Documentary Filmmaking: A Contemporary Field Guide
Product Description
Documentary Filmmaking: A Contemporary Field Guide is a skills-oriented, step-by-step portable guide to creating documentary films, from the initial idea phase to postproduction processes and distribution. An indispensable resource on site or in the studio, this compact handbook offers something for all types of students: documentary recommendations (for the film buff); illustrations and examples from working documentary makers, producers, editors, and distributors (for the more grounded, visual learner); the latest trends in Internet video and other forms of new media (for the more “techie” documentarian); and even practical financial tips, fundraising ideas, and legal considerations (for the more idealistic–and not always realistic–visionary).
Organized by the chronological structure of documentary film creation, the book opens with ideas, motives, access, and preproduction questions. It then moves on to research, crew considerations, legal issues, production planning, film shoots, and interviewing issues, before wrapping up with postproduction organization, publicity, distribution, and festivals.
Offering a strong focus on practical advice and ethics, Documentary Filmmaking is an ideal text for undergraduate- and graduate-level documentary film courses.
FEATURES
· Step-by-step information for producing documentaries, including many useful checklists
· Detailed hands-on advice and class-tested instructional organization backed by the authors’ combined forty years of teaching experience–and by their combined sixty years of independent documentary work
· An up-to-date and careful look at the latest distribution market structure and innovative media for distribution
· Brief structure and compact size that encourages portability
· Unique chapters covering Internet video, the use of music, and publicity and distribution
Documentary Filmmaking: A Contemporary Field Guide
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Tags: Contemporary, Documentary, documentary filmmaking books, Field, Filmmaking, Guide
Category: Filmmaking Books | Posted by: brian on June 21, 2010
1 Comment to “Documentary Filmmaking: A Contemporary Field Guide”
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By ., June 21, 2010 @ 1:06 pm
This compact book serves as a great resource and reference for structuring your production of a documentary film, nicely organized into four key sections (Getting Started, Preproduction, Production, Postproduction) with detailed breakdowns for each.
The amount of care and detail is much appreciated, covering unexpected topics like the art of collaboration and how to choose collaborators, how to structure and write a documentary proposal, the art of effective interviewing and the new territory created by the internet and its forms of distribution and exhibition. Many great documentaries and their respected filmmakers are referenced for clear examples.
Just as the “American Cinematographer’s Manual” is the definitive reference manual for cinematographers, this is the definitive manual for documentary filmmakers.
Rating: 5 / 5