The State and New Cinema in Contemporary India
This book examines the relationship between the newly independent Indian state and its New Cinema movement. It looks at state formative practices articulating themselves as cultural policy. It presents an institutional history of the Film Finance Corporation (FFC), later the National Film Development Corporation (NFDC), and their patronage of the New Cinema in India, from the 1960s to the 1990s, bringing into focus an extraordinary but neglected cultural moment in Indian film history and in the history of contemporary India.The chapters not only document the artistic pursuit of cinema, but also the emergence of a larger field where the market, political inclinations of the Indian state, and the more complex determinants of culture intersect -- how the New Cinema movement faced external challenges from the industrial lobby and politicians, as well as experienced deep rifts from within. It also shows how the Emergency, the Janata Party regime, economic liberalization, and the opening of airwaves all left their impact on the New Cinema.The volume will be of great interest to scholars and researchers of film studies, politics and public policy, especially cultural policy, media and culture studies, and South Asian studies.
Men of Action
"A candy box filled with delicious details on some of TV's classic shows and a primer on how the industry works." Linwood Barclay, New York Times bestselling author An in-depth look at The Untouchables, Run for Your Life, The Magician and Harry O - four classic series that helped define the landscape of American television as we know it today. Each entry features a detailed episode guide and behind-the-scenes interviews with the actors, writers, producers, and directors who made these shows enduring, action-adventure classics. "A must-read for everyone who loves classic-television crime and drama series. Thoroughly researched, the lively stories behind these four series are as fascinating as they're informative." David Morrell, New York Times bestselling author of First Blood "Men of Action is fascinating and chock full of exciting details about the creation and production of some of the best remembered crime/adventure series of the '60s and '70s. Once you pick this book up, you won't be able to stop." Phoef Sutton, Emmy & Peabody Award Winning TV writer/producer of Cheers and Boston Legal "Men of Action feeds our appetite for intriguing trivia...a must-have for any classic-TV history fan." The Rap Sheet "Robertson has brought back four classic television series in thrilling detail. I know you Men of Action don't read books, but take it from this Man of Action that you'll want to read this one!" Raymond Benson, New York Times bestselling author of six James Bond continuation novels "Pushes all the buttons for classic television fans who like some substance along with their nostalgia. Best of all, perhaps, is a treasure trove of interviews that Robertson has conducted over the years, with stars and guest stars, writers, directors, and others involved in the production of each series. Fans of these shows will find much to enhance their knowledge, while those just approaching them will find themselves drawn into their compelling stories. It's a fun, easy, entertaining read." It's About TV.com "If you're a fan of any of these classic shows - or are just interested in how TV was made in the 60s and 70s - don't miss this book. It's jam-packed with incredible details and quotes from writers, directors, actors, and more." - Jay Faerber, supervising producer of Supergirl "Stylishly written with noirish tones. Robertson explores how innovative these shows were, gives behind the scenes details and defines the history. Insightful and enjoyable." Crime Time FM Ed Robertson is an award-winning author, journalist, and media analyst. His books include The Fugitive Recaptured, 45 Years of The Rockford Files, The Case of the Alliterative Attorney: A Guide to the Perry Mason TV Series and Made-for-TV Movies (with Bill Sullivan). He also hosts and produces TV Confidential, a syndicated weekly radio talk show and podcast. Follow Ed at EdRobertson.com & televisionconfidential.com
The Taking of New York City
For a time in the 1970s, New York City seemed to many to be genuinely on the cusp of collapse. Plagued by rampant crime, graft, catastrophic finances, and crumbling infrastructure, it served as a symbol for the plight of American cities after the convulsions of the 1960s. This tale of urban blight was reinforced wherever one looked--whether in the news media (memorably captured in the infamous New York Daily News headline "Ford to City: Drop Dead") or the countless movies that evoked the era's uniquely gritty sense of dread.The Taking of New York City is a history of both New York and some of the decade's most definitive films, including The French Connection (1971), the first two Godfather movies (1972 & 1974), Taxi Driver (1976), Serpico (1973), Dog Day Afternoon (1975), and many more. It was also an era in which the city wrestled with the racial tensions still threatening the tear the nation apart, never more so than in "Blaxploitation" classics such as Shaft (1971) and Super Fly (1972). These films depicted the city that never sleeps as a grim, violent place overridden with muggers, pimps, and killers. Projected at drive-ins and inside their local movie houses, rural America saw New York as a nightmare: a vile dystopia where the innocent couldn't rely on the local law enforcement, who were seemingly all on the take. If one took Hollywood's word for it, the only way a person was able to find justice in 1970s New York City was by grabbing a gun and meting it out themselves.Author Andrew Rausch meticulously separates fact and fiction in this illuminating book. Attentive to the ways that New York's problems were exaggerated or misrepresented, it also gives an unvarnished look at just how bad things could get in the "Rotten Apple"--and how movies told that story to the country and the world.
