Voice-Over Narration in Book-to-Film Adaptations: Is it a Yes or a No?

A book-to-film adaptation is not just about telling a written story on the big screen. Rather, it’s about translating the story into a totally different language – film. 

Film language and literary language are totally different. They have varied sets of pros and cons, making translating a written narrative into a visual one quite challenging. This is especially true since the success of a book-to-film adaptation relies greatly on the way the actors portray their roles and deliver their lines to elevate the dialogue. 

When it comes to book-to-film adaptations, one of the most difficult aspects to translate into film is the interior monologue. It is one aspect of the literary language that doesn’t translate to film at all. It can be rendered as dialogue or its meaning and tone be implied through the editing, cinematography, and the actors’ performances. This is why most filmmakers resort to using voice-over narration. 

Adding a narrating voice in a film adaptation acts as a master of ceremonies that presents and controls the written story. It adds the voice of the character from which the story’s perspective was taken from. It adds a human voice that explicitly narrates all or part of the story that is about to unfold.

However, voice-over narrations in films have been widely critiqued by many. For many, it gets in the way of effectively conveying the message of the book. This is why film critics highly recommend using voice-over narrations very carefully. On top of that, it’s also important to elevate the décor, musical scoring, cinematography, and the actors’ performances to lessen the effect of voice-over narrations, should there be any.