Recording narration with untrained talent - suggestions?

[JBurkey]

Hello all, I'm going to be recording narration for a doc about the local fire deparment this week. Naturally I'm not working with actors. Any suggestions on how to get the best out of these guys? For now the only thing I can think of is to have them say each line separately and then combine them in post as needs dictate, rather than reading an entire sequence. I dont have a DAT recorder so I'm going to fake it, possibly by just putting the lens cap on my DVX and recording to DV tape. Any ideas?

Thanks

Jerry

 

[aronprigg]

This is where you have to play director, In these circumstances I usually have them give me a read to see how they do. After that decide what you need out of them, usually amateurs are too monotone and don't put enough energy into their performance. Coach them into a good read, give them an example by giving them a read with good inflection. You also have to decide when to go with what you've got. At some point they won't get any better and you've reached their limit. The DVX audio is fine for recording narration. If your talent can make it through an entire section cleanly then go for it, if not break it up into sentences.

 

[Alexa]

if you have them say each line separately, you are creating a huge editing headache for yourself. try to get them to PRACTICE the tracks enough to be more efficient during the recording and the edit. remind them that the best sounding track will be the one that is most conversational and most like they really sound in person.