In its second edition (2010), Introduction to Documentary covers all the key questions and issues that lie at the heart of documentary filmmaking.  It is the most widely used intro to documentary and breaks with the model of historical summaries and interview books that had preceded the first edition (2001).  Chapters address the ethics of documentary filmmaking, the distinctive voice of the filmmaker that engages us with these films as more than documents, the history of how documentary emerged in the 1920s from a mixture of contributing tendencies, the social and political dimension to documentary film and two chapters discuss the six different modes, or distinct styles, that characterize all documentaries.  There is an essay on source material and further reading and a list of major distributors of documentary films.

The Third Edition appeared in 2017. All chapters are rewritten for clarity and to include more recent examples as well as classic works. A new chapter on how to begin planning to make a documentary has been added.

Here is a little video interview describing the book:

Introduction to Documentary from Sleeping Tree Pictures on Vimeo.

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