Writing Documentary Narration: Part 2
In part 2 of my series on Documentary Narration, I’ll share several tips for writing narration. If you missed part 1, which can help you decide why you might want to use narration (or not), go here.
Keep in mind that writing for the screen is different than writing for print.
The most surprising difference may actually make your job easier. Since screen narration needs to be conversational, this often means writing short sentences. And even incomplete sentences. Like this.
Consider the following narration in the award-winning HBO documentary Getting Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief (2015):
“Hubbard was a prolific writer. He actually holds the Guinness Book of World Records for the number of books published. More than a thousand.”
See the incomplete sentence? Very conversational. Great documentary narration is also dense with details. What details can you fold into your film’s narration? Consider the following:
“Hubbard got his start in the Depression, writing pulp fiction, named for the cheap paper used. Writers were paid a penny a word, so they had to write a lot to make money. Hubbard hammered away so fast on long rolls of bushel paper that he used to drip sweat on his typewriter.”
The trick to writing conversational narration is to read aloud what you’ve written. If your tongue trips up, you need a re-write. Another way to write more colloquially is to tag onto the previous piece of sound (usually a sound bite) or, toss to the next line of sound.
Here’s an example of the former, from The Internet’s Own Boy: The Story of Aaron Swartz:
Soundbite: “Aaron and Carl decided to go talk to the New York Times about what happened.
Narration: “They also caught the attention of the FBI who began to stake out Schwartz’s parents house in Illinois.”
This simple line of narration not only references the previous interview sound bite, it also makes the heavy lifting of transitioning to another plot point look easy.
How long does it take to write narration? According to one veteran PBS producer, the average production team spends 4 weeks writing narration, from scratch narration to fact-checked, final narration.
In my experience, documentaries that aren’t historical films or first-person documentaries require less time to write.
Speaking of first-person documentaries, can an editor write narration for a director who is the protagonist of their own film? Absolutely! One of our editors is currently doing this.
How? The director provides basic plot points and related emotions. The editor then roughs out the narration. The director polishes the narration in their own words. We usually nail the narration with a couple back and forths. If not, then interviewing the director can help immensely.
Email me for a free consultation to see if working with one of our editors is right for your documentary. Our Finish Your Film program is currently shepherding seven filmmakers through post-production; we’re always looking for visionary filmmakers to help.
