Customer Reviews

Making Documentary Films and Videos: A Practical Guide to Planning, Filming, and Editing Documentaries

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Wow, this is a tough one. How to review a book that contains fantastic topical information, surrounded by a lot of ridiculous, pointless, unsupported editorial?

The Good: as other reviewers have noted, this book provides some great information about the process of documentary filmmaking. There is a valuable & interesting discussion of ethics that goes well beyond the "get a release" advice that is all that other sources ever mention.

I also really enjoyed Hampe's emphasis on "visual evidence", rather than meaningless, pretty b-roll & his suggestion that you should turn off the sound to see if your footage is actually telling the story, or just illustrating the dialog. His recommendation to try to reduce talking heads is a great stimulus to problem-solving, & his emphasis on the all-important need for advance scripting & good story-telling is excellent.

"Truth" with a capital T is a big issue for Hampe, & he has an excellent discussion about it & the need for the documentary filmmaker to become expert in their subject to avoid manipulation & so that the right questions are asked both in the planning stage & as the project unfolds. This level of comprehension is also efficient because it prevents the project from devolving into the classic error of becoming a fishing expedition or treasure hunt where miles of video are shot in the hopes of something interesting randomly appearing in it, while the critical information needed to stitch a story together is missed entirely. Meanwhile, filtering & organizing all the material ratchets up the cost of the project, even though "video is cheap".

Okay, so now The Bad: in a way, this author has a wealth of good experience & information to share if you can just stand to be around him long enough to receive it. As I read this book, I went from "Oops! He's accidentally giving us a little too much info about his personal politics," to "This guy has a serious agenda", to "I can't believe a professional editor let this slide."

Although he frequently bemoans how polarized Americans politics has become, the author does his utmost to widen the gap. Relentlessly, he picks away at liberals, Democrats, unions & Hollywood.

The book sags when the pointless opinions fly thick & fast. For instance, why are we getting a supercilious, though flawed, lesson in "Economics 101" [if competition really invariably keeps prices down, explain the fashion industry or extravagant executive compensation, Hampe]? And what does a defense of Reaganomics have to do with filmmaking, anyway [yeah, I guess if you write yourself a check & deposit it in your savings account, then technically your revenue HAS increased]? And tell me again: why are we discussing how businesses offering their workers health insurance led to the corruption of American self-reliance? Is this guy really serious when he claims that oil companies are not necessarily profiteering in a time when Fidelity returns on the energy sector are sometimes surpassing 40%? Hampe even whines that CNN is--or at least was--wildly leftist.

Hampe is excellent when he sticks to the subject. This book will richly deserve 5-stars if the author avails himself of a better editor next edition--preferably a pinko-commie leftist liberal to counter his own strongly distracting right-wing perspective.

I am starting my first documentary project and I picked up a number of books to guide me through the unfamiliar process. After reading and discarding several books on the topic, I was thrilled to discover Barry Hampe's book. It is by far the best written, most helpful and most informative guide to making documentaries that I have read.

The author is an excellent writer and the book is at all times succinct, but highly informative. It teaches you everything you need to know to make a great documentary, and also provides an extensive list of films to watch in order to demonstrate what is and is not desirable in a film. The author is an expert on the topic, and he does a fantastic job conveying the necessary information while making it simple and understandable to professionals and amateurs alike. He also devotes a portion of the book to documentary ethics, an important topic which gets too little attention from other writers.

In sum, I cannot recommend this book highly enough. It has been indispensable to me in planning my documentary. I believe it is the best book to help guide you, whether (like me) you are just starting out with documentaries, or are a weathered professional looking for some new tips and advice.

The first half of the book introduces the concept of a documentary, what is and isn't a documentary, and covers the ethics involved in documentary filmmaking.

The second half deals with actually producing the documentary. He ignores equipment, which is good because that means it doesn't contain quickly outdated information.

The author does a great job at guiding a budding filmmaker through the process of making a documentary.

I am currently using the information he gives on securing funds using a proposal and treatment, planning the documentary, shooting, and editing. I've found it to be a great resource and has helped me feel like this is something I can do.

He doesn't make it sound easy, but he does make it easier for beginning documentarians by helping us avoid mistakes and plan to succeed. His insistence on planning is really helping me to get my stuff together to do this the right way.

It's an all around great book for anyone interested in filming a documentary.

Great book that cuts right to the real issues. Wow!

Many books describe how to compose, light, shoot, animate, edit, color grade, and author the DVD. You learn by mistake and take classes. One of the classes you take hopefully opens your eyes and you never, ever, see TV or movie images the same again.

And plenty of books exist about film writing or film theory or even documentary theory.

But this book brings it all together. Way beyond just "get a release". Think of this book as the glue between non-film-specific talk of writing and exposition vs. how-to-light-and-shoot nuts and bolts execution.

I'm in the finishing stages of a documentary for the Sunnyvale (CA) Historical Society about a small part of Silicon Valley's history. Having discovered the book only now, it's gratifying to read where what I did follows its advice, but even better where I have to admit that I didn't, and won't be doing it that way in my next project.

