Research in to Voice overs

Voice over

I felt it would be useful for me to research into voice overs and which genres use this edit. A voiceover is a technical element used commonly in trailers. It is most frequently used in theatrical trailers and hardly in teaser trailers. Voice overs can be a huge advantage to trailers since it makes the plot so much easier to understand. The average voice for a voice over is a man’s voice. The sound and feel of the voice is a friendly and inviting and the same voice is used in all trailers which adapt this convention. Since it has become a ‘tradition’ to use this voice, it would break conventions if it weren’t used. The audience identifies this voice with trailers so I feel, if we want our product to be as close to a real media product as possible it would be essential to use a males voice if we choose to include a voice over. A voice over is always accompanied by dialogue from the film as well as a soundtrack sometimes as well as you will be able to see in the following trailers.

Here are the trailers I viewed and analysed:

The princess and the frog
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O8N-kIiELUA

Although we are not making an animated film I thought it would be interesting to see how a voice over is used in an animated film. This is the new film ‘ The princess and the frog’, it is the latest Disney film and aimed at children. As I expected, it includes a voice over and helps engage the audience and tell them what is going on. It is very effective for the audience it is aimed at. It is accompanied by diegtic sound which is the dialogue. Dialogue is also very important in trailers as it gives the audience an insight to the film.

The next two trailers which I analysed are both of the romantic comedy genre and aimed towards the young teenagers and children. They both contain voice overs and this is very familiar to this genre. This is because it goes with the ideologies of this genre. Rom-coms are supposed to be fresh, light and fun and this feel is enhanced by the voice over. Neither of the two contain narrative text as a consequence but this is effective for the age group it is aimed at.

Aquamarine
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CIavKkromVc

The perfect man
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UjMpsamdnbM

It takes two
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fx38xAenUgc&feature=related

This film is a film from the 90’s, also aimed at children and follows the convention of voiceovers. There is fewer dialogue and no music, however very appealing to the audience.

I also looked at trailers such the 2009 thriller ‘Obssessed’ and the horror film ‘Day breakers’ which is set to release in 2010. Both do not include voiceovers in their trailer are aimed at a similar target audience as my group and I. I guess voiceovers are not designed for this genre and I will discuss this with my group.

By analysing these, I have found out that the most common genre which uses this element are romantic comedies, especially the ones which are aimed at the younger audience. This may be because a voiceover is appealing to that market but since our target audience is older, a voice over may not suit our trailer. Another reason for the popularity of voice over in children’s and teen movies is because narrative texts are very rarely used in such genres. Where narrative texts are used in trailers a voice over isn’t and vice versa. Narrative may also be harder for young children to read especially since in a trailer they will only last up to 3 seconds. A voice over is more appealing to a young audience as it involves the children and makes them feel as if they are being spoken to directly. This will market the product to a larger number of people.

From the codes and conventions which I have identified I have found out that teaser trailers very rarely use voiceovers especially for horror genres. A voice over would not be the best idea for a thriller genre since it breaks the momentum and thrill. The music for a thriller should do the talking. This is why our group will not use it. I also questioned 10 people from our target audience and all 10 suggested that it would not be a good idea to use a voiceover because it kills the suspense which would have been built up by the music and scenes.

Teaser trailers do not use voice overs very often and this is because of the purpose of teaser trailers. Teasers do not want to reveal the storyline but just promote the genre and actors of the film.