Off-screen narration

A narrator speaks over the scene without becoming an on-screen character. Write narration separately from the dialogue of visible people. Russian terms: нарратор, закадровый голос.

Studio example

Narration: “By dawn, the garden had changed.” On screen, the gardener quietly opens the greenhouse door and examines a new leaf.

Prepare the narrator’s exact text and voice as a separate audio asset when that is the intended workflow. Keep it out of the character’s spoken lines in the video brief. Connect and review the narration during audio assembly; omitting it from the video prompt does not automatically create that track.

Verify the result

Check that the visible character does not lip-sync the narrator, and that the final assembly actually contains the complete narration at the intended time. The 11 October Grok and HappyHorse authoring trial kept narrator text out of character dialogue but did not test the separate narration/assembly path.

Availability and evidence

This technique is documented as an authoring or workflow practice. It is available only through the stated inputs and operations; it is not a new model parameter. An unrendered example is untested. A dated successful case is an observation for its exact model, version, quality and mode, not a guarantee for another scene. Choose a model by the required operation first.

Related guides: voice, dialogue, sound design.

See the model–technique applicability matrix for connected operations, dated outcomes and configurations that remain untested.

Reviewed 14 October 2026 against the current Studio authoring contract and the evidence described above. No new paid render was made for this example.