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| Library status: currently open during regularly scheduled hours. |
Cinema/Politics/Philosophy by
Almost fifty years ago, Jean-Louis Comolli and Jean Narboni published the manifesto "Cinema/Ideology/Criticism," helping to set the agenda for a generation of film theory that used cinema as a means of critiquing capitalist ideology. In recent decades, film studies has moved away from politicized theory, abandoning the productive ways in which theory understands the relationship between cinema, politics, and art. In Cinema/Politics/Philosophy, Nico Baumbach revisits the much-maligned tradition of seventies film theory to reconsider: What does it mean to call cinema political? In this concise and provocative book, Baumbach argues that we need a new philosophical approach that sees cinema as both a mode of thought and a form of politics. Through close readings of the writings on cinema by the contemporary continental philosophers Jacques Rancière, Alain Badiou, and Giorgio Agamben, he asks us to rethink both the legacy of ideology critique and Deleuzian film-philosophy. He explores how cinema can condition philosophy through its own means, challenging received ideas about what is seeable, sayable, and doable. Cinema/Politics/Philosophy offers fundamental new ways to think about cinema as thought, art, and politics.
Philosophy-Screens: From Cinema to the Digital Revolution by
In The Flesh of Images, Mauro Carbone analyzed Merleau-Ponty's interest in film and modern painting as it relates to his aesthetic theory and as it illuminates our contemporary relationship to images. Philosophy-Screens broadens the work undertaken in this earlier book, looking at the ideas of other twentieth-century thinkers concerning the relationship between philosophy and film, and extending that analysis to address our experience of electronic and digital screens in the twenty-first century. In the first part of the book, Carbone examines the ways that Sartre, Merleau-Ponty, Lyotard, and Deleuze grappled with the philosophical significance of cinema as a novel aesthetic medium unfolding in the twentieth century. He then considers the significance of this philosophical framework for understanding the digital revolution, in particular the extent to which we are increasingly and comprehensively connected with screens. Smartphones, tablets, and computers have become a primary referential optical apparatus for everyday life in ways that influence the experience not only of seeing but also of thinking and desiring. Carbone's Philosophy-Screens follows Deleuze's call for "a philosophy-cinema" that can account for these fundamental changes in perception and aesthetic production, and adapts it to twenty-first-century concerns.
Tuitions and Intuitions: Essays at the Intersection of Film Criticism and Philosophy by
William Rothman has long been considered one of the seminal figures in the field of film-philosophy. From his landmark book Hitchcock: The Murderous Gaze, now in its second edition, to the essays collected here in Tuitions and Intuitions, Rothman has been guided by two intuitions: first, that his kind of film criticism is philosophy; and second, that such a marriage of criticism and philosophy has an essential part to play in the serious study of film. In this book, he aspires, borrowing a formulation from Emerson, to "pay the tuition" for these intuitions. Thoughtful, philosophically sophisticated, and provocative, the essays included here address a wide range of films, including classical Hollywood movies; the work of "auteur" directors like Alfred Hitchcock, George Cukor, Yasujirō Ozu, and Woody Allen; performances by John Barrymore and James Stewart; unconventional works by Jean Genet, Chantal Akerman, Terrence Malick, and the Dardenne brothers; the television series Justified; and documentaries by Jean Rouch, Ross McElwee, and Robert Gardner. All the essays address questions of philosophical significance and, taken together, manifest Rothman's lifelong commitment when writing about a film, to respect the film's own ideas; to remain open to the film's ways of expressing its ideas; and to let the film help teach him how to view it, how to think about it, and how to discover what he has at heart to say about it.
Cinefiles "contains scanned images of reviews, press kits, festival and showcase program notes, newspaper articles, and other documents from the PFA Library's extensive collection covering world cinema, past and present. Citations are available for all documents, and page images are available for documents with copyright clearance. New titles and document images are added daily."
Film Comment LTU Library Periodical shelved alphabetically by title.
Film Quarterly LTU Library Periodical shelved alphabectially by title.
