FLM 120: Introduction to Film

Offers cinema enthusiasts everything they need to know about the history of film; covers iconic films and directors from around the world, as well as how history, politics, and the cultural zeitgeist influenced cinema.

Contains new information on international cinema and updated discussions of works by major American directors.

Provides an authoritative and accessible history of silent cinema through one hundred of its most significant films.

Analyzes such regulatory practices as the Hays Code and the government's scrutinizing of monopolistic practices; delves into the Paramount case, detailing the behind-the-scenes negotiations and public statements that ended with film industry leaders agreeing to self regulate. Hollywood's acquiescence and the government's retreat from action show that they had found a mutually beneficial way of preserving their own spheres of influence.

Brings together essays by scholars and writers who chart the changing evaluations of the American cinema of the 1970s.

Leads readers into a world that was striving to assimilate modernity's most powerful new medium; features writings from directors such as Fritz Lang and F.W. Murnau.

Focusing on Eisenstein's unique treatment of the foundational concepts of cinema--movement, action, image, and montage--Arsenjuk invests each aspect of the auteur's art with new significance.

Seeks to redefine, re-contextualize, and reassess Italian neorealism - an artistic movement characterized by stories set among the poor and working class - through innovative close readings and comparative analysis.

Offers a fresh look at the social, economic, and aesthetic mechanisms that shaped French film, as well as detailed studies of the most important New Wave movies of the late 1950s and early 1960s.

Examines how the typical film noir protagonist deliberates and plans, only to be confronted by the irrelevance of such deliberation and by results that contrast sharply, often tragically, with his or her intentions.

Presents a wide-ranging collection of essays that look at various forms of the Western genre; considers themes and subgenres, celebrities and authors and recent idiosyncratic engagements with the genre.

Explores science-fiction cinema through 26 great films, from the silent classic Metropolis to today.

Examines the gangster film in its historical context with an emphasis on the ways the image of the gangster has adapted and changed as a result of socio-cultural circumstances.

An in-depth look at the singing, dancing, happy-making world of Hollywood musicals, beautifully illustrated in color and black-and-white; Examines an array of stars, strategies, talents, and innovations in the history of musical cinema. Astute, informative, and a pleasure to read.

Unravels the history of how the emergence of the DVD market changed cultural attitudes about horror movies; includes an examination of films from the "Splat Pack" and an overview of the history of the American horror film from an industry-studies perspective.

Discusses the craft of film acting in six eras: the silent screen (1895-1928), classical Hollywood (1928-1946), postwar Hollywood (1947-1967), the auteur renaissance (1968-1980), the New Hollywood (1981-1999), and the modern entertainment marketplace (2000-present).

Covers the emergence of the realistic "verisimilar" style in Griffith's biograph films by showing how Griffith gradually abandoned the deliberately affected "histrionic" acting style derived from the nineteenth-century stage.

Surveys the changing practices of film acting---from the silent films of Charlie Chaplin to the rise of Lee Strasberg's Actor's Studio to the eclecticism found in contemporary cinema---this volume argues that screen acting is a vital component of film and that it can be understood in the same way as theatrical performance.

Chronicles the history of the Method in a narrative that transports readers from Moscow to New York to Los Angeles, from The Seagull to A Streetcar Named Desire to Raging Bull; Traces how a cohort of American mavericks refashioned Stanislavski's ideas for a Depression-plagued nation that had yet to find its place as an artistic powerhouse.

Covers fundamental factors in filmmaking, including editing, composition, lighting, the use of color and sound, and narrative. The description of mise-en-scene helps readers grasp the significance of montage, which in turn reveals the of a director's use of camera movement. Film Studies is designed for courses on film history, film theory, and popular culture.

Provides a complete but specific picture of visual narrative techniques that will increase readers' knowledge of the film medium. Supplies the analytic tools and background in film history and theory to enable filmgoers to see more in every film.

Through the detailed exploration of film scenes, Gibbs makes the case for the importance of a sensitive understanding of film style, and provides an introduction to the skills of close reading.

Focuses on the collaborations between directors and cinematographers, a partnership that has played a crucial role in American cinema since the early years of the silent era; draws upon oral histories, early industry trade journals, and other primary materials to examine key innovations like deep focus, color, and digital cinematography.

Introduces key concepts, seminal moments, and pivotal figures in the development of cinematic sound.

Focuses on the highlights of this art and provides an overview of how the field has evolved, from the silent film era to today's digital imagery; Profiles numerous acclaimed cinematographers, including James Wong Howe and Roger Deakins.