Look up voice-over in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Voice-over (also known as off-camera or off-stage commentary) is a production technique where a voice that is not part of the narrative (non-diegetic) is used in a radio, television production, filmmaking, theatre, or other presentations.^[1] The voice-over may be spoken by someone who appears elsewhere in the production or by a specialist voice actor.

Techniques[link]

Character device[link]

In Herman Melville's Moby-Dick (1956), Ishmael (Richard Basehart) narrates the story and sometimes comments on the action in voice-over, as does Joe Gillis (William Holden) in Sunset Boulevard (1950) and Eric Erickson (William Holden) in The Counterfeit Traitor (1962); adult Pip (John Mills) in Great Expectations (1946) and Michael York in a television remake (1974).

Voice-over technique is likewise used to give voices and personalities to animated characters. Among the most noteworthy and versatile voice actors include Mel Blanc, Daws Butler, Don Messick, Paul Frees, and June Foray.

Creative device[link]

In film, the film-maker places the sound of a human voice (or voices) over images shown on the screen that may or may not be related to the images being shown. Consequently, voice-overs are sometimes used to create ironic counterpoint. Also, sometimes they can be random voices not directly connected to the people seen on the screen. In works of fiction, the voice-over is often by a character reflecting back on his or her past, or by a person external to the story who usually has a more complete knowledge of the events in the film than the other characters.

Voice-overs are often used to create the effect of storytelling by a character/omniscient narrator. For example, in The Usual Suspects, the character of Roger "Verbal" Kint has voice-over segments as he is recounting details of a crime. Classic voice-overs in cinema history can be heard in Citizen Kane and The Naked City. Other examples of storytelling voice-overs can be heard in Annie Hall, Gattaca, Fight Club, Megamind, Ratatouille, Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron, Tangled, The Magic School Bus, The Emperor's New Groove, Kronk's New Groove, Blade Runner, The Rugrats Movie, The Shawshank Redemption, Big Fish, How to Train Your Dragon, Moulin Rouge!, The Postman Always Rings Twice, Young Winston, Rugrats, Raising Arizona, Goodfellas, Clash of the Titans, and Star Quest: The Odyssey.

Sometimes, voice-over can be used to aid continuity in edited versions of films, in order for the audience to gain a better understanding of what has gone on between scenes. This was done when the 1948 Joan of Arc, starring Ingrid Bergman, turned out to be far from the box-office and critical hit that was expected, and was edited down from 145 minutes to 100 minutes for its second run in theatres. The edited version, which circulated for years, used narration to conceal the fact that large chunks of the film had been cut. In the full-length version, restored in 1998 and released on DVD in 2004, the voice-over narration is heard only at the beginning of the film.

The genre of film noir is especially associated with the voice-over technique.

In radio, voice-overs are an integral part of the creation of the radio programme. The voice over artist might be used to remind listeners of the station name or as characters to enhance or develop show content. In the 1980s UK broadcasters Steve Wright and Kenny Everett used voice over artists to create a virtual "posse" or studio crew that contributed to the programmes. It is believed that this principle was in play long before that time. USA radio broadcaster Howard Stern has also used voice overs in this way.

Educational or descriptive device[link]

The voice-over has many applications in non-fiction as well. Television news is often presented as a series of video clips of newsworthy events, with voice-over by the reporters describing the significance of the scenes being presented; these are interspersed with straight video of the news anchors describing stories for which video is not shown.

Television networks such as The History Channel and the Discovery Channel make extensive use of voice-overs. On NBC, the television show Starting Over used Sylvia Villagran as the voice-over narrator to tell a story.

Live sports broadcasts are usually shown as extensive voice-overs by expert announcers over video of the sporting event.

Game shows formerly made extensive use of voice-overs to introduce contestants and describe available or awarded prizes, but this technique has diminished as shows have moved toward predominantly cash prizes. The most prolific have included Don Pardo, Johnny Olson, John Harlan, Jay Stewart, Gene Wood and Johnny Gilbert.

Voice-over commentary by a leading critic, historian, or by the production personnel themselves is often a prominent feature of the release of feature films or documentaries on DVDs.

Commercial device[link]

The commercial use of voice-over in television advertising has been popular since the beginning of radio broadcasting.

In the early years, before effective sound recording and mixing, announcements were produced "live" and at-once in a studio with the entire cast, crew and, usually, orchestra. A corporate sponsor hired a producer, who hired writers and voice actors to perform comedy or drama.

