When reading these two texts by Kozloff, I can say that I learned a lot about the concept of Voice-over Narration. Of course, I have seen films that use this technique, but I have never really thought that deeply about the artistic side of it, and how it could essencially ‘make or break’ a movie. Here are some notes I took as a general overview of what I found important in the texts:

• “Adding voice-over narration to a film creates a fascinating dance between pose and actuality, words and image, narration and drama, voice and ‘voice’” <<This quote gives the concept quite a dramatic twist, something good to think about.

• “By applying ‘literary’ narrative theory to film, I hope both to further our understanding of cinematic narrative’s specific characteristics and to test the universality of several key types of contermporary critical lore”<< I think that this demonstrates Kozloff’s position on the idea of voice-over. She wants for us to not only understand it, but also embrace it.
• Definition of Voice Over Narration: (Gives me a deeper understanding of what it really means!!)

  Voice– the medium, we must hear someone speaking

  Over- pertains to the relationship between the source of the sound and the images on the screen. The voice comes from another time and space

  Narration- Relates to the content of the speech: someone is in the act of communicating a narrative—that is, recounting a series of events to an audience

• “Verb tense provides crucial clues as to the difference between a narration or simply thinking out loud (these are two different things)”<<I think this is a very valid point. Simply thinking out loud shows a less artistic side in my opinion. With a narration there should be a purpose or motive behind the words, not simply to fill time or awkward transitions.

• Complete Narratives break down to six elements: (This once again helps me to understand the concept in a more organized way)

  1. The abstract- a short summary of the story that is about to be provided
  2. The orientation- identification of time, place, characters, and activities
  3. The complicating action- the unfolding of the story’s events
  4. The Resolution- the climax
  5. The evaluation- commentary of the point of the story
  6. The Coda- and epilogue, often bridging the gap between story time and the time of narration

• Argues that voice over can convey important information or creates a special, intimate relationship with the viewer.<<This is a great argument by Kozloff. I agree that it is easy to have a more intimant relation to the character if we are hearing what is “inside their head”. This is a great way for a film-maker to draw an audience in and really get them submerssed in the film in my opinion.

• “The technique would not have been used so often and would not be so worthy of our attention if it never soared”<<Once again great point. I have seen many successfully made movies that I enjoyed involving the voice-over technique. Why then do so many people argue it? I dont understand this. Like my last comment, I believe it is a great way to connect an audience to a character when done correctly. It has had success, so therefore it can’t be all that bad can it?

• “A fallback charge against voice-over narration is that using it is insulting to the audience. Voice-over narration is suspect because it is a means of “telling” rather than “showing.” “Telling” is judged as a mark of laziness and/or condescension.”<< This is a contrasting point that I can also agree with to some reasoning. All through school so far, all of my english teachers have stressed the point that when expressing our ideas we should show and not tell. On the other hand, in a film, we have the visuals to go along with what is being said, which I think could be enough to get the point accross. This is a point I would be interested to hear others opinons on.

After taking all of these notes and analyzing the reading, I have to say I found this concept of voice-over narration to be quite interesting. At first I could not think of specific movies that fit the criteria, but after reading there are a few that jumped out at me. Clueless is a movie I have always loved, and so I think it would be interesting to work with. Although the main character Cher is a prissy valley girl (a stereo type many are disgusted by) I think this is what makes the movie interesting. Her mindset is completely different than most, and it would be fun to uncover more behind this movie. A couple others I am considering are American Beauty and About a Boy, two other great movies in my opinion.