V.O. (Voice Over)

Dialogue heard over the scene from a speaker not present in it — narration, phone calls, letters.

The (V.O.) extension marks speech laid over the picture from outside the scene: a narrator, the voice on the other end of a call, a letter read aloud. The speaker is not physically in the location.

Contrast with (O.S.): an off-screen speaker IS in the scene, just outside the frame — shouting from the next room is O.S.; narrating from the future is V.O.