GEK1049 Tutorial 9 Cinematic Narratives voiceover vs camera narration

• published: 27 Mar 2015
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Please post comments if you have a different opinion. Transcript of My Interpretation: In relation to the question of whether one prefers to watch a film with or without a voiceover narrator, I feel that this is pretty subjective and there is no right or wrong answer. What I feel interesting is instead the interaction between the voiceover narrator and the camera narration, that is, in specific films, different effects may be achieved depending on the congruence or divergence between what the camera shows and what the narrator says. On the one hand, if what the voiceover narrator says and what the camera narration shows in the scenes of the film are congruent or completely the same, it will contribute to the effect of redundancy and depending on the audience's response, they may feel that the film may be trying to emphasise on specific aspects such as characterisation. For instance, if the camera's narration is seen from the perspective of the character who is also the voiceover narrator, it may be trying to highlight the honest attribute of the character where what he or she says is to a certain degree, reliable. I feel that instances where what the camera shows and what the narrator says are congruent is rare as human subjectivity is unreliable. On the other hand, what is more interesting is when what the camera shows or narrates is divergent from what the voiceover narrator tells the audience. This is closely related to the notion of the unreliable narrator where what the voiceover narrator tells us may not be the truth or reflect the narrator's innocence/duplicity or state of mind but subtle clues may be seen through the camera's visual narration if the audience is attentive to the setting. In Terrence Malick's Days of Heaven, the voiceover narration is provided by Linda who is the younger sister of the main character, Bill. In the beginning of the film, the camera narration shows the audience Bill killing the foreman which causes the narrative event where he and his sisters have to escape. However, the voiceover narration provided by Linda reveals to the audience that she was unaware of what had happened as she tells the audience that they were going places, looking for things, searching for things and going on adventures. This highlights her naivety or innocence and thus the voiceover narration provides another perspective to contrast with the camera narration which perhaps show the narrative from Bill's perspective which highlights the harshness of the real life adult world. I do not see a problem of using language, or the use of a voiceover narrator a problem with cinematic narratives if both of them complement each other and function differently enough to enable the audience to obtain a deeper understanding of the narrative from multiple perspectives. What I find issue with is when the voiceover narrator is overly used in the cinematic narrative. Since the cinematic narrative is a highly visual medium, I feel that the story should be conveyed through more visual means rather than through the language provided by the voiceover narrator. The use of a voiceover narrator throughout the film is rare compared to the camera's visual narration. This is similar to the argument made that a first person camera viewpoint is harder to sustain in the cinematic narrative compared to a first person shooter game as the feature such as the visual quality of a cinematic medium highlight its unique quality. The first way that the cinematic narratives depend on the camera is the use of the camera to focus on the facial expression of the characters. In cinematic narratives, subtle expressions of the actors and actresses can be conveyed because the camera can amplify the acting skills of the performers. The second way is the length of time in which the camera focuses on the close-up of a character. When used in conjunction with music, it can be used to intensify the emotional impact of the scene on the audience when no voiceover narration is used as the audience is allowed to infer the meanings of the visual narration by themselves. This contributes to the multiple interpretations of a specific scene when visual narration is used as no language is used to fix the meaning of the scene shown through the camera visual narration, enabling the audience to figure out the narrative message conveyed by themselves.