“In what ways can we experiment with documentary convention and use the voice-over as something more than a purely functional tool?”

The voice-over is a highly functional tool, and that’s what it is used extensively in documentaries. Describing it as functional gives the impression that it is just practical and not appealing. However, the potential of voice-over is often underappreciated as we often notice how picturesque a documentary might be and forget that there was an actual voice-over guiding the viewer along the way. Usually this is the result of good voice actor that allows us to draw focus to overall delivery of the film. Usually when something is seamless is often the result of good talent being used. Sound in film is something that taps into our subconscious and can be manipulated to make us a feel in a variety of ways

Voice-overs can really set the tone for a documentary. During assignment one, we were asked to analyse two different voice-overs from two different documentaries. I chose to compare two World War II documentaries with similar content. Both had middle aged males with a level of celebrity status as BBC type voice actors. However, one was a lot more assertive and aggressive, whilst the other was more story telling and reserved. In terms of visuals and context, it would be easy to say that they were both playing to a similar theme, but their voice-overs just provide an outcome that is very different to each other. This is just one of the ways we can see voice-over as much more than just a tool to deliver a message but can also convey different emotions.

Our final assignment really demonstrated the real potential voice-over had over imagery. In our groups we had to film a scene and create three different voice-overs. My group’s work consisted of a BBC type voice, a son’s message to his mother and an inspirational advertisement for Adidas. These were three completely different voice’s and really drove the direction of the video and not the imagery itself. This project was a fantastic exercise in displaying the power of the voice-over.

Voice-overs not only just deliver context to the audience, but can also set up the tone, the pace and the environment for a documentary. Combined with suitable music, the images we see on screen are more of an accompaniment to the voice-over. It’s like an orchestra, well the voice-over is like the maestro, and the images are the ensemble. Both play an important role, but the voice and sound in general provide a level of immersion that visuals just cannot compare. Voice-overs are often left unappreciated as it is something we do not generally notice because we cannot see it. However having studied this subject, now I shall explore the absolute depths of the potential of voice-over.

Comparing Two World War II Documentaries

World War II was a brutal time in history and is still extensively studied till this day. Many documentaries have been produced that talk about this event which revolve around the stories and the events that were experienced by the people during that time. Many of these documentaries are typically told in the expository mode, with is a style of narration that is often synonymous with the use of the ‘Voice of God’. In this analysis, two documentaries will be covered and compared. The documentaries being explored will be the fourth episode of World War II in Colour titled Hitler Strikes East and the second being the fifth episode of Evolution of Evil titled Adolf Hitler.  Both these documentaries apply a similar format in documentary making that is typical of World War II themed documentaries. However, their overall application of the voice-over and its tone is quite different.

From the surface, we can see plenty of similarities between the two documentaries. They both explore similar themes in relation to World War II, both utilise archival footage relevant to the period, and most importantly utilise the ‘Voice of God’ mode. World War II in Colour was narrated by Robert Powell and Evolution of Evil: Adolf Hitler was narrated by Alisdair Simpson. The similarities between these voice-overs that are very typical of the ‘Voice of God’ mode are the fact that they are older men who give the impression that they are confident and appear to have copious knowledge on the information that they addressing.  Charles Wolfe would describe it as, in his article Historicising the ‘Voice of God’…, would describe it as “connoting a position of absolute master and knowledge…”. Furthermore, these voice actors are also celebrities in this area of documentary voice-overs. They are the one of the few popular BBC voices used in war documentaries, which we can is comparable to David Attenborough with his nature documentary voice-overs. The celebrity status of the voice-over actors in the two listed documentaries in this analysis, give that further credibility and interest to their ‘Voice of God’ approach.

Here you can see two styles of the ‘Voice of God’ narration by paying attention to the use of language to describe a person or an event:

Despite being similar in the choice of style in the voice-over, the approach in the presentation of the narration through the voice-over is quite different. Robert Powell in World War II in Colour seems to have less of an agenda or an unbiased view compared to Alisdair Simpson in Evolution of Evil: Adolf Hitler. The narration done by Powell appears to be more about what happened during the events as they unfold (what happened in the evasion of Russia). Simpson’s narration feels as though as he is trying to sway the audience into believing something to be undeniably true (Hitler being evil). This key difference also runs parallel with the wording in their titles. World War II in Colour sounds like an unbiased exposition of the events in the war. In contrast, Evolution of Evil, is essentially telling the premise and agenda of the documentary. Overall, despite being similar in form, the differences in two voice-overs can be found in the choice of language and tone.

Here we can see two documentaries that appear to be similar on paper but are quite different in their overall delivery. There is a diverse use for the ‘Voice of God’, but ultimately serve the same purpose – to deliver information as if it were the absolute truth.

The finishing touch to the semester:

The semester has gone by so quick and to have learnt a thing or two in the interactive media course in such a short amount of time was interesting and invaluable. I have said it before, and I will say it again, I was not expecting to do this amount of programming in the course. However, the course extends beyond the language of Max and is more focused on developing creative ideas. However, you cannot forget that there are limitations to software, and that more complex ideas are more at risk of falling short. This could be seen as something either negative or positive, but either way it’s still important to develop ideas that are less complicated.

