Word-of-Mouth in Contemporary Hollywood
Word-of-Mouth in Contemporary Hollywood provides a unique insight into the potential for online communication to enable audiences to exert a greater impact on film industrial practices than ever before. In an overarching analysis of contemporary Hollywood film financing, marketing, distribution, and exhibition practices, Simon Hewitt recontextualises word-of-mouth in light of social media and examines the growing impact of audience participation.Using a 'Bourdieuconomic' approach, he applies qualitative research methods to better understand the contemporary Hollywood film audience, the contemporary Hollywood film industry, and the mechanisms that connect the two. The book explores new film financing mechanisms that incorporate fans into the packages used to secure production funds. It assesses the role of 'Grassroots Intermediaries' in contemporary film marketing campaigns. It critiques 'democratic' crowdsourced methods of film distribution, and finally, it considers the possible future of Hollywood film exhibition.By helping to bridge the gap between the gift economy and commodity culture, this book will appeal to students and scholars of media industry studies, media finance and economics, fan and audience studies, film studies, film history, and media marketing.
New Wave- New Hollywood: Reassessment- Recovery- and Legacy
As a period of film history, The American New Wave (ordinarily understood as beginning in 1967 and ending in 1980) remains a preoccupation for scholars and audiences alike. In traditional accounts, it is considered to be bookended by two periods of conservatism, and viewed as a (brief) period of explosive creativity within the Hollywood system. From Bonnie and Clyde to Heaven's Gate, it produced films that continue to be watched, discussed, analysed and poured over. It has, however, also become rigidly defined as a cinema of director-auteurs who made a number of aesthetically and politically significant films. This has led to marginalization and exclusion of many important artists and filmmakers, as well as a temporal rigidity about what and who is considered part of the 'New Wave proper'. This collection seeks to reinvigorate debate around this area of film history. It also looks in part to demonstrate the legacy of aesthetic experimentation and political radicalism after 1980 as part of the 'legacy' of the New Wave. Thanks to important new work that questions received scholarly wisdom, reveals previously marginalised filmmakers (and the films they made), considers new genres, personnel, and films under the banner of 'New Wave, New Hollywood', and reevaluates the traditional approaches and perspectives on the films that have enjoyed most critical attention, New Wave, New Hollywood: Reassessment, Recovery, Legacy looks to begin a new discussion about Hollywood cinema after 1967.
Space Exploration on Film
Over the course of several decades, scientific fact has overtaken science fiction as humankind's understanding of the universe has expanded. Mirroring this development, the cinematic depictions of space exploration over the last century have evolved from whimsical sci-fi fantasies to more fact-based portrayals. This book chronologically examines 75 films that depict voyages into outer space and offers the historical, cultural, and scientific context of each. These films range from Georges Melies' fantastical A Trip to the Moon to speculative science fiction works such as 2001: A Space Odyssey, Solaris, and Contact, and fact-based accounts of actual space missions as depicted in The Right Stuff, Apollo 13, Salyut 7 and First Man. Each film is analyzed not only in terms of its direction, screenplay, and other cinematic aspects but also its scientific and historical accuracy. The works of acclaimed directors, including Fritz Lang, George Pal, Stanley Kubrick, Andrei Tarkovsky, Robert Wise, Ron Howard, Robert Zemeckis, Ridley Scott, and Christopher Nolan, are accorded special attention for their memorable contributions to this vital and evolving subgenre of science fiction film.
Tim Burton
Dive into the whimsical, surreal and often macabre world of one of cinema's most unique visionaries. From his early days animating for Disney to earning cult-classic status, Tim Burton's trajectory in film is nothing short of extraordinary. In this book, Olly Richards explores the director's peculiar yet brilliant filmography and pairs each of his best-known works with behind-the-scenes stories and stills. With a repertoire ranging from outright spooky (Sleepy Hollow) to wholesome (Charlie and the Chocolate Factory); from superhero movies (Batman) to likeable anti-heroes (Wednesday and Pee-Wee Herman), it is apparent that Tim Burton is not afraid to get weird and let his imagination fly. Fall down the rabbit hole and celebrate one of history's most iconic directors.
Scriptnotes
The ultimate guide to writing a great screenplay and building a screenwriting career, from the creators of the hit podcast Scriptnotes--featuring contributions from film and TV legends Christopher Nolan, Greta Gerwig, Michael Schur, Rian Johnson, Aline Brosh McKenna, Ashley Nicole Black, Seth Rogen, and many more. With decades of Hollywood experience, John August and Craig Mazin know what it takes to write a successful script for the screen. And over the past twelve years, they've analyzed generation-defining movies and shared their wisdom on their popular podcast Scriptnotes, inviting experts in the craft to discuss everything that makes a script shine. Now, in their first book, August and Mazin draw on more than a thousand hours of Scriptnotes conversations, as well as their own storied careers, to help readers begin, refine, and sell their own scripts. Part writing class, part informational interview with the best creators in the business, this essential book shares tips on: - The Basics--including the rules of screenwriting and when to break them- The Craft--including how to create a compelling story with captivating protagonists, worthy antagonists, and a sound structure- The Business--including how to pitch a script and the do's (and don'ts) of working collaboratively on a project Perfect for screenwriters, film buffs, and anyone who enjoys analysis of iconic movies like Die Hard, this one-of-a-kind resource provides exclusive access to the screenwriting process--and will inspire anyone ready to pen their own successful screenplay.
