Let's Talk Script

[fitheach]

That's a trope that one generally sees in theater, but it can work in film (witness Deadwood and other Milch works to see how). When it's written well, it can be very good. That being said, the pilot script had no monologues, so it wasn't established as part of the style of the show there. That's not to say they can't introduce it later, but I think if it was planned to do things that way, we would have had at least one monologue in the pilot.

Hmmm, I'm gonna miss what's in some characters minds...

[The Iceman of the North]

Hmmm, I'm gonna miss what's in some characters minds...

Maybe you have to read the books to find out? ;)

[thotk]

the scenes which would suffer most from inner-monolouge would be scene were we are introduced to new locals and the important poeple from them...like most of Catlyn's scenes

[Ser_not_appearing_yet]

Hmmm, I'm gonna miss what's in some characters minds...

Its called acting. Well, good acting.

[fitheach]

Its called acting. Well, good acting.

No kidding.:o Acting can show only so much, even good acting. But, yes I'm sure I won't be sobbing into my popcorn for the lack of internal dialogue.

[About Yea High]

No kidding.:o Acting can show only so much, even good acting. But, yes I'm sure I won't be sobbing into my popcorn for the lack of internal dialogue.

We rather thought you'd be naked on a rock, holding your head in a near-fetal position while your sad discarded purple kewpie doll (or whateverthehell that thing is) lays beside you, untended and forlorn.

[The Pita]

I was convinced they were birds...

[Ser_not_appearing_yet]

No kidding.:o Acting can show only so much, even good acting. But, yes I'm sure I won't be sobbing into my popcorn for the lack of internal dialogue.

Just felt it needed to be said.

I don't like internal monologues in films personally.

[About Yea High]

I was convinced they were birds...

I'm convinced you've lost your shoe and have fallen asleep, thus opening yourself to shock and awwwww.

[fitheach]

Just felt it needed to be said.

I don't like internal monologues in films personally.

Really? Guess you don't like film noir, Trainspotting, Taxi Driver, the original Blade Runnner (not the directors cut) etc.. But I understand, it's personal preference. :)

[fitheach]

We rather thought you'd be naked on a rock, holding your head in a near-fetal position while your sad discarded purple kewpie doll (or whateverthehell that thing is) lays beside you, untended and forlorn.

Ugh, kewpie dolls? Really?

Jebus.

[ogbebaba]

Really? Guess you don't like film noir, Trainspotting, Taxi Driver, the original Blade Runnner (not the directors cut) etc.. But I understand, it's personal preference. :)

Yeah i am a big fan of the internal dialog in the books and can think of many movies and shows where it has worked perfectly but in those cases its mostly stories from one point of view with the main character doing the voice over or a narrator letting the audience know the thoughts of various characters

Here are a few examples of what I am talking about

Dexter

American Beauty

Fight Club

Snatch

Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels

The princess bride

American History X

Goodfellas

Casino

The Shawshank Redemption

Sleepers

Stand by Me

Ferris Bueller's Day Off

HBO's Dream On with movie clips letting the audience know what the main character was thinking

so i say let Roy Dotrice have a role in the film and let him do the narration We already know exactly how good he would be from the first 3 audio books (yeah i know this will never happen)

regardless it wold really hurt the story to lose all the wonderful inner dialog.

and here is an interesting article about this voice-over in film

[fitheach]

Yeah i am a big fan of the internal dialog in the books and can think of many movies and shows where it has worked perfectly but in those cases its mostly stories from one point of view with the main character doing the voice over or a narrator letting the audience know the thoughts of various characters

Here are a few examples of what I am talking about

Dexter

American Beauty

Fight Club

Snatch

Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels

The princess bride

American History X

Goodfellas

Casino

The Shawshank Redemption

Sleepers

Stand by Me

Ferris Bueller's Day Off

HBO's Dream On with movie clips letting the audience know what the main character was thinking

so i say let Roy Dotrice have a role in the film and let him do the narration We already know exactly how good he would be from the first 3 audio books (yeah i know this will never happen)

regardless it wold really hurt the story to lose all the wonderful inner dialog.

and here is an interesting article about this voice-over in film

Thanks for the great article on voice over narration, I liked the paragraph on V.O. in fantasy films like LotR trilogy. I agree, it would be interesting if they can't do first person narration for each character (more work than necessary I suppose) haveing Roy Dotrice would work- giving the show a Shakespearian feel too. But it's not in the pilot script, sooooo- not gonna happen.