The industry expanded very rapidly with the advent of television in the 1950s and the age of highly produced serial radio shows ended. The ability to record high-quality sound on magnetic tape also created opportunities, as has the proliferation of home computers capable of recording, often using inexpensive even free software and a microphone of reasonable quality.

Manufacturers will often use a distinctive voice to help them with brand messaging, often retaining talent to a long term exclusive contract.

Translation[link]

In some countries, such as Russia and Poland, a voice-over provided by a single artist is commonly used on television programs as a language localization technique, as an alternative to full dub localization.

In Bulgaria, voice-over translation is also common, but each film (or episode) is normally voiced by at least four actors. The voice artists try to match the original voice and preserve the intonation. The main reason for the use of this type of translation is that unlike synchronized voice translation, it takes a relatively short time to produce as there is no need to synchronize the voices with the character's lip movements, which is compensated by the quieted original audio. When there is no speaking in the film for some time, the original sound is turned up. Recently, as more films are distributed with separate voice and noises-and-music tracks, some voice-over translations in Bulgaria are produced by only turning down the voice track, in this way not affecting the other sounds. One actor always reads the translation crew's names over the show's ending credits (except for when there are dialogs over the credits).

See also[link]

• Bumper (broadcasting)
• Bumper music
• National Audio Theatre Festival
• Voice acting

External links[link]

• Voice Talent at the Open Directory Project

Notes[link]

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (October 2006)

Donald Leroy "Don" LaFontaine^[1] (August 26, 1940 – September 1, 2008) was an American voice actor famous for recording more than 5,000 film trailers and hundreds of thousands of television advertisements, network promotions, and video game trailers. His nicknames included "Thunder Throat" and "The Voice of God".^[2] He became identified with the phrase "In a world…", which has been used in movie trailers so frequently that it has become a cliché. He parodied his career several times, most recently in commercials for GEICO insurance and the Mega Millions lottery game.

Early life[link]

LaFontaine was born August 26, 1940, in Duluth, Minnesota, to Alfred and Ruby LaFontaine.^[3] According to LaFontaine himself, his voice cracked at the age of 13 in the middle of a sentence, giving him the bass tones that would later bring him much fame and success.^[4] After graduating from high school, he enlisted in the United States Army, and worked as a recording engineer for the Army Band and Chorus.

Career[link]

LaFontaine continued to work as a recording engineer after discharge and began working at the National Recording Studios in New York City, where, in 1962, he had the opportunity to work with producer Floyd Peterson on radio spots for Dr. Strangelove. Peterson incorporated many of LaFontaine’s ideas for the spots and, in 1963, they went into business together producing advertising exclusively for the movie industry. LaFontaine claimed that it was this company that first came up with many of the famous movie trailer catch phrases, including his own future signature phrase, "in a world..."^[5]

While working on the 1964 western Gunfighters of Casa Grande, LaFontaine had to fill in for an unavailable voice actor in order to have something to present to MGM. After MGM bought the spots, LaFontaine began a career as a voiceover artist.

He became the head of Kaleidoscope Films Ltd., a major movie trailer producer before starting his own company, Don LaFontaine Associates, in 1976. Shortly thereafter, he was hired by Paramount to do their trailers, and was eventually promoted to a vice president. However, he decided to get back into trailer work and left Paramount, moving to Los Angeles in 1981. LaFontaine was contacted by an agent who wanted to promote him for voiceover work. Thereafter, LaFontaine worked in voiceovers. At his peak, he voiced about 60 promotions a week, and sometimes as many as 35 in a single day. Once he established himself, most studios were willing to pay a high fee for his service. His income was reportedly in the millions.^[6]

LaFontaine often had jobs at a number of different studios each day, and famously hired a driver to take him from studio to studio in order to save time finding parking. With the advent of ISDN technology, LaFontaine built a recording studio in his Hollywood Hills home and began doing his work from home.

LaFontaine lent his very distinctive voice to thousands of movie trailers during his career, spanning every genre from every major film studio, including The Cannon Group, for which he voiced one of their logos. For a time, LaFontaine had a near-monopoly on movie trailer voiceovers. Some notable trailers which LaFontaine highlighted in the intro on his official website include: Terminator 2: Judgment Day, Shrek, Friday the 13th, Law & Order and Batman Returns. LaFontaine stated in 2007 that his favorite work in a movie trailer was for the hit biographical film The Elephant Man,^[7] though according to a response to the question on his website, he had several trailers which stood out in his mind, and he didn't like to choose one.^[8]

Lafontaine also did announcing for a few WWE Pay Per View events, as well as the "Don't Try This at Home" bumper.

