Amateur Filmmaker

lilmissprincess

Ok, so I've been in a film making group for teenagers for the last 2, 3 years. Doing my second DIY project in two years, last year was a documentary but I decided this year to do a scripted drama. My final edited script is what has been described as "totally emo". Its called "love Hurts", and its got a cast of roughly ten people.
I've decided that all dialogue will be voiceovers...
is this a good or bad idea?

monkeyfudge

Well it depends on what suits the storyline.

It will certainly make shooting easier for you as you won't have to worry too much about getting levels right while on location.

Do you have access to decent facilities to record the voice overs? If not drop me a PM and I might be able to sort you out.

lilmissprincess

Its basically stories, all these people are in the same room, and they're thinking over whats happened to them. One girl is writing a letter to her best friend who died. Another is looking through a photo album at memories. Two more are wondering where the hell the problem lay in teh first place.

Zombrex

Sounds interesting, but you will have to be careful to get the emotions of the characters to match up with the voice overs. And you will need some good actors to convey feelings without speaking.

monkeyfudge

I'm of the belief that you can never accurately portray emotions without actualising it in some way.

If someone is pissed off and doesn't have any lines they need break something or harm themselves in some way. I hate when actors think they are so good they think they can portray emotion without action or dialogue. Not everyone feels things the same way so it doesn't matter what dumb look the actor puts on their face.

BlitzKrieg

you mean like in the butterfly effect with ashton kutcher thought a beard made him look clever?

lilmissprincess

The emotion is going to be there, for the longest scene with the voiceover, I have cast a girl that I've done youth theatre with for two years and her main excel point is emotion acting without speech.

Devinho

I was warned off voiceovers as being the easy way out - I only use it when I have absolutely no other choice. Is there another way of approaching the script?