Spanish Horror Film and Television in the 21st Century
This book provides an up-to-date, in-depth survey of 21st-century Spanish horror film and media, exploring both aesthetics and industrial dynamics. It offers detailed analysis of contemporary films and TV series as well as novel approaches to key works within the history of Spanish cinema.While addressing the specificities of the Spanish landscape, this volume also situates the national cinematic output within the international arena, understanding film production and reception as continuously changing processes in which a variety of economic, social and cultural factors intervene. The book first analyzes the main horror trends emerging in the early 2000s, then approaches genre hybridization and the rise of new filmmakers since the 2010s with a special focus on gender issues and the reconfiguration of the past, before addressing the impact of streaming services within the Spanish film panorama, from a production and distribution standpoint.This book will be of keen interest to scholars and students in the areas of film studies, media studies, TV studies, horror, Spanish cultural studies and production studies.
Never Sleep Again The Elm Street Legacy
In 1984, a new vision of horror was unleashed upon terrified moviegoers-a razor-gloved bogeyman who slashed his way through the children of those who had murdered him years before. In doing so, this cinematic monster would not just invade the dreams of his victims but give those watching a brand-new nightmare to fear forever.His name was Freddy Krueger, and the man who created him was master of horror Wes Craven.Since its release decades ago, A Nightmare on Elm Street has become synonymous with archetypical genre cinema. Now, go deeper than anyone ever has inside the making of this groundbreaking classic. Exclusive cast and crew interviews with those who survived the blood, sweat, and tears will take you through incredible behind-the-scenes triumphs, struggles, and controversies as they worked to bring Craven's vision to life.No one would have imagined that the in-the-shadows, rancorous killer would become a global pop-culture phenomenon and the star of a franchise that would scare up nearly half a billion dollars at the box office. Firmly rooted in the mainstream, it has become clear that Freddy Krueger may never rest in peace.Including rare and never-before-seen material, this extensively researched, comprehensive look back is the definitive account of the film that began what many have called the best, most frightening, and imaginative horror franchise in motion picture history.And remember: if you think you know everything about Wes Craven's 1984 horror classic... you must be dreaming!
Trends in Iranian Cinema
The cinema of Iran is celebrated both locally and internationally, yet elements of this diverse field remain comparatively understudied. This book brings together a diverse range of scholars to explore contemporary Iranian cinema in its local and international contexts from a range of perspectives including aesthetic, socio-political comparative approaches. Its chapters analyse the work of well-known filmmakers on the international film circuit such as Abbas Kiarostami, Mohammad Reza Aslani and Jaffar Panahi, as well as internationally lesser-known domestic films such as those of Kamal Tabrizi and the 'Sacred Defence' films of the Iran-Iraq war. The book further widens its scope with chapters which also examine the material practices of the Iranian film industry itself, including chapters on the process by which Iranian films become 'accessible' to international audience. Finally, it considers, too, representations of Iranians in foreign cinemas, and how these have in turn affected Iranian films.
