we took on shoot day 3, we noticed that as Ed was turning the van round to attempt the emergency stop as if he had just hit the dog, both Ed and Dan decided to create a little improvised sketch. Due to the van only having two seats, when we wanted to film Ed driving, there could only be those two sat in the van. As a result of this, we didn't realise the footage existed until I was reviewing the footage for the rough cut. From then, Alex and I were confident that we could get a couple of good improvised stories from them both to use in the film.
We welcomed them into the studios on the voice over day and explained what we wanted from them. Remembering my research into ADR and how some actors struggle to stand in an empty room and immediately get back into character, we spoke to them first to get them comfortable around us again and showed them the latest edit of the film (rough cut 2) to try and help them get back into their character. Although this research was about ADR, Ed and Dan would both need to be back into their character for the voice over as well. In order to get the voice level and articulation correct, I would prep them in the same way whether we started with voice over or ADR first. The shoot week ended two weeks prior to the voiceover day so I fully understood the pressure of trying to get back into the mindset of their characters. Especially if they have been working on other projects within these two weeks. However, once we had spoke to them for a bit and showed them the current edit, it didn't take long for them to get back into their characters.
We left the story ideas open to both of them. Alex and I were interested in where they would take each story. We explained at which part of the film we wanted the voice overs to go. For example, for the voice over to be used when Tim drives the van off the drive in scene 2, we explained that the conversation could be about the drugs that have just been discovered in the glove compartment. However, the conversation also could have gone in the direction of Tim explaining where they were heading to. Alex and I had already thought about having that particular discussion after the dog hit when they were on their way to the owl academy. As a result of this, we advised Ed and Dan to create a line or two about the drugs. I felt that this section of dialogue needed to be short instead of a whole conversation because I don't really want to stay on the van leaving the drive for too long. Ideally, I'd like to cut as the van gets onto the road from the drive which doesn't leave a lot of room for a lot of dialogue.
The voice over clip we got from them is below:
ED_17
As Ed and Dan knew we wanted a short line, they just kept coming up with quick jokes on the one recording which explains the silent gaps. I liked the lines they were coming out with, even if I just used Tim's - "what did you say your uncle did again" - line, this would be a good way to relate back to the drugs.
As I said previously, we were trying to find a way to make the story flow from the road in Margate (scene 6) to the owl academy (scene 7) rather than for Tim and Luke to just arrive at the academy. This seemed like a good opportunity for another voice over. I found research to support this as the voice over "provides a direct line between the characters and the audience, which can be used to better tell the story that the filmmaker wants told" (Laughman, n/d). By simply adding in a voice over of Tim explaining where they are going next, can inform the audience of what's happening in between scenes 6 and 7. Instead of changing shots around in the edit and trying to make it complicated, by adding in a voice over of Tim explaining that they are going to the academy makes the next part of the story a lot clearer. As a result of this, we asked Ed and Dan to create a story surrounding the idea of heading for the Kent Owl Academy next. Getting a transition to with the academy originated from Simon's feedback, where he suggested getting Tim and Luke to drive the van and then they see the sign for the owl academy so they serve and pull into the entrance. We liked the idea but felt it was slightly unachievable due to the road in which the owl academy is situated on. Alex suggested trying to mask The Kent Owl Academy sign onto a road sign on a quieter road and then driving the van round that corner instead. As we haven't shot the GV's yet, Alex and I felt it would be best to get some voice overs to go on top of the GV's in case we can't mask the sign onto a road sign. Although it sounds like a last resort, I think getting their voice overs on top of the van GV's may actually look quite effective. I made sure we got the voice overs that we had planned by the end of the day to cover each idea I needed to try in the next edit.
They tried the voice over a couple of different times, one started as soon as they sped off away from Sheila's house so Luke is out of breath from running back. This scenario is below:
Improv 1
Improv 2
Improv 4
After this Alex asked them to try it as if they were actually looking for the academy and to start with that. This clip is below:
Improv 5
I liked all of these, they all had different aspects to them that I want to include in the edit, however, I understand that they are all very long. As a result of this, they will need to be chopped down and moved around to create a short story that makes sense, while keeping in the original jokes they made on the spot. We only want the GV's to take up a small amount of time in the film, although we now have dialogue to put on top this still can't be for a long amount of time. Due to creating a comedy, the scenes and shots need to be quick and choppy, and watching a van drive around while listening to some jokes isn't quick or choppy. I will need to play around with these in the edit to try and get the shortest but funniest line to use in the film. In addition to this, I liked Ed's first comment about the glove box from Improv 1 and then the line - "actually no don't go in there" - remembering the discovery he made earlier in the story. I think it's beneficial for the comedy to relate back to aspects of the story. It can make the audience remember back to the joke they may have laughed at the first time. Similar to why Alex brought Tess back to the final scene after writing her lines out. .......
