Shawshank Redemption
[2:02 to 3:46]
The difference with Shawshank Redemption (Darabont, 1994) is that though the voice over is done from the point of view of one of the main characters, the story they narrate is not their own. Its almost like reading a third person story but only being allowed to see it from one persons point of view as Ellis 'Red' Redding (Morgan Freeman) talks about his encounter and friendship with convicted innocent prisoner Andy Dufresne (Tim Robbins). In this clip as Red is using a piece of Opera as a metaphor, when you do something like this you have to try and find how the words and images correlate as the connection is not spoon fed. The bonus side of doing this is that it allows you to almost use whatever images you want to create more of a mood/atmosphere/emotional connection with the audience. The way that the shots of the prisoners are cross faded against one another as they stare up at the speakers in wonder helps to create an atmosphere that adds understanding to the metaphorical dialogue and meaning to the piece of music being used. Obviously the whole narration cannot be one big metaphorical soliloquy but it is an interesting analysis and a good loophole that might come in handy.
Taxi Driver
The effect of the voice over throughout Taxi Driver (Scorsese, 1976) is a very personal one. Granted that that is usually the aim of a voice over. To give an omnipresent perspective view over a specific persons tale, more or less, with this film because Travis' words are taken directly from the diary entries that he writes and keeps we the audience feel both intrusive and exclusive as a diary is something personal and not to be shared. It also helps create the tension of the impending unhinging of Travis as we feel trapped and unable to warn others, almost as is the audience is one the pages of the diary. The way the voice over cuts is not done n the conventional sense whereby you see what he says. Travis talks about needing to get into better shape and take care of this, and this is indeed what we see, but the meaning behind the words are parallel but unrelated at during the montage he say "To much abuse has gone on for too long, from now on I'm going to do 50 push ups each morning 50 pull ups there'll be no more pills there'll be no more no more bad food" Though we see him to pull ups the other things he mentions are then shown like a descriptive montage. The dialogue spread to allow the sound scape to have its desired unnerving effect.
Limitless
What's interesting about the narration in Limitless (Burger, 2011) is that it starts off being retrospective. The main character is standing on the ledge of a building about to jump as he analyse how he got to this point. The voice over takes place mainly during turning points in his life. He talks about his unsuccessfulness in life, loosing his girlfriend and on the brink of doing the same with his job. Then we see all of this in action. The overall dialogue is ever present, as if to say there's no need for the voice over to fill the void of silence, the narration usually picking up when he is by himself walking down the street or during a montage. It allows certain aspects to be brushed over instead of going in to too much detail. Once the retrospective story arc comes full circle, us seeing how he got on the ledge, it flips to omnipresent narration. Him talking about what he is doing and going to do. This in terms of the effect it has on the audience is that it pulls us up to speed and gives us a better connection and emotional attachment to the character as we feel priviliged that he has allowed us to share his story and we pushing for him to come out ahead.
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