Directing the Documentary (7^th Ed.)

Directing the Documentary is the definitive book on the documentary form, that will allow you to master the craft of documentary filmmaking. Focusing on the hands-on work needed to make your concept a reality, it covers the documentary filmmaking process from top to bottom, providing in-depth lessons on every aspect of preproduction, production, and postproduction.

The book includes dozens of projects, practical exercises, and thought-provoking questions, and offers best practices for researching and honing your documentary idea, developing a crew, guiding your team, and much more. This fully revised and updated 7th edition also includes brand new content on the rise of the documentary series, the impact of video on-demand and content aggregators, updated information on prosumer and professional video (including 4K+), coverage of new audio & lighting solutions and trends in post-production, coverage of the immersive documentary, and provides practical sets of solutions for low, medium, and high budget documentary film productions throughout. The companion website has also been fully updated to a variety of new projects and forms.

By combining expert advice on the storytelling process, the technical aspects of filmmaking and commentary on the philosophical underpinnings of the art, this book provides the practical and holistic understanding you need to become a highly regarded, original, and ethical contributor to the genre. Ideal for both aspiring and established documentary filmmakers, this book has it all.

Preface to the Seventh Edition

BOOK I: GETTING STARTED

PART 1: YOU AND YOUR IDEAS

Chapter 1 You and Film Authorship

Chapter 2 The Nature of Documentary

PART 2: DOCUMENTARIES AND FILM LANGUAGE

Chapter 3 How the Documentary Developed

Chapter 4 Constructing Reality

Chapter 5 Story Elements and Film Grammar

PART 3: PREPRODUCTION

Chapter 6 Developing Story Ideas

Chapter 7 Hypothesis, Research and Plan

Chapter 8 Developing Ideas for a Short Documentary

PART IV PRODUCTION

Chapter 10 Capturing Sound

Chapter 11 Lighting

Chapter 12 Camera

Chapter 13 Directing and Interviewing

PART 5: POSTPRODUCTION

Chapter 14 Creating the First Assembly

Chapter 15 Developing the Edit

Chapter 16 Fine Cut, Music, Audio and Color Correction

BOOK II: ADVANCED CONCEPTS

PART 6: DOCUMENTARY AESTHETICS

Chapter 17 Point of View and Storytelling

Chapter 18 Dramatic Development, Time and Story Structure

Chapter 19 Using Form and Style

Chapter 20 Reconstruction, Reenactment and Docudrama

Chapter 21 Values and Ethics

PART 7 ADVANCED PRODUCTION ISSUES

PART 7A ADVANCED PREPRODUCTION

Chapter 22 Handling Larger Projects

Chapter 23 Relations with Participants, Story Development and Funding Proposals

Chapter 24 Advanced Technology, Budgeting, Scheduling

Chapter 25 Preparations before Directing

PART 7B: ADVANCED PRODUCTION

Chapter 26 Optics and Perception

Chapter 27 Advanced Cameras and Support Equipment

Chapter 28 Advanced Location Sound

Chapter 29 Advanced Directing: Participants

Chapter 30 Advanced Directing: Camera

Chapter 31 Advanced Interviewing

PART 7C ADVANCED POSTPRODUCTION

Chapter 32 From Transcript to Assembly

Chapter 33 Creating Narration

Chapter 34 Original Music

Chapter 35 Editing Refinements and Structural Solutions

Chapter 36 The Final Sound Mix

PART 8: WORK

Chapter 37 Developing a Career

Chapter 38 Starting up on Your Own

Index

Michael Rabiger began in the cutting rooms of England’s Pinewood and Shepperton Studios, became an editor and BBC director of documentaries, and then specialized for many years in the US as a production and aesthetics educator. At Columbia College Chicago he was co-founder, then chair of the Film/Video Department and founded the Michael Rabiger Center for Documentary. He has directed or edited more than 35 films, was a founding faculty member and then Chair of the Film/Video Department at Columbia College Chicago, and has given workshops in many countries, designed and led a multinational European documentary workshop for CILECT, won the International Documentary Association’s Scholarship and Preservation Award, and was also awarded the Genius/Career Achievement Award by the Chicago International Documentary Festival. He is the author of Developing Story Ideas and co-author of the enormously successful Directing: Film Techniques and Aesthetics, now in its sixth edition

Courtney Hermann is an Assistant Professor of Film at Portland State University, an award-winning independent documentary filmmaker, and a non-fiction media producer. Courtney's work is distributed by Public Broadcasting Service and its affiliates, through educational film catalogues, at film festivals, and through impact distribution to community partners.