Voice-over-224x125You're the astronaut who'll never reach the oxygen tanks. No hold on, on second thoughts you're the bleeding soldier who can't detonate the charges. Actually scrap that, you're the fisherman being dragged to the bottomless depths. Or perhaps you're someone completely different? Martín Rosete's 10 minute short Voice Over depicts the urgency of life's pivotal moments in a desperate race against time. Watch it after the break.


As is evident from the onscreen action, which begins in high tension mode and doesn't really let up until its final moments, Voice Over was a pretty ambitious production to undertake. With a script penned by Luis Berdejo (writer of [REC] and [REC]3) -- that called for locations as far-ranging as Tenerife's Mount Teide, World War I trenches, and the open sea -- four production companies from across Spain were required to band together to pull off the eight day, Red One shoot. With the majority of shots requiring added effects or visual retouching, the production turned to Kickstarter after principal photography with a $10,000 goal for post work, which they successfully met.

Take a look at this behind the scenes video, which does a decent job of representing most of the departments:

There are also a stack of shorter on-set and behind the scenes videos on the Kamel Films Vimeo page which are worth a look even if you don't happen to speak Spanish.

Voice over in film is often used as a crutch to attempt to shore up broken stories or shoehorn in lacking exposition. But Voice Over creatively employs it as a tool which re-writes the narrative before our eyes and ultimately invites us to consider the link between potentially life-threatening events and the significant possibilities of new experience. No wonder the film has gone on to scoop up 44 awards at more than 80 selections, including the Runner Up spot at last year's Shot on Red Film Festival. It also landed director Martín Rosete representation with William Morris Endeavor, who are helping him search for a script to become his narrative feature debut. Not too shabby an outcome.

What did you think of Voice Over? Are there other voice over driven shorts which have left an impression on you?

Link: Voice Over -- Website