In a 2007 interview, LaFontaine explained the strategy behind his signature catch phrase, "in a world where...":

We have to very rapidly establish the world we are transporting them to. That's very easily done by saying, "In a world where... violence rules." "In a world where... men are slaves and women are the conquerors." You very rapidly set the scene.^[9]

LaFontaine also did other voice work, including as the announcer for the newscasts on WCBS-TV New York, from 2000 to 2001. LaFontaine was a recurring guest narrator for clues on the game show Jeopardy!^[10] and appeared on NPR's Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me! on May 14, 2005, where he played "Not My Job" (a game in which famous people have to accurately answer questions totally unrelated to their chosen professions). The prize (for a listener, not the contestant) is "Carl Kassell's voice on your home answering machine". LaFontaine did not win the game, and offered to record the listener's answering machine message himself. LaFontaine once claimed that he enjoyed recording messages like these because it allowed him to be creative in writing unique messages, and said that he would do so for anyone who contacted him if he had the time. However, by 2007, he found the requests to be too numerous for him to take on, and stopped providing the service.^[8]

In 2006, GEICO began airing an ad campaign in which actual customers told their own stories of GEICO experiences, accompanied by a celebrity who helped them make the story interesting. LaFontaine was featured as the celebrity in one of these ads which began airing in August 2006. In the commercial, he was introduced as "that announcer guy from the movies", with his name printed on-screen to identify him. He began his telling of the customer's story with his trademark "In a world...". LaFontaine credited the spot as life-changing for having exposed his name and face to a significant audience, noting, "There goes any anonymity I might have had..."^[11]

Death[link]

On Friday, August 22, 2008, LaFontaine was admitted to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, California with a pulmonary embolism and was reported to be in critical condition the following Tuesday. His family made a public appeal for prayers on the Mediabistro.com site.^[12] Ten days later, LaFontaine died on September 1, 2008, six days after his 68th birthday, following complications from a pneumothorax.^[13] He is buried at Hollywood Forever Cemetery. His final television voice over role was for the Phineas and Ferb episode "The Chronicles of Meap" in which he parodied himself, saying as his final line "In a world... There. I said it.". The episode also ended with a short tribute to him.^[14] His final movie trailer voice-over was for Call + Response, a documentary about global slave trade, for which he donated his talent.^[15]

Dedications[link]

On September 6, 2008, America's Most Wanted showed a visual with a picture of him with words below that said "In Memoriam: Don LaFontaine August 26, 1940 - September 1, 2008." John Walsh had announced, prior to the dedication sign, that LaFontaine—who had been the show's announcer since 1988—had died at the age of 68.

On the evening of September 7, 2008, Adult Swim had a bumper that said: Don LaFontaine [1940-2008].

At the end of the credit sequence in the Phineas and Ferb episode "Chronicles of Meap" there is a message on screen saying "In Memoriam... Don LaFontaine 08/26/40 - 09/01/08. One man, in a land, in a time, in a world... All his own." The credit sequence had been designed as a trailer for the "next" Meap episode, or as LaFontaine put it, "Episode 40 -- Meapless in Seattle". As the Disney Channel Original vanity card appears, you hear him say, "In a world...there, I said it. Happy?"

"The Apprentice Scout", an episode of Chowder, is dedicated to LaFontaine. The episode dedicated his memory and said "To Don LaFontaine 1940-2008"

Fellow voice-over artist and friend John Leader retired from the voice-over business on Sept 1, 2008 upon learning of LaFontaine's death.

Satire and other appearances[link]

His voice has been the subject of homage and parody, as seen in a Cartoon Network commercial for The Powerpuff Girls, and the stand-up comedy of Pablo Francisco. Comedian-actress Janeane Garofalo formerly performed "an impression of every movie trailer ever made" with the words, "In a WORLD!…" saying that every movie trailer seems to begin with LaFontaine saying, "In a world…" or "In a town…"

One trailer for The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy not only spoofs the "In a World Where" theme, but also includes LaFontaine parodying himself when the narrator defines what a trailer is, saying "Trailers also normally employ (enter Don's voice) 'A deep voice, that sounds like a seven-foot-tall man, who has been smoking cigarettes since childhood'.”^[16] The trailer is voiced by fellow voice-over artist Stephen Fry.

