Directing the documentary

Directing the Documentary, Sixth Edition is the definitive book on the form, offering time-tested principles to help you master the craft. Ideal for documentary courses as well as aspiring and established documentary filmmakers, this book has it all, with in-depth lessons and insider perspectives on every aspect of preproduction, production, and postproduction. Focusing on the hands-on work needed to make your concept a reality, this new edition covers it all, from the fundamental to advanced elements of directing and more. It includes dozens of projects, practical exercises, and thought-provoking question, and provides best practices for researching and honing your documentary idea, developing a crew, guiding your team, maintaining control throughout the shoot, and much more.

Book I: Observing -- Part 1: You and Your Ideas; 1 You and Film Authorship -- 2 The Nature of Documentary -- Part 2: Documentaries and Film Language; 3 Documentary History; 4 Constructing Reality; 5 Story Elements and Film Grammar -- Part 3: Preproduction; 6 Developing story ideas; 7 Research; 8 Developing and pitching a short documentary; 9 The crew -- Part 4: Production; 10 Capturing sound; 11 Lighting; 12 Camera; 13 Directing -- Part 5: Postproduction; 14 Creating the first assembly; 15 Editing for refinement; 16 Editing from fine cut to festival -- Book II: Storytelling -- Part 6: Documentary aesthetics; 17 Point of view and storytelling; 18 Dramatic development, time and story structure; 19 Form, control, and style; 20 Re-enactment, reconstruction, and docudrama; 21 Values, ethics, and choices -- Part 7: Advanced production issues -- Part 7a: Advanced preproduction; 22 Advanced research; 23 Advanced story development and proposal; 24 Advanced technology and budgeting; 25 Preparations before directing -- Part 7b: Advanced production; 26 Optics; 27 Advanced cameras and equipment; 28 Advanced location sound; 29 Organization, crew, and procedures for the larger production; 30 Adv…