Documentary Film Production

books:

	• Making Documentary Films and Videos: A Practical Guide to Planning, Filming, and Editing Documentaries Barry Hampe Holt Paperbacks, 2007 - 464 pages average customer review:based on 8 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Good discussion going on

I'm the author of the book. And I want to let you know that F.Felix "f-f" and I have been having a good discussion about truth, honesty, and bias. You'll find it by clicking on his review ("Too much personal info . . .") and then clicking on the "comment" button at the bottom. Join in.

Excellent

Great book that cuts right to the real issues. Wow!

Many books describe how to compose, light, shoot, animate, edit, color grade, and author the DVD. You learn by mistake and take classes. One of the classes you take hopefully opens your eyes and you never, ever, see TV or movie images the same again.

And plenty of books exist about film writing or film theory or even documentary theory.

But this book brings it all together. Way beyond just "get a release". Think of this book as the glue between non-film-specific talk of writing and exposition vs. how-to-light-and-shoot nuts and bolts execution.

I'm in the finishing stages of a documentary for the Sunnyvale (CA) Historical Society about a small part of Silicon Valley's history. Having discovered the book only now, it's gratifying to read where what I did follows its advice, but even better where I have to admit that I didn't, and won't be doing it that way in my next project.

Because, as I watch more and more TV documentaries (and TV shows and movies for that matter) with an eye toward approaching their insanely high level of quality and artistry (I'm talking about the presentation here, that is, the art of filmmaking --- not necessarily the content!!), the kinds of things I'm learning square exactly with the kind of advice given in this book. I wish I'd read it years ago.

I'm at the stage where I'm beginning to realize that I can't do it all. Collaboration, hiring professionals from time to time, and actually trying to pitch a project rather than doing it all out of my own pocket, is probably in my future. The act of coming to that realization is I think part of becoming more professional. As is being unsentimental about throwing out stuff that doesn't work.

THESE are the kinds of points that this book makes (among many, many more)

Continuing to save up for the RED One camera, dare to dream ...

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Too much personal info...

Wow, this is a tough one. How to review a book that contains fantastic topical information, surrounded by a lot of ridiculous, pointless, unsupported editorial?

The Good: as other reviewers have noted, this book provides some great information about the process of documentary filmmaking. There is a valuable & interesting discussion of ethics that goes well beyond the "get a release" advice that is all that other sources ever mention.

I also really enjoyed Hampe's emphasis on "visual evidence", rather than meaningless, pretty b-roll & his suggestion that you should turn off the sound to see if your footage is actually telling the story, or just illustrating the dialog. His recommendation to try to reduce talking heads is a great stimulus to problem-solving, & his emphasis on the all-important need for advance scripting & good story-telling is excellent.

"Truth" with a capital T is a big issue for Hampe, & he has an excellent discussion about it & the need for the documentary filmmaker to become expert in their subject to avoid manipulation & so that the right questions are asked both in the planning stage & as the project unfolds. This level of comprehension is also efficient because it prevents the project from devolving into the classic error of becoming a fishing expedition or treasure hunt where miles of video are shot in the hopes of something interesting randomly appearing in it, while the critical information needed to stitch a story together is missed entirely. Meanwhile, filtering & organizing all the material ratchets up the cost of the project, even though "video is cheap".

Okay, so now The Bad: in a way, this author has a wealth of good experience & information to share if you can just stand to be around him long enough to receive it. As I read this book, I went from "Oops! He's accidentally giving us a little too much info about his personal politics," to "This guy has a serious agenda", to "I can't believe a professional editor let this slide."

Although he frequently bemoans how polarized Americans politics has become, the author does his utmost to widen the gap. Relentlessly, he picks away at liberals, Democrats, unions & Hollywood.

The book sags when the pointless opinions fly thick & fast. For instance, why are we getting a supercilious, though flawed, lesson in "Economics 101" [if competition really invariably keeps prices down, explain the fashion industry or extravagant executive compensation, Hampe]? And what does a defense of Reaganomics have to do with filmmaking, anyway [yeah, I guess if you write yourself a check & deposit it in your savings account, then technically your revenue HAS increased]? And tell me again: why are we discussing how businesses offering their workers health insurance led to the corruption of American self-reliance? Is this guy really serious when he claims that oil companies are not necessarily profiteering in a time when Fidelity returns on the energy sector are sometimes surpassing 40%? Hampe even whines that CNN is--or at least was--wildly leftist.

Hampe is excellent when he sticks to the subject. This book will richly deserve 5-stars if the author avails himself of a better editor next edition--preferably a pinko-commie leftist liberal to counter his own strongly distracting right-wing perspective.

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Making Documentary Films

I rarely read a book from cover to cover (including appendices), except for Barry Hampe's Making Documentary Films and Videos. I like the comprehensive coverage of the subject and the many practical examples. Expressing issues visually (rather than talking at the audience by voice-over or interviews) and the emphasis on verisimilitude are particularly helpful points. The book is well organized, well indexed and contains ample useful references. Emphasis on issues such as truth, what is evidence, and examining one's motives is particularly appreciated. The book is very well written, and I will likely re-read it and use it as a reference in the future.

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Documentary Film Production

An excellent summary of documentary film production. Provides a useful overview of the documentary film requirements. Contains a number of beneficial "tips".

reviews: page 1, 2

The classic guide to making documentaries, now revised and expanded for today?s filmmaker

The second edition of Making Documentary Films and Videos fully updates the popular guidebook that has given readers around the world the knowledge and confidence to produce their first documentary film. It traces two main approaches?recording behavior and re-creating past events?and shows you how to be successful at each. Covering all the steps from concept to completion, with chapters on visual evidence; documentary ethics; writing for documentaries; budgeting; assembling a crew; film and sound recording; casting and directing actors and nonactors; and editing for the audience, this book can help you successfully bring to life the documentary you want to make.
The second edition includes
? a discussion of truth, ?reality,? and honesty in the current
filmmaking environment
? new advice on how to get started in documentary filmmaking
? an expanded section on researching and writing the proposal,
treatment, and script
? an exhaustive list of resources

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