Directing the Documentary Michael Rabiger (Professor Emeritus, Columbia College, Chicago, IL, USA) 9780367235529

Directing the Documentary is the definitive book on the documentary form, that will allow you to master the craft of documentary filmmaking. Focusing on the hands-on work needed to make your concept a reality, it covers the documentary filmmaking process from top to bottom, providing in-depth lessons on every aspect of preproduction, production, and postproduction.

The book includes dozens of projects, practical exercises, and thought-provoking questions, and offers best practices for researching and honing your documentary idea, developing a crew, guiding your team, and much more. This fully revised and updated 7th edition also includes brand new content on the rise of the documentary series, the impact of video on-demand and content aggregators, updated information on prosumer and professional video (including 4K+), coverage of new audio & lighting solutions and trends in post-production, coverage of the immersive documentary, and provides practical sets of solutions for low, medium, and high budget documentary film productions throughout. The companion website has also been fully updated to a variety of new projects and forms.

By combining expert advice on the storytelling process, the technical aspects of filmmaking and commentary on the philosophical underpinnings of the art, this book provides the practical and holistic understanding you need to become a highly regarded, original, and ethical contributor to the genre. Ideal for both aspiring and established documentary filmmakers, this book has it all.

Michael Rabiger began in the cutting rooms of England's Pinewood and Shepperton Studios, became an editor and BBC director of documentaries, and then specialized for many years in the US as a production and aesthetics educator. At Columbia College Chicago he was co-founder, then chair of the Film/Video Department and founded the Michael Rabiger Center for Documentary. He has directed or edited more than 35 films, was a founding faculty member and then Chair of the Film/Video Department at Columbia College Chicago, and has given workshops in many countries, designed and led a multinational European documentary workshop for CILECT, won the International Documentary Association's Scholarship and Preservation Award, and was also awarded the Genius/Career Achievement Award by the Chicago International Documentary Festival. He is the author of Developing Story Ideas and co-author of the enormously successful Directing: Film Techniques and Aesthetics, now in its sixth edition

Courtney Hermann is an Assistant Professor of Film at Portland State University, an award-winning independent documentary filmmaker, and a non-fiction media producer. Courtney's work is distributed by Public Broadcasting Service and its affiliates, through educational film catalogues, at film festivals, and through impact distribution to community partners.

Praise for the previous edition:

"The USC documentary faculty has required this excellent book in all our documentary courses since its 1st edition. Rabiger has added to his in-depth analysis of the creative and practical implications of documentary production in this latest edition, with new sections on grant writing, technology, and case studies. The book is essential for students and it's also one that every professional documentary filmmaker can constantly refer to and be inspired by."

Doe Mayer, Professor, Mary Pickford Chair of Film and Television Production, School of Cinematic Arts, University of Southern California

"This book is a time-proof classic, a one-of-a kind roadmap to reaching excellence in documentary making that reads like good, inspiring literature. I have collected and read all of its editions avidly, and can already see that this new edition will serve as an invaluable companion for any documentary filmmaker."

Juan Francisco Urrusti, Professor, Centro de Capacitacion Cinematografica (Mexico); Documentary Filmmaker, A Long Journey to Guadalupe

"Rabiger's 'two-stage' approach to documentary filmmaking takes the reader on a comprehensive journey from concept development to finished documentary and distribution! His sixth edition of Directing the Documentary is a must-have in any serious documentary filmmaker's library."

Gene F., Digital Filmmaking Instructor, The Art Institute of CA - Silicon Valley