Of Books, Boxes, Bullets, and Bibliographies
Getting Information via the Internet
CHAPTER 2 DEFINING YOUR ARTISTIC IDENTITY
CHAPTER 3 DEVELOPING YOUR STORY IDEAS
CHAPTER 4 PROPOSING AND PITCHING A SHORT DOCUMENTARY
PART 2: DOCUMENTARIES AND FILM LANGUAGE
CHAPTER 5 DOCUMENTARY LANGUAGE
CHAPTER 6 ELEMENTS AND GRAMMAR
CHAPTER 13 EDITING: FROM START TO VIEWING THE FIRST ASSEMBLY
CHAPTER 14 EDITING: THE PROCESS OF REFINEMENT
Just think: You can collect little bits of reality—voices, actions, landscapes, images, people talking—weave them artfully into a story, and audiences will watch and wonder. If you are really skillful, they will laugh, be spellbound, or even weep. Your reward? Moving hearts and minds.
This book concentrates on what a documentary maker must think about, feel, do, and know at every stage. Film about actuality is now being used everywhere—on the Internet (most prominently on YouTube ™), between friends via cell phone, and at special-interest Web sites, as well as in cinemas and on television via cable, satellite, and the airwaves. Today, anyone can aim to make actuality into cinema-quality documentaries because the equipment and resources are within the common person’s reach. What you’ll mostly need is a reservoir of ideas, the courage to go where angels fear to tread, and inventive ways of using the medium to tell gripping stories.
Many documentaries are cited in this book. You can rent most of them from www.netflix.com, or purchase them from www.amazon.com or from other sources supplying new and used copies. The best-stocked supplier in America is the videoth é que Facets Multimedia at www.facets.org, which holds copies of many obscure or international films. Occasionally a film is only available by tracking down its maker via the Internet.
Before you order a film, check that your equipment can play disks of its designated region. Computers generally play any DVD, but manufacturers of dedicated DVD players lock them to a particular region. Look for your player’s unlock code via www.dvdexploder.com or by Googling “region free.”
Books: This, the fifth edition, contains much that is new, and it is now divided into two levels:
Boxes: Embedded in the text are “Remember Boxes” containing important ideas or definitions. These keep bedrock truths in sight while you work through the details. At salient points you will also find “Project Boxes” suggesting you try a particular hands-on project—always the best way to learn. Most of the projects are in the Appendix with any notes and illustrations, but a few are necessarily embedded in chapters. For simplicity, project descriptions tend to be brief, in a common checkbox format, and gathered under five headings:
Bullets and icons: In the text you’ll encounter bullet points and icons, each with a function that makes the book easier to navigate:
Important fact or idea. | |
Actions to take or questions to ask. | |
Key concept to remember. | |
Hands-on discovery project for you to make or do. | |
Resource for greater information. |
Bibliographies: Book and Internet sources are either embedded in the relevant text or under “Going Further” at the ends of chapters.
This book’s Web site: Go to this book’s Web site (http://directingthedocumentary.com) for downloadable information such as documentary film examples, production cycle “don’t forget” checklists, projects and useful forms, bibliography, list of films cited, etc.
If you are a teacher: See teachers’ notes for using this book at the book’s Web site. Consider downloading projects, forms, and project assessments so you can customize them for your own teaching purposes.
General information via the Internet: Here are some good resources:
Since Web users freely copy and exchange information, don’t bet the farm on anything that could cost you in time and money without first cross-checking that you’ve got the straight dope.
Production information: There are many documentary interest sites, but especially helpful is the one founded by Doug Block and Ben Kempas called The D-Word at www.d-word.com (Figure 0-1). Its archives are a mine; discussions include every level of maker and cover every aspect of production and postproduction. It’s a work of enthusiasts—free, interactive, and with participants from all over the world.
The D-Word portal of entry—a helpful, multifaceted, and free Web site for production enthusiasts.