Writing the Voice Over

1. The Voice Over
Just the Facts

2. First Sentence
PROVOKE!

3. First Sentence
• Identify who - exactly by making an
active, specific, statement.

4. “Katherine Nearing does
makeup better than the makeup
artists in Hollywood.”

5. “Jay Barnes sings his heart out
to the world.”

6. “Paige Janiszewski lives by one
rule, family over everything.”

7. “Mark Burchick is a proud
member of the Catholic
Church.”

8. Second Sentence
Start with…

9. …specific details.
“At 22 years old Katherine…”
“Nearly six foot one, Jay…”
“Paige, with her twelve brothers
and sisters …”

10. Second Sentence
Second part…

11. …use an active verb.
“At 22 years old, Katherine dolls up
her friends faces with makeup
every night before they go out.

12. …use an active verb.
“Nearly six foot one, Jay strides
across campus on a Thursday with
his Bob Marley headphones on
listening to Bruno Mars ”

13. …use an active verb.
“Paige, with her twelve brothers
and sisters, toiled in her parent’s
seafood restaurant since eighth
grade.”

14. …use an active verb.
• Try not to use “is” as verb
(passive)
• Use a (seemingly) overly-specific
verb of action

15. The rest of the V.O.
• V.O. tells the story in select
details and choices.
• No opinions.
• No report of feelings.
• Fact-based declarative sentences.

16. Theme A: Katherine does makeup better than
the makeup artists in Hollywood.
• At 22 years old Katherine dolls up her friends faces with makeup
every night before they go out.
• Her love of playing with her mom’s makeup at the age of seven
eventually lead to her enjoying doing not only her makeup but all of
her friends and her roomates’ Layla and Katey’s makeup.
• She even decided to strengthen her skills of doing makeup by
enrolling in makeup classes when she came to Towson University in
the Fall of 2012.
• The Towson University Department of Theatre Arts has been voted
Best College Theatre Program in Maryland Theatre Guide’s Reader’s
Choice Awards of 2013. Even though she has decided not to pursue
a career as a makeup artist she remains on track to graduate from
Towson’s Electronic Media & Film Major in the Spring of 2014.

17. Theme B: Cosmetology is a low-paying career
• According to the Occupational Outlook Handbook, median
pay for a cosmetologist was below $22,000 a year.
• In her desk drawer, Katherine keeps a sheet of paper with a
running total of college loans she will be paying back starting
months after she graduates.
• Before applying to Towson, Katherine spend six seeks, driving
with her sister around Maryland visiting more than half a
dozen licensed cosmetology schools.
• All states require barbers, hairdressers, and cosmetologists to
be licensed. To qualify for a license, candidates are required to
graduate from a state-approved cosmetology program.

18. A Place for a Factoid
Nearly 15% of caregivers for
people with Alzheimer's or another
dementia are long-distance
caregivers.

19. A Place for a Factoid
The Towson University Department
of Theatre Arts has been voted
Best College Theatre Program in
Maryland Theatre Guide’s Reader’s
Choice Awards of 2013.

20. A Place for a Factoid
The show's format features four
stages of competition: the blind
audition, the battle round, the
knockout round and the finals
competition.

21. A Look Ahead
Beyond the Voice Over

22. Combining:
Sound Bites
Voice Over
B-Roll

23. One way: Show, Tell, then Exclaim
• FIRST, reveal in B-Roll a revealing action
or visual
• SECOND, add in V.O. specific fact or detail
that IS NOT VISIBLE OR ADDS TO THE
SHOT.
• THIRD, drive the assertion home with an
evocative soundbite.

24. INT: PAIGE’S DOMATORY
Paige enters, shuts door, drops her heavy
bookbag on her bed.
NARRATION:
Since coming to Towson, Paige is now three
hours away from her tight-knit family.
PAIGE:
“A symbol that I always associate with my family
is a compass. I have a tattoo of a compass too
because it symbolizes like always finding my way
back home. Like my family is everything.”

25. INT: KATHERINE’S BATHROOM
ECU: A large blushing brush smears around in a
tray of powdered color, red mixing with blue.
NARRATION:
Katherine zeroed in on stage makeup by
enrolling in classes at Towson in the Fall of 2012.
KATHERINE:
“I remember sneaking into my mom's makeup
and grabbing whatever I could. I would take my
mom's purple eyeshadow and give myself a
black eye.”

26. EXT: TOWSON’S ‘BEACH’
Wide pan across a sea of students rushing to
class – zoom in to pick out Jay bouncing along
wearing headphones.
NARRATION:
Jay’s obsession took him all the way to New York
where he auditioned for the The Voice on July
28, 2013
JAY:
“I wasn’t upset. I wasn’t angry or anything. I’d
just auditioned for judges of a show seen by
millions every week!”

27. Resist Literalism!
• Do not slavishly echo the BRoll content in the V.O.

28. Theme A or B - One or the Other
• MOST of your V.O. (70%+) must support
Theme A and Theme B.
• You MUST MUST MUST be conscious of which
theme you are supporting with any given
sentence.

29. NO CUTE ENDINGS
• Seriously, resist the urge to “sum
up” or “draw conclusions” or
“solve the problem.”