Research into voice overs

Voice over in film

Voice over: a piece of narration in a film or broadcast, not accompanied by an image of the speaker

Types of Voice over

To understand voice overs in films, all variations must be explained. Two of these include non-diegetic narration and ADR (Automated Dialogue Replacement). Non-diegetic narration affirms the definition of a voice over as this is where a character, who is neither present in the current scene or entire film, narrates a scene/s within the film. 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qzuM2XTnpSA
Whereas ADR is the process of redubbing an actor’s lines in post-production, this can be for a number of reasons: firstly is that the line may have not been picked up well by on-set microphones (such as hero films where masks are worn), secondly the words may need to be changed (for example swapping swear words to alter the classification) and lastly in case of failure of onset equipment.

Production of voice over

Similar to a film, voice overs have their own cycle of production.
Pre-production: The film’s writers and director will decide on the lines to be recorded and how they are recorded (directions for the actor to follow)
Production: This is the period where the actor is in the recording studio and using the script to voice over the film.
Post-production: This stage involves mixing* and editing the recorded audio alongside the film to figure out what best fits.
*Mixing: This is where the audio is stripped to just the recorded voice (unused frequencies are removed) and professional audio mixers add relevant effects to help blend the speech to the film. For example, if a film requires ADR in a cave scene, then the editors will mix the audio with effects such as reverb to add a natural echo to best match the on screen characters.

Voice overs are most often recorded in the post production stages of a film, where the actors will spend one to several days in a professional studio along with the director who helps to describe how lines should be delivered. 

Deciding how to record audio

When choosing to do voice overs in a film, both types of microphones need to be considered, these are: condenser and dynamic.

Condenser: Records over a far distance in exchange for being able to capture a wider array of frequencies (higher quality audio)

Dynamic: Records at a close range at a cheaper cost in exchange for limited frequency capture (lower quality than condenser)










Since most voice over is captured in professional studios with sound proofing booths, then condenser microphones can be used as they provide more frequencies that can be manipulated for the end product.

Polar patterns


A polar pattern is the shape of the field that a microphone captures. There are three main types of pattern when recording: Omnidirectional, Bidirectional and cardioid. Both condenser and dynamic microphones make use of these polar patterns.

 
Omnidirectional

This is the least used pattern when recording voice overs, “omni” means all so an omnidirectional microphone will capture 360 degrees of it’s surroundings. This is used the least as often voice overs are just one actor so 360 degrees is not needed.

Bi directional

This is sometimes used in voice overs, mainly animation films. This pattern is where the microphone captures what is in front it and behind it, this is only used when two actors have a conversation in the voice over and the director feels having them record the conversation at the same time is the best option.

Cardioid

The most common pattern is cardioid, this is where a microphone records what is in front of it with a slight peripheral capture for stereo audio. As most voice over is a single actor, this is best fitting and can be seen primarily when behind the scenes of a movie are released.

 

What this means for virago

Virago will feature a radio advert, since this is purely audio then ADR will not be used and a narrative voice over will be more relevant. Chris Osbyrne’s voice will be used for this trailer, his character is the priest during the dream sequence of the film.
This advert will take place during the post production stage of the film where it will then be edited and mixed to best fit the genre of Virago. The pre-production will be what is scripted for the advert, which will then enter production where Chris will be recorded and then later mixed and edited in post-production.
We will be recording with the Zoom H1 microphone, this microphone is a condenser which means we will get the highest quality and more beneficial frequency range. The Zoom H1 is unidirectional, this means that we have manual control over its polar pattern, for our advert we will set the Zoom H1 to cardioid as it is the best fitting pattern for voice work.