How to Make a Great Documentary Voiceover

The quality of a documentary voiceover is what makes or breaks the film. The voice narrator in a documentary is not treated as a priority in the viewer’s mind. Poor narration in the film can be a distraction to the viewing experience no matter how fascinating or boring a documentary is. Below are some of the ways to make an exceptional documentary voiceover in Nashville, TN.

Use Your Voice to Attract the Audiences

Amazing actors from Hollywood will tell you time and again that they earn a living doing voiceovers. Becoming a great voiceover actor is an art that is not reserved for everyone. The artistic nature of doing character voiceovers becomes even more evident when doing documentary voiceovers. Documentaries serve a different purpose than conventional films do. In a documentary, the narrator plays a big role on how good or bad the final product is. The narration of the documentary should be consistent with the content for clarity purposes, only natural voices should be heard in the documentary.

Narrate In Line With the Documentary’s Tone

Today, documentaries touch on different issues; from celebrity lives to emerging issues like global warming. Casting directors have to figure out which voice narrator would deliver the message along with the content coherently. Traditionally, it is unlikely there is a documentary talking about global warming being narrated by a teenage girl. Same applies to a documentary about Miley Cyrus being narrated by a solemn professional. It is however not an absolute rule on who does a documentary voiceover since the choice of voiceover talent will depend on the target audience.

Localize Your Documentary Narration

Documentaries attempt to explain global issues which means that they speak to a global audience. Since you are speaking to people in different parts of the world, try and localize the voice to a certain part of the world. If you are doing a documentary voice for a Nashville, TN audience, localizing the voice will allow you to resonate with the locals. To navigate the problem of appealing to the audience, documentaries voices are made using different voices for the same documentary. Examples of documentary voiceovers that have been done using different voices include that of actor David Attenborough who was selected to narrate the documentary “Planet Earth” for the original BBC version while Sigourney Weaver did the Discovery Channel’s US version.