Algorithm of the Night
"A. S. Hamrah's writing on film is a delight. . . . Like all the best criticism, his writing makes art and life feel less lonely." --Elif Batuman"Unerring" (Bookforum), "hilarious" (Dana Spiotta), "our age's most irreplaceable critic" (Guernica), "a genius" (Kenyon Review), A. S. Hamrah returns with an extraordinary collection of his best film writing for n+1, The Baffler, The New York Review of Books, the Criterion Collection, and other publications. Algorithm of the Night assembles Hamrah's essays on films and filmmakers and his inimitable, aphoristic reviews--a body of work that, taken together, presents a powerful alternative to a culture mired in publicity and stale convention. A journey through the overlapping dystopias of the Trump years, the Covid years, and the Trump years, Algorithm of the Night attends with remarkable style and precision to a film industry in self-imposed crisis, a chronicle of failures and occasional miracles from AI to The Zone of Interest. Against the tides of ignorance and solipsism, Algorithm of the Night is film criticism as literature and--perhaps--prophecy.
The Art of Invincible Season Two
This official behind-the-scenes companion to Prime Video's second season of the hit animated series, INVINCIBLE, featuring a foreword from co-creator Robert Kirkman! The Art of Invincible Season Two features exclusive character, background, and vehicle designs along with key art and more! This volume takes fans behind the scenes and includes interviews with key creatives, including INVINCIBLE creators Robert Kirkman and Cory Walker.
Bong Joon Ho: Director's Inspiration
Through objects from his personal archive, Bong Joon Ho reveals his inspirations and creative processes for his films including Snowpiercer, Parasite and Mickey 17Published with Academy Museum of Motion Pictures. From his earliest short films through his international breakthrough The Host and the Oscar-winning Parasite, the films of Bong Joon Ho defy simple categorization. Whether set in 1980s Korea or an imagined future time and space, they address issues that are transnational and universal: class disparity, social injustice, the environmental crisis and political and moral corruption. Bong embeds social critique into deeply humorous, unexpected and thought-provoking stories, and his protagonists are everyday people--often unlikely heroes--who confront the absurdities of modern life. With unprecedented access to the filmmaker's archive and personal collection, Bong Joon Ho: Director's Inspiration features storyboards, notebooks, concept art, models, props, behind-the-scenes photography and more. The book includes a new interview with Bong by film scholar Nam Lee, essays by exhibition curator Michelle Puetz and film critic Amy Taubin, and personal reflections by friends and colleagues that give insight into the Academy Award-winning director's inspirations and creative process.Bong Joon Ho (born 1969) is an Oscar-winning director and writer whose films include Memories of Murder, The Host, Mother, Snowpiercer, Okja and Mickey 17. His 2019 film Parasite was the first South Korean film to win the Palme D'Or at Cannes and the first non-English film to win the Academy Award for Best Picture.
Popcorn Disabilities
You can learn a lot from the movies-about sex and relationships, about business, about history. Sure, there's a fair amount of fantasy, wish fulfillment, and glorious hair to exaggerate everything, but for better or for worse, films remain one of the most important ways that viewers around the world learn about other people and cultures. And almost since the dawn of the medium, movies have shaped the public's understanding of and assumptions about disability. As a film critic and disabled person, Kristen Lopez speaks with particular authority on how disability is represented-and too often misrepresented-in movies. Popcorn Disabilities is her impassioned but nonetheless fun and engaging survey of how Hollywood has dealt with disability over the last century. As she reveals, even when they're not just narrative props to help out an able-bodied protagonist, disabled movie characters are overwhelmingly white, affluent, and conventionally attractive, obscuring the variety of disabilities and the experiences of those who deal with them. But she also explains where films have gotten it right and how the power of the medium can continue to be used to enlighten and educate in the future. From little-remembered gems like Tod Browning's Freaks-one of the earliest well-intentioned attempts to show disabled characters as complex, three-dimensional human beings-to contemporary films like Coda, My Left Foot, A Different Man, and many others, it challenges popular assumptions about disability while never losing sight of movies' unique power, influence, and potential as a tool for social good.
Staying Gold: The Oral History of the Outsiders
The definitive oral history of the 1967 novel for teens, turned blockbuster film turned Tony-winning musical, and commemorated with a newly opened museum. This groundbreaking story has managed to stay gold for nearly sixty years. *Includes interviews with Rob Lowe, Ralph Macchio, C. Thomas Howell Leif Garrett, David Arquette, Dennis Quaid, and more! When a story resonates with audiences generation after generation, it reaches "classic" status. Francis Ford Coppola saw that potential in S. E. Hinton's novel about two rival groups in 1960s Tulsa and knew it was meant for the silver screen. Now, in this definitive oral history, we're given a rare glimpse into the filmmaking process: How Coppola's team recruited unknown actors destined to become household names. How a film that could have easily been shot in a Hollywood studio was instead produced on location where the original novel was set. How an author who could have stood in the shadows came to be a major influence on the film, the actors, and the director himself. This oral history explores the legacy of The Outsiders, defining its historic impact since first arriving on bookshelves sixty years ago. Over a series of fascinating interviews with actors, casting directors, and others close to the project, it swiftly becomes clear how The Outsiders has managed to--as the adage goes--stay gold.
