Documentary films have enjoyed a huge resurgence over the last few years, and there's a new generation of filmmakers wanting to get involved. In addition, the digital revolution has made documentaries even more accessible to the general filmmaker. Documentary films can now be shot professionally using cheaper equipment, and smaller cameras enable the documentarian to be less intrusive and therefore more intimate in the subjects' lives. With an increasing number of documentaries making it to the big screen (and enjoying ongoing sales on DVD), the time is right for an information-packed handbook that will guide new filmmakers towards potential artistic and commercial success. The Documentary Film Makers Handbook features incisive and helpful interviews with dozens of industry professionals, on subjects as diverse as interview techniques, the NBC News Archive, music rights, setting up your own company, the Film Arts Foundation, pitching your proposal, the Sundance Documentary Fund, the Documentary Channel, the British Film Council, camera hire, filmmaking ethics, working with kids, editing your documentary, and DVD distribution. The book also includes in-depth case studies of some of the most successful and acclaimed documentary films of recent years, including Mad Hot Ballroom, Born Into Brothels, Touching the Void, Beneath the Veil,and Amandla! The Documentary Film Makers Handbook will be an essential resource for anyone who wants to know more about breaking into this exciting field.
IF YOU'VE NEVER MADE A FILM BEFORE, THIS AMAZING BOOK WILL TELL YOU: * How other young film makers made their first movie and found massive success * How to take your great ideas and turn them into great films * How to build a team to make your movie now * How to harness cheap technology to make expensive looking films * How to avoid hundreds of pitfalls many other film makers will fall into * How to find audiences and even make money from your movie Veterans of the indie film scene, the authors have produced numerous low budget feature films, sold projects to Hollywood studios, come perilously close to an Oscar nomination, and even ended up in prison! They're also the team behind the best selling Guerilla Film Makers Handbooks series, selling over 100,000 copies around the world and they've taught thousands of emerging film makers the key skills needed to make their own great movies to launch a career. Their offices are at Ealing Studios in London and in Los Angeles.
Including Spike Lee's advice on independent filmmaking, excerpts from the production journal Lee kept throughout the making of She's Gotta Have It, and much more, Spike Lee's Gotta Have It is a unique document in film literature. 30 black-and-white photographs.
Aspiring directors, cinematographers, editors, and producers, many of whom are now working professionals, learned the craft of visual storytelling from this book. This book blends story analysis with compositional strategies, citing examples then illustrated with the storyboards used for the actual films.
This third edition of the UK's best-selling filmmaker's bible, builds upon the most successful features of the previous books. Including illustrations, diagrams, and box-outs, this book comes with a DVD, packed with further interviews with filmmakers, as well as theatrical trailers.
This book looks at the most important part of the filmmaking process from the point of view of those who grind away at a keyboard or notepad trying to bring new ideas and perspectives to an increasingly diversified world. Using The Guerilla Film Makers Handbook's tried and true Q&A style, with selected screenwriters, creating an engaging and easily digestible conversational feel, this book chronicles story theory, formatting, business issues and the creative process itself. Whether you're a seasoned scribe or an inexperienced writer, this book will give you perspectives and tips to get your creative juices flowing and make your story happen.
The Film Handbook examines the current state of filmmaking and how film language, technique and aesthetics are being utilised for today’s ‘digital film’ productions. It reflects on how critical analysis’ of film underpins practice and story, and how developing an autonomous ‘vision’ will best aid student creativity. The Film Handbook offers practical guidance on a range of traditional and independent ‘guerrilla’ film production methods, from developing script ideas and the logistics of planning the shoot to cinematography, sound and directing practices. Film professionals share advice of their creative and practical experiences shooting both on digital and film forms. The Film Handbook relates theory to the filmmaking process and includes: • documentary, narrative and experimental forms, including deliberations on ‘reading the screen’, genre, mise-en-scène, montage, and sound design • new technologies of film production and independent distribution, digital and multi-film formats utilised for indie filmmakers and professional dramas, sound design and music • the short film form, theories of transgressive and independent ‘guerrilla’ filmmaking, the avant-garde and experimental as a means of creative expression • preparing to work in the film industry, development of specialisms as director, producer, cinematographer, editor, and the presentation of creative work.