Because, as I watch more and more TV documentaries (and TV shows and movies for that matter) with an eye toward approaching their insanely high level of quality and artistry (I'm talking about the presentation here, that is, the art of filmmaking --- not necessarily the content!!), the kinds of things I'm learning square exactly with the kind of advice given in this book. I wish I'd read it years ago.

I'm at the stage where I'm beginning to realize that I can't do it all. Collaboration, hiring professionals from time to time, and actually trying to pitch a project rather than doing it all out of my own pocket, is probably in my future. The act of coming to that realization is I think part of becoming more professional. As is being unsentimental about throwing out stuff that doesn't work.

THESE are the kinds of points that this book makes (among many, many more)

Continuing to save up for the RED One camera, dare to dream ...

I liked "Making Documentary Films and Videos" a lot. I am just getting into documentary film late in my life and I found Barry's book covered all the questions I had about making a documentary film. More importantly, it was very encouraging for someone just starting out. It was not overly technical and it covered every aspect of the documentary process. It was the best book on the subject I have read!!

I am a new doc maker. I just finished the book,
Making Documentary Films and Videos, by Barry Hampe. I
thoroughly enjoyed it. I feel as if I've had a college class with both
theory and practice in the field. I've been working on my doc, Our
Pace Setters, a long time, but I picked up this book just a few months
ago. I love the emphasis on ethics, and visual evidence, preparation,
and communication. The book has helped me enormously in the field. My
background is in visual arts: painting and graphic design, and crafts
and teaching. I have a degree in film, in Experimental Animation from
Cal Arts, but no experience in docs or live action. I have a very
small, and very talented, crew who help fill in the gaps in my resume.
We are all stretched so thin these days though, we all juggle many
jobs, and most day to day things on the film just fall to me to do.
Making Doc Films & Videos has made this easier.

When I bought the book, I also got Documentary Storytelling by Sheila
Curran Bernard, and Film & Video Budgets by Deke Simon & Michael
Wiese. These have also been very helpful. I think I've got all the
books I need now, the rest is up to me!

I rarely read a book from cover to cover (including appendices), except for Barry Hampe's Making Documentary Films and Videos. I like the comprehensive coverage of the subject and the many practical examples. Expressing issues visually (rather than talking at the audience by voice-over or interviews) and the emphasis on verisimilitude are particularly helpful points. The book is well organized, well indexed and contains ample useful references. Emphasis on issues such as truth, what is evidence, and examining one's motives is particularly appreciated. The book is very well written, and I will likely re-read it and use it as a reference in the future.

Documentary film is primarily a visual medium, is it not? So how does one account for a densely packed book - nothing but words with not a single illustration to break the tedium - that thoroughly and exhaustively documents (pun intended) every aspect of the ethos and production of documentaries?

The ethos part is important. Barry Hampe is concerned with the rise of liars who use the documentary form to spread their misstatements and untruths. He uses Michael Moore and Al Gore as examples and, in my opinion, is too gentle with them. But his message is clear: "the verifiable truth of a video or film depends on the honesty of the documentarian in presenting an accurate analog of he situation as he or she understands it". That declaration is worth devoting considerable thought to.

As the entry cost of producing a documentary has plummeted in recent years and cable channels and the internet have increased the audience for documentaries, documentarians of all stripes have risen from everywhere. Most, in my experience, have a partisan message they want to share. Heck, if I ever give in to my desires, I will make a documentary and it will most certainly be partisan.

But as Hampe makes clear in roughly the first half of his book, partisanship is fine - as long as the message is delivered honestly.

You need only turn on your television or browse numerous websites to recognize that most of what passes for documentaries today is not honest.

Hampe tries his best to convert the heathens. I doubt he will succeed, but he does try and what he has written about ethics in documentaries and the philosophy of the documentary is very interesting, as is the history and background he provides.

Approximately the second half of the book is about making your documentary.

Hampe wisely doesn't get involved with discussions of equipment. Nor does he dwell much on using equipment.

Rather he describes the process through and by which a documentary is made from drafting a proposal, should one be required, to choosing actors, how to direct, recording sound, post-production, working on location - all the aspects of putting together what used to be called a movie and is now far more likely to be a video.

Hampe writes for video. Throughout the book I was haunted by the feeling that I should be watching Hampe speak, with the accompanying video showing the details of what he was speaking about. Hampe's writing style is natural and free-flowing.

Overall this is an extraordinary book about making videos and films without a single illustration. Just a smooth flowing river of words. Barry Hampe has done extremely well here. He essentially tells you to go forth and spread your word, then tells you how to do it. And all he asks is that you be honest.

Jerry

This is a must read for anyone even thinking about a career in documentary film making! Every paragraph is meaty with thought provoking questions and answers on everything from modern technology advances to documentary ethics. A 5 star recommendation.

This book is a very useful guide for documentary film makers. I will use it for my dissertation video. It includes every step from the idea over scriptwriting to the actual film production. Recommendable for every independent film maker.