The Housing Film
The Housing Film examines how a century of realities and possibilities in domestic living have been profiled and foregrounded through studies and representations of Housing in the medium of Film. The filmic investigations, analysis and expos矇s of homes and our way of occupying them, and their possible effect on behaviour, in documentaries like Housing Problems (1935) and Paul Sng's Dispossession: The Great Council Housing Swindle (2017), propaganda films like Cumbernauld: Town for Tomorrow (1970), dramas like Cathy Come Home (1966) and features like High Rise (2017), to understand how closely the tow - film and housing - have grown and developed together, each conditioning the understanding and the range of possibilities of the other. This study will examine how these histories are in fact intertwined, will analyse and assess the mutual effects of Housing and Film and propose and define a specific category of 'The Housing Film.'
The Public Relations Professional through the lens of cinema
The aim of this study is to see how media representations that portray professional Identity and Alterity are constructed, specifically in the area of Public Relations, through the processes of meaning production linked to film production. As we know, the media plays a fundamental role in shaping opinions and worldviews, making important contributions to the way professionals are represented, identified and socially located, which can have positive or negative consequences for this professional field. Thus, there is a need to unveil these visions of the public relations professional, allowing us to see how they are perceived in society and what identity strategies they have adopted to assert themselves as an activity and profession.
The Contemporary American Survival Film
The Contemporary American Survival Film investigates and breaks down the contemporary American Survival Film (from Cast Away onwards), focusing on film, television, literature and video games. In the contemporary (and highly popular) American survival film, a lone figure is lost, trapped or stuck. Whether a desert island, cramped canyon, floating raft or the Alaskan tundra, the space cuts the characters off from their loved ones, communication technologies, transport or a means of escape. The sun burns flesh, the dry air dehydrates, the lack of food starves, the snow chills bodies and the sharp rocks pierce limbs. This book examines this survival space across film, television, video games, literature and online, asking four questions. Firstly, what does the post 2000s survival space look and behave like, how is it new or distinct? Secondly, the natural environment seems to hold all the power. How responsible is the setting for triggering narrative events, does the character have any agency at all? Thirdly, the environment damages the human body. How does this corporeal destruction interact with the notion of a specifically American fleshiness of the American survivor? Finally, could/would one ever willingly choose to enter the survival space and why? How is this survival space employing, rejecting and reworking past rubrics?
Organized Crime on Page and Screen
Thanks to writers like Mario Puzo, filmmakers like Francis Ford Coppola and Martin Scorsese, and actors like Al Pacino and James Gandolfini, American and Sicilian Mafia characters are well-known figures in contemporary popular culture. Other powerful organized crime groups appearing in popular media include the Neapolitan Camorra and Mexican drug cartels. This book takes a close look at all these examples of organized crime by examining the different ways these organizations and their members have been portrayed in many of our most popular novels, movies, and TV series, and how the gangster figure has evolved from its earliest depictions in a trio of Hollywood films in the 1930s up to the present day.
Democrazy in Spain: Cinema and New Forms of Social Life (1968-2008)
An Open Access edition of this book is available on the Liverpool University Press website and the OAPEN library as part of the Opening the Future project with COPIM.The 2008 financial crisis prompted the most significant social protests since 1968 in the Middle East, Europe, and the United States. These protests generated not only social reform but also collaborative and affective affiliations, often seen through artistic and cultural materials. Taking Spain as a focal point, this book examines film production at both points in time, showing how it emerges from simultaneously divergent and comparable economic and political milieux. The book aims to recognize and celebrate the political responsibility exercised and expressed by a new generation of Spaniards deeply immersed in those protests. Through the convergences of two markedly significant periods in two separate centuries, filmmakers expose the deficiencies of Spain's democracy in 2008--the D MOCRAZY in the title, a slogan seen on a banner carried by the protesters--while creating a new sensibility and forms of social life that bring back the notions of community and the common good that had been forgotten in the midst of such a brittle environment.
