Narration: Live or Recorded?

In the Travel Film business, we have agonized for years over the question of how to present the narration to a film we've shot and edited. To narrate live or to prerecord? That is the question. 

I’m pretty sure we’ve each decided which way to go by now, so why are we still discussing it?

1. Some of us seem to feel that the future of our little industry depends on resolving the question one way or another. 

   

1. If you’re pro-recorded you feel that the product will be slicker and closer to    technical perfection; therefore the audience will perceive its superiority, free from embarrassing glitches and goof-ups. You also probably feel that you are a much better film maker than the bumbling fools who read, improvise, or otherwise speak out loud while standing unobserved in a darkened auditorium.
2. If you are pro-live you feel that you are being true to the basic tenets of the industry, which calls for personal appearances by world travelers recounting their adventures first hand. You probably feel that you provide a much better evening’s entertainment than the lazy shites who travel around the country playing DVDs while hiding backstage in a darkened auditorium.
3. If you are pro-choice you do your thing and you don’t really care what anyone else does as long as they don’t affect what you do.

There has been much talk about the “live” aspect: the pro-recorded people have decided that as long as the film maker is actually there, at the showing, it’s ”live.” He/she is there to introduce the film and to answer questions and therefore the experience becomes more than just going to the movies and can be called “live.” 

Let’s face it: we’re dealing with films here so the concept of “live” will always be a bit dodgy. You can’t make an exact analogy to a rock concert, for instance, where the Rolling Stones turn up but then proceed to play some of their CDs for the audience. But it’s a thought.

I suggest that if you make an 80-minute travel film organized into two parts, with an intro at the beginning, an appearance on stage in the middle, and a meet-and-greet at the end, you are doing pretty much what the audience has come to expect. Does it matter, after the lights go down, whether you hide somewhere and wait for the lights to come up again; whether you give a dramatic reading of your script from the podium; or whether you speak your narration off the cuff or from total recall?

 I mention the “dramatic reading” because that’s what I do and I’ve heard occasional negative remarks, over the years, about readers. I read because I have written a complex and literate script to go with my chosen images and I have no intention of trying to remember all the clever stuff I’ve put in there. Besides, reading is a perfectly honorable activity: think poetry readings or authors giving readings of their works. 

While I’m on the subject of presentation I would also like to add that I enjoy reading the narration; I can’t see myself traveling all over the country just to give brief introductions and stand at the sale table night after night. The narration is a nightly challenge where I strive to improve time after time. 

That said, if we’re going to continue advertising our work as “live,” I think we need to think of ways to show the audience that we are there.