Directing the Documentary, 5th Edition

Chapter 32Creating Narration

Nowadays many filmmakers avoid narration because it reminds them of the disembodied, voice-of-God narration associated with traditional documentary. Even so, narration is ubiquitous in natural history, science, government, history, journalistic, and diary film forms. Narration is in fact useful, and there are ways to make it palatable and even highly effective. You will definitely need ways to produce narration for the screen. Perhaps you have a personal or anthropological film and must provide factual links or context. Perhaps you find yourself in difficulties because expositional material is lacking or the film’s story line needs simplifying. Narration is the answer.

Narration is always available to link story ...