Good Docs with Narration

Z

Zed

Member
Hey Folks,

I working on my first doc with a narrator and I need some ideas. What are some good documentaries with voice over?

Don
 
Films that rely just on a narrator to work have fallen out of favor, not because narration is bad per se, but it's been over-used and mis-used over the years. Right now, first-person films (and thus first-person narrators) are in fashion, but that does not mean you should not use a narrator if you need one. The hell with rules and what's in fashion. A compelling story, well told, that's what the audience is looking for.

First person narration like in the film Following Sean (2005, Ralph Arlyck) works very well. In films where you're working with mostly historical footage like in Jazz (2001, Ken Burns) you often have no choice but to use a narrator. If you're going to be using lots of narration, you want someone with the right voice. It's generally more interesting when a film offers a mix of interview and narrator, with minimal narration, but it really depends on the subject matter.

Some documentaries have effectively weaved narration into their story, some that come to mind are The Times of Harvey Milk (1984, Rob Epstein) and Nuit et brouillard (1955, Alain Resnais, english title: Night and Fog).
 
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DiG! was just an all around fascinating doc, IMO. The narration, however, is very sparse and provided by the lead singer of the Dandy Warhols, one of the main characters in the film. That might be a formula to consider.
 
Check out Dana Brown's films Step Into Liquid or Dust To Glory. Definitely the best narration I've ever heard. He narrates in the first person, mostly based on his experience as the director and what he saw, felt, etc, all according to the topic. Very effective.
 
Not a documentary per se, but a good example of not using narration is the series Film School, which does a pretty good job of having the principles explain what is happening. When necessary, they put up brief narrative subtitles.
 
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Two words, Morgan Freeman! Problem solved. It may be worth it to study how the VO is used. In The Kid Stays In The Picture, Bob Evans seems to be reading from a book, In The Fog Of War Robert MacNamara's voice is used from interviews, Werner Herzog likes to use himself as does Michael Moore. Many ways to do it. Rent, borrow and buy and study.
 
[SIZE=+0]Showtime has a doc that is narrated by Julia Roberts, her narration was criticized as not being overwhelming, a good thing. Thankfully it was a limited read. There were minimal subtitles, mostly translation narration... It definitely takes the art form in a different direction. But then again... what rules? Not having subtitles, I felt, actually moved it along. It was in Tribeca last year, and Berlin this year. My gut is that if you have a character that can drive a feature length story do it, but if you don't get someone to narrate. [/SIZE]
 
March of the Penguins - fully narrated (since people do not speak penguin).

Grizzly Man - Good example of narration, used quite a bit. W. Herzog, the director, narrated, and you sense his feeling for his subject throughout the entire film.
 
dusterdoo said:
[...] Grizzly Man - Good example of narration, used quite a bit. W. Herzog, the director, narrated, and you sense his feeling for his subject throughout the entire film.
Click to expand...
Herzog in this film is not really a narrator in the classic "BBC documentary" sense of narrator, he's more of a witness, yet since he was not there and reconstructing everything from the footage and interviews, he's a narrator. When the narrator is so closely connected to the material the way Herzog is, we need a word for that to differentiate it from the other type of narrator. Any ideas?
 
Not sure, but in that case (Grizzly Man) it works. Cant imagine the appeal of the movie without it. I guess its a little like Michael Moore without politics.
 
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