1st Edition

Creating Experimental Documentary Films Theory and Practice Beyond Convention

By Pablo Frasconi Copyright 2025
200 Pages 50 B/W Illustrations
by Routledge

200 Pages 50 B/W Illustrations
by Routledge

200 Pages 50 B/W Illustrations
by Routledge

This book explores the continued development and practice of experimental documentary film making with evolving trends in still photography, visual arts, journalism, installation art, docudrama, interactive media, music, poetry, and creative nonfiction. Through examples, observations, analyses, and exercises, readers will gain an understanding of the traditional principles of documentary and... Read more

Preface                                                                                              

Introduction                                                                                                                                                  

1. Within and Beyond the Frame

2.  Ideation, Research, and Developing Point-of-View

3. The Interview

4.  Light: The Evanescent Language of Cinema

5. Music, Noise, Sound Design and Subtext

6. Editing the Experimental Documentary

7. Capturing the True Nature of Things

8. Poetic Language and Experimental Documentary

9. New Collaborations and Experiences

10. Augmented Reality, Immersive Journalism, Mixed Realities, and the Documentary

Filmography

Bibliography

Biography

Pablo Frasconi studied with Stan Brakhage at the University of New Hampshire and with documentarians from the National Film Board of Canada in Toronto at York University. His films are in hundreds of collections, including UC Berkeley, the NY Public Library, and the Smithsonian. He has received 20 grants and fellowships for filmmaking, including from the National Endowment for the Arts, the American Film Institute, and Park Foundation. His work, including Towards the Memory of a Revolution, Survival of a Small City, The Woodcuts of Antonio Frasconi, and The Light at Walden, has been featured at The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), NYC, The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA), Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) national broadcast, and in WIRED Magazine, Filmmaker Magazine, and The New York Times. Frasconi is a professor at the University of Southern California’s School of Cinematic Arts, where he teaches editing, poetic cinema, documentary, and critical making.