In this book, Barry Hampe provides great advice, helpful concepts, and breaks down the documentary process into digestable servings. The book is divided into four sections: 1. An introduction to the concepts and guidelines of the Documentary genre 2. Preproduction 3. Production 4. Postproduction. Barry Hampe fills in the pages with experience, knowledge, and writes in a manner combining the ideas he discusses with pithy examples and stories which he uses to drive his points home. The book has a generous layout, placing information thoughtfully and easily into the reader. Included in the book is a wonderful filmography (including refrence info on where to find and order the documentaries listed), a well rounded bibliography, and even directions to join the International Documentary Association.
I used this book as my introduction to documentary production, because though it is based on Hampe's work specifically with behavioral documentary, the information is easily transferable to any documentary/reality video project. The book stresses concepts in creating a form of reality through visual medium, called verisimilitude, and Barry Hampe demonstrates very carefully the indepth process in which an audience recieves the final cut out of what was originially a simple idea. If Barry Hampe can communicate his ideas so clearly in writing this book, I imagine his documentaries must be stunning.
