Film Studies
Screen Education
From Film Appreciation to Media Studies
In Screen education, Terry Bolas provides the first definitive history of the development of film and television studies in Britain, from its origins as a grassroots movement to its current status as serious scholarship. The focus is on the United Kingdom, where the development mirrors that of film education in North America and Australia. Bolas’s account describes the voluntary efforts of activists in the Society for Education in Film and Television and their relationship with British Film Institute’s Education Department. Though much documentary evidence has been lost, Bolas’s work incorporates personal archives and interviews with key figures, making this a critical record of the rise of cinema and television studies.
The Place of Artists' Cinema
Space, Site, and Screen
In The Place of Artists’ Cinema, Maeve Connolly identifies a recurrent concern with site, space and cinema architecture in film and video works by artists, extending from the late 1960s to the present day. Focusing on developments over the past decade, Connolly provides in-depth readings of selected recent works by twenty-four different artists, ranging from multi-screen projections to site-specific installations and feature-length films. She also explores changing structures of exhibition and curation, tracing the circulation of film and video works within public art contexts, galleries, museums, biennial exhibitions and art fairs. Providing a chapter on the role of public funding in the market for artists’ film and video, The Place of Artists’ Cinema will appeal to both curators and artists.
Australian Post-war Documentary Film
An Arc of Mirrors
The post-war period in Australian cultural history sparked critical debate over notions of nation-building, multiculturalism and internationalization. Australian Post-War Documentary Film tackles all these issues in a considered and wide-ranging analysis of government, institutional and also radical documentaries. On one level, the book is a selective history of Australian documentary film in the immediate post-war years. It also charts the rise of a progressive film culture. As a whole it is a thorough study of the international flows of film culture. Williams illustrates these themes by critiquing the key films of the era, including the seminal The Back of Beyond, often cited as the greatest Australian film of all time. Australian Post-War Documentary Film retells film history by reading these documentaries as part of a nexus of international, and particularly Australian filmic, written and dramatic texts, with close attention to textual analysis. The book will appeal to anyone interested in international cinema, the way that it theorizes the period and offers a host of international comparisons, widening its ideas to the fabric of cultural production that surrounds all art works.
Beyond Auteurism
New Directions in Authorial Film Practices in France, Italy and Spain Since the 1980s
Queer Cinema in Europe
Alternative Worlds in Hollywood Cinema
Resonance Between Realms
Through an analysis of such landmark films as The Wizard of Oz, Vanilla Sky, and Back to the Future, James Walters reveals how unconventional worlds are crucial to each film’s dramatic agenda and narrative structure. This groundbreaking volume unifies decades of divergent work by film scholars and points the way towards a new theoretical framework for understanding fantasy in the context of popular film. Alternative Worlds in Hollywood Cinema will be an essential resource for film studies scholars and movie buffs alike. “The book is very readable . . . an important area of film study. The most original aspects of the book are the close readings of the films discussed and how these readings cohere across a single thesis.”—Pat Brereton, Dublin City University, author of Hollywood Utopia
International Dialogues about Visual Culture, Education and Art
Television and Criticism
Hong Kong New Wave Cinema (1978–2000)
Drawing on the auteur and genre theories, Pak Tong Cheuk here examines the cinematic style and aesthetics of New Wave directors, most of whom were educated at British and U.S. film schools. In addition to investigating the narrative content, structure, and mise-en-scène of individual films, this volume traces the overall development of the film and television industries in Hong Kong in the 1960s and 1970s. Cheuk’s intriguing study of the rise and fall of Hong Kong’s golden age of film establishes the New Wave as an era of great historical significance for scholars of cinema, popular culture, and the arts. “An interesting and detailed look at one of the most vital movements in the film industry during the latter part of the twentieth century. Pak’s work not only gives an informative overview of the origins of the movement, but goes into detail about the works of some of the most notable New Wave directors, including Tsui Hark, Ann Hui, and Patrick Tam, and the effects their pictures had on film-makers from all over the world.”—Neil Koch, HKfilm.net
Declarations of Independence
American Cinema and the Partiality of Independent Production
American independent cinema has been an important creative and cultural media entity for the past fifteen years. The approach of this sector is one of cultural construction that simultaneously provides a socio-political reference through which critics and audience can attach certain films to popular movements and ideas. Declarations of Independence questions the supposed autonomy of this cinema and asks if independent film can possibly survive in the face of the mass-production and profit of Hollywood. Berra’s text presents the reader with a unique structural approach to the subject matter with his arguments mirroring the actual film production process. He gives detailed insight into the core product with reference to specific films and studies of audiences and their enthusiasm for this type of alternative media. American Independent cinema continues to grow as a fashionable scene and Declarations of Independence analyses its popularity, economic viability and the production process of so-called ‘niche’ cinema. Berra uses directors such as Quentin Tarantino and Steven Soderberg as examples of those who have crossed successfully into the cultural mainstream, altering media and public perception. This comprehensive book is a useful resource for scholars as it gives an overview of the industry from conception of a film right though to festival exposure and public consumption. Berra also presents a strong academic argument and places the discussion of this increasingly popular genre within a wider socio-political context.
