The use of over-narration in Kim Myeong-joon’s documentary Our School greatly affects the viewer’s experience of it. It frames the narrative through the point of view of the narrator, which creates an intimate relationship between the viewer and the characters that are presented in the film. The use of over-narration in Our School is interesting because while the documentary film genre focuses on documenting an aspect of reality, its objectivity is undoubtedly altered by the voiceover of a subjective narrator.
The viewer is encouraged to identify with the emotions of the narrator as he speaks and expresses his opinions in the first-person. This identification is furthered by the use of a handheld camera in a series of interviews in the documentary. The camera movements allow the viewer to feel a personal closeness with the people who are being interviewed. It almost feels as if the viewer is being invited into an intimate conversation.
Several parts of the film follow a linear temporality, but the majority of it is presented as a jumbled montage of life at the school. In this way, the way the documentary is presented mirrors the quality of memories. The fact that the over-narration evidently occurs after the events in the narrative take place contributes to this quality. While watching the film, I realized that the documentary feels less than a factual account and more like a collection of the narrator’s fragmented memories.
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