What we can take from starting with a simpler approach is that we can execute our ideas a lot more effectively. For someone who has just taken as step into the door, this approach, like everything else in learning, is the best. Simple does not necessarily mean basic, stupid or bad; it just means there are not many mechanisms required to work the idea, and in some cases work out to be meaningful. I have mentioned this idea constantly in my previous reflections in this subject, and that idea was the ‘Box of Smiles’ by Yoko Ono. Ever since starting the semester, this idea is a constant reminder how simple, beautiful and powerful interactive art can be. Interactive art allows us to explore many creative avenues of art, and I would consider it to be one of the most impactful out of all the art forms that exist today.

There are not many things, in climate of art, that really send a strong statement like interactive art. It is the kind of art that utilises our five senses to convey a message, or lack thereof. It is that participation that is required of the audience that makes it so powerful. The ability to physically and psychologically engage with the audience is very unique to interactive art and it inspires me to conceptualise beyond the works that I currently do, photography and making videos, but also adapt what I have learnt from the art form back into my own work.

In terms of the work that I have done so far in the subject, I am going to be honest, I would not have thought I would be creating such ideas. The biggest learning curve was understanding the software, but after that, the ideas came right in. The study I enjoyed the most conceptually was the controversial project. That was done in a group with a few other fellow peers. I personally believe that it could have been executed a lot better. This degree of disappointment could somehow be related to the fact that we were imagining the project to work well as an installment. Considering that the study was thought of earlier in the semester I felt that our limited of knowledge of Max held us back into making something more presentable and impactful. However, I firmly believe that such idea would have been better off as installment regardless of the fact. This is something to consider I guess in the not so distant future.

The study that I felt most accomplished in was the one where I wanted to make the most annoying puzzle, and indeed it was. It was annoying, not because it is super complicated, but how ridiculous the parameters were set out for the user. Out of all the studies, this game was the most refined and polished, but could still do with a lot more refining. I felt that this study was most appropriate for a user on a computer as we commonly associate puzzles and games on a computer. I also learnt the most about the language of the software in this study. Making this game has allowed me to apply most of the things that I have learnt in the course, which is why this study was the most impactful in the time I had in this subject.

Finishing this subject has opened new doors for new ideas. Any new-found knowledge along the way of my educational career has allowed me to improve my creativity, and this subject is certainly no exception. The idea that the audience becomes the art is definitely cool and interesting and is something anyone could learn and appreciate because it involves us as the participant to make the art. Furthermore, using new software has taught me how to learn and adapt my creativity to new platforms. In rapidly expanding and changing world, It is good to be uncomfortable with the unfamiliar and mold our creativity in many different ways.

ARTIST STATEMENT STUDY 8

This study was another revision of one of my old studies which was called the ‘sound-image manipulator’. The old project was essentially a live webcam feed that was distorted by the loudness of the sound. In this revised version of the study, I wish to explore different alternatives to manipulating an image. I still retained the old manipulation within the feed, whilst adding in a new one that I recently learnt. In order to combine the old and new distortions I used ‘jit.glue’ to use the different manipulations in different parts of the live feed frame.

The aim of the original study was to have fun with the software and show that you could use visuals and audio to interact with your audience. There is no real in depth meaning behind the study, but more to show case some of the potential that exists in world of Max. If the participant begins to wave with his/her arms and make some weird and loud noises, the study has served its purpose.

ARTIST STATEMENT STUDY 6

Poppy’s project is a very simple game of ‘find the clown’ in a tall building with lots of windows. I thought I would have to really squint hard to find the clown but it to turns out its not even in the building but in the top right-hand corner in the sky. To be fair, the project is still in its early days and there are always room for improvement.

I like the idea and I feel like it could go in the direction of where’s wally. However, to make it more complicated, if you do not find the clown, then the position of the clown will automatically change within the map.

The map will be displayed as a large resolution image and the clown shall be hidden away inside the image. There will be a timer next to the map and a toggle to start the game. At every 50 second interval the clown’s position shall be changed into a random position within the map until the player has seen the clown and clicked on in. I have managed to move the clown in random areas with a timer. However I am currently having difficulty converting the clown into a button as well has having the random positioned confined to the parameters of the ‘clown map’.

ARTIST STATEMENT STUDY 7: The First Revision of “The Annoying Game”

I have decided to revise my major project, which is titled as “The Annoying Game”. The game was inspired by mini puzzles that we used to play as a child; more specifically the game with scrambled tiles in a small grid. However, given the limitations of my knowledge and time, I created something that was more annoying to play and time consuming to solve; hence the conception of game’s name. In this revision, I tidied up the game’s presentation and mechanics as well as another annoying parameter to the game. If you’re feeling frustrated by the stupidity of the game, hold it in. If you dare to make a loud sound, it will rearrange itself again.

The game attempts to punish the impatient and tries to be annoying as possible to ensure the longevity of the interaction. Essentially what I made was unnecessarily long and arduous in order to achieve to 6-7-minute time frame so that it, hopefully, qualifies for the demands of the assignment. I hope that in playing this game you become frustrated and annoyed at how ridiculous this game is and leave with bitter and resentment by the end of it all. The game is not perfect, which is not the point of it. The point is for it to be annoying; just like that little sibling that gets away with everything no matter how ridiculous it may be.