A Chinese Ghost Story
A CHINESE GHOST STORYTONY CHING SIU-TUNG. TSUI HARKA Critical StudyBy Jeremy Mark RobinsonThis is a study of the Chinese Ghost Story film series produced by Tsui Hark and helmed by Tony Ching Siu-tung. The Chinese Ghost Story movies are: A Chinese Ghost Story (1987) A Chinese Ghost Story 2 (1990) A Chinese Ghost Story 3 (1991) A Chinese Ghost Story: The Tsui Hark Animation (1997) A Chinese Ghost Story was remade in 2011 (and dedicated to Leslie Cheung). A Chinese Ghost Story (1987, Mandarin: Qiannu Youhun = Sien: Female Ghost, a.k.a. Fair Maiden, Tender Spirit), was one of those movies where everything works, and the mix of elements is just gorgeous. This is a golden, 100% killer of a movie.A Chinese Ghost Story has everything going for it: it is among the finest fantasy and action movies ever; it boasts a finale as grand as any in cinema; it tackles the most profound themes; it possesses a perfectly achieved tone and attitude; it features two incandescent stars (Leslie Cheung and Joey Wong); it is helmed and produced by two of the greatest action directors in history; and it is brilliant filmmaking. Tony Ching Siu-tung (b. 1953) started out as an actor and stuntman, working in movies in the late 1960s and 1970s; he moved into television as martial arts co-ordinator in the late 1970s and thru the 1980s (on several historical TV series); he moved up to directing movies with 1983's Duel To the Death. Tony Ching Siu-tung's two signature works are probably A Chinese Ghost Story and The Swordsman 2. Critically, those two films (and their movie series, the Chinese Ghost Story series and the Swordsman series), have garnered the highest criticial accolades (and they were big hits financially), and The Swordsman 2 has been the subject of numerous analyses of gender-bending issues in cinema. The sight of Brigitte Lin in drag and later fooling around with Jet Li as a 'woman' seems to drive film critics goo-goo. Tony Ching Siu-tung has won top awards for the action choreography for The Witch From Nepal, Shaolin Soccer, New Dragon Gate Inn, Hero and The Swordsman. Fully illustrated, with images from the Chinese Ghost Story films and the films of Tony Ching. With filmography, bibliography and notes. 176 pages. www.crmoon.com
Once Upon a Time In China
ONCE UPON A TIME IN CHINATSUI HARKA Critical StudyBy Jeremy Mark RobinsonThis is a study of the Once Upon a Time In China film series produced and directed by Tsui Hark and starring Jet Li and Vincent Zhao. The Once Upon a Time In China series in movies comprises six features of 1991, 1992, 1993 (films), 1994 and 1997 (four of which were helmed by Tsui Hark - the first three and the fifth one, all were co-produced by Tsui), a TV series, plus other additions - and a host of cash-in movies and parodies. The first Once Upon a Time In China installment was one of those movies where every element comes together beautifully - the legendary character and story of Wong Fei-hung, a superstar-in-the-making, Jet Li, a terrific supporting cast (including Yuen Biao, Jacky Cheung, Kent Cheng and Rosamund Kwan), ouststanding technical aspects from all departments (including historical research), grand political themes, astonishing action choreography (from Yuen Shun-yi, Yuen Cheung-yan and Lau Kar-wing), and of course white-hot direction from Tsui Hark. Once Upon a Time In China was Tsui Hark's most-awarded movie, with wins for best director, best action choreography, best editing, and best music at the Hong Kong Film Awards (and it was nominated for best photography, best film and best supporting actor, Jacky Cheung). Director Tsui Hark is the dragon master of Chinese cinema (Stephen Teo calls Tsui a 'lion dancer among film directors'). Yes - a master, a lion dancer, a sifu, a wizard, a dragon master. Tsui Hark is a one-man film industry - as a glance as his list of credits will show, along with setting up his own film company in 1983, Film Workshop. Tsui Hark directs movies like a force of nature. The energy coming off the screen is stupendous. He is a fearless filmmaker, willing to try anything to get a good shot. That feeling of fearlessness, and wildness, coupled with imagination and technical brilliance makes Tsui an incredibly formidable filmmaker. There are very few filmmakers on the scene today with those qualities in such abundance. When you come back to a Tsui Hark picture after looking at other movies for a while, you realize that this guy is so passionate about cinema, so willing to try anything, to experiment, to push the boundaries of what cinema can do, of what cinema can be. Fully illustrated, with images from the Once Upon a Time In China films and the films of Tsui Hark. With filmography, bibliography and notes. 208 pages. www.crmoon.com
The Swordsman