Frames of Mind
A Post-Jungian Look at Film, Television and Technology
David Cronenberg
Author or Filmmaker?
Film scholar Mark Browning examines Cronenberg’s literary aesthetic not only in relation to his films’ obvious source material, but by comparing his movies to the writings of Vladimir Nabokov, Angela Carter, and Bret Easton Ellis. This groundbreaking volume addresses Cronenberg’s narrative structures and his unique conception of auteurism, as well as his films’ shocking psychological frameworks, all in the broader context of film adaptation studies. David Cronenberg is an essential read for anyone interested in the symbiotic relationship between literature and filmmaking. “David Cronenberg is a work that attempts to illuminate and unravel the connection between the great Canadian auteur and his literary influences.”—Film Snob Weekly “David Cronenberg is an essential read for anyone interested in the symbiotic relationship between literature and filmmaking.”—Video Canada
Pride and Panic
Russian Imagination of the West in Post-Soviet Film
Through the looking-glass of Russian national cinema, Pride and Panic explores Russia’s anxious adjustment towards the expansion of Western culture. Russian film is shown, in both its creation and perception, to expose the intriguing dynamics of societal psychological conditions. Using specific film examples, the book delves into the subterranean recesses of Russian national consciousness, exposing an internal ambivalence and complex cultural reaction towards the rise of the West. These fears, fantasies and tremulous anxieties are examined through the representation of the West in films by both established and lesser-known Russian directors. Using a highly original and unorthodox approach, the author parallels the shifting dynamics of attitudes and identity in Russia, caused by globalization, to stages of development in an individual human psyche. The book cohesively unveils the psychological turmoil experienced by Russia towards a change in global relations. A text of particular interest to scholars, students and readers involved with contemporary film and, in particular, Russian cinema and culture.
Film, Drama and the Break Up of Britain
Allegorical images
Tableau, Time and Gesture in the Cinema of Werner Schroeter
Cinemas of the Other
A Personal Journey with Film-makers from the Middle East and Central Asia
Each interview comprises of stills from important films discussed and a bio/filmography of the artist. In addition to creative concerns, the focal point of the interviews is to position the filmmaker within the social or political context of their respective country. The striking variety in approaches towards each interview creates a rich diversity of tone and an overwhelming impression of animation within the text. Cinemas of the Other offers a carefully researched and detailed first-hand account on the developments and trends in specific regional film industries.
The Art and Science of Screenwriting
Second Edition
This second edition contains:
• the different layouts for film, television, documentary and corporate screenplays
• a detailed analysis of what is required from a premise, an outline, a step outline, a treatment and a first draft
• a simple stage by stage guide to the inevitable re-write
• tips on finding an agent.
This new approach to writing for film and television covers everything from finding an idea to writing a finished screenplay. The author's framework, 'A Creative Matrix', brings together all the elements of screenplay writing - from story, character, theme, and dramatic structure to plot, genre, tone and style in an understandable way that is easy to follow. His analysis includes illustrating what comprises a good thriller, identifying the different types of sit-com, and showing the qualities of a screen romance that both works and convinces.
The author uses examples from across European, American and World Cinema, as well as television, and this revised edition now contains a comprehensive index.
Traumatic Encounters in Italian Film
Locating the Cinematic Unconscious
New Brutality Film
Race and Affect in Contemporary Hollywood Cinema
