What Does Documentary Style Mean in Voiceover?

Documentary style narration is exactly what you’d expect. It’s documenting a story, a fact, an event, etc. Documentary/docu series/in-show narration is a subtle genre requiring a balance of different voice tones within the same project, making sure to never overpower the story. Some narrations are transitional between on-camera interviews or on-screen activity, while other documentaries/docu series/television shows are fully narrated.

Documentary is My Favorite

Maybe it’s because my degree is in journalism or that I spent years as a newspaper reporter and magazine feature writer, but documentary narration is one of my all-time favorite genres of voiceover. As I did as a reporter and feature writer, I get to be part of sharing someone else’s story. The triumphs, defeats and everything in between.

It’s not just dramatic stories that I find fascinating. I’ve always enjoyed stories of everyday people. Every person has a story to tell, and there’s no genre of voice over that I enjoy more than documentary for that very reason.

NASCAR Documentary Voice Over

Some of the documentary narrations I’ve done include projects for NASCAR and the Tennis Channel, a docuseries for the PGA and a branded doc on HIV.

I’ll never forget the NASCAR Title IX documentary session recorded with a creative team from NASCAR to air on ESPN. Ed Mabe was the amazing director behind the piece, and it was such a treat to voice for him. He is a great director with the ability to creatively communicate what he wants in a way that is immediately actionable by the voice actor.

Since I quickly hit what he wanted as far as style, tone and pacing, there was quite a bit of time left in our session. I asked if I could take a run at it in a casual, conversational tone just to hear what it sounded like. He was game and ended up using many sections from that read in the final project.

The Women of NASCAR Project remains one of the all-time favorites of my entire career.

Documentary Dream Come True

Getting to voice documentaries, docuseries and television programming for issues and topics with a personal connection is every voice actor’s dream come true. I hope to voice narrations for projects on nature, wildlife, water, forests, female trailblazers, history, authors, painters, crime, well…pretty much anything sharing a good story.

I would jump at the chance to narrate a documentary, docuseries or television show about ordinary people doing ordinary things

Unusual Documentary/Docuseries Demo

Because I have narrated documentaries and docuseries on a variety of topics, but not necessarily all of the subjects I’d like to, I needed to expand my horizons to highlight my capabilities. I did something no voice actor had ever done. I hired documentary and docu series creators to write and direct me through reads for my documentary, docu series VO demo.

Docuseries: True Crime

The first genre tackled was crime/true crime, and I hired brilliant writer Maggie Mock of Mock Yeah Productions. She’s behind such well-known projects as Swamp Murders and Your Worst Nightmare.

Maggie asked me to send her some video options to inspire her writing, and she sent back three brilliantly written segments. I loved each of them so much, I hired her to direct me through all three. It was a total blast. Below, you will find a snippet of our session recorded via Zoom to get a true behind-the-scenes peek at how documentary voice over is directed and recorded.

Documentary: Mystery

Next, I reached out to supernatural mystery buff Thomas Scott Adams out in Washington state. He decided to explore the mystery of La Isla de las Muñecas or “Island of the Dolls.” Thankfully, because of COVID, or so I’m going to blame it, we didn’t get to experience the island in person (yikes)! Scott selected the topic and video clips then wrote and produced our segment. A clip of our recording session is below.

Documentary: Wildlife – Nature

Lastly, I connected on Linkedin with Maria Bernal-Silva, an experienced wildlife documentary producer. For our work together, I selected the topic and the footage and wrote the script, which we tweaked and refined during our session. She directed me through our voiceover session via Zoom.

For weeks, I struggled with what to write since I’m NOT a documentary writer, so I decided to go with something I knew: water creatures. As an avid kayaker, I come across Great Blue Herons all over the Southeast. I love their prehistoric look and sound, and what they symbolize to the area’s indigenous cultural traditions. Researching them, I came across a random fact that the Great Blue Heron population in the northern US is directly related to the growth of the beaver population.

Not long after I decided to write about the relationship between Great Blue Herons and beavers, I went for a paddle on Lake Oconee. No exaggeration, as I was headed down a canal, I came upon a Great Blue Heron fishing. Instead of squawking and flying away like they always do, it stayed still until it dove after a fish.

When I left the canal, I decided to check out an old beaver dam and heard the telltale warning slap of a beaver tail on the water (sounds like a gunshot) and spotted a beaver swimming a few yards behind me. It’s not often I encounter a beaver in the wild. I took the two back-to-back rare sightings as a sign I had chosen the right direction.

Branded Documentaries

Branded documentaries are also a popular way for companies to put a human face on their brand stories. As I mentioned earlier, I have always loved sharing people’s stories and jumped at any chance to interview and write a feature. For UPS, I did a branded documentary series on several of their employees who found creative solutions to challenges their co-workers faced.

Another branded documentary I did became one of my all-time favorite projects. “Because of Good” was created as a documentary sharing the success stories of three individuals who changed their lives after the intervention of a New York based nonprofit. The narration was delivered from the point of voice of “Good,” as though good were a person.

Being the Subject of a Brand Documentary

Several years ago, I was invited to be the subject of a branded micro-documentary Doner was producing on behalf of the UPS Store. A production company’s film crew flew in from Arizona to document how I used the UPS Store.

It wasn’t until we were all chatting in my kitchen before filming that we realized I had actually voiced several times for some of their other projects! Small, small world, isn’t it?

My Dream Documentaries and Docu-series

Some of my dream subjects to voice would be outdoors or nature topics, wildlife or domestic animals, freshwater ecosystems, forests, travel, RVing, off-road adventures, medical, kayaking, hiking, historical, female-focused, business and human interest features.

Experienced Storyteller

As an award-winning reporter, the best part of my job was diving into topics and people. I was recognized for a series of human interest features on brain-injury survivors, disabled workers and an investigation exposing criminal activity in the real estate market. Documentaries and docu series are also deep dives into a particular subject, so I approach them with the same enthusiasm and respect I had as a reporter.

Samples of Documentary VO:

For the PGA, I voiced an entire docuseries on Tiger Woods. Here’s my favorite of the three mini-documentaries I did for them.

Maria Bernal-Silva’s passion for wildlife preservation shines through in everything this accomplished documentary producer touches. Here’s a little behind-the-scenes peek at our work together.