Writing, Directing, and Producing Documentary Films and Digital Videos

Writing, Directing, and Producing Documentary Films and Digital Videos

Writing, Directing, and Producing Documentary Films and Digital Videos

Writing, Directing, and Producing Documentary Films and Digital Videos

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Overview

In a new edition of this popular guidebook, filmmakers Alan Rosenthal and Ned Eckhardt show readers how to utilize the latest innovations in equipment, technologies, and production techniques for success in the digital, web-based world of documentary film.
 
All twenty-four chapters of the volume have been revised to reflect the latest advances in documentary filmmaking. Rosenthal and Eckhardt discuss the myriad ways in which technological changes have impacted the creation process of documentary films, including how these evolving technologies both complicate and enrich filmmaking today. The book provides crucial insights for the filmmaker from the film’s conception to distribution of the finished film. Topics include creating dynamic proposals, writing narration, and navigating the murky world of contracts. Also included are many practical tips for first-time filmmakers. To provide context and to illustrate techniques, Rosenthal and Eckhardt reference more than one hundred documentaries in detail.
 
A new appendix, “Using the Web and Social Media to Prepare for Your Career,” guides filmmakers through the process of leveraging social media and crowdsourcing for success in filmmaking, fund-raising, and promotion. A day-to-day field manual packed with invaluable lessons, this volume is essential reading for both novice and experienced documentary filmmakers.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780809334599
Publisher: Southern Illinois University Press
Publication date: 12/23/2015
Sold by: Barnes & Noble
Format: eBook
Pages: 419
File size: 8 MB

About the Author

Alan Rosenthal, a professor emeritus of communications at Hebrew University in Jerusalem, is a documentary filmmaker with more than fifty films to his credit as writer, director, or producer. His books include Succeeding as a Documentary Filmmaker: A Guide to the Professional World and From “Chariots of Fire” to “The King's Speech”: Writing Biopics and Docudramas. His docudrama The First Fagin, about the transportation of convicts to Australia in the nineteenth century, was invited for special feature presentation at the Melbourne International Film Festival in 2012.

Ned Eckhardt, a professor emeritus and founder of the television and documentary production program at Rowan University in Glassboro, New Jersey, is the author of Documentary Filmmakers Handbook. His most recent film is Seabrook Farms Remembered. He served as an executive producer for Pact5, a national sexual assault awareness and prevention campaign that featured college student documentaries. 

Table of Contents

vii
Contents
Preface to the Fifth Edition ix
Preface to the First Edition xiii
1. Introduction 1
Part One. From Idea to First Draft
2. Clearing the Decks 7
3. Getting to Work 17
4. Writing the Proposal 30
5. Research 60
6. Shaping the Film 69
7. Beginning the First Draft 84
8. Completing the First Draft 99
Part Two. Preproduction
9. Budget and Contract 119
10. Preproduction Survey 151
Part Three. Production
11. The Director Prepares 169
12. Directing the Interview 182
13. On Location 197
Part Four. Postproduction
14. Editing 209
15. Writing the Final Narration 228
16. Finishing the Film 265
Part Five. Special Cases
17. Making Your First Film 273
18. Cinema Verité 279
19. Documentary Drama 291
viii Contents
20. The History Documentary 311
21. Family Films 327
22. Industrial and Public Relations Films 345
23. Staying Alive:
The Producer’s Role, the Web, and Social Media 360
24. Conclusion: Problems and Challenges 379
Appendixes
A: Using the Web and Social Media to Prepare for Your
Career 389
B: Select Websites 395
Select Bibliography 399
Index 403
Galleries begin on pages 145 and 259
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