Temp narration while you cut
In documentary, the script is often written in the edit. Narration gets rewritten dozens of times as footage is reordered, and recording a scratch track yourself for every version is slow. With a cloned voice, each rewrite is a new take in seconds, so the edit always has narration that matches the current cut, and you hear how it plays rather than imagining it.
Final narration
- Your own voice, for essay-style films and channels where the filmmaker narrates.
- A narrator's voice, cloned with their written permission and paid on agreed terms, so pickups and late changes don't need another session.
- Versions in other languages, in the same voice, for festivals and distribution abroad.
How to set it up
- A project for the film, a script per act or sequence.
- Record the narrator's sample slow and even, the way documentary narration is read. The clone copies that pace.
- The Calm style gives a steady, measured read; raise emotion intensity a little for a warmer, more personal tone.
- One paragraph or one thought per line, matching how the narration sits against picture.
- Generate, place and cut: drop the numbered files on the timeline. See syncing to video.
Writing narration for the ear
- Narration should add what the picture can't show. If the shot says it, cut the sentence.
- Short sentences land better over moving images than long, nested ones.
- Write dates and figures the way they're spoken: "nineteen sixty-eight", "about two million people". See numbers and abbreviations.
- Respell names of people and places that might be misread, and keep the real spelling for captions.
Honesty matters more here
Documentary audiences trust that what they hear is real. Two lines to hold to:
- Narration only. Never use a cloned voice to recreate the words of a real person in the film, such as an interviewee or a historical figure, as if they were recordings. That's exactly what audiences can't tell apart, and what the terms of service rule out.
- Say so in the credits when the narration is AI-generated, and credit the narrator whose voice it is. See disclosing AI voices.
When to hire a narrator
A great narrator brings interpretation that no setting replaces, and many films are better for it. Temp narration from a clone often makes the case for that hire, and makes the session shorter, because the script is finished by the time they record. See AI voices vs voice actors.