[Brude]

It's funny, I just finished writing the rough draft of a screenplay that has a lot of voice over narration. Well, it started out with a lot of V.O., and I was doing a pretty good job with it, but about half-way through, as I got very focused on just "getting the story out" (you know, rough draft stuff, you just need to spit it out fast sometimes), I kind of stopped writing the voice over. So now I have this rough draft script that is half structured around having a V.O., and half not. I have a big decision to make whether I go back and rewrite the first half to not have V.O. or re-write the second half to include V.O. Either way, it's going to require quite a lot of work.

[About Yea High]

It's funny, I just finished writing the rough draft of a screenplay that has a lot of voice over narration. Well, it started out with a lot of V.O., and I was doing a pretty good job with it, but about half-way through, as I got very focused on just "getting the story out" (you know, rough draft stuff, you just need to spit it out fast sometimes), I kind of stopped writing the voice over. So now I have this rough draft script that is half structured around having a V.O., and half not. I have a big decision to make whether I go back and rewrite the first half to not have V.O. or re-write the second half to include V.O. Either way, it's going to require quite a lot of work.

I'm curious, but in your experience do script readers / producers usually subtract from the page count because of V.O.s? It seems to me a V. O. would rocket the page count.

[fitheach]

It's funny, I just finished writing the rough draft of a screenplay that has a lot of voice over narration. Well, it started out with a lot of V.O., and I was doing a pretty good job with it, but about half-way through, as I got very focused on just "getting the story out" (you know, rough draft stuff, you just need to spit it out fast sometimes), I kind of stopped writing the voice over. So now I have this rough draft script that is half structured around having a V.O., and half not. I have a big decision to make whether I go back and rewrite the first half to not have V.O. or re-write the second half to include V.O. Either way, it's going to require quite a lot of work.

Guess it depends on whether the V.O. really adds and is important to the story. If it makes sense to keep it I'd suggest continuing, but if it's more a script trick you like (but isn't necessary to the story) then cut it. Yes, it will be some work though, sorry. :|

The only reason I was thinking about V.O. in GoT was that I think it's important to the story since it was written from each characters point of view- not that I expected this on the show, just some version of it. Part of the frustration and suspense in the novels is knowing what the characters don't know. We as an audience see the whole, while the characters see only their piece of the puzzle. This to me is a big part of the series, how it's structured and that we (as the audience) can see the forest through the trees. What we can't see is the land beyond the forest. :o Maybe this is a bad metaphor...

[The Pita]

I've written about five scripts for school movies - I never, EVER, use VO for anything other than phone calls, and even then, I prefer not to use them.

Unless it's absolutely impossible to convey it any other way, do not use a Voice Over. There are, of course, exceptions, but rare ones. I'd rather have text floating across the screen like in Stranger than Fiction, which is a bad example because it also has a VO.

[fitheach]

I've written about five scripts for school movies - I never, EVER, use VO for anything other than phone calls, and even then, I prefer not to use them.

Unless it's absolutely impossible to convey it any other way, do not use a Voice Over. There are, of course, exceptions, but rare ones. I'd rather have text floating across the screen like in Stranger than Fiction, which is a bad example because it also has a VO.

Guess you haven't seen any of the great oscar winning films (list posted above) that are all about the voice over. V.O. is perfectly fine, very useful and at times necessary, if done well.

One of my favorite films with V.O. is The Big Lebowski, but that's just me... :P The dude abides.

[Marcelo Rebelo Firqoralas]

Voice over only works if you only have one narrator. Doing VO for all the POV characters would be absolutely awful.

[The Pita]

Guess you haven't seen any of the great oscar winning films (list posted above) that are all about the voice over. V.O. is perfectly fine, very useful and at times necessary, if done well.

One of my favorite films with V.O. is The Big Lebowski, but that's just me... :P The dude abides.

There's a difference, I think.

Most of those are someone telling a story. The rest have only one guy.

I'm not saying that VOs are bad, I'm saying that they're hard to pull off successfully. If you can write the story without them, I think it would work better. But you need to know what Dexter is thinking, in more than expressions. The Princess Bride works much better as a bedtime story in a movie than it does a simple movie. Stand By Me is someone reflecting on his past, while American Beauty needs the dialogue so the viewer will know that the main guy will die. The Big Lebowski... well... I don't know exactly what purpose the narration served, but it was good. And I love the Cowboy. And Inglourious Basterds needs to impart some knowledge to the audience (HugoSTiGlitZ)

VOs are hard to pull off well, so I just make do without, and it's my advice to anyone who's not sure about them.