Adaptation for Screenwriters by
"Develop the critical and creative skills to 'translate' a story from page to screen with this step-by-step guide to the process of screen adaptation you'll learn to: - interrogate a novel or short story to release its 'inner film' - convert fictional prose into visual drama - overcome the obstacles presented by different media 'languages' - approach key strategic decisions - both technical and interpretive - draft and re-draft your plot, characters and dialogue - professionally format and submit your finished script In addition to examples taken from 'literary classics', contemporary novels, genre fiction, short stories, and biographical material, Marland and Edgar embrace the wider phenomenon of re-telling and updating existing stories, such as the 'appropriation' of popular figures, inter-film adaptation (sequels and 'reboots'), and development into other visual forms including graphic fiction and video games. Whether you are producing a faithful adaptation of Tolstoy's War and Peace, or planning to pair up the crime-fighting duo of Sherlock Holmes and Batman, Adaptation for Screenwriters will be your guide."-- Provided by publisher.
Genre, Authorship and Contemporary Women Filmmakers by
Examining the significance of women's work in popular film genres, Genre, Authorship and Contemporary Women Filmmakers sheds light on women's contribution to genre cinema through an exploration of filmmakers like Kathryn Bigelow, Diablo Cody, Sofia Coppola and Kelly Reichard. Exploring genres as diverse as horror, the war movie, the Western, the costume biopic and the romantic comedy, the book interrogates questions of authorial subversion, gendered concepts of film authorship and male/female genre divisions, as well as re-evaluating certain genres as a space worthy of feminist criticism. By offering an analysis of the films themselves and the circumstances of production and reception, this book redefines political, theoretical and commercial conceptualisations of women's cinema, and offers new perspectives on how women filmmakers explore the aesthetic and imaginative power of genre.
Mainstream Maverick: John Hughes and New Hollywood Cinema by
Winner, Best First Monograph, British Association of Film, Television and Screen Studies In the 1980s and 1990s, John Hughes was one of Hollywood's most reliable hitmakers, churning out beloved teen comedies and family films such as The Breakfast Club and Home Alone, respectively. But was he an artist? Hughes, an adamantly commercial filmmaker who was dismissed by critics, might have laughed at the question. Since his death in 2009, though, he has been memorialized on Oscar night as a key voice of his time. Now the critics lionize him as a stylistic original. Holly Chard traces Hughes's evolution from entertainer to auteur. Studios recognized Hughes's distinctiveness and responded by nurturing his brand. He is therefore a case study in Hollywood's production not only of movies but also of genre and of authorship itself. The films of John Hughes, Chard shows, also owed their success to the marketers who sold them and the audiences who watched. Careful readings of Hughes's cinema reveal both the sources of his iconic status and the imprint on his films of the social, political, economic, and media contexts in which he operated. The first serious treatment of Hughes, Mainstream Maverick elucidates the priorities of the American movie industry in the New Hollywood era and explores how artists not only create but are themselves created.
Speed Write Your First Screenplay : From Blank Spaces to Great Pages in Just 90 Days by 
Encyclopedia of Film Themes, Settings and Series by 
The Encyclopedia of Musicians and Bands on Film by
Musicians, both fictional and real, have long been subjects of cinema. From biopics of composers Beethoven and Mozart to the rise (and often fall) of imaginary bands in The Commitments and Almost Famous, music of all types has inspired hundreds of films. The Encyclopedia of Musicians and Bands on Film features the most significant productions from around the world, including straightforward biographies, rockumentaries, and even the occasional mockumentary. The wide-ranging scope of this volume allows for the inclusion of films about fictional singers and bands, with emphasis on a variety of themes: songwriter-band relationships, the rise and fall of a career, music saving the day, the promoter's point of view, band competitions, the traveling band, and rock-based absurdity. Among the films discussed in this book are Amadeus, The Blues Brothers, The Buddy Holly Story, The Commitments, Dreamgirls, The Glenn Miller Story, A Hard Day's Night, I'm Not There, Jailhouse Rock, A Mighty Wind, Ray, 'Round Midnight, The Runaways, School of Rock, That Thing You Do , and Walk the Line. With entries that span the decades and highlight a variety of music genres, The Encyclopedia of Musicians and Bands on Film is a valuable resource for moviegoers and music lovers alike, as well as scholars of both film and music.