Finally, the last scene that we definitely needed a voice over for was scene 13. This will be placed over the credits as the last thing we see is Tim drive out of the car park of the pub. Due to VET-MAN being inspired by The Thick Of It we would like to replicate their style by using no music. Although we don't want to, we may have to include a small amount of music in the night scene, however, we would quite like to keep the beginning titles silent similarly to The Thick Of It. We didn't want to include any music while the credits are rolling, but we decided against leaving them completely silent. Taking inspiration from The Thick Of It again, they roll their credits over the last scene, so the viewer is listening to the rest of the scene while watching the credits roll. The credits then pause and the viewer is back to watching the scene again, a few seconds later the rest of the credits roll. We won't be cutting up the credits in this way, but the dialogue over the top gave Alex the idea of putting a voice over on top of our credits. After familiarising myself further with episodes of The Thick Of It, I thought that it actually looked quite effective, and it gives us a reason to not use music. To inspire Ed and Dan, Alex and I suggested ideas such as they're leaving after all the events that have happened that day, what are their thoughts on the day? Where do they plan on going next? Should they continue the dream? And as expected they created another well-improvised comedic voice over.
The clips we got after advising what to talk about are below:
Improv 6
ED_16
We liked both of these especially as they both had the ferret comment which we thought was very funny. Listening to them back, I think the first clip was better as it included the original comment about the ferret. The second clip wasn't as organic as they knew we liked the ferret comment so they repeated the same joke. We all laughed at that comment so I would really like this to be the end point of the whole film, just before Luke laughs I will cut it and it'll end on silence.
ADR
We wanted to conduct an ADR session on the voice over day in order to improve the dialogue from the Owl Academy car park, and to replace the dialogue we had lost. I did research into ADR on a previous blog post - Prepping the Re-shoot and Voice over Day, however once we came to the voice over day, I sat down with Ferg and he made me realise actually how hard ADR is, and it won't be able to be done properly without any previous tutoring. As we already had the cast coming in, Alex and I felt it would be best to have the day to focus purely on the voice overs and to conduct the ADR day later on after we've had some practise with Ferg. This way I will be able to fully prepare for the ADR day and it'll hopefully run smoothly. By conducting the voice over on this day rather than waiting to do it with the new ADR day meant that this day wasn't wasted time or money on the budget as we still had work to show from it. As Ferg said, the day wasn't a waste anyway as Alex and I learnt something, however, it was simply easier to conduct the ADR day later on when we would have had more time and a chance to practise using the new sound equipment in Production Room 2.
Having the conversation about ADR to Ferg made me realise that I clearly didn't conduct enough research into how to create ADR as I didn't realise how much preparation it required. As a result of this, I researched further into the technique so I would hopefully be prepped mentally with some knowledge, before sitting and learning the physical side to the sound equipment. I felt strongly about learning the ADR technique properly and not just to get through the day. If I'm going to learn about it, I may as well learn about it properly as a whole, rather than just learning how to do it the once. In addition to this, a future career opportunity may arise in which I need to have basic knowledge of ADR, and if I sit with Ferg a number of times and learn the technique now, I may be able to use it in the future.
Reflection
- I understand that the voice overs we created and the plans I have in mind of where to put the dialogue may change once I return to improving the next rough cut. I could realise that the dialogue is too long and impossible to cut down which would mean that it may need to be cut, or I might be able to get more of the voice overs in elsewhere on top of where we have already planned for them to go (scene 2, 6-7 and 13).
- Researching into voice overs to start with made me realise that they are extremely useful for different types of films. I learnt that they can be used for a quick exposition, to tell stories, for narration, and they can provide an intimate look into the mind of a character. It also made me think that we could have planned a voice over in the script, it didn't have to be used for solution to a problem that we came across later on in production.
- Although I didn't conduct the right sort of research / not enough research into ADR for a completely successful day, this research did help. I remembered the advice from sound recordist Randy Thom and the fact that our actors probably won't be able to get into character immediately. I hope this put both Ed and Dan at ease at the fact I wasn't pushing them or hurrying them up to get into character.
- Realising that we couldn't conduct the ADR was an eye opener. When it was originally recommended it didn't sound like it would require all the preparation and set-up that Ferg was explaining to me. I have learnt to always speak to Ferg first when using a piece of equipment that is new to me. We still have a couple of months left of the course so something may still arise in which I'll need to talk to Ferg about so I have learnt something. I have created a voice over before in Production Room 2, so I thought I could handle the ADR method. Although, the voice over day didn't go to plan completely, I learnt a lot about preparation, which I will take forward into the future.
References:
- Laughman, E. (n/d). The Voice Over and Its Use in Film. Available: https://ctlsites.uga.edu/nvgf/ethans-article/. Last accessed 13th March 2019.
- Thom, R. (n/d). ADR. Available: http://filmsound.org/terminology/adr.htm. Last accessed 9th March 2019.
- Thom, R. (n/d). ADR. Available: http://filmsound.org/terminology/adr.htm. Last accessed 9th March 2019.
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