Introduction to documentary

TLDR

The new edition of Bill Nichols’s bestselling text offers an up‑to‑date introduction to key issues in documentary history and criticism. Designed for students who use visual evidence, the book defines documentary’s distinctive qualities, teaches how to read documentary film, and covers over 100 recent works across six modes with updated content.

Abstract

This new edition of Bill Nichols's bestselling text provides an up-to-date introduction to the most important issues in documentary history and criticism. Designed for students in any field that makes use of visual evidence and persuasive strategies, Introduction to Documentary identifies the distinguishing qualities of documentary and teaches the viewer how to read documentary film. Each chapter takes up a discrete question, from How did documentary filmmaking get started? to Why are ethical issues central to documentary filmmaking? Carefully revised to take account of new work and trends, this volume includes information on more than 100 documentaries released since the first edition, an expanded treatment of the six documentary modes, new still images, and a greatly expanded list of distributors.