Documentary Storytelling: Making Stronger & More Dramatic Nonfiction Films, 2nd Editon

'With all the buzz over blockbuster docs, Focal Press serves up a perfectly timed winner in a much-neglected area. True to the nature of the beast, the book is more about filmmaking as a whole, and how and where storytelling weaves into the overall process. It succeeds in covering every aspect without belabouring any. Not only does Bernard write from the viewpoint of an award-winning filmmaker (she's a writer, director and producer), but the last 100 pages include extensive interviews with a wide range of acclaimed documentarians.' - Canadian Screenwriter Magazine 'Bernard is keenly aware of the power of persuasive images, and her insistence on complexity and integrity is a consistent theme throughout the book.' - The Independent "What a valuable aid to documentary filmmakers. The importance of a topic won't cut it if the story isn't told well and Bernard's book cuts right to the chase." - Paul Stekler, producer/director of "George Wallace: Settin' the Woods on Fire" "Sheila Curran Bernard's Documentary Storytelling is an essential, pragmatic, common-sense approach to making non-fiction films for the student and/or first-time filmmaker, based on the author's deep awareness of documentary film history and theory, and her intimate knowledge of how today's most important documentarians formulate their works." - Gerald Peary, film critic, The Boston Phoenix "Sheila Curran Bernard's ability to dissect a wide range of narrative approaches and explore the elements that make dramatic stories so compelling make this guide invaluable for documentary filmmakers as well as anyone who uses information and evidence to portray real events. But the value of this book goes beyond its service to story tellers; the consumers of documentary films and all journalism can benefit by more fully understanding the narrative structures that we all use to construct order and meaning in the world." - Pennee Bender, Media Director, Center for Media and Learning, City University of New York, The Graduate Center

Sheila Curran Bernard is an Emmy- and two-time Peabody Award-winning filmmaker whose credits include series and film development, writing, producing, directing, and editing. She has worked in a range of nonfiction styles and is credited on more than forty hours of nationally broadcast documentaries as well as films released theatrically and internationally. She works as an executive story editor, writer, and consultant, and is currently spending a semester in residence at Princeton University as the Anschutz Distinguished Fellow in American Studies, Lecturer in the Council of the Humanities.

PART 1: STORY DESIGN; Story Basics; Documentary Storytelling; Approach; Structure; Manipulating Time; Case Studies; PART 2: IDEAS TO TREATMENTS; Research; Casting; Pitching and Proposal Writing; Outlines, Treatments, and Scripts; PART 3: SHOOTING AND EDITING; Shooting; Editing; Writing Narration and Voice-Over; Storytelling: A Checklist; PART 4: CONVERSATIONS ABOUT STORY; Steven Ascher and Jeanne Jordan; Victoria Bruce and Karin Hayes; Ric Burns; Jon Else; Nicholas Fraser; Susan Froemke; Sam Pollard; Kenn Rabin; Per Saari; Onyekachi Wambu; PART 5: ADDITIONAL MATERIAL