Wildlife documentaries and what kind of narrator? (1 Viewer)

[Wompoo Dove]

I was wondering if folks here have favorite types of narrators for wildlife documentaries. For example actor Colin Friels (mild Aussie accent) did an excellent job in the ABC produced Film Land of Parrots.

More specifically if you are watching a doco on wildlife what type of voice/accent do you prefer?

If you are watching an Australian film for example do you prefer an Australian narrator? Or what about a David Attenborough type narrator who, although not Australian has a terrific classic educated Brit accent to accompany the film?

What about an American/Canadian doing the narration on a UK or Australian subject matter?

Personally I seem to prefer UK or Aus accents over North American even if the material is focused on a North American topic like Wood Warblers or whatever.

Would love to know what other folks prefer when they are relaxing in their living room watching nature unfold and needing a voice to explain what they are seeing.

Cheers and thanks for your imput!

Don

www.polytelismedia.wordpress.com

 

[Marmot]

It might sound a strange answer but a person that is doing the narration because they love the subject they are talking about and know quite a lot about it as well [Sir David probably the best] and not someone who has been presented with a script and are just reading it. You can tell it in their voice as they just do not have the enthusiasm and warmness.

 

[Scott_sg]

Agree with Marmot totally. You can tell when someone really loves what they are doing. Sir David Attenborough is the standard for all the rest to match. Then again even the late Steve Irwin let his passion come through also in a completely different way.

I have never liked the whole celebrity thing. People in the end should be watching to see the whales or whatever, not some hollywood person. It always seems to me sort of patronising like ...here is so and so who has suddenly decided gibbons are really really really important.

As an aside, and slightly off topic. I have never been able to get into the US wildlife films, I am not quite sure why. I have a feeling it is a difference in approach. I have a feeling the BBC tends to produce around a more broad scientific theme, while eg Natgeo seems to go for a more storyline type of production.

So for example, a UK approach would be life in arctic, a US approach would be the life of the arctic fox ending with all the cubs growing up and living happily ever after.

An Australian (or SAfrican) approach to the same topic would be a guy in kaki shorts freezing himself jumping about on the ice to catch a lost cub.

That is probably just my perception though.

The Land of Parrots, I bought and have to admit I was dissapointed with it. To me it was one of those films that had great potential but seemed to lack any real depth apart from the Eclectus, which are not unique to Australia, and are hardly typical Australian parrots.

Time for me to stop complaining now, but this is how I think birds should be done;

Attenborough with a Lyrebird
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=3433507052114896375#

 

[Farnboro John]

1. David Attenborough

2. Nick Baker

3= Gordon Buchanan and Chris Packham

5= Charlotte Uhlenbroek and Kate Humble

None of the running around being macho types thank you. Nor Saba Douglas-Hamilton.

Also recommended: John Aitchison, who knows a thing or two about light and can talk about what he's doing; Charlie Hamilton James who seems happiest on the banks of a river with Otters and does a fair commentary as well as a delightful film; and while I don't feel the need for a celebrity voice I enjoyed Lenny Henry doing the Black Mamba Natural World the other week.

John

 

[Fozzybear]

The narration style is led by the script too, the rather sensationalist language used by most of the US documentaries I've seen (as well as some by commercial UK studios) grate rather and can be incredibly cheesy, but it depends what kind of audience you seek. Most of the time the BBC does wildlife narration brilliantly, they usually get the balance just right between keeping your interest and avoiding the 'got to make it exciting for the people looking for gory nature'. I have seen the occasional wildlife programme that strays a bit close to lowest common denominator but those are pretty rare.

I thought Stephen Fry's narration of Last Chance To See was very good - a comforting voice, well scripted narration and carried through with intelligence and, as ever with Mr Fry, in a tone that perfectly suited the subject matter. How it would play in the US I really don't know though!

