Inneresting 54
issue 54
June 4th, 2021
Narrators give the story a voice
Adding narration to a film changes the way it invites the audience into its story. Richard Raskin explains his categories for five different types of voice-over found in films.
For iconic examples of film narrators in action, check out Indiewire’s top 11 list or this set of clips assembled by Screencraft.
Sometimes you can’t trust the narrator
A narrator actively misleading the audience, or whose perspective is skewed, adds another layer of complexity for an audience to unravel. Lindsay Ellis sums up the history of unreliable narrators in drama and prose fiction.
Fandor’s video essay shows how a film itself can feel unreliable, going beyond adding misdirection in the voiceover.
For some additional examples, see Taste of Cinema’s list of films with unreliable narrators.
When you’re the unreliable narrator
Writers spend a lot of time in their own heads. Creativity and isolation can latch on to doubt and create believable, painful fictions.
When the bad self-talk comes on strong, consider these tips on dealing with negative thoughts from Alice G. Walton.
In an excerpt from The Wise Heart, Jack Kornfield suggests the importance of tackling negative thoughts when he argues that belief can be strong enough to make a thought real.
Highland How To: Convert to Narrated Script
Highland 2 can convert your screenplay into a format made to work with Apple’s VoiceOver tools.
From the menu bar, select File > Convert to Narrated Script, and Highland 2 will open a new document with your script, but a few subtle changes to make it easier to understand while listening to it.
To learn more about Highland 2, check out our Knowledge Base!
Other Cool Things
Great Art Explained breaks down the layers of meaning in Andy Warhol’s famous Marilyn Monroe Diptych.
Adam Kirsch shares some thoughts about first steps you can take to “get” poetry.
For fans of multiplayer reimaginings of retro video games and silly random usernames, try a few rounds of multiplayer Joust in your web browser.
And that’s what’s inneresting this week!
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