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

Writing, Directing, and Producing Documentary Films and Videos, Fourth Edition
By Professor Alan Rosenthal

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Product Description

In this fourth edition of his popular book, Alan 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.

Product Details

  • Amazon Sales Rank: #156094 in Books
  • Published on: 2007-06-26
  • Released on: 2007-06-13
  • Original language: English
  • Number of items: 1
  • Binding: Paperback
  • 448 pages

Editorial Reviews

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 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.

Customer Reviews

A fairly comprehensive guide4
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 makers5
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.5
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.