MENU   

Documentary Storytelling

by

Type
Didactic
Subject
Genre
Keywords
documentary, scriptwriting, storytelling
Publishing date
Publisher
Routledge
Collection
A Focal Press Book
5th edition
Language
English
Size of a pocketbookRelative size of this bookSize of a large book
Relative size
Physical desc.
Paperback394 pages
6 x 9 inches (15 x 23 cm)
ISBN
978-1-032-26729-6
User Ratings
no rating (0 vote)

Average rating: no rating

0 rating 1 star = We can do without
0 rating 2 stars = Good book
0 rating 3 stars = Excellent book
0 rating 4 stars = Unique / a reference

Your rating: -

Book Presentation:
For nearly two decades, Documentary Storytelling has reached filmmakers and filmgoers worldwide with its unique focus on the key ingredient for success in the global documentary marketplace: storytelling.

As this revised, updated fifth edition makes clear, nonfiction storytellingis not limited to character-driven journeys, but instead encompasses the diverse ways in which today’s top documentarians reach audiences with content that is creative, original, and often inspirational, all without sacrificing the integrity that gives documentary its power. This book is filled with practical advice for writers, producers, directors, editors, cinematographers, and others committed to reality-based filmmaking that seeks to reach audiences, raise awareness, address social issues, illuminate the human condition, and even entertain.

In this new edition, Emmy Award-winning filmmaker and author Sheila Curran Bernard offers:

• a closer look at the way ethical nonfiction filmmakers take creative, authorial leaps while also remaining transparent with audiences;

• new tools for understanding how documentaries are structured, how they may rearrange time for storytelling effect, and how a simple narrative throughline can convey complexity without being a conventional "hero’s journey";

• new conversations with filmmakers and educators including Dawn Porter, Madison Hamburg, Tracy Heather Strain, June Cross, Heidi Gronauer, and Julie Casper Roth, and another look at conversations with Stanley Nelson and Orlando von Einsiedel.

Please visit the book’s website, available at www.documentarystorytelling.com, for further information, related articles, and more.

About the Author:
Sheila Curran Bernard is an Emmy and Peabody Award-winning filmmaker and writer whose credits include numerous projects for broadcast and theatrical release. She has served on film juries and led master classes in documentary storytelling in the United States and Europe and been honored with residencies at MacDowell and the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts. She is an associate professor in the Department of History and the Documentary Studies Program at the University at Albany, State University of New York.

See the

> From the same author:

> On a related topic:

Stories Make the World:Reflections on Storytelling and the Art of the Documentary

(2025)

Reflections on Storytelling and the Art of the Documentary

by

Subject: Genre >

André Bazin on Documentary:Cinema's Urge to Explore

(2026)

Cinema's Urge to Explore

Dir.

Subject: Genre >

Antifascism and the Avant-Garde:Radical Documentary in the 1960s

(2025)

Radical Documentary in the 1960s

by

Subject: Genre >

The Interactive Documentary Form:Aesthetics, Practice and Research

(2025)

Aesthetics, Practice and Research

by

Subject: Genre >

Nomadic Cinema:A Cultural Geography of the Expedition Film

(2025)

A Cultural Geography of the Expedition Film

by

Subject: Genre >

Between Reality and Documentary:A Historical Representation of Gaza Refugees in Colonial, Humanitarian and Palestinian Documentary Film

(2025)

A Historical Representation of Gaza Refugees in Colonial, Humanitarian and Palestinian Documentary Film

by

Subject: Genre >

16917 books listed   •   (c)2024-2026 cinemabooks.info   •  
Books in French are on www.livres-cinema.info