THE SWORDSMANTONY CHING SIU-TUNG. TSUI HARKA Critical StudyBy Jeremy Mark RobinsonThis is a study of the Swordsman film series produced by Tsui Hark and helmed by Tony Ching Siu-tung. The Swordsman is a gorgeous mix of elements: comedy, romance, spectacle, music, characterization, history/ mythology, Chinese culture - and of course action and martial arts. The Swordsman is also a truly inspired vision of the jiangzhu, the martial arts world, which Tony Ching and Tsui Hark explored many times; and, of course, Tsui had dived into the jiangzhu in his very first feature film as director, The Butterfly Murders, while Tony Ching had lived in the cinematic jiangzhu since the 1960s (working on his father's films at Shaws). The casting of The Swordsman is marvellous, and each of the principals embodies their characters as well as popping out of them - there is always a feeling in Chinese, historical action movies of this kind that it's all a pantomime, that it's pure entertainment, and should be taken as just that - a wild show. Actors aren't allowed to wink at the camera (rightly), but the movie does. The cast play it straight - but also with plenty of Peking Operatic over-acting. They don't need to nod at the audience, because the situations are so outlandish. The Swordsman movies were adapted from The Smiling, Proud Wanderer by Jin Yong (Louis Cha, 1924-2018), which have been used for five or so TV series (and a Shaw Brothers movie of 1978). So the Swordsman films are by no means the only interpretations of the novels of Jin Yong, one of the best-known authors of wuxia stories. In fact, a TV series is a probably more fitting form for adaptation, because Jin Yong's stories contain a huge cast of characters and numerous events. Those depicted in the Swordsman movies are but one small segment (and a loose adaptation at that). Tony Ching Siu-tung (b. 1953) started out as an actor and stuntman, working in movies in the late 1960s and 1970s; he moved into television as martial arts co-ordinator in the late 1970s and thru the 1980s (on several historical TV series); he moved up to directing movies with 1983's Duel To the Death. Tony Ching Siu-tung's two signature works are probably A Chinese Ghost Story and The Swordsman 2. Critically, those two films (and their movie series, the Chinese Ghost Story series and the Swordsman series), have garnered the highest criticial accolades (and they were big hits financially), and The Swordsman 2 has been the subject of numerous analyses of gender-bending issues in cinema. The sight of Brigitte Lin in drag and later fooling around with Jet Li as a 'woman' seems to drive film critics goo-goo. Tony Ching Siu-tung has won top awards for the action choreography for The Witch From Nepal, Shaolin Soccer, New Dragon Gate Inn, Hero and The Swordsman. Fully illustrated, with images from the Swordsman films and the films of Tony Ching. With filmography, bibliography and notes. 168 pages. www.crmoon.com
Stop Screwing Around and WIN Your Next Screenplay Contest! - The Step-by-Step Guide to Winning Hollywood's Biggest Screenwriting Competitions
All you need to know about writing a screenplay that will WIN a reputable script contest. 10 short no-nonsense chapters show exactly how to write a screenplay that wins major competitions and attracts serious attention from Hollywood studios and producers. Read this book today...and tomorrow you can be writing a script that WINS contests.
Stop Screwing Around and Write a Screenplay that SELLS
All you need to know about writing a screenplay that sells. 12 short chapters reveal the secrets to writing a screenplay that stands above the competition and has the greatest chance of selling. Read this book and keep it by your side as you write your next screenplay. You'll avoid the pitfalls and problems that mark you as an amateur.
Autobiographical Reenactment in French and Belgian Film
We live in 'reenactive times'. Recent decades have witnessed a marked proliferation of various forms of reenactment across numerous cultural contexts and domains to the point that it is today seemingly impossible to enter museums, heritage sites, art galleries or even to turn on the television without encountering at least some elements of this veritable boom. In such a way, reenactment has become a ubiquitous cultural means of representing, commemorating and investigating the past, called upon for a variety of reasons, by a variety of practitioners and with a variety of effects. By bringing the autobiographical work of four experimental filmmakers from France and Belgium - Chantal Akerman (1950-2015), Vincent Dieutre (1960-), Boris Lehman (1944-), Agn癡s Varda (1928-2019) - into dialogue, Autobiographical Reenactment in French and Belgian Film: Repetition, Memory, Self considers them in relation to this broad cultural shift and explores the various forms of 'autobiographical reenactment' that their films contain. In the work of these four filmmakers, autobiographical reenactment offers a radical and varied technique of self-investigation and self-representation that sustains often challenging engagements with identity, subjectivity, memory, knowledge, time, feeling, loss, truth, reality and history, whilst leading us to continually rethink our understanding of what autobiography can be and can do.Tom Cuthbertson is a Leverhulme Early Career Research Fellow in the School of Modern Languages at Newcastle University.