I Only Believe in Myself
A long-form dialogue--on cinema and survival--with the visionary French filmmaker. The virtuous always engage in a pseudoreligious morality. But there's one thing they never say: the desire for pleasure is thought in motion. It's what makes you transfigure a dull and repetitive sexual act into something that can bring you to ecstasy and an idea of eternity ... --Catherine Breillat to Murielle Joudet Catherine Breillat has always told just one story: her own, the story of a young girl whose existence was forbidden, who was, from childhood, cut in half, split between her mind and her sexuality, marked by the shame of being born female. She became a filmmaker at a time when choosing that vocation meant disobeying the world. During six months between September 2022 and March 2023, the film critic Murielle Joudet interviewed Catherine Breillat for thirty hours, often following up with further discussion over the phone. Joudet and Breillat discuss each of her films in chronological order, moving freely between Breillat's cinematic vision, her life, and the situations, artworks, and thought that have inspired her films. From A Real Young Girl (1975) to Last Summer (2023), Breillat has made films in an attempt to recover what she believes was stolen from her-- the "unfilmable," inexhaustible grey area of the feminine where shame, transgression, sensuality, disgust, and the search for oneself intertwine until they become indistinguishable. Her work proposes a haunting imperative to know oneself ... and for her heroines, this spiritual search plays out as an open war with the opposite sex. A conversation with Catherine Breillat is as much a cinema master class as it is a lesson in survival.
Die Hard
Upon its release, John McTiernan's Die Hard (1988) was met with immense commercial and critical success; breaking the $100 million mark at the box office in its first run, and resulting in four Academy Award nominations. Jon Lewis's study of the action classicclosely examines the film's novel and script adaptation, highlighting the influential role of producer Joel Silver. He delves into Silver's ground-breaking 'whammy theory', which redefined script structure by organizing scripts around timed 'beats' rather than traditional acts or scenes, tracing its impact not only in Die Hard, but also in other iconic franchises like Lethal Weapon, Predator, and The Matrix. Lewis goes on to consider the film's evocation of post-Vietnam male panic and its connection to the Iron John movement. He highlights Die Hard as a prime example of the 'male rampage film' genre, where white male protagonists express frustration with cultural antagonists like feminism, economic regulation, government bureaucracy, and political corruption. Finally, he reflects on how Die Hard resonated with its 1988 audience, looking for new antagonists in a changing world. The film's anticipation of European radical political groups and later terrorism rooted in North Africa and the Middle East foreshadows the era-defining 'war on terror' that would follow.
Animation Techniques
Animation can be used to illustrate, simplify and explain complicated subjects, as well as to transform stories into engaging, fantastical narratives. There are many types of animation, all of which can incorporate different artistic techniques such as sculpture, drawing, painting, printing and textiles. In this practical guide, animation tutor Steve Roberts explores the twelve basic principles of animation, demonstrating the different techniques available and offering helpful exercises for readers to practise in their chosen style. From pencils to pixels, flip books to feature films, and plasticine to puppets, this helpful book covers everything you need to know about how to start animating and will be of great interest for anyone looking to learn how to make their own animated films.
The Hollywood History of Art
How Hollywood has portrayed the lives of artists, from Kirk Douglas' Vincent van Gogh to Salma Hayek's Frida KahloEver since the dawn of the sound era, Hollywood and friends have made a series of elaborate feature films about the lives of the great artists: the cast of colorful characters includes Fredric March as Cellini, Charles Laughton as Rembrandt, George Sanders as Gauguin, Jos矇 Ferrer as Toulouse-Lautrec, Kirk Douglas as Van Gogh, Charlton Heston as Michelangelo, Mel Ferrer as El Greco--and, more recently, Jeffrey Wright as Jean-Michel Basquiat Derek Jacobi as Francis Bacon, Ed Harris as Jackson Pollock, Salma Hayek as Frida Kahlo, and many others.To attain box office success, these films have represented the lives of artists in stories that take audiences on a journey from garret to gallery to glamour to gutter to grave. Although sometimes dismissed by art historians and curators, these films can tell us a great deal about how art and artists have entered the cultural bloodstream of Western culture.Until now, there has never been a full-length book devoted to the fascinating story of artists and Hollywood. Based on many years of archive research and interviews with participants, The Hollywood History of Art will appeal to museum and gallerygoers, film buffs, art fans and of course those with fond memories of Kirk Douglas being attacked by crows, Charlton Heston swallowing a mouthful of paint as he frescoes the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, Ed Harris dripping brushfuls of paint onto a huge canvas, and Salma Hayek being transported at speed in a four-poster bed to a contemporary art gallery in Mexico City.Christopher Frayling (born 1946) is Professor Emeritus of Cultural History at the RCA and a Fellow of Churchill College, Cambridge. His previous books with Reel Art Press include The 2001 File (2015), Frankenstein: The First Two Hundred Years (2017), Once Upon a Time in the West: Shooting a Masterpiece (2019) and Sergio Leone by Himself (2024).
