Ch 2: How things got this way

In this chapter, Hampe discusses the history of documentary film making. There is detailed explanation of the role that advances in technology have played in film, especially the film itself. The advances in cameras and how lighting effect film quality have made documentary filming much easier over the years. He also speaks about the difficulties in determining what exactly constitutes a documentary and the issues with telling the "Truth" on film.

Film proposal

I would like to observe people in their homes living their daily lives and then meet with these people after to have an interview about the interesting things that come up. The locations will be the homes of whoever will allow me to film them. These people will be the subjects of my film. The sound will be completely natural and there will be no speaking outside of the interviews. The overall style of the film will be determined by the homes in which i film.

Ch. 1: It looks so easy

The first chapter of the book Making documentary films and reality videos explains a basic overview of documentary making and that is is not as easy as people think it is. It explains that many people today think they can just pick up a camera and begin making documentaries. However it is not as simple as that and takes knowledge , skill and often times money to complete a successful film. It then explains the different types of documentary and what this book hopes to teach.

Documentary Movie

The documentary on documentary film making, Capturing reality, was very informative and gave great insight into the art of 'capturing reality'. In the film many famous documentary directors and film makers spoke about the use of sound, narration and music, filming techniques, subject choice, editing, writing and sculpting a documentary. There were many different opinions and this proved the subjectivity of the art, although some believe that documentary is a very objective art, about telling truths, this is not the case for everyone. Telling a truth seems to be the overlaying idea behind all documentaries, the only idea that all of the film makers could agree on. I personally agree with the conservative, classic views on how documentary should be made, these ideas in the film were used/explained by some of the older artists. Keeping things honest, factual yet minimal without much music, special effects, and scripting.

VImeo

Vimeo.com/shaquan