Writing, Directing, and Producing Documentary Films and Videos, Fourth Edition - Softcover

Rosenthal, Alan

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0809327422 ISBN 13: 9780809327423

Publisher: Southern Illinois University Press, 2007

Synopsis

As Alan Rosenthal states in the preface to this new edition of his acclaimed resource for filmmakers, Writing, Directing, and Producing Documentary Films and Videos is “a book about storytelling—how to tell great and moving stories about fascinating people, whether they be villains or heroes.”
 
In response to technological advances and the growth of the documentary hybrid in the past five years, Rosenthal reconsiders how one approaches documentary filmmaking in the twenty-first century. Simply and clearly, he explains how to tackle day-to-day problems, from initial concept through distribution. He demonstrates his ideas throughout the book with examples from key filmmakers’ work.
 
New aspects of this fourth edition include a vital new chapter titled "Making Your First Film," and a considerable enlargement of the section for producers, "Staying Alive," which includes an extensive discussion of financing, marketing, festivals, and distribution. This new edition offers a revised chapter on nonlinear editing, more examples of precise and exacting proposals, and the addition of a complex budget example with explanation of the budgeting process. Discussion of documentary hybrids, with suggestions for mastering changes and challenges, has also been expanded, while the “Family Films” chapter includes updated information that addresses rapid expansion in this genre.

About this title

About the Author

Alan Rosenthal has made more than sixty films for television. His books include New Challenges for Documentary, Why Docudrama? Fact-Fiction on Film and TV, and Jerusalem: Take One! Memoirs of a Jewish Filmmaker. He received a Peabody Award for Journalism and the International Documentary Association’s award for scholarship. Currently he divides his time among projects in Jerusalem, London, and New York. His most recent film is Stalin's Last Purge.

Review

“I can hardly praise this book enough. Should every documentary student read it? Certainly. Should every documentary filmmaker, no matter how experienced they are, read it? Certainly.”—Film Quarterly
 
 


“This book should be called the ‘Documentary Filmmaker’s Guide to the Galaxy.’ The moral, ethical, aesthetic, and communicative problems of documentary filmmaking are explored through knowledge and experience in the field, the studio, the editing room, theater, and television.”—Donald E. Staples, University of North Texas

The book is a major contribution to the literature of film teaching.”
International Documentary

About this edition

• Publisher: Southern Illinois University Press
• Publication date: 2007
• ISBN 10: 0809327422
• ISBN 13: 9780809327423
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 4
• Number of pages: 448