Use of Narrator

[uncle_al]

Oh, let's not forget William Holden's character, Gillis, from Sunset Boulevard; the first scene is finding him floating face down in the swimming pool, dead as dead can be.

Adds a nicely ironic touch; Billy Wilder loved that sort of thing.

Cheers!
Al B.

[cadence]

Thanks Script nurse, yes my girlfriend told me that last night as well. She thought she was dead from the outset [obviously she never watched episode one]

I guess I have some good working examples of narrators making the transition from life to death.

So I'm not totally daft.

thanks

[ScriptNurse]

I should mention Mary Alice in DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES ... who narrates the show and killed herself in Episode 1.

[cadence]

Ryan
 
Thanks so much for putting my mind at ease. I have seen american beauty and loved it, though it had not occurred to me. I will have to watch it again and though I had avoided the bucket list will have to add it to my own now.

Thought I might be conjuring something absurd of talking from the grave that would be crap [and still may be] but least i can asses if the technique will add to my story

I would prefer to have the protagonist drive the narration, so the secondary character may not be necessary now.

Thanks for the insight.

cheers

[rnbrewer]

1. Have you ever seen American Beauty? Lester provides all of the V.O. for the film even though (spoiler alert) he dies in the end. This was also more recently done with The Bucket List.

2. The narrarator does not necessarily have to be the main protagonist. The story may be about Joe Blow Plumber, but told from the point of view of his son. Point of view is important to a story, but the story isn't always told by the main character. In Star Wars, for instance, George Lucas claims the originaly trilogy was told from the point of view of the droids C-3PO and R2-D2. Who's point of view is your story being told from? Who's is more important/interesting to the viewer/reader?

3. Multiple narrarators are possible, but I urge you to try one of the other two first. Having multiple story tellers can get confusing to the reader and it's all about making sure your reader -- who may or may not be a big shot producer with lot's of money to spend on the production -- can easily follow the story.

Sin City also uses multiple narrarators to tell the story. The big difference is that the film is DIVIDED into multiple stories which follow different characters and their point of views. So using multiple V.O.'s is doable. But you'll also notice that the story is more of an old fashioned noir crime story. So the multiple points of view make sense. Ask your self if you really need to have the story told from multiple points of view. Is it possible to do it with one character and not another?


Ryan

[cadence]

Hello all,

I am writing a script that spans the life of a person [think Goodfellas or Forest Gump]

I want to use a narrator to to help tell the story in some parts. Things life a preface to a scene set up, or and odd bit of information [nothing over the top].

But I am a little unsure of which character it could be or best way to use them. So I have a couple of options [below] that possible have some cons against them and wanted to get your opinion on them?

What's your thoughts on:
1. If the Narrator is the protagonist [forest Gump] but dies at the end of the film? - Can he be his own narrator if he is doomed?

2. The Narrator is a supporting character [think Morgan Freeman in Million Dollar Baby] but is not in the story the whole time.
        - Can he narrate for events he is not present for?
        - Can narration be left out until he returns to the story line? [say the period of the 2nd act]

3. Multiple Narrators: what are your thoughts on having more than one person narrate or give VO in certain scene [it is done in Goodfellas with additional narration by Ray Liotta wife Karen Hill]
       - I guess I'm thinking a combination of Questions 1 & 2, so that the supporting character is the narrator with some VO insight by the protagonist.

Hope I'm not too ethereal in my question and would love to get some insight from more experienced writers.

cheers johnny