I'm finishing a script in which I have no VO. However, considering a little at the end. How much of a no-no is that?

In short, there would be no VO until the final page of the script.

SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION ended that way...

Shawn.....><

In the Movie "Return to Paradise," Vince Vaughn has a quick VO in the beginning of the film and that's it for the film. I think it works very well.

Depends completely on your script and the context it's being used.  Try and stick with the show don't tell method would be my advice, but there is no rule that I know of. Just ask yourself will it enhance the script, if yes, go for it.

Michael

If you are going to use VO at the end, I would consider using one at the beginning too. It might be...might be...a little odd if the VO appears for the first time at the end.

But it depends. For example, instead of a VO you might have the character speaking, such as if it is one from the story, just be onscreen.

I good example is the Coen version of True Grit. There is a VO at the beginning of the girl protagonist when she is all grown up. It sets up the story. Then at the end, we see the girl grown up and visiting a cemetery while she continues her narration, where we hear her inner voice.

I would consider using a VO at the beginning to match.

I agree with Kevin.

I don't think I've seen a movie with voiceover at the end but not at the beginning.



Phil

My only thought was don't use the VO at the end to explain things - bad sign. It must add.

Kevin's idea of what I think Synder called bookending, ie using something similar at the start and end of a film, would work, if it is needed.

I remember one film, simply awful - Hope Floats - where they had to use VO at the end to make any sense of what just happened. Avoid.

Quoted from dogglebe I agree with Kevin. I don't think I've seen a movie with voiceover at the end but not at the beginning. Phil

Weirdly, I was actually thinking about this exact topic the other day, and if I recall, the movie Sex Drive had a concluding VO at the end, but nowhere else in the film... Considering that movie was a train-wreck, I would consider emulating nothing from it, and not using VO solely in the final scene.

But on second though, if I recall, the brilliant French film La Haine (my avatar) also does it. And that is one of my favourite films of all time.

Thanks guys. Think I'll bookend it. One at the beginning, one at the end.

Personally, I would not use V.O. at all. How could you have made it through an entire script without it but suddenly need it on the final page? That to me suggests the information you're giving isn't all that important.

If you absolutely must use it at the end, I'd bookend it with something at the beginning as well. Otherwise, it's just be random and weird. That said, I think that approach has always been tacky. Films always end better with an image or a single line than they do regurgitated information for the audience's sake alone.