Customer Reviews

Making Documentary Films and Reality Videos: A Practical Guide to Planning, Filming, and Editing Documentaries of Real Events

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1 star:		(3)

 

 

In this book, Barry Hampe provides great advice, helpful concepts, and breaks down the documentary process into digestable servings. The book is divided into four sections: 1. An introduction to the concepts and guidelines of the Documentary genre 2. Preproduction 3. Production 4. Postproduction. Barry Hampe fills in the pages with experience, knowledge, and writes in a manner combining the ideas he discusses with pithy examples and stories which he uses to drive his points home. The book has a generous layout, placing information thoughtfully and easily into the reader. Included in the book is a wonderful filmography (including refrence info on where to find and order the documentaries listed), a well rounded bibliography, and even directions to join the International Documentary Association.

I used this book as my introduction to documentary production, because though it is based on Hampe's work specifically with behavioral documentary, the information is easily transferable to any documentary/reality video project. The book stresses concepts in creating a form of reality through visual medium, called verisimilitude, and Barry Hampe demonstrates very carefully the indepth process in which an audience recieves the final cut out of what was originially a simple idea. If Barry Hampe can communicate his ideas so clearly in writing this book, I imagine his documentaries must be stunning.

If you had an experienced friend to guide you into the world of making documentary films and videos, then you would feel as comfortable in your journey as the author of this book leaves the reader. As the book cover states, Mr. Hampe will "tell you why making a documentary looks easy but isn't. [He] traces the two main approaches to documentary--recording behaviour and re-creating past events--and shows you how to be sucessful at each." These are the course notes of a good teacher who imparts his wisdom as well as practical guidance. His writing style is 'chatty' and friendly without ever being banal. Also, in what I hope becomes a publishing trend, he gives an Internet e-mail address where readers may send their comments .... -HMB

I came upon this book after making 23 drama videos for autistic teenagers. Recently we looked at producing a day-in-the-life type documentary with cutaways of professionals commenting on the activities. I honestly found this book to be a mine of information. Almost any question I found myself raising was addressed in some form in this book. Consequently structuring the doucmentary in terms of narrative, visual arrangement, verisimilitude, camera and sound has become clearer.

I would have liked the chapters on the Documentary Idea and Writing the Documentary to be longer. Personally, I would have benefited more from extending the discussions here. Also the author tends to drive the book along at a fiercely anecdotal rate which is great if you can imagine yourself in the author's shoes, but may not suit everyone's style.

Overall I found this to be a most useful manual and certainly find myself returning to it for advice. What better recommendation can I offer?

I'm a filmmaker from the Middle East. I've come across Barry Hampe's book while in New York and I couldn't think of a better time to have read it since I was developing my first documentary. After reading it, not only did the documentary come together visually in my head but I found myself very clear on what I should eliminate to help tell the story better and put down everything on paper. Since then my request for a grant to shoot the documentary has been accepted. The book demystified the whole process and gave lessons that are easily applicable for the beginning documentarian.

The book leaves you with very little need to pick up another book on making documentaries. I would love to see a revision with a section on pre- (preproduction) whereby the documentaian can learn about what to include in his/her proposal in order to strengthen his/her pitch to production houses or while seeking grants. For instance, sample letter of intention, tips on what to include in query letters, visual aids(?), script of master scenes vs. shooting script. If there is just one thing that could help the reader of this book get out there and start preparing his/her documentary, it would be a section that demystifies the getting started before the actual getting started on shooting.

I have worked on several films and now am in pre-production of my first documentary. I have read several books on making documentaries and this is the best. The sections on budgeting, script writing, and how to conduct interviews were especially valuable. I highly recommend this book.

This book deals in reality. No theory here. From top to bottom it tells you what to do, and how to do it. I love books like these, nuts and bolts written by the people who acquired their knowledge from experience and not theory. We who are really in the film business and work on the sets laugh at the new guy who talks a bunch of "film school" theory. We know that theory doesn't work and does more harm than good. I also liked the low price of the book.

This book is essential reading for any person seriously interested in making documentaries. It is crammed full of useful information that is presented in an interesting and easy to read style. I have just made a documentary that will be broadcast on SBS in November and during the filming process I was constantly dipping into Barry Hampe's book for advice and solutions to problems. I avoided many pitfalls with the help of this book. It is the most valuable resource that I have come across. I highly recommend this book. It is a resource you will keep going back to time and again. If you want to make films and you don't invest in this 'goldmine' of information then you really are just shooting yourself in the foot. It really is a must have book.

If you have absolutely no experience whatsoever in writing to tell a story, filmaking, photojournalism, videography or communicating in any significant way, this book will be helpful if you're suddenly called upon to produce a documentary film or video.

The advice given here is very basic and really doesn't have all that much to do with making a documentary. For example, Hampe describes the roles of the people who might be found on a typical documentary crew, such as the scriptwriter and camera operator. In sum, this is really a book that describes the entire process of creating a documentary from coming up with an idea, capitalizing it, putting a crew together and so on. It really is for someone who has absolutely no experience whatsoever - and while there are many people who may dream of making a documentary, this book will not provide them with the experience they actually need.

The book is also increasingly outdated. Almost all of the technology Hampe describes for lighting, capturing images and sound, editing has been superceded.

The good thing about the book is that it is thorough: Hampe really does cover every step. But its odd that a book on documentary and reality video creation has not a single illustration. Very strange. Another thing in Hampe's favor is his writing style. Except for way too much patting himself on the back for his own work, Hampe writes in a clear manner.

Overall, this is a quick read and useful to those who have no experience whatsoever with the film making process, but have dreams of making documentaries. This book will not really teach you anything about actually making a documentary, but it does an okay job of describing the process.

Jerry

Anyone with romantic notions of filmmaking will be brought back to reality with this book. Barry explains, in no uncertain terms, the ins and outs, the nuts and bolts and the day-to-day reality of filmmaking. His understanding comes from the broad perspective of a film student, professional, festival judge and mentor. He covers the gamut of what to expect of yourself and the process of creating a finished product that an audience other than your family will appreciate. His wisdom and pragmatism is refreshing and realistic. Anyone thinking of venturing into this highly competive world would be well served by reading this book. It will help you decide if you have the vision, patience, flexibility and fortitude to venture forward. If nothing else, it will help you appreciate the dedication and artistry that went into the next documentary you see.

This is a very useful and also a very practical book. It goes into all details you would like to know more about. And it is very easy to read and understand (for someone from the continent). We never did any documentary work (we always did animation) but our first documentary is one of more than an hour. That doesn't say much of the quality of the documentary but this book gave us atleast the confidence to undertake such a task.