Historical Dictionary of African American Cinema by
As early as 1909, African Americans were utilizing the new medium of cinema to catalogue the world around them, using the film camera as a device to capture their lives and their history. The daunting subject of race and ethnicity permeated life in America at the turn of the twentieth century and due to the effect of certain early films, specific television images, and an often-biased news media, it still plagues us today. As new technologies bring the power of the moving image to the masses, African Americans will shoot and edit on laptop computers and share their stories with a global audience via the World Wide Web. These independently produced visions will add to the diverse cache of African American images being displayed on an ever-expanding silver screen. This wide range of stories, topics, views, and genres will finally give the world a glimpse of African American life that has long been ignored and has yet to be seen. This second edition of Historical Dictionary of African American Cinema covers its history through a chronology, an introductory essay, appendixes, and an extensive bibliography. The dictionary section has over 1400 cross-referenced entries on actors, actresses, movies, producers, organizations, awards, and terminology, this book provides a better understanding of the role African Americans played in film history. This book is an excellent access point for students, researchers, and anyone wanting to know more about African American cinema.
The Complete History of American Film Criticism by 
Film: A Critical Introuduction 4th Edition by
Updated and expanded for a new edition, this is the perfect starter text for students of film studies. Packed full of visual examples from all periods of film history up to the present, Film:A Critical Introduction illustrates film concepts in context and in depth, addressing techniques and terminology used in film production and criticism, and emphasizing thinking and writing critically and effectively. With reference to 450 new and existing images, the authors discuss contemporary films and film studies scholarship, as well as recent developments in film production and exhibition, such as digital technologies and new modes of screen media. New features in the fourth edition: Expanded discussion of changing cultural and political contexts for film and media industries, including #MeToo, #TimesUp, and #OscarsSoWhite Updated examples drawing from both contemporary and classic films in every chapter highlight that film studies is a vibrant and growing field. New closing chapter expands the book's theoretical framework, linking foundational concepts in cinema studies to innovative new scholarship in media and screen studies. Thoroughly revised and updated discussions of auteur theory, the long-take aesthetic, ideology in the superhero film and more.
Film and the Imagined Image by
From documentary to art-house cinema - and from an abundance of onscreen images to their complete absence - films that experiment variously with narration, voice-over and soundscapes do not only engage viewers' thoughts and senses. They also make an appeal to visualise more than is perceptible on screen. This book explores the extraordinary ways in which film can stimulate and direct the image-making capacity of the imagination. Bringing together an international range of films with debates in philosophy, film theory, literary scholarship and cognitive psychology, author Sarah Cooper charts the key processes that serve the imagining of images in the light of the mind. Through its navigation of a labile and vivid mental terrain, this innovative work makes a profound contribution to the study of spectatorship.
Film Criticism in the Digital Age by 
The Permanent Crisis of Film Criticism: The Anxiety of Authority by
Film criticism is in crisis. Dwelling on the many film journalists made redundant at newspapers, magazines, and other 'old media' in past years, commentators have voiced existential questions about the purpose and worth of the profession in the age of WordPress blogospheres and proclaimed the 'death of the critic'. Bemoaning the current anarchy of internet amateurs and the lack of authoritative critics, many journalists and academics claim that in the digital age, cultural commentary has become dumbed down and fragmented into niche markets. Mattias Freu, arguing against these claims, examines the history of film critical discourse in France, Germany, the United Kingdom, and the United States . He demonstrates that since its origins, film criticism has always found itself in crisis: the need to show critical authority and the anxieties over challenges to that authority have been longstanding concerns.
Transnationalism and Imperialism: Endurance of the Global Western Film by
While Western films can be seen as a mode of American exceptionalism, they have also become a global genre. Around the world, Westerns exemplify colonial cinema, driven by the exploration of racial and gender hierarchies and the progress and violence shaped by imperialism. Transnationalism and Imperialism: Endurance of the Global Western Filmtraces the Western from the silent era to present day as the genre has circulated the world. Contributors examine the reception and production of American Westerns outside the US alongside the transnational aspects of American productions, and they consider the work of minority directors who use the genre to interrogate a visual history of oppression. By viewing Western films through a transnational lens and focusing on the reinterpretations, appropriations, and parallel developments of the genre outside the US, editors Hervé Mayer and David Roche contribute to a growing body of literature that debunks the pervasive correlation between the genre and American identity. Perfect for media studies and political science, Transnationalism and Imperialismreveals that Western films are more than cowboys; they are a critical intersection where issues of power and coloniality are negotiated.
