Documentary Filmmakers Handbook

A complete guide to all phases of documentary production, this is an essential handbook for student filmmakers and professional documentarians alike. Written in clear, concise language and geared for easy reference, the text provides a progression of real-world learning skills, including project organization and production design. Also itemized is the necessary production equipment, with technical information refined for universal comprehension of the equipment and its application.
Featured are exclusive interviews with several award-winning film and television documentarians, who explain in detail how they have conceived, planned, produced and directed their documentaries. Among the interviewees are Deborah Oppenheimer (Into the Arms of Strangers), Arnold Shapiro (Scared Straight!), Connie Bottinelli (Forensic Files) and Paul Gallagher (Behind the Music). The filmography lists every documentary cited in the handbook, with relevant and related websites.

Ned Eckhardt has created a wide variety of documentaries, earning many awards for his work. He is the founder of the television and documentary programs at New Jersey’s Rowan University.

Ned Eckhardt
Format: softcover (7 x 10)
Pages: 206
Bibliographic Info: 43 photos, notes, bibliography, index
Copyright Date: 2012
pISBN: 978-0-7864-6043-4
eISBN: 978-0-7864-8680-9
Imprint: McFarland

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments   vii
Introduction   1
Part I: Preproduction
1. The Documentary Tradition and Getting Started 9
2. The 12 Basic Elements of a Documentary 32
3. Design and Aesthetics 53
4. Researching and Writing a Documentary Proposal 72
Part II: Field and Studio Production
5. Production Equipment and Decisions 93
6. Your Storytellers: Interviews and Conversations 105
7. Shooting Creative and Effective B-roll 122
Part III: Postproduction
8. Editing and Postproduction 137
9. Ethics, Fair Use, and the Law 150
10. Funding Your Documentary and Connecting to Your Community 164
11. Why We Do It 172
Bibliography   185
Index   191

“thorough resource…well organized and clearly written…excellent…highly recommended”—Choice; “Eckhardt presents a guide for students and professional filmmakers to documentary filmmaking, from preproduction to field and studio production to postproduction”—Reference & Research Book News.