The Role of Voice in Documentary Film

Abstract

Voice (in this case, referring to spoken word) plays a significant role in documentary film; however, its importance largely depends on the type of documentary in question. For instance, in newsreel-style documentaries, the role of the spoken word is minimal. In contrast, in analytical documentaries, the narration addresses not only what happened, where, and when, but also explores how, why, and to what end an event occurred. In such analytical documentaries, both on-screen sound (interviews, so-called “stand-ups,” etc.) and off-screen commentary are essential. The commentary may be read either by the author or by an actor.

The texts of analytical documentaries and documentary essays also differ in style. The essay belongs to a more artistic genre, and therefore, its voice-over commentary tends to be more expressive and stylistic. It is also important to emphasize that in analytical documentary film word and image should complement each other. It is undesirable for narration to merely describe what is already clearly visible to the viewer.