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Writing, Directing, and Producing Documentary Films and Videos Third Edition
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Product Description
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 the technological advances of the last six years and the demands of cable TV stations like Discovery and A&E, Alan Rosenthal reconsiders how one approaches documentary filmmaking in the twenty-first century. Foregoing theory and hardware, Rosenthal tackles the day-to-day problems from initial concept through distribution, emphasizing the research and writing approach.
He offers examples of interviewing, narration writing, and the complexities of editing. Simply and clearly, Rosenthal explains how to write, direct, and produce the documentary, whether film or video. New aspects of this third edition include nonlinear editing techniques, a complex budget example and its analysis, plus a chapter on “Staying Alive,” which details how European and U.S. stations approach documentary and how the Internet can help filmmakers find new markets. A new chapter has been added to address the growing genre of family films.
Product Details
- Amazon Sales Rank: #450471 in Books
- Published on: 2002-08-29
- Original language: English
- Number of items: 1
- Binding: Paperback
- 416 pages
Editorial Reviews
Review
About the Author
Alan Rosenthal was born in England, studied law at Oxford, and has made over 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 Adolf Eichmann: The Secret Memoirs.
Customer Reviews
A fairly comprehensive guide
Rosenthal has written a fairly comprehensive guide for aspiring and new documentarians. He covers everything from initial idea through proposal to marketing and distribution, including delicate topics like how to explore your initial idea and figure out if it's any good, and where to look for funding. He mentions a lot of details that are easily missed by amateurs, all of which could be disastrous to production. My only reason for holding back a star is that I would have liked a bit more depth to the examples (e.g., a full sample budget instead of an outline of what to include).
excellent source for beginner documentary makers
Before you pay a lot of money for a documentary filmmaking class, I strongly recommend this book. It seems to cover all the bases of the process (don't expect much info on equipment though) and includes insightful anecdotes from real situations. Rosenthal guides you through the entire evolution of a documentary from the conception of the idea, writing proposals, dealing with sponsors, locations and crews to distribution to the ethical responsibilities of a director. One distinguishing factor of this particular book in comparison to other books on filmmaking is its spectrum-from independents to corporate to public service films.
FIVE STARS, excellent, excellent, excellent.
This book is a masterful resource for any filmmaker regardless of their expertise.
No one has come close in their summation of the documentary process. It is 2001, the book was released in 1996, it is timeless. The best book on the market, a better book could only be devised by the author.
Four years of preperation in one book. Every student, professional filmmaker, enthusiast should have it. I have even allowed persons/subjects whom I was documenting to read this book. It made the process that much easier. They were extremely thankful. PURCHASE THE BOOK.
