Documentary: Reading List

Introduction to Documentary

by Bill Nichols

Review:

This book was good to read as it covered most of the basics of documentary. For example, it helped me when I was looking at ethics during my research on filmmaker Lauren Greenfield and her film Queen of Versailles. This is because it discussed how contributors' behaviour could change once the cameras start rolling, and why trust is important, as well as a feeling of shared control so contributors do not feel as if they are being used.

However, it also helped me to determine between different types of documentaries, as well as different modes, and that sometimes these can overlap. This came in useful when watching and then analysing Dare to Dream: The Story of the U.S. Women's Soccer Team since it helped me not only understand that it was an individual or group profile/biography, but also the techniques which signify this type of documentary, such as personal anecdotes, and individual as well as group interviews, among others. This also helped when I researched BBC Three as I could identify what type of documentary each film was, and therefore analyse them more effectively.

In general, I think that this book helped with learning background information about documentaries, before moving on to learning about some of the more practical aspects involved in making them.

Writing, Directing, and Producing Documentary Films and Digital Videos

by Alan Rosenthal, and Ned Eckhardt

Review:

The more practical aspects of making documentaries, such as pitching, screenwriting, and directing, were useful to learn about from this book. It helped us to write our proposal which then shaped our pitch, as well as to learn exactly what the job of the director is throughout production, from finding pieces to make up the complete film in pre-production, the importance of observing and listening during production, and having an editor help with cutting together the footage since they look at it with new eyes during post-production. It also gave me a guide on how to break down my ideas when first writing our script, which meant that I could sort the amount of ideas I had without getting everything too muddled up, as well as giving examples on how to correctly structure a documentary script. During post-production I was able to come up with a way to log all of the material from the method outlined by Rosenthal and Eckhardt, as well as trying to write the script so the documentary's narrative moves from simple to more complex topics with a natural progression.
Overall, this book helped me to determine what I needed to do as the scriptwriter and director throughout production, and gave examples on how to do things, which I could adapt to suit our documentary's own production process.

Directing the documentary

by Michael Rabiger

Review:

I think that this was my favourite book to read for this unit, not only because it covered directing documentaries in depth, but I have also read Michael Rabiger's other books for the previous two units and found I really enjoy his writing because it is easy to understand but always covers a great deal of the subject. This book mainly helped me with directing, especially his point about serendipity because usually I like to know exactly what's going to happen so I know exactly what to plan and then direct. However, reading about crib notes and making my own helped with this, as well as writing the questions on index cards so that I could focus more on the contributors and having a conversation with them instead of hiding in my notes so we got comfortable talking to each other since it was more spontaneous. Flexibility with the structure of the narrative in editing was also helped by making a paper edit as Rabiger suggests, since everything could be moved and restructured quickly. This also helped with the script, since I started writing it only as an outline after I read how documentaries are like mosaics which can come together in editing.
Mainly, the points Rabiger makes helped me to realise things I hadn't previously about making documentaries, so I was better prepared, and also more flexible during the production process than I think I would have been if I hadn't read these points beforehand.

Documentary Storytelling: Making Stronger and More Dramatic Nonfiction Films

by Sheila Curran Bernard

Review:

This book mainly helped with researching structure, since I was unsure how to break down the amount of footage we had to form a narrative in a script. However, after reading about the train in this book, I was able to determine the main focus of our film, women in sport changing gender stereotypes, which made it easier to juggle the multiple narratives, as well as link them together so that the film had a natural progression. This also helped me to understand the importance of where the story begins, and also how visuals act to serve the story and enhance what the interviewees say so that the audience are able to take in the information effectively.
Overall, I believe this book helped the structure of our documentary, and helped me to write, and rewrite, our script.

References:

Curran Bernard, S. (2011) Documentary Storytelling : Making Stronger and More Dramatic Nonfiction Films. (3rd ed.) Oxon: Focal Press.

Nichols, B. (2017) Introduction to Documentary. (3rd ed.) Indiana: Indiana University Press.

Rabiger, M. (2015) Directing the Documentary. (6th ed.) Oxon: Focal Press.

Rosenthal, A. and Eckhardt, N. (2016) Writing, Directing, and Producing Documentary Films and Digital Videos. (5th ed.) Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press.