Documentary Voice & Vision: A Creative Approach to Non-Fiction Media Production

Learn the creative and technical essentials of documentary filmmaking with Documentary Voice & Vision. This comprehensive work combines clear, up-to-date technical information, production techniques and gear descriptions with an understanding of how technical choices can create meaning and serve a director’s creative vision. Drawing on the authors’ years of experience as documentary filmmakers, and on interviews with a range of working professionals in the field, the book offers concrete and thoughtful guidance through all stages of production, from finding and researching ideas to production, editing and distribution. Documentary Voice & Vision will help students and aspiring filmmakers think though research and story structure, ethics, legal issues and aesthetics, as well as techniques from camera handling to lighting, sound recording and editing. The book explores a full range of production styles, from expository to impressionistic to observational, and provides an overview of contemporary distribution options.

Documentary Voice & Vision is a companion text to Mick Hurbis-Cherrier’s Voice & Vision: A Creative Approach to Narrative Film and DV Production, and employs a similar style and approach to that classic text. This text is written from the perspective of documentary filmmakers, and includes myriad examples from the world of non-fiction filmmaking. A robust companion website featuring additional resources and interactive figures accompanies the book.

Kelly Anderson's documentaries include My Brooklyn (2012) and Every Mother’s Son (2004, with Tami Gold). Her work has been screened on the PBS series POV and on HBO, and she was nominated for a national Emmy Award. She is a Professor in the Department of Film and Media Studies at Hunter College, City University of New York.

Martin Lucas is a documentary filmmaker and educator with over 30 years of experience making and speaking about documentary worldwide. His most recent film, Hiroshima Bound (2015), is a personal exploration of coming to terms with the Atomic Bomb. He teaches in the Department of Film and Media Studies at Hunter College, City University of New York.

Mick Hurbis-Cherrier teaches film production and screenwriting at Hunter College, City University of New York. Professionally, he has worked as a screenwriter, director, cinematographer, and editor. He is the author of Voice & Vision: A Creative Approach to Narrative Film and DV Production 2nd ed. (Focal Press) and the coauthor of Directing: Film Techniques and Aesthetics, 5th ed. (Focal Press) (with Michael Rabiger).