Opening Narration

[Imagineer]

I wonder... how would people feel about an opening narration, or even a Star Wars style opening crawl, as a device for establishing the story in a SHIP porn video?

It breaks the basic "show, don't tell" rule, but it's economical -- and in a niche that wants to the most "good stuff" of the hottest actors in the best costumes, I'd have thought this money-saving story-expanding technique would get more play.

I can't think of any genre examples of narration, especially a significant opening narration or narration between scenes. Can anyone think of any?

I know narration has entirely fallen out of favor in modern mainstream TV and film, to the point that it's a pretty reliable hallmark of bad craft... but I wonder if the genre creators (including those who commission works) are overly precious about avoiding narration to the point of detriment. Would the audience that likes story really find it completely unsuitable? Would the audience that merely tolerates or even skips story find it worse than the exposition we get now?

I encourage folks who commission works and producers alike to consider the merits of opening narration or an opening crawl -- especially as an alternative to the newscast, but also in place of the villain status meeting, and the heroine internal monologue / talking to the earpiece while prowling. Those narrative techniques are valid but limiting and heavily used.

A softer approach is the camera confessional approach born in Errol Morris documentaries and foundational to reality TV -- TBFE's "Marvelous" is a genre example -- but I'm not personally a fan of this because it is so heavily used in reality TV and I'm not a fan of reality TV in general.

Curious if anyone thinks opening narration might work.

[GeekyPornCritic]

Supergirl - Retribution by Tropic City Heroine's is the only SHIP production with an opening narration to my knowledge. I can't speak for softcore videos or non-sex videos. I'm sure those fans can speak for those films. The Opening Narration fits Supergirl - Retribution. It says Supergirl and the government levied Lex Luthor's bank account due to his illegal activities, and I doubt most people want to watch the legal process.

For the most part, I prefer "show me" instead of "opening narration". Don't tell me Supergirl was defeated. I want to see Supergirl lose because I want to see peril.

Another effective method is to show results of a crime without using an opening narration. I recently wrote a script for a producer and it opens with the villains with stolen cash from the bank. We don't see the robbery. However, we know the villains robbed a bank because they mention it and show the bags of cash. I prefer this style when producers have limitations such as a location.

[TIEnTEEZ]

The fact that you mentioned one of the most successful movies of all time as an example that does this should tell you something.

"Show don't tell" is a guideline, not an absolute rule. There are many cases where it's good to just tell the viewer/reader something. It's only a problem if you do it too often or if it goes on long enough to get boring.

So I don't mind it at all, especially as an opening. I've written custom videos where I've included some opening text, because a lot of producers charge by the minute and I don't want boring story stuff taking up a lot of the video time and costing me money. Nor do I need to sit there and watch a lot of story before I get to the good parts.

[theScribbler]

Also fine with it.

Not a Star Wars crawl, but voice narration over images works for me. And then the following video starts with the Superheroine already tied up, or her entrance into a villain lair.

[DrDominator9]

An interesting topic here, Imagineer, re narration openings. Thanks!

It can also be done as the heroine reading from her diary if the actress' skill allows it. A subtle variation on narration. And yes, I'd be fine with that, too.

It could also be a voice-over from a henchman's POV rather than the main villain. Many different ways you could handle it. Even, say, a cop coming upon a beaten heroine in the establishing shot and then going into flashback.

[Jacques]

Check out Airforce Kandy. The set up explains how the heroine was betrayed by a co worker. During the combat the set up continues by adding more details.

[GeekyPornCritic]

I think the opening narration in Star Wars work because it explains the political landscape, the world, and events from previous movies. It's basic information. We are not missing any key events from the movies. It's no different than learning simple information from characters such as the leader of a group or a past battle.

Final Fantasy VI uses the same technique in the opening scene, and maybe have been inspired by Star Wars. It begins with the story about the Empire and explains how the Empire rediscovered magic that was once lost by man.

Check out Airforce Kandy. The set up explains how the heroine was betrayed by a co worker. During the combat the set up continues by adding more details.

That sounds like a very lazy set up in my opinion. Betrayal from a single character should be shown. A simple scene with the villains on the phone with the coworker would have been fine.

[Imagineer]

Also fine with it.

Not a Star Wars crawl, but voice narration over images works for me. And then the following video starts with the Superheroine already tied up, or her entrance into a villain lair.

Voice narration with no images would be the least expensive. Still images from stock image libraries have to be found and cleared; still images or very brief clips shot during production could be cheap if they're all from one location & lighting setup, but the closer you get to shooting the beats of a scene or multiple scenes the closer you get to the production costs of just shooting a full scene -- and might just be making for extra editing work. It can still provide value creatively, but the more it's like a straight shoot the more it suffers the same limitations of narrative scope and cost.

