ABSTRACT
A traditional screenplay is told as a linear narrative made using modern filmmaking techniques and written for a broad audience with live-action, human characters that speak their dialogue as oblivious participants in the screenwriter's story. Screenwriters are forever trying to figure out the best way to explain what is going on inside the characters' minds. Musicals rely heavily upon a didactic transfer of knowledge, with characters verbally explaining their innermost thoughts through musical numbers. Before the 1920s, all films were silent. Silent films had to rely on physical cues from the actors, visual metaphors and subtextual editing techniques to provide important aspects of the story to the audience. Similar to musicals, an internal monologue allows the audience to hear what the characters are thinking- just without all the music and dancing. Written as Voice-Over (VO) in the script, this flag informs the reader that only the audience can hear what is being said.
