Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #131993 in Books
• Published on: 2007-09-20
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 192 pages

Synopsis
Andy Glynne subjects the whole documentary process to scrutiny with advice on: developing your concept; funding; writing pitches and treatments; interview technique; narrative; writing commentary; dealing with ethical issues; camera technique; sound; lighting; post-production, editing and grading; marketing and distribution; film festivals; and, the history of documentary, with additional interviews with industry insiders and award-winning filmmakers who contribute their tips,tricks and advice. DVD features documentaries discussed as case studies in the book, including the multi-award-winning LIFT (Marc Isaacs) and Boogie Woogie Daddy (Erik Bafving), plus layouts for budget spreadsheets, release forms, contracts and more...

Customer Reviews

Definitely worth having in your library!
I've picked up a couple documentary titles over the past few months and this one is certainly the best so far.

The book suffers as many do from trying to cram such a diverse subject as documentary filmmaking (and it's constituent parts) into a single short volume and so by necessity is thin on topics like lines of action (briefly mentioned)and dialogue staging etc. even main topics can only be covered to a limited depth, hence the 4 rather 5 stars.

In fact this book, in common with the others of its ilk gravitates towards what's happening behind the camera rather than what's going on in front of it, both are very important, certainly poor prep will almost ensure a poor end result. I've gone for Film Directing Shot by Shot: Visualizing from Concept to Screen (Michael Wiese Productions)for deep guidance on the in front of camera content (even though this title was written in 1991 and is very dry reading).

All that being said the material covered is well explained and conveyed in such a way as to "pull" you through the book despite only have 2 pictures in the entire book, it's definitely not a dull read. Andy Glynne also manages to impart his knowledge without sounding either arrogant or condescending.

I'd say this is one of my must have titles on the subject.

Below I've listed the table of contents (main headings) to help you decide whether this book is what you're after;

1)Why We Make Documentaries (7pgs)
2)Does Your Documentary Have Legs (8pgs)
3)Researching Your Documentary (13pgs)
4)Developing Your Idea (3pgs)
5)Writing The Proposal (5pgs)
6)Funding and Pitching Your Documentary (16pgs)
7)The Nuts and Bolts of Documentary Filmmaking: Who does what (5pgs)
8)The Beginner's Guide to Cinematography: The tools of the trade (11pgs)
9):The Camera (6pgs)
10):Lighting and Sound (4pgs)
11):The Grammar of Directing (11pgs)
12):Interview Technique (6pgs)
13)The Art of Storytelling (1pg)
14)Managing Your Production(17pgs)
15)Preparing For The Edit (5pgs)
16)Editing Your Documentary (4pgs)
17)Distributing Your Documentary (3pgs)
18)Some Final Words and Some Unanswered Questions (3pgs)
19)Sources For Research (8pgs)
20)Recommended Films (from each decade since the 1920's) (10pgs)
21)Recommended Reading (1pg)
22)List of Commissioning Editors (16pgs)
23)The DV Shooting Guide (9pgs)
Section Six: Interviews with Filmmakers 4 interviews (22pgs)
Erik Bafving
Marc Isaacs
Ben Hopkins
Esteban Uyarra

Best of luck with your projects!