Action Cut Print "ActionCutPrint is one of the top film directing websites for Independent Filmmakers on the Internet today featuring online movie making courses, film directing articles, film and television books and filmmaking workshops."
American Film Institute This web site has plenty of information that would be of interest to film students. The institute provides educational opportunities for filmmakers, including the AFI Conservatory and the Directing Workshop for Women. Applications for these and other opportunities are available through the site.
Cyber Film School "Cyber Film School learning systems began over two decades ago with our award-winning web resource, multimedia, and television platforms, with a mission to narrow the gap between affordable film technology and costly quality film education."
Filmmaking.net "filmmaking.net is one of the top sites for new and independent filmmakers on the web. In addition to the Internet Filmmaker's FAQ, filmmaking.net offers visitors a host of other features including: access to articles on filmmaking from a variety of sources; a second-hand equipment forum; filmmaking software downloads (shareware and commercial demos); a book store containing a broad range of filmmaking books, reviewed by filmmaking.net; a thriving group of discussion forums; one of the most comprehensive databases of film schools on the web; events database of local and global events for filmmakers."
Guerilla Filmmaker "Cyber Film School learning systems began over two decades ago with our award-winning web resource, multimedia, and television platforms, with a mission to narrow the gap between affordable film technology and costly quality film education. "
IndieWire.com A platform to deliver news, information and other resources to those interested in Independent Film.
Internet Movie Database An extensive database of motion pictures and television shows with production details, credits, plot summaries, and reviews (both professional and reader-submitted.) Can search by titles, names, or other details.
Internet Movie Script Database This database provides access to the largest collection of scripts on the Web that can be read or downloaded for free. Users can search for scripts by title or genre. This site also provides links to screenwriting resources and movie reviews.
The Art and Craft of Motion Pictures: 25 Movies to Make You Film Literate by
This volume can rightfully be called "a film school in a single book." Investigating and analyzing the elements and concepts of motion picture creation, this book looks closely at 25 films that represent a wide range of styles and subjects.Although most motion picture viewers have seen numerous movies in their lifetime, few in the general public have a firm and deep understanding of how motion pictures are created, or a grasp of the intricacies of cinematic storytelling and content. By presenting 25 films, American and international, Hollywood and independent, this book educates and enlightens readers about the details of the motion picture creation process.Some readers will have viewed certain films in the volume, but many will be introduced to major cinematic works within the canon of great and essential films for the very first time. Topics explored include animation, period films, editing, directorial style, and non-linear cinematic structure. Readers will learn about the origin of the jump cut in Breathless, time and space in Hiroshima Mon Amour, and the editing in Orson Welles's essay film F is for Fake. The Art and Craft of Motion Pictures: 25 Movies to Make You Film Literate will educate the novice and avid moviegoer alike about the inner workings of this dynamic, popular, and culturally significant art form.
History and Film: A Tale of Two Disciplines by
A Choice Outstanding Academic TitleHistory and Film: A Tale of Two Disciplines addresses the representation of history in cinema, a much-argued debate on the need to understand cinematic history in its own terms and develop a certain vocabulary for discussing historical films, their relation to public history, and their impact on public historical consciousness. Eleftheria Thanouli does this by changing the agenda altogether - combining a macro-level perspective with a micro-level one in order to argue that cinematic history is the dominant form of historiography in the 20th century, as it succeeded in remediating and repurposing the key formal, rhetorical, and ideological practices of 19th-century professional historiography. With case studies ranging from The Thin Red Line and Life is Beautiful, to The Fog of War and The Last Bolshevik, Thanouli bridges the gap between history and film studies and lays the foundations for a new visual historiography.