An interesting topic here, Imagineer, re narration openings. Thanks!

It can also be done as the heroine reading from her diary if the actress' skill allows it. A subtle variation on narration. And yes, I'd be fine with that, too.

It could also be a voice-over from a henchman's POV rather than the main villain. Many different ways you could handle it. Even, say, a cop coming upon a beaten heroine in the establishing shot and then going into flashback.

There could be some cost benefit from letting your lead performer read voiceover dialog vs deliver dialog while acting in a scene -- on the other hand, a lot of people have trouble reading dynamically (ie they basically have to memorize it anyway), so it might only be beneficial to production if you're using that diary reading to convey things that you can't afford to convey on-camera.

[Jacques]

I would dispute the characterization lazy but I respect your opinion.Buy the video and then we can have a debate. Perhaps you can give me pointers for my next custom, something more elaborate than a phone call. How about an abduction beside the entrance to Le Louvre?

[theScribbler]

Also fine with it.

Not a Star Wars crawl, but voice narration over images works for me. And then the following video starts with the Superheroine already tied up, or her entrance into a villain lair.

Voice narration with no images would be the least expensive. Still images from stock image libraries have to be found and cleared; still images or very brief clips shot during production could be cheap if they're all from one location & lighting setup, but the closer you get to shooting the beats of a scene or multiple scenes the closer you get to the production costs of just shooting a full scene -- and might just be making for extra editing work. It can still provide value creatively, but the more it's like a straight shoot the more it suffers the same limitations of narrative scope and cost.

Can't put out a video with no images: just black with no still or video.

Once the actress in costume, producer can shoot multiple images of her in various heroine poses in less then a minute or two. Check my avatar, that could be first 5 sec of a narration, another pose next 5 sec of narration. Doesn't really have to go with narration, more like showing calendar photos of main babe character while narration is going on but she doesn't have to be representing or pantomiming what the narration is talking about. Could do some of that tho maybe, if it doesn't look dumb.

I can picture it. Just don't know if I'm describing it well enough.

[Heroine Addict]

Comic book-style images would be good. Perhaps a combination of posed photos (as suggested by theScribbler) and drawn backgrounds could be put together to make a quick Creepshow-style narration.



This could be used to actually show some of the stuff that usually takes place off-screen in SHiP videos. It would give us a better idea of that superheroine as someone who has adventures in a four color comic book world.

Also, if a producer is going for the Batman '66 vibe, a William Dozier-style narrator would be ideal. However, there's a fine line between camp and farce. (As demonstrated by the too goofy narration on the Daredolls videos.)

[LuciaFilms]

Funny you should mention this! We recently slotted a SHIP custom into our lineup that has noticeable anime leanings, at the direction of the client. We 100% are going to do a classic anime entry narration, and maybe even a commercial break cut near the middle of it. May not be exactly what you are talking about, but we are looking forward to it!

It is always tempting to go the narration route as customs often come with exposition dumps about the characters and setting at the beginning of them that are not actually represented in the script anywhere, but we generally prefer to take that information and embed it into the movie in various places to pull it in.

[coulumbia]

An opening narration... or even during the development of the video can be very effective to convey information, plot development and even express thoughts/emotions of the characters, adding to the story.

Narration in various forms can certainly be a great tool as long as it is used judiciously and helps move the storyline forward or add/supplement what the viewer is seeing.

As I noted in another post having a lot visual action (even sexual) taking place for a long period of time with no dialogue can be very boring (IMHO). Sure it is what most of us are paying to see (beat down, battles, humiliation, forced orgasms, sexual domination), but without dialogue, the groans and grunts get to be a bit repetitive.

On-screen dialogue would be great, but not always doable ( definitely hard to remember or get scripted "lines" etc right which can be very time expensive), then at least via narration ( telling what is happening or hearing the Character's thoughts... Villain or Hero/Heroine), the emotion of what is taking place can be intensified. That can be done rather inexpensively before/after the on-screen shoot.

I feel that can add a higher intensity and present a better story while not loosing out on great physical action (sexual or otherwise).

[arkane]

I wonder... how would people feel about an opening narration, or even a Star Wars style opening crawl, as a device for establishing the story in a SHIP porn video?

It breaks the basic "show, don't tell" rule, but it's economical -- and in a niche that wants to the most "good stuff" of the hottest actors in the best costumes, I'd have thought this money-saving story-expanding technique would get more play.

I sure would accept this way to start the story (and written text or subtitles too). The same thing could be used (in moderation) as link between scenes.