Lauri Gaffin: Moving Still
A witty, insightful tribute to the art of moviemaking and the transformative power of photographyThis book is a personal portrait of filmmaking from American set decorator Lauri Gaffin. With four decades of experience on set, Gaffin intertwines stunning behind-the-scenes photographs and intimate narrative to provide a rare glimpse into the fascinating world of cinema. The book highlights life on set for indie gems Fargo and The Pursuit of Happyness as well as blockbuster hits such as Charlie's Angels, Iron Man and Thor. Through her photographs and engaging anecdotes, Gaffin unveils the collaborative spirit that binds directors, actors, production designers and crew members together. The contrast of her thriving career and complex emotional life are a through line in the book. Gaffin's photography remains a steadfast beacon of inspiration even as she navigates the demands of production--deadlines, budgets and politics--and her family's escalating turmoil.
Cheryl
Number One Sunday Times Best Seller. For the first time Cheryl tells her full story, her way. Revealing the truth behind the headlines, this is the only official autobiography, giving the fans the true story they've been waiting for. Includes exclusive, personal photos. The nation's sweetheart, Cheryl has achieved unrivalled success with Girls Aloud, as a solo artist, a judge on the X Factor, a fashion icon and as the face of L'Oreal. However, the path to fame is rarely easy and for Cheryl it has been a colourful journey. From happy but humble beginnings growing up on a tough Newcastle estate, Cheryl saw firsthand the damage that drugs and alcohol can do. But this feisty Geordie never gave up on her dreams of being on stage. With success came a level of fame no one could prepare for. As Cheryl's career went from strength to strength her personal heartache was played out in the national media. From her divorce to her battles with malaria, Cheryl's every move was captured by paparazzi. There was nowhere for Cheryl to hide. However, a true fighter, Cheryl emerged from every challenge stronger. Now it's Cheryl's turn to set the record straight. In this heartfelt account, she opens up about all of the incredible ups and downs of her life. Told with searing honesty this is Cheryl as you've never seen her before.
Post-Cinema
Post-cinema designates a new way of making films. It is time to ask whether this novelty is complete or relative and to evaluate to what extent it represents a unitary or diversified current. The book proposes to integrate the post-cinema question within the post-art question in order to study the new ways of making filmic images. The issue will be considered at three levels: the impression of post-art on regular films; the relocation (Casetti) of the same films that can be seen using devices of all kinds in conditions more or less removed from the dispositif of the theater; the integration of cinema into contemporary art in all kinds of forms of creation and exhibition, parallel to the integration of contemporary art in regular cinema.
Rewinding the '80s
Take a trip back to your favorite video store with this in-depth journey through the highs and lows of 80s cinema--with profiles of hundreds of films--and how Hollywood studios around the globe reflected a period of cultural change. The movies were flying blind in 1980. "New Hollywood" was over and the era of auteur-driven, personal films that had defined moviemaking since the late '60s came to a symbolic end with Heaven's Gate (1980), replaced by a new world of multiplex blockbusters supported by massive marketing campaigns. But beyond the high-school comedies and hardbody action films came a new wave of cinematic excitement--an era defined by Ferris Bueller's Day Off, Purple Rain, When Harry Met Sally, E.T., and Top Gun, each of which are now classics for a new generation of nostalgic movie lovers. The decade saw works that uniquely captured an era of cultural and technological change, from new indie auteurs to the highs and lows of animation, an emergent LGBTQ+ cinema, the last days of the Cold War, and the explosive impact of MTV. With wit and authority, author John Malahy provides fresh insight about the films, filmmakers, and stars who illuminated each of the exciting new facets of Hollywood throughout the decade. Illustrated with more than 200 full-color photos, Rewinding the '80s is a lively, intelligent, and immersive look at an indelible moment in modern history.
Post-Cinema: The Age of AI
"Billups is Hollywood's baddest pixel-packing cowboy, riding on the fringes of an industry that views him with interest, admiration, and some degree of incomprehension." --WIRED MagazineThe only must-have guide for filmmakers ready to thrive in the Age of AI. POST-CINEMA: THE AGE OF AI isn't just about the future of Hollywood--it's about the future of human expression. AI-generated films, interactive narratives, and virtual actors are only the beginning. As Brain-Computer Interfaces (BCIs), Spatial Media, and Quantum AI take hold, storytelling will evolve beyond the screen, dissolving the boundary between creator and audience, imagination and reality. Scott Billups isn't a theorist--he's been inside the machine. From pioneering virtual actors like Marlon Brando and Marilyn Monroe to building AI-driven filmmaking engines under lock and key at major studios, he's lived the collision of art and artificial intelligence. His Digital Moviemaking series guided Hollywood through its first digital revolution--now, in Post-Cinema, he charts the next one, where AI isn't just a tool but an autonomous force, generating stories, characters, and entire cinematic worlds in real-time. This is still a book about movies--but not the kind you grew up with. The old Hollywood system is being rewritten by algorithms, and the new creative order will be dictated by those who understand the technology shaping it. Whether you're an artist, a technologist, or just trying to grasp the scale of what's coming, Post-Cinema is your front-row seat to the most profound transformation in media history.
