What's a "voice over?"?

Question

Tim Russert was doing one when he died. Had to do with his Sunday program.

Answer 1

When you hear the person speaking but can't see them, for instance like director's commentary on a DVD. It's pretty much background audio.

Answer 2

Voice over is when someone reads a script over film that is playing.  It's like a narration. Voice over may also refer to celebrities doing the voices of cartoon characters.

Answer 3

Voice over, when in the context of tv news, is when you are running a story and the anchor or reporter is talking over top of the video.  It can be done recorded or live.

If it is recorded, then "voicing over a tape" would be considered a "package".  A package is a prerecorded story that was voiced over by an anchor or reporter.

If it is live, you call it a voice over, or VO.  When you see a news anchor talking and suddenly the video changes to something else but you keep on hearing the anchor speaking, that is a VO.

Voice over is not the same as "voice acting" which is what cartoon voice actors do.  Voice over is always when someone is narrating over video.  It can be for something like a movie or cartoon but a voice over person isn't doing a character, he/she is narrating the story or something like that.  Voice over can also be someone narrating information to you during a commercial.

Answer 4

A voice over is like commentary over a program or an advert!