There are times while making a movie that explanation, beyond what you are showing or what you have already recorded through interviews, is necessary. Just watch any History, Science, or Discovery Channel documentary and you’ll see a mix of interviews by experts, video, and the narrator telling you the story or the details of what you are watching. Some documentaries use a lot of narration, much more than you will use if you have interviewed family members. But it really depends on what you have to work with to make your own family history video.
How far back into your tree are you taking your video? The further back, obviously, the less likely you will have voices recorded that can speak about what has happened. You may show census pages and even do some pan and zoom to make it interesting but if the name is hard to read or spelled differently, or you show several in a row from different places, narration can become necessary. While photos and old silent film can grab a viewer’s attention better than a blank screen, an explanation or narration guides the viewer to fully understand what they are seeing.
As you made your storyboard as few weeks ago, you probably ran across some times that there was just no easy segue from one story to another or from one person to another. That’s another time that a simple narration can be truly helpful. It doesn’t have to be more than a line or two. It could be as simple as stating a person’s name or relationship, or even just a date.
You don’t have to be a professional narrator either. Few of us speak like Morgan Freeman or James Earl Jones but our future generations will be more interested in the fact that they are related to this narrator than how deep your voice is. In family history videos, related is relatable.
How far back into your tree are you taking your video? The further back, obviously, the less likely you will have voices recorded that can speak about what has happened. You may show census pages and even do some pan and zoom to make it interesting but if the name is hard to read or spelled differently, or you show several in a row from different places, narration can become necessary. While photos and old silent film can grab a viewer’s attention better than a blank screen, an explanation or narration guides the viewer to fully understand what they are seeing.
As you made your storyboard as few weeks ago, you probably ran across some times that there was just no easy segue from one story to another or from one person to another. That’s another time that a simple narration can be truly helpful. It doesn’t have to be more than a line or two. It could be as simple as stating a person’s name or relationship, or even just a date.
You don’t have to be a professional narrator either. Few of us speak like Morgan Freeman or James Earl Jones but our future generations will be more interested in the fact that they are related to this narrator than how deep your voice is. In family history videos, related is relatable.
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