Have a problem with using V.O.

[Kebab]

Should I use V.O., when characters are speaking on the phone?

As example:

Character 1 calls Character 2. Camera shows only Character 1.

CHARACTER 1
Hello

CHARACTER 2 (V.O)
Hello

Is it correct? Or i should use O.S.?

Thank you in advance.

 

[Alcove Audio]

From a purely technical standpoint from the audio post point of view...

Voice Over is not connected to on-screen dialog; VO is almost exclusively reserved for a narrator/commentator. So if you tell your dialog editor that the other voice is VO s/he will be very confused as the unseen owner of the voice at the other end of the phone is engaging in a dialog with the on-screen character.

Also from a technical/audio point of view you should record both ends of the conversation during production. A second mic &/or recorder can be used to record the unseen caller or the phone can be "tapped". The reason for this is that most indie talent is unused to doing ADR so it may sound unnatural or take a very long time (time=$$$) to get it right; also, the on-set performance will be more natural. Another reason is that it is not unknown for the editor to over- or under-cut the time needed for the unseen (and unheard on the set) end of the conversation requiring the the ADR performance to be rushed or "lazy" to fill the space(s). (I've had situations where there was only ten seconds to get in three or four lines.) If you do insist on doing ADR for the unseen caller you should do the ADR before the editor starts to cut the scene to insure that the timings are correct.

 

[Buddy Greenfield]

I wouldn’t personally call a V.O. a subset of O.S. , but I guess you could if you wanted to.

*One deals with narration or a voice disconnected from any visuals.
The other deals with a character in scene that we don’t see.


*There are exceptions of course:
-Voice of God all loud and thundering in a scene might be shown as V.O.
-Sometimes being mechanically reproduced such as an answering machine that we see.
-Great exception from Naviobb, in the scene, but heard reading or thoughts.
-Others that I have no idea about.


Then in some other instances:
Things that are obviously technically voiced over… (Like a robot that speaks in a human voice that isn’t a narration, and obviously doesn’t have its human voice actor on screen.) … are not shown as V.O. either, because when the character of the robot is on screen, it’s treated just like any other character that might also need to be heard speaking from off screen, so O.S. is there to make that distinction.

If you can't see the person speaking on the line, yes, they are O.S., but how often in production are they live and being recorded? I doubt it happens very much.

I'm unsure what your point is, but what difference does it make how often they are live and being recorded? You are not writing HOW to produce a scene, you are writing THE scene, and in that scene your character is either on screen or your character is off screen delivering your dialogue, OR (Generally) a narrator is voicing over the narration you have written.

But in the end, we all chose the way we feel best suits our script, so what are you gonna do?

-Thanks-

 

[Libby]

If they are off screen (different location or not) they are O.S. (O.C. for television I believe.)

They are in the scene (ADR or not) and it’s not mechanically reproduced or a narration, so it’s not V.O.

If it doesn’t visually jump to another location it’s not INTERCUT.

If it was straight back and forth INTERCUT, the element of O.S. wouldn’t come into play.

If you listed it as INTERCUT because it is between the two visual locations and we HEAR Character B while we SEE Character A do something that advances the story (that you as the writer are writing, not the Director, not the Editor) then Character B is O.S.

Like wise, if we see Character A do something and (we need for the story) to only hear Character B say something or hear something happening to them, then Character B is O.S.

-Thanks-

If you see 'A' and hear 'A' while talking to 'B' and then it cuts to 'B' and you see and hear 'B' than its NOT intercut...but if you see 'A' but 'B' is on screen listening to 'A'...than it is intercut.
I think I got it.

 

[Buddy Greenfield]

No.

Sorry that the see and hear in what I was using as example scenarios made in confusing.

When you jump back and forth between two locations (In this sceanrio) its saying one location is
INTERCUT with a 2nd location. So if we see both characters it's INTERCUT.

-Thanks-

 

[Adeimantus]

Kebab,

I hope this clears things up for you.

Cheers!

-Charles