The Voice Over

Just the Facts

First Sentence

PROVOKE!

First Sentence

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

“Katherine Nearing does makeup better than the makeup

artists in Hollywood.”

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

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

“Mark Burchick is a proud member of the Catholic

Church.”

Second Sentence

Start with…

“At 22 years old Katherine…”

“Nearly six foot one, Jay…”

“Paige, with her twelve brothers and sisters …”

…specific details.

Second Sentence

Second part…

…use an active verb.

“At 22 years old, Katherine dolls up her friends faces with makeup every night before they go out.

…use an active verb.

“Nearly six foot one, Jay stridesacross campus on a Thursday with

his Bob Marley headphones on listening to Bruno Mars ”

…use an active verb.

“Paige, with her twelve brothers and sisters, toiled in her parent’s seafood restaurant since eighth

grade.”

…use an active verb.

• Try not to use “is” as verb (passive)

• Use a (seemingly) overly-specific verb of action

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.

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.

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.

A Place for a Factoid

Nearly 15% of caregivers for people with Alzheimer's or another

dementia are long-distance caregivers.

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.

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.

A Look Ahead

Beyond the Voice Over

Combining:

Sound Bites Voice Over

B-Roll

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.

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.”

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.”

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!”

Resist Literalism!

• Do not slavishly echo the B-Roll content in the V.O.

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.

NO CUTE ENDINGS

• Seriously, resist the urge to “sum up” or “draw conclusions” or “solve the problem.”