Documentary Storytelling, 4th edition

Paperback: 378 pages, also available on Kindle
Published: December 2015
ISBN 13: 978-0-415-84330-0
Imprint: FOCAL PRESS
Documentary Storytelling has reached filmmakers and filmgoers worldwide with its unique focus on the key ingredients for success in the growing global documentary marketplace: storytelling. This practical guide reveals how today’s top filmmakers bring the tools of narrative cinema to the world of nonfiction film and video without sacrificing the rigor and truthfulness that give documentaries their power. The book offers practical advice for producers, directors, editors, cinematographers, writers and others seeking to make ethical and effective films that merge the strengths of visual and aural media with the power of narrative storytelling.
In this updated edition, Emmy Award-winning author Sheila Curran Bernard offers new strategies for analyzing documentary work; new conversations with filmmakers including Stanley Nelson (The Black Panthers), Kazuhiro Soda (Mental), Orlando von Einsiedel (Virunga), and Cara Mertes (JustFilms), along with discussions previously held with Susan Kim (Imaginary Witness), Deborah Scranton (The War Tapes), Alex Gibney (Taxi to the Dark Side), and James Marsh (Man on Wire).
Click here to see the Table of Contents or to request a Complimentary Exam Copy
Published: December 2015
ISBN 13: 978-0-415-84330-0
Imprint: FOCAL PRESS
Documentary Storytelling has reached filmmakers and filmgoers worldwide with its unique focus on the key ingredients for success in the growing global documentary marketplace: storytelling. This practical guide reveals how today’s top filmmakers bring the tools of narrative cinema to the world of nonfiction film and video without sacrificing the rigor and truthfulness that give documentaries their power. The book offers practical advice for producers, directors, editors, cinematographers, writers and others seeking to make ethical and effective films that merge the strengths of visual and aural media with the power of narrative storytelling.
In this updated edition, Emmy Award-winning author Sheila Curran Bernard offers new strategies for analyzing documentary work; new conversations with filmmakers including Stanley Nelson (The Black Panthers), Kazuhiro Soda (Mental), Orlando von Einsiedel (Virunga), and Cara Mertes (JustFilms), along with discussions previously held with Susan Kim (Imaginary Witness), Deborah Scranton (The War Tapes), Alex Gibney (Taxi to the Dark Side), and James Marsh (Man on Wire).
Click here to see the Table of Contents or to request a Complimentary Exam Copy
Foreign editions
- Documentary Storytelling, 4th edition is being translated into Japanese (Tetsuro Shimauchi, translator) for November 2021; Arabic edition (due out July 22); and Chinese
- Documentary Storytelling, 3rd edition is available in Polish, Korean, Chinese, Japanese (abridged).
- Documentary Storytelling, 2nd edition is available in Portuguese, Korean, and Chinese.