0. Preface to the Eighth Edition PART 1: YOU AND YOUR IDEAS 1. You and Film Authorship 2. The Nature of Documentary PART 2: DOCUMENTARIES AND FILM LANGUAGE 3. How the Documentary Developed 4. Contemporary Documentary 5. Constructing Reality 6. Story Elements and Film Grammar PART 3: PRE-PRODUCTION 7. Developing Story Ideas 8. Research and Pre-Visualization 9. Shaping the Story 10. Production Planning PART 4: PRODUCTION 11. Partnerships 12. Sound 13. Lighting 14. Camera 15. Optics and Perception 16. Camera, Coverage, and Point of View 17. Directing Participants 18. Interviewing PART 5: POST-PRODUCTION 19. Getting Started on the Edit 20. Developing the Edit 21. Refining and Delivering the Film 22. Narration 23. Music PART 6: DOCUMENTARY AESTHETICS 24. Dramatic Development 25. Time and Story Structure 26. Point of View and Storytelling 27. Form, Style, and Creativity 28. Reconstruction in Documentary PART 7: PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE 29. Values and Ethics 30. Developing a Career
Biography
Michael Rabiger began in the cutting rooms of England’s Pinewood and Shepperton Studios, became an editor and BBC director of documentaries, and then specialized for many years in the US as a production and aesthetics educator. At Columbia College Chicago he was co-founder, then chair of the Film/Video Department and founded the Michael Rabiger Center for Documentary. He directed or edited more than 35 films, gave workshops in many countries, designed and led a multinational European documentary workshop for CILECT, won the International Documentary Association’s Scholarship and Preservation Award, and was also awarded the Genius/Career Achievement Award by the Chicago International Documentary Festival. He is the author of Developing Story Ideas and co-author of the enormously successful Directing: Film Techniques and Aesthetics.
Courtney Hermann is an award-winning documentary filmmaker and Associate Professor of Film at Portland State University. Her films are distributed by the Public Broadcasting Service and its affiliates, through educational film catalogs, at film festivals, and via impact distribution to community partners. Her filmmaking centers ethical collaboration and amplifies stories and communities underrepresented in mainstream media. Her documentaries include Standing Silent Nation (2007), Exotic World and the Burlesque Revival (2012), Crying Earth Rise Up (2015), Burton Before and After (2018), and Outliers and Outlaws (2024).
Praise for the previous edition:
"The USC documentary faculty has required this excellent book in all our documentary courses since its 1st edition. Rabiger has added to his in-depth analysis of the creative and practical implications of documentary production in this latest edition, with new sections on grant writing, technology, and case studies. The book is essential for students and it’s also one that every professional documentary filmmaker can constantly refer to and be inspired by."
Doe Mayer, Professor, Mary Pickford Chair of Film and Television Production, School of Cinematic Arts, University of Southern California
"This book is a time-proof classic, a one-of-a kind roadmap to reaching excellence in documentary making that reads like good, inspiring literature. I have collected and read all of its editions avidly, and can already see that this new edition will serve as an invaluable companion for any documentary filmmaker."
Juan Francisco Urrusti, Professor, Centro de Capacitación Cinematográfica (Mexico); Documentary Filmmaker, A Long Journey to Guadalupe
"Rabiger's 'two-stage' approach to documentary filmmaking takes the reader on a comprehensive journey from concept development to finished documentary and distribution! His sixth edition of Directing the Documentary is a must-have in any serious documentary filmmaker's library."
Gene F., Digital Filmmaking Instructor, The Art Institute of CA - Silicon Valley