Silver Screens
A celebration of the world's most cherished cinemas, from vintage movie houses to quirky start-ups. Grab your popcorn and settle in to the world of Silver Screens, where the magic of cinema lives on. Cinemas are where emotions come alive - where heartstrings are tugged, fears exposed, and joy explodes with every happy ending. Cinemas are a place of communal experience, of first dates and unforgettable reactions. Silver Screens captures that magic, celebrating remarkable movie houses and drive-ins around the world that are still showing films today. Part travel guide, part love letter to cinema, it whisks you across the globe through stunning photography.Step inside art deco masterpieces like Jaipur's Raj Mandir and Melbourne's Sun Theatre; visit icons such as Hollywood's Chinese Theatre and Madrid's Cine Dor矇; and uncover hidden gems in far-flung corners of the world. From the northernmost to the southernmost, from India's largest single screen to Italy's officially smallest, from Britain's oldest to the world's very first - Silver Screens is your ticket to cinema's most extraordinary destinations.
The Star Wars Archives. 1999-2005
From the moment Star Wars burst onto the screen in 1977, audiences have been in equal parts fascinated and appalled by the half-man/half-machine hybrid Darth Vader. In 1999, creator George Lucas began the story of how Anakin Skywalker grew up to train as a Jedi under Obi-Wan Kenobi, found love with the Queen of Naboo, Padm矇 Amidala, before turning to the dark side of his nature and becoming more machine than man. After driving the development of nascent digital technology, George Lucas perceived how he could create new creatures and new worlds on a grander scale than ever before. He created the first digital blockbuster, and met fierce resistance when he pushed for widespread digital cameras, sets, characters, and projection - all of which are now used throughout the industry. He essentially popularized the modern way of making movies. Made with the full cooperation of George Lucas and Lucasfilm, this second volume covers the making of the prequel trilogy -- Episode I The Phantom Menace, Episode II Attack of the Clones, and Episode III Revenge of the Sith -- and features exclusive interviews with Lucas and his collaborators. The book is profusely illustrated with script pages, production documents, concept art, storyboards, on-set photography, stills, and posters.
The Greengrass Papers
Rabble-rouser. Trouble-maker. Speaker of truth to power. Released to coincide with his 13th feature, The Greengrass Papers reveals how Greengrass came to be venerated as a game-changing director. In 2004, Paul Greengrass's adaptation of Robert Ludlum's spy thriller, The Bourne Supremacy, gave the shooting of action films an entirely new cinematic syntax -- urgent, visceral, immersive, immediate -- that everyone rushed to replicate, including the Bond and Mission Impossible franchises. A veteran of Granada TV's groundbreaking current affairs programme, World in Action, Greengrass uses documentary techniques to imbue his thrillers and docudramas with the heat and crackle of chaotic, fast-moving, real-life events. This is the first time he has been involved in a book around his work, and he has given exclusive access to Tom Shone to share the story of the revolution he brought to Hollywood filmmaking, which is showcased here alongside never-before-seen behind-the-scenes photographs. As well as a portrait of a filmmaker, The Greengrass Papers is a deep-dive into espionage, assassination and the political violence that Greengrass has laid bare in his films, bringing these worlds to the screen with more visceral power than any other British director working today.
Rear Window
The definitive, in-depth look inside Alfred Hitchcock's Rear Window--the all-time classic of voyeurism, paranoia, and murder that became one of Hollywood's greatest achievements and turned generations of viewers into "a race of Peeping Toms." A must-read for film buffs, Hitchock fans old and new, and fans of classic movies and Hollywood insider history. Before the internet and social media offered voyeuristic glimpses into the lives of others, the acclaimed Master of Suspense, Alfred Hitchcock, exposed the dangers and delights of looking--and knowing--too much in his 1954 masterpiece Rear Window. Widely hailed as one of the greatest films ever made, it stars James Stewart and Grace Kelly at the top of their game but, in an unusual gamble, is shot entirely from within a Greenwich Village apartment . . . Using this limited point of view, Hitchcock forces his audience to participate in his protagonist's voyeuristic impulses and darkest obsessions--a bold move in the era of the Hollywood Blacklist and restrictive Hays Code. But the gamble paid off, and Rear Window became a timeless classic. This eye-opening book goes straight to the source of Rear Window's genius by mining the original papers of Hitchcock, Jimmy Stewart, and Thelma Ritter, revealing little-known facts behind the scenes: Why taking the role of Lisa Fremont was one of the toughest decisions Grace Kelly ever made; How Hitchcock intertwined suspense and romance with inspiration from Ingrid Bergman; How he used a topless scene to distract the censors from other scenes to which they may have objected; and how Hitchcock crafted the film's unforgettable villain, Lars Thorwald, by modeling him on a producer he loathed--the infamous David O. Selznick. Filled with eye-catching photographs, outrageous anecdotes, and delicious details, this exciting book pulls back the curtain on a classic thriller that's as relevant today as ever--and every bit as thrilling.
