voice-over
Sign in to savethumb|A man recording a voice-over Voice-over (also known as off-camera or off-stage commentary) is a production technique used in radio, television, film, theatre, and other media in which a descriptive or expository voice provides verbal narration, accompanying the events of a narrative from outside the universe of the narrative or while breaking the fourth wall (i.e. non-diegetically). The voice-over is read from a script and may be spoken by someone who appears elsewhere in the production or by a specialist voice actor. Synchronous dialogue, where the voice-over is narrating the action tha
Article
14 sectionsContents
- History
- Early Beginnings (1920s-1930s)
- The Golden Age of Radio and the Introduction of Television (1940s-1950s)
- The Rise of Commercials and Dubbing (1960s-1970s)
- Technological Advancements and the Home Video Revolution (1980s-1990s)
- The Internet Age and the Democratization of Voice-Overs (2000s-Present)
- Career in voice-over
- Techniques
- Character device
- Creative device
- Educational or descriptive device
- Commercial device
- See also
- References
thumb|A man recording a voice-over Voice-over (also known as off-camera or off-stage commentary) is a production technique used in radio, television, film, theatre, and other media in which a descriptive or expository voice provides verbal narration, accompanying the events of a narrative from outside the universe of the narrative or while breaking the fourth wall (i.e. non-diegetically). The voice-over is read from a script and may be spoken by someone who appears elsewhere in the production or by a specialist voice actor. Synchronous dialogue, where the voice-over is narrating the action that is taking place at the same time, remains the most common technique in voice-overs. Asynchronous, however, is also used in cinema. It is usually prerecorded and placed over the top of a film or video and commonly used in documentaries or news reports to explain information.
Voice-overs are used in video games and on-hold messages, as well as for announcements and information at events and tourist destinations. It may also be read live for events such as award presentations. Voice-over is added in addition to any existing dialogue and is not to be confused with voice acting or the process of replacing dialogue with a translated version, the latter of which is called dubbing or revoicing.