Making Documentary Films and Videos: A Practical Guide to Planning, Filming, and Editing Documentaries

by Barry Hampe

Overview

The classic guide to making documentaries, now revised and expanded for today's filmmaker

The second edition of Making Documentary Films and Videos fully updates the popular guidebook that has given readers around the world the knowledge and confidence to produce their first documentary film. It traces two main approaches—recording behavior and re-creating past events—and shows you how to be successful at each. Covering all the steps from concept to completion, with chapters on visual evidence; documentary ethics; writing for documentaries; budgeting; assembling a crew; film and sound recording; casting and directing actors and nonactors; and editing for the audience, this book can help you successfully bring to life the documentary you want to make.
The second edition includes
• a discussion of truth, "reality," and honesty in the current filmmaking environment
• new advice on how to get started in documentary filmmaking
• an expanded section on researching and writing the proposal,
treatment, and script
• an exhaustive list of resources

"Practical planning advice, the importance of documentary ethics, budgeting and putting together a crew." - The Guardian

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780805081817
Publisher:	Holt, Henry & Company, Inc.
Publication date:	12/10/2007
Edition description:	Second Edition, Revised & Expanded
Pages:	464
Sales rank:	243,080
Product dimensions:	6.12(w) x 9.13(h) x 1.22(d)

About the Author

Barry Hampe has made more than two hundred documentary films and information videos as director or scriptwriter or both.

Table of Contents

Preface to the Second Edition     xv
Preface to the First Edition     xvii
Acknowledgments     xxi
What is a Documentary?     1
It Looks So Easy     3
What Is a Documentary?     10
What Is Not a Documentary?     19
A Little History (or How Things Got This Way)     28
Planning Your Documentary     37
Steps in Producing a Documentary     39
The Documentary Idea     47
Documenting Behavior     57
Documenting an Event with the Outcome Unknown     75
Remembering People and Events     81
What will you Show?     89
Visual Evidence     91
B-roll as Illustration, Metaphor, and Visual Wallpaper     106
A Short Sermon About Interviews     113
Well, What About Reality?     123
The Growing Problem of Credibility     132
Documentary Ethics     144
Writing a Documentary     161
Documentary Writing     163
Research     167
Structure     173
Proposal and Treatment     187
The Script     200
Filming a Documentary     217
PreproductionPlanning     219
Filming     236
Recording Sound     252
Directing     256
Directing People Who Are Not Actors     267
Selecting and Directing Actors     278
Conducting an Interview     293
Verisimilitude in Documentary     301
Working on Location     309
Postproduction     315
Preparation for Post     317
Editing a Documentary     324
Finishing the Production     341
Final Thoughts     347
Getting There     349
Feedback     357
Useful Organizations and Websites     358
The Documentary Crew     362
Equipment     373
Budgeting     380
Treatment for Travels of a T-Shirt     390
Treatment for A Young Child Is...     399
U.S.S. Perry Script Treatment     404
U.S.S. Perry Script for Act One     408
Bibliography     419
Filmography     421
Index     427

Editorial Reviews

YAA comprehensive and well-written introduction for aspiring filmmakers. Every aspect of production is covered, from conceptualizing an idea to seeking distributors for the final product. Technical aspects of video and film equipment are touched upon, but are not covered to such a degree that they become laborious. For instance, the subject of lighting, which could easily be a book unto itself, is addressed in a few pages. A filmography of classic documentaries and an appendix describing how to join the International Documentary Association are included. An invaluable tool for future producers and an excellent title to supplement videography and film-production classes.John Kiefman, Fairfax County Public Library, VA

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