John Ford at Work
John Ford at Work: Production Histories 1927-1939 explores the evolution of John Ford's career in the Hollywood studio system of the 1930s as the system itself changed in response to the coming of sound and the business downtown instigated by the Depression. Based upon a decade of research utilizing the studio files of Twentieth Century-Fox, RKO and Samuel Goldwyn, it delineates the director's collaborations with the producers, screen- writers, actors and cinematographers that had the most impact on his production practices. It traces the major literary, cinematic and musical sources from which he drew. It considers relevant changes in film technology and seeks to explain how they were incorporated into his style. Films analyzed include 4 Sons, The Black Watch, Arrowsmith, Air Mail, The Lost Patrol, The Informer, Judge Priest, Steamboat Round the Bend, The Prisoner of Shark Island, Wee Willie Winkie, Stagecoach and Young Mr. Lincoln.
Behind the Pink Curtain
Behind the Pink Curtain takes the reader on a wild joy ride deep into the hinterlands of Japanese culture, society and radical politics by way of the weird and wonderful world of the country's distinctive sex film movements. Jasper Sharp's definitive study focuses on one of the most notorious sectors of Japanese filmmaking, the erotic Pink Film, or pinku eiga genre, and the closely related Roman Porno films produced by Nikkatsu studios from 1971 to 1988. From the early '60s onwards major Japanese film studios and independent producers alike have kept up a conveyor belt level of output of pornographic features intended purely for cinema release. Up until the 2010s, just short of 100 such titles were shot on 35mm every year intended for screening in a specialist network of adult cinemas across the nation. Many such films have been released on home video in the West or screened at international film festivals, while a significant number of Japan's most noted filmmakers today cut their teeth in this industry. Based on extensive interviews with many of the leading figures in the field, Behind the Pink Curtain is a colourful and exhaustive expos矇 of Japan's most vibrant and prolific filmmaking sector. Read about: -- the ins and outs of Japanese censorship from the wartime onwards; -- how topless deep sea diving girls came to woo local audiences in the '50s; -- how a TV nature documentary maker made nude female Tarzan movies; -- how '60s mavericks K繫ji Wakamatsu and Masao Adachi met John and Yoko; -- how one of Nikkatsu's leading directors went it alone to make a film about powerboat racing and ended up in the bad books of the yakuza; -- how the sex farce Horny Home Tutor: Teacher's Love Juice was re-titled The Glamorous Life of Sachiko Hanai and became one of the most talked-about Japanese films ever, playing at more than twenty international film festivals.
Wes Anderson All the Films
This deep dive into the world of Wes Anderson mines the details of the making of every feature-length movie and short film from the beloved director. The films of Wes Anderson are among the most iconic contemporary works of cinema. From Rushmore and The Royal Tenenbaums to The Grand Budapest Hotel and The French Dispatch, his movies are instantly recognizable for their highly stylized visuals, meticulous symmetry, idiosyncratic characters, and offbeat humor. Organized chronologically and covering every short film and movie that Wes has ever directed, Wes Anderson All the Films draws upon years of research to tell the behind-the-scenes stories of how each project was conceived, cast, and produced. The book explores his unique filmmaking style, his use of regular cast members like Owen Wilson and Bill Murray, recurring themes, and the visual and narrative elements that have made him a cult favorite in the world of cinema. Featuring hundreds of vivid photographs that celebrate one of film's most iconic artists, this authoritative guide will delight all Wes Anderson devotees and movie lovers in general.
Have Yourself a Movie Little Christmas
Don't waste a second of your valuable holiday time on another boring Christmas movie. In this merry and informative guide, film critic Alonso Duralde takes us on a tinsel-bedecked tour of the best-and worst-films of the Yuletide season. Whether you're looking for the classics, family favorites, holiday horror, seasonally themed crime epics, or the most wonderfully awful cinematic lumps of coal, Have Yourself a Movie Little Christmas serves up delightful recommendations in prose as brisk as a winter sleighride. From White Christmas to Bad Santa, Eyes Wide Shut to Gremlins, you'll find a marvelously electic selection of holiday fare and a thorough breakdown of the many screen Scrooges, including Alistair Sim, Jim Carrey, and ...Tori Spelling? And get ready to encounter movies you may never have heard of, from the gritty noir Blast of SIlence (filmed in New York City over Christmas 1959 without a single permit), to the loony Santa Claus, a Mexican kiddie movie in which St. Nick teams up with Merlin to fight the devil! Fun facts abound-did you know the actor cast as Uncle Billy in It's a Wonderful Life was also in the running to play mean old Mr. Potter?-making this a stocking stuffed with goodies you'll turn to every Christmas season. This fully revised and updated edition includes all Christmas movies of note to have been released in the fifteen years since the first edition was published, as well as gems omitted from the first edition.