 

[Perry Smale]

I find Sir David's voice rather tiresome these days and people like Chris Packham, Nick Baker and Kate Humble have what it takes to make wildlife appeal to a younger generation and a wider audience in my opinion, with no stuffiness (not meaning to cause any offence to the Big A of course). Michaela Strachan used to do a very good job too on the Really Wild Show (where is she now?). I don't have a problem with presenters with accents doing narration either and off the top of my head three good choices would be Ross Kemp, Sean Bean or James Nesbitt. Certainly there would be nothing twee about the voiceover! Or how about Harry Hill: "Which is the most formidable predator in the sea? The Great White Shark or the Killer Whale? There's only one way to find out......!"

 

[Scott_sg]

I forgot about Nick Baker, but in some ways he reminds me of a younger version of Attenborough. I think in the end "different strokes for different folks".

I grew up with Attenborough and Costeau from the early 80's, so that had a huge influence on me. My younger brother on the other hand loves to watch ...err forget their names but a South African guy with long blonde hair chasing snakes, and another Australian motorcycle type snake guy with the kissing and "love ya mate" before he lets the cobra go.

BBC Bristol/ Attenborough seem to border on almost academic productions which I can understand wont appeal to everyone, and often you have to be in the mood for it anyway.

Personally I cant stand the "which will win? a tiger or a lion" type of shows. In the end though that seems to be what a lot of people seem to want to watch these days though.

There is another English guy I like to watch also - and forget his name. But he does shows where he is trying things out....like seeing how many termites he can suck up, trying to copy an anteater and so on. He is a bit wacky but the shows are interesting and seem original.

The only American that comes to mind is Jeff Corwin, he can be very good at times.

And lastly I always enjoy watching Bill Oddie. Not quite the same thing, but as mentioned at the start of the thread, the thing all these people have in common is that their passion comes through on camera.

 

[David FG]

I think the best voice for a documentary is one you don't really notice.

It is what's happening on the screen that matters, not the acting skills or idiosyncrasies of the narrator/presenter, and anything that distracts from that has to be bad, I think.

 

[jurek]

For me it doesn't matter. David Attenborough is a kind of a brand, appearing in films which are exceptional. (I know that he is over 80 now!).

One thing i didn't like were some American films. One with a narrator with horribly hissing voice, oher with some artificial, thick Indian or African accents. Most educated people in India and Africa speak with no accent.

I have never been able to get into the US wildlife films,

They are incoherent for me. Trying to turn everything into a violent drama, and ending with neither a relaxing or interesting documentary nor a believable drama. They are also often of poor quality, reusing bits of footage from different films, showing poor special effects of some zigzags of two films overlaid on each other etc.

 

[Quercus]

Whoever narrates.... save us from the music!... please

 

[delia todd]

Whoever narrates.... save us from the music!... please

Hear hear Quercus - I really really hate the music.

It seems we're unable to watch any telly programme nowadays without being entertained by musak.

D

 

[Enji]

I couldn't care less about the accent, as long as I'm able to understand what the narrator is saying. What I care about is a narrator who seems engaged in the subject, who can convey his or her enthusiasm to the audience. A good speaker in my opinion is someone who can vary their voice, so it's interesting to listen to. Too many people on telly nowadays seem to only have one tone in their voice, either whispering or screaming, and also many talk too fast making it stressful to listen to. Highly annoying.

I'm also a person who wants to learn from wildlife documentaries, so I get rather annoyed when I'm not told what I'm watching. I love to know the exact name of the creatures, and why they're doing things... Don't really like the ones that seem heavily directed with dramatic music and so on. I prefer reality. It's exciting enough in itself, you don't need to add any drama! But I guess that's more to do with the direction than the narrator...

 

[Farnboro John]

Good point about mentioning all the stuff on screen, I used to get quite frustrated by e.g. a good shot of a Blacksmith Plover at an African waterhole and no mention of what it was. Now of course I know it all

John

 

[Wompoo Dove]

Excellent feedback what do you think about the narration here?

This is great feedback folks. Okay I have a sample of a yet to be released documentary I am working on. I would love some overall impressions. Especially about the narration based on what comments I have heard so far that some narrators are boring, over the top in your face, grating etc. What do you think about this one?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Anulc_txptA