LaFontaine's voice was used in Family Guy episodes "North by North Quahog", and "Brian Sings and Swings", and The Untold Story version of "Stewie B. Goode", and has been featured in musical tracks.

On April 12, 2007, LaFontaine appeared on an episode of The Tonight Show with Jay Leno with ousted American Idol finalist Haley Scarnato to provide humorous "movie trailer"-esque commentary, as a spoof of his Geico commercial.

Selected filmography[link]

• Twister Fury on the Plains - Narrator
• The Terminator -Trailer Voice-over
• Terminator 2: Judgment Day - Trailer Voice-over
• Backdraft (film) - TV Spot Voice-over
• George of the Jungle Trailer Voice-over
• Cast Away - Trailer Voice-over
• Fatal Attraction - Trailer Voice-over
• Darkman -Trailer Voice-Over
• White Fang 2: Myth of the White Wolf - Trailer Voice-over
• Batman Returns - Trailer Voice-over
• Masters of the Universe - Trailer Voice-over
• Safety Not Guaranteed - Trailer Voice-over
• Cheaper by the Dozen (2003) - Trailer Voice-over
• Daddy Day Care - TV Spot Voice-over
• Chicken Run - Trailer Voice-over
• Pokémon: The First Movie - Trailer Voice-over
• Pokémon: The Movie 2000 - Trailer Voice-over
• Pokémon 3: The Movie - Trailer Voice-over
• Star Trek: Deep Space Nine - Episode Trailer Voice-over
• Dr. Strangelove - Trailer Voice-over
• PowerSlave (video game) - Narrator
• Extreme Makeover Home Edition - Commercial Voice-over
• Morrow Road - Trailer Voice-over
• Resistance 2 - Trailer Voice-over
• The World's Greatest Magic - Announcer
• The Land Before Time - Promo Voice-over
• 79th Academy Awards - Co-announcer of the 79th Oscars.
• America's Most Wanted - Announcer
• Beyond Belief: Fact or Fiction? - Announcer
• Birds-Eye Steam Fresh frozen vegetables - voice-over
• Entertainment Tonight and The Insider (2004–2008) - Announcer
• Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games - trailer announcer
• Days of our Lives (1990) - Promo announcer during the climax of the Cruise of Deception storyline
• iZ3D Promotional Video (2008) - Commercial Voice Over
• Tomb Raider Underworld - Commercial Voice-Over
• Universal Studios Hollywood - 2001 Commercial Voice-Over
• MotorStorm - Opening game intro
• The Simpsons Movie - Promo voice-over
• South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut (1999) - Trailer Voice-Over
• Home Alone - Trailer Voice-Over
• Starship Troopers - Trailer Voice-over
• Casper: A Spirited Beginning - Trailer Voice-over
• A Christmas Carol (1997) - Trailer Voice-over
• FernGully 2: The Magical Rescue - Trailer Voice-over
• Random! Cartoons - Announcer
• Bof Productions Trailer (2008) - Trailer Voice-over
• Metal Gear Solid 4 - Trailer Voice-over
• A Man Called Sarge (1990) - Narrator
• Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy - Trailer Voice-over
• Jak 3 - Trailer Voice-over

References[link]

External links[link]

Biography portal

• Official site
• Don LaFontaine: The Voice on YouTube
• Five Guys In a Limo (Short film with Don LaFontaine) on YouTube
• 2008 Interview on World Talk LIVE with host Brett Cohen
• Don LaFontaine at Find a Grave
• Don LaFontaine at the Internet Movie Database
• The Age (Australia), November 29, 2003: Trailer talk Article about Don LaFontaine by Alan Gelder.
• Don LaFontaine - Obituary
• New York Times: Don LaFontaine, Voice of Trailers and TV Spots, Is Dead at 68
• Los Angeles Times: Don LaFontaine, 68; voice of movie trailers
• Washington Post: In a World Without Don LaFontaine, Film Won't Be as Much Fun
• Washington Post: In a World of Don LaFontaine, A Reel-Life Figure of Speech
• The Daily Telegraph: Don LaFontaine obituary
• In a World at TV Tropes
• Online Interview with Don LaFontaine in 2006