Fast, Cheap & Under Control
Dying to make a feature? Learn from the pros!"We never put out an actual textbook for the Corman School of Filmmaking, but if we did, it would be Fast, Cheap and Under Control." Roger Corman, Producer★★★★★It's like taking a Master Class in moviemaking...all in one book!Jonathan Demme: The value of cameosJohn Sayles: Writing to your resourcesPeter Bogdanovich: Long, continuous takesJohn Cassavetes: Re-ShootsSteven Soderbergh: RehearsalsGeorge Romero: CastingKevin Smith: Skipping film schoolJon Favreau: Creating an emotional connectionRichard Linklater: Poverty breeds creativityDavid Lynch: Kill your darlingsRon Howard: Pre-production planningJohn Carpenter: Going low-techRobert Rodriguez: Sound thinkingAnd more!Learn the tricks and pitfalls of low-budget filmmaking from 33 successful independent films and the filmmakers who created them. Includes never before published interviews with low-budget mavericks such as Steven Soderbergh, Roger Corman, Jon Favreau, Henry Jaglom, and many more.Learn the lessons from such classics as Clerks, Night of the Living Dead, Swingers, Open Water, El Mariachi, Slacker, sex, lies and videotape, The Blair Witch Project, Eraserhead, Monty Python & The Holy Grail, Dark Star, Return of the Secaucus Seven, The Little Shop of Horrors, Caged Heat and Targets.Are you dying to make a movie? This is the one book that can help you make it a reality.Grab it now!★★★★★Praise for the Fast, Cheap and Under Control: "This terrific little book explains how to make every penny count on the often-arduous journey from script to screen." John Carpenter, Director, Halloween, Starman, Escape from New York"A helpful and funny guide for beginners and professionals alike." Jonathan Demme, Director, Silence of the Lambs"This book is as good as film school, and a lot less expensive. It's required reading in Tromaville." Lloyd Kaufman, President, Troma Entertainment, Creator, Toxic Avenger"I wish I'd read this book before I made Re-Animator."Stuart Gordon, director, Re-Animator"This simple and sensible book injects reality into the process and helps any filmmaker prevent their film from becoming a money pit. Lessons like those in this book are cheap at ten times the price."John Badham, director, Saturday Night Fever, Dracula, Blue Thunder"For everyone who wants to make art without breaking the bank, John Gaspard's book is worth every penny."Derek Pell, Editor, DingBat Magazine"A richly-detailed, highly readable and inspiring book jam-packed with information that will keep low-budget filmmakers from making costly mistakes. Filled with a ton-full (not a spoonful) of fascinating, insightful interviews, with a you-can-do-it approach."Dr. Linda Seger, consultant on over 2,000 screenplays, best-selling author of Making a Good Script Great and 7 other books
Hanyo (the Housemaid)
The upwardly mobile Kim family employs a young woman to help manage their new house. Mr. Kim begins an affair with the nameless 'housemaid', who soon drags the entire family into a terrible tragedy... The director Kim Ko-young played a formative part in South Korean cinema's "Golden Age" of the 1960s and 1970s; his 1960 masterpiece, Hanyo (The Housemaid), rescued and restored after almost being lost, is today widely regarded as one of the greatest South Korean films of all time. Directors such as Park Chan-wook, Im Sang-soo, Kim Ki-duk, Ryu Seung-wan and Kim Jee-woon have all praised the film, and Bong Joon-ho has referred to Hanyo as "the Citizen Kane of Korean cinema," citing it as an inspiration for his film, Parasite (2019). In this book, Youngmin Choe argues that Hanyo encapsulates the mood of social change in postwar South Korea during the period of tremendous upheaval and rapid transformation that followed the devastating war, which divided families across the newly formed Cold War boundaries. The housemaid - a figure that Kim Ki-young would explore repeatedly throughout his career - was a young woman driven by greed and envy, a femme-fatale set loose on the middle-class home. A monstrous embodiment of the destructive desires of capitalism, which recklessly eroded the foundations of tradition, this housemaid served as the conscience of a period that otherwise leaned heavily into economic transformation, pointing to the anxiety that undergirded what might be otherwise regarded as a time of 'progress'. Going beyond the traditionalist approaches that resist feminist readings of Hanyo, Youngmin Choe insists that the enduring legacy of Hanyo is both due to its uncanny aesthetics and - though it certainly was not intended to be an explicitly feminist film - in the questions it raises about class mobility, gender oppression and women's work.
Homo Viator in Contemporary European Comedy Movies
Homo Viator in Contemporary European Comedy Movies explores the popular yet critically underexamined theme of travel and vacation in European comedic cinema, while also engaging with urgent topics such as migration, displacement, and the refugee experience across various comic genres. Despite the commercial success of these comedies produced after 1989, scholarly engagement with them has remained limited. Authors Artur Skweres and Adam Domalewski aim to fill this gap by examining how humor becomes a powerful lens through which Europe laughs at, negotiates, and reimagines its borders. Structured in two parts, the book first focuses on the figure of the traveler (homo viator) and their pursuit of meaning, transformation, and comic adventure. The second part turns to comedies centered on migrants and refugees, revealing how comic genres can interrogate and even challenge dominant narratives of exclusion, adaptation, and mobility. Unlike many traditional and contemporary media platforms that often adopt clear political stances and dismiss opposing perspectives, the comedies discussed in this book offer a space where conflicting discourses can coexist--highlighting comedy's unique ability to approach sensitive and contentious issues in a playful yet thought-provoking manner. This study shows that comedy provides a rich framework not only for exploring movement and migration-related themes, but also for addressing broader issues such as family dynamics, spiritual growth, economic struggle, and shifting urban-rural relationships.
