Digital Portfolio (2019-2020)

What is a voice over (or V/O)? A voice over can be a lot of things, the main character voicing their thoughts in a more organic way than an external monologue, a narrator doing an exposition drop, or a piece of dramatic irony. They give us access to a lot of things we normally wouldn't have, but using them at the wrong time can really pull the viewer out of the immersion. I want to explore voice overs and think of how I can use them in my film. Popular Examples The easiest example is looking at most mafia or crime drama movies. At some point there's normally a breakdown of the master plan, or an inner exploration into the mind of these criminal underlords. In Fight Club voice over work is done by the main character, The Narrator (played by Edward Norton) so we get to see the inner workings of his mind as well as play deeper into the idea that the character is really messed up in the head, which climaxes at the end of the movie when, spoiler alert, Tyler, the character pl...

Just for a little be of pretext for why I chose to do this as my topic for this week, I recently watched a video on Neo-Westerns, and honestly it was a very interesting topic that mentioned Tarantino breaking down the different "eras" of Westerns. It was also a topic I thought I could realistically spend 90 minutes on without getting bored. If you're interested in the video I'll be embeding it. (p.s Screened is an incredible channel that is very informative, I'd recommend them for any of your classes!) What is a Western? First I'd like a definition of what a Western is. At it's core, Westerns are about a few things. The grey area in the law, a protagonist protecting something or someone, and deal with the themes of either survival or a change in the times, based on which form of Western you're looking at. They contain shootouts and gunslingers/outlaws. With this very loose set of rules I want to go back and looks at the different eras of Wes...