Don’t Narrate Constantly

It is not necessary to give us a play-by-play of every moment you shoot. One video we looked at in preparation for writing this chapter featured a family on a camping trip with the mother telling us every obvious detail of their trip. “Oh, we’re getting out of the car now…. Dad’s taking our stuff out of the car…. He’s now taking the tent out of the bag…. Oh, look, there are some birds flying above…. Now we’re walking to the river…. There’s Lucy waving to me.”
It was enough to make us want to shake the TV and scream, “Lady, you’re not on the radio!”
For most types of documentary shooting, including home video, it’s simply not necessary to tell the audience what they’re seeing. Narration is a wonderful tool if the shooter is commenting on what is being shown, rather than stating the obvious. The woman in the family camping example could have had a much more enjoyable and informative home movie had her commentary been more like this: “Oh, I’m so glad to be out of that car! It’s chilly out here tonight. As we drove in, the park ranger said it could get to freezing. But the air smells wonderful. It’s crisp and clean…. It smells like someone already has a campfire going. Oh, those birds are gorgeous. They must be hawks of some kind!”
The trick to the best narration is to avoid telling people what they’re seeing (unless it actually needs explaining). Instead, the best on-camera narration helps to create a bigger picture. How? Tell us what we can’t see. What do you hear and smell? What’s the weather like? How do you feel? Do these places remind you of things in your past? What do you like or dislike about the thing you are shooting?
That’s not to say that all moments in your home movie need narration— far from it. The chirping crickets will give us more insight about your trip than a cameraperson rambling from behind the camera. Don’t forget, if you say nothing at all, you can always add it in post. Ah, the beauty of computers.
Post is shorthand for post production, which is the process of editing a video; adding special effects, transitions, and titles; and outputting it to some sort of distribution medium. Saying you can “fix something in post” is common film-world banter that suggests you’ll try to use narration, editing, and visual or sound effects tricks to overcome some problem you had (or some task you forgot to accomplish) while shooting.
Actually, using some of the documentary techniques presented in Chapters 5 and 6 might not be a bad idea in some home movies—in fact, those techniques may even prove funny and entertaining. Consider this possibility—steal a little “reality TV” technique for your home movies by interviewing the subjects after some silly action has taken place. Think “Real World” or “Survivor,” where the shows cut between live action and the participant telling you what happened during a later interview. We could do that for “Monk’s Bath Time”—interview Nina after the bath is complete and have her explain what happened and why. Then, you’ve got some great footage to help narrate the action. Plus, the juxtaposition of cutting between the calm interview and the lively dog washing would be amusing.