Reaching A Verdict
When Thames Television lost its franchise in 1992, The Bill was the only ongoing drama programme to avoid cancellation. For Michael Chapman and his team, their survival came with a new challenge: producing a continuous series to be broadcast three times a week, a first for any police procedural television drama.The third edition of REACHING A VERDICT investigates how the writers, actors and production team rose to the challenge, creating some of the most memorable episodes of all time and pulling in their highest ever ratings.Edward Kellett is back on the beat to explore how The Bill adapted to losing some of its most iconic officers, and examine the key storylines, themes and characters at the heart of 311 episodes packed with action, comedy, drama and tragedy.REACHING A VERDICT: REVIEWING THE BILL (1993-1994) opens with a Foreword by Police Advisor Trevor Hermes and an Afterword by writer Eddy Canfor-Dumas.
Reaching A Verdict
Between 1993-1994, The Bill was regularly beating rival EastEnders in the ratings. But having increased Albert Square's output to three episodes a week, the BBC were now winning the ratings war. Sun Hill needed to fight back.To ensure their survival, Michael Chapman and his team introduced an array of new characters, including CID sleuths Don Beech, John Boulton and Geoff Daly, while fresh-faced probationers Debbie Keane and Nick Slater joined the ranks in uniform.n the fourth edition of REACHING A VERDICT Edward Kellett investigates how hard-hitting storylines, surprise returns and shock exits helped The Bill increase its average audience and earn the crown of Most Popular Drama at the 1996 National Television Awards.REACHING A VERDICT: REVIEWING THE BILL (1995-1996) features a Foreword by Script Editor Rachel Wright and an Afterword by legendary writer Peter J. Hammond."Edward Kellett's Reaching A Verdict series keeps getting better and better" - Patrick Stratford, The Bill Obbocast"Another masterpiece by Edward Kellett! The perfect accompaniment to The Bill" - Sarah Went, The Billaton
South African Horror Cinema
This is the first study to explore South Africa both in horror cinema and as a formidable producer of celluloid scares.From framing the notorious apartheid system as a mental asylum in the ground-breaking and criminally underseen Jannie Totsiens (Jans Rautenbach, 1970) to such seventies exploitation shockers as The Demon (Percival Rubens, 1979) through to the blockbuster hit District 9(Neill Blomkamp, 2009) and beyond, this book suggests that South Africa should finally obtain its rightful place in the canon of wider genre studies and horror cinema fandom. Taking in the 80s nightmares of Darrell Roodt and concluding with an analysis of the recent boom-period in South African fright-films, including discussion of such contemporary efforts as The Tokoloshe(Jerome Pikwane, 2018) and the Troma-esque leanings of Fried Barry (Ryan Kruger, 2020), South African Horror Cinema focuses on ever-changing identities and perspectives, and embraces the frequently carnivalesque and grotesque elements of a most unique lineage in macabre motion pictures.
Fassbinder's Germany
Rainer Werner Fassbinder is one of the most prominent and important authors of post-war European cinema. Thomas Elsaesser is the first to write a thoroughly analytical study of his work. He stresses the importance of a closer understanding of Fassbinder's career through a re-reading of his films as textual entities. Approaching the work from different thematic and analytical perspectives, Elsaesser offers both an overview and a number of detailed readings of crucial films, while also providing a European context for Fassbinder's own coming to terms with fascism.
A Second Life
German cinema is best known for its art cinema and its long line of outstanding individual directors. The double spotlight on these two subject has only deepened the obscurity surrounding the popular cinema. German Cinema performs a kind of archaeology on a period largely overlooked: the first two decades of German cinema. This collection of essays by established authors refocuses the terms of a debate that will develop in the years to come concerning the historical and cultural significance of popular cinema in Wilhelmine Germany.
Cocktails with George and Martha
"Smart and entertaining . . . Gefter shows why Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? hit the '60s like a torpedo." -NPR, Fresh Air "Delicious." -New York Times Book Review The behind-the-scenes story of a provocative play, the groundbreaking film it became, and how two iconic stars changed the image of marriage forever. From its debut in 1962, Edward Albee's Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? was a wild success and a cultural lightning rod. It scandalized critics but magnetized audiences. Across 644 sold-out Broadway performances, the drama demolished the wall between what could and couldn't be said on the American stage and marked a definitive end to the I Love Lucy 1950s. Then, Hollywood took a colossal gamble on Albee's sophisticated play-and won. Costarring Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton, the sensational 1966 film minted first-time director Mike Nichols as industry royalty and won five Oscars. How this scorching play became a movie classic-surviving censorship attempts, its director's inexperience, and its stars' own tumultuous marriage-is one of the most riveting stories in all of cinema. Marfield Prizewinner Philip Gefter tells that deliciously entertaining story in full for the first time, tracing Woolf from its hushed origins in Greenwich Village's bohemian enclave, through its tormented production process, to its explosion onto screens and its permanent place in the canon of American cinema. This deliciously entertaining book explores how two couples-one fictional, one all too real-forced a nation to confront its most deeply held myths about relationships, sex, family, and, against all odds, love.