Multimedia histories: from the magic lantern to the internet by 
The Oxford History of World Cinema by 
Subject to Reality: Women and Documentary Film by
Revolutionary thinking around gender and race merged with new film technologies to usher in a wave of women's documentaries in the 1970s. Driven by the various promises of second-wave feminism, activist filmmakers believed authentic stories about women would bring more people into an imminent revolution. Yet their films soon faded into obscurity. Shilyh Warren reopens this understudied period and links it to a neglected era of women's filmmaking that took place from 1920 to 1940, another key period of thinking around documentary, race, and gender. Drawing women's cultural expression during these two explosive times into conversation, Warren reconsiders key debates about subjectivity, feminism, realism, and documentary and their lasting epistemological and material consequences for film and feminist studies. She also excavates the lost ethnographic history of women's documentary filmmaking in the earlier era and explores the political and aesthetic legacy of these films in more explicitly feminist periods like the Seventies. Filled with challenging insights and new close readings, Subject to Reality sheds light on a profound and unexamined history of feminist documentaries while revealing their influence on the filmmakers of today.
What Is Japanese Cinema?: A History by
What Is Japanese Cinema? is a concise and lively history of Japanese film that shows how cinema tells the story of Japan's modern age. Discussing popular works alongside auteurist masterpieces, Yomota Inuhiko considers films in light of both Japanese cultural particularities and cinema as a worldwide art form.
The Dynamic Frame: Camera Movement in Classical Hollywood by
The camera's movement in a film may seem straightforward or merely technical. Yet skillfully deployed pans, tilts, dollies, cranes, and zooms can express the emotions of a character, convey attitude and irony, or even challenge an ideological stance. In The Dynamic Frame, Patrick Keating offers an innovative history of the aesthetics of the camera that examines how camera movement shaped the classical Hollywood style. In careful readings of dozens of films, including Sunrise, The Grapes of Wrath, Rear Window, Sunset Boulevard, and Touch of Evil, Keating explores how major figures such as F. W. Murnau, Orson Welles, and Alfred Hitchcock used camera movement to enrich their stories and deepen their themes. Balancing close analysis with a broader poetics of camera movement, Keating uses archival research to chronicle the technological breakthroughs and the changing division of labor that allowed for new possibilities, as well as the shifting political and cultural contexts that inspired filmmakers to use technology in new ways. An original history of film techniques and aesthetics, The Dynamic Frame shows that the classical Hollywood camera moves not to imitate the actions of an omniscient observer but rather to produce the interplay of concealment and revelation that is an essential part of the exchange between film and viewer.
Spectacular Posthumanism: The Digital Vernacular of Visual Effects by
Spectacular Posthumanism examines the ways in which VFX imagery fantasizes about digital disembodiment while simultaneously reasserting the importance of the lived body. Analyzing a wide range of case studies-including the films of David Cronenberg and Stanley Kubrick, image technologies such as performance capture and crowd simulation, Game of Thrones, Terminator: Genisys, Planet Earth, and 300-Ayers builds on Miriam Hansen's concept of "vernacular modernism" to argue that the "vernacular posthumanism" of these media objects has a phenomenological impact on viewers. As classical Hollywood cinema initiated viewers into the experience of modernism, so too does the VFX image initiate viewers into digital, posthuman modes of thinking and being. Ayers's innovative close-reading of popular, mass-market media objects reveals the complex ways that these popular media struggle to make sense of humanity's place within the contemporary world. Spectacular Posthumanism argues that special and visual effects images produce a digital, posthuman vernacular, one which generates competing fantasies about the utopian and dystopian potential of a nonhuman future. As humanity grapples with such heady issues as catastrophic climate change, threats of anonymous cyber warfare, an increasing reliance on autonomous computing systems, genetic manipulation of both humans and nonhumans, and the promise of technologically enhanced bodies, the anxieties related to these issues register in popular culture. Through the process of compositing humans and nonhumans into a seemingly seamless whole, digital images visualize a utopian fantasy in which flesh and information might easily coexist and cohabitate with each other. These images, however, also exhibit the dystopic anxieties that develop around this fantasy. Relevant to our contemporary moment, Spectacular Posthumanism both diagnoses and offers a critique of this fantasy, arguing that this posthuman imagination overlooks the importance of embodiment and lived experience.