New Hollywood and Countercultural Whiteness
In the late 1960s, the white counterculture enters the screens with Bonnie and Clyde and Easy Rider; in 1976, a backlash seems to have taken place with white male protagonists such as Travis Bickle, Howard Beale, and Rocky Balboa being surrounded by non-white and female others. But these films cannot be neatly identified as left-wing or right-wing, liberal or conservative; in their politics of affect, they rather express important affinities. This study proposes the New Hollywood as an entry point into a cultural history of the postwar era sensitive to the intersections of affect, race, and gender. Following a narrative that spreads from the immediate postwar years to the 1970s, the study examines how New Hollywood films were part of a discursive and affective reconfiguration of white masculinity: the emergence of a subject position of countercultural whiteness and its affective style of expressivity. Examining affective affinities between films of the era complicates the narrative of polarization that shapes commentary on the history of American politics, emphasizing instead the shared racialized and gendered politics of the white counterculture and those reactionary forces that allegedly lashed back against it.
Starlost Unauthorized
THE GIANT EARTHSIP ARK, DRIFTING THROUGH DEEP SPACE OVER EIGHT HUNDRED YEARS INTO THE FAR FUTURE, ITS PASSENGERS DESCENDANTS OF THE LAST SURVIVORS OF THE DEAD PLANET EARTH, LOCKED IN SEPARATE WORLDS HEADING FOR DESTRUCTION... The Starlost (1973). The most controversial Sci Fi Television series ever made. It began with high hopes, created by Harlan Ellison with participation by such luminaries as Ben Bova and Ursula K. LeGuin, featuring special effects by 2001: A Space Odyssey's Doug Trumbull, starring 2001's Keir Dullea. Somehow it all went wrong, Harlan Ellison denounced his creation, and the series became legendary as "the worst ever!' But was it really? Produced in Canada, constrained physically and financially, the show began to reflect Canadian issues and sensibilities, at a time when Canada and Canadians were going through a national identity crisis, forming a nation, building a culture and confronting challenges from regionalism within, to the overwhelming presence of the United States without. What was Canada? What did it and its people stand for, and where were they going? The Starlost became a mirror of national concerns and preoccupations as the stars confronted alien and interlopers, industrialization, pollution, militarism, ethics and morality and ultimately humanity's place in the world. This extensively researched work, written with dry humor and deep insight, draws on interviews and correspondence with stars Robin Ward and Gay Rowan, series writer Norman Klenman, and features a comprehensive episode guide with detailed reviews encompassing behind the scenes information and thematic analysis, as well as a full section on the production process and making of the show. STARLOST UNAUTHORIZED is the most comprehensive and detailed work ever produced on this unique and controversial television series.
Inspector Morse
This is a reference book on the TV series Inspector Morse, comprised of 33 feature-length episodes between 1987 and 2000, starring John Thaw. The book contains all episodes in date order, complete cast lists, numerous photos, directorial credits, and a story synopsis for each entry.The series was based on novels by Colin Dexter. Aside from Thaw, regulars in the cast included Kevin Whately as Sergeant Lewis, and James Grout as Chief Superintendent Strange, Morse's superior. The 33 episodes were approximately 100 minutes long, with 20 minutes reserved for commercials. It was made by Zenith Productions for C.I.T., and initially shown on ITV.
