Creating Experimental Documentary Films: Theory and Practice Beyond Convention

This book explores the continued development and practice of experimental documentary films with evolving trends in still photography, visual arts, journalism, interactive media, and literature-especially poetry and creative nonfiction. Through sets of observations, analyses, and exercises, readers will gain an understanding of the traditional principles of documentary and simultaneously challenge its conventions in practice. While exploring the responsibilities of a documentary director to be fair and objective, the book weaves through arguments around truth and propaganda and offers practical lessons about how to create hybrid forms of documentary films. Written by a documentary filmmaker with decades of experience, the text provides a comprehensive overview of how documentary narratives are written and created in the research, pre-production, production and post-production phases. This is supplemented with an exploration of the relationships among documentary filmmaking, music, sound design, journalism, poetry, and the essay form. New, inclusive audiences and methods of distribution, interactivity, and immersion are also introduced as a part of the changing landscape of the documentary genre. This book is designed for students who are approaching documentary for the first time, as well as documentary filmmakers who are searching for new approaches, new subject matter, and languages of cinematic expression.