Bong Joon Ho
Successful cult films like The Host and Snowpiercer proved to be harbingers for Bong Joon Ho's enormous breakthrough success with Parasite. Joseph Jonghyun Jeon provides a consideration of the director's entire career and the themes, ambitions, techniques, and preoccupations that infuse his works. As Jeon shows, Bong's sense of spatial and temporal dislocations creates a hall of mirrors that challenges us to answer the parallel questions Where are we? and When are we?. Jeon also traces Bong's oeuvre from its early focus on Korea's US-fueled modernization to examining the entanglements of globalization in Mother and his subsequent films. A complete filmography and in-depth interview with the director round out the book. Insightful and engaging, Bong Joon Ho offers an up-to-date analysis of the genre-bending international director.
Box Office Poison
***A NEXT BIG IDEA CLUB MUST-READ BOOK OF NOVEMBER 2024***"A wild success." -- Publishers Weekly"A surefire hit." --Library Journal STARRED review"A brilliant star turn." --Andrew O'HaganA riotous and revealing story of Hollywood's most spectacular flops and how they ended careers, bankrupted studios and changed film history."Failure fascinates, for all the reasons that success is a drag..."From grand follies to misunderstood masterpieces, disastrous sequels to catastrophic literary adaptations, Box Office Poison tells a hugely entertaining alternative history of Hollywood, through a century of its most notable flops. What can these films tell us about the Hollywood system, the public's appetite-or lack of it-and the circumstances that saw such flops actually made? Away from the canon, this is the definitive take on these ill-fated, but essential celluloid failures.Robey covers a vast century of flops, including: Intolerance; Queen Kelly; Freaks; Sylvia Scarlett; The Magnificent Ambersons; Land of the Pharoahs; Doctor Dolittle; Sorcerer; Dune; The Adventures of Baron Munchausen; Nothing But Trouble; The Hudsucker Proxy; Cutthroat Island; Speed 2: Cruise Control; Babe: Pig in the City; Supernova; Rollerball; The Adventures of Pluto Nash; Gigli; Alexander; Catwoman; A Sound of Thunder; Speed Racer; Synecdoche, New York; Pan; and Cats.From Daily Telegraph film critic Tim Robey, this is a brilliantly fun exploration of human nature and stupidity in some of the greatest film flops throughout history.
Horror Films as an Allegory for Social Horrors
Since horror became a narrative genre, it has become impossible to dissociate it from real life. Every vampire, werewolf or monster hides an everyday fear. No wonder horror becomes more relevant and present in the arts in times of great social tension. In The Horror Films as Allegory for Social Horrors, the most striking productions of the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s are dissected, thus creating a panorama of the real fears experienced in those periods.
Green Filmmaking
Beyond the principles of reduce, reuse, recycle, this book looks at how every department on a production can minimize its environmental impact.Is your filmmaking contributing to the environmental crisis, or is it part of the solution? How can film students make movies in a more ecologically friendly way so that our planet can continue to be inhabited by humans who watch their films? This book suggests step-by-step ways that each person and department on a film's production can make simple changes to reduce their project's environmental footprint, from including climate content to offering vegetarian craft service options.It is an essential guide for film students, graduates, and professionals engaged in the practice of making movies.
Isabelle Huppert, Modernist Performance
Isabelle Huppert's modernist performance style illustrated through detailed readings of key films, demonstrating her immense social impact. Isabelle Huppert's oeuvre constitutes perhaps the most significant feminist body of work to have emerged in the wake of the second wave of the women's movement, a period of intense social change. The emphasis on autonomy, or the "anti-victim," which comes to define Huppert's persona, is supported by a modernist style of performance. Huppert's refusal to surrender herself to the viewer through a character one fully knows disrupts the expectations of identification, inviting a distinctive approach to her characters. By creating a character informed by who she is, Huppert signals a process usually kept invisible. Huppert's performances invite an active form of critical reading, directing one to fill in gaps and consider the character in relation to the social world. The directors she works with welcome her collaboration; Huppert's performance, in conjunction with the mise-en-sc癡ne, generic conventions, and the film in its totality, creates the "meaning" of the film. Thus, Isabelle Huppert, Modernist Performance demonstrates its premise through close readings considering how performance must be read in tandem with the whole.
Stop Screwing Around and Format Your Screenplay Like a Pro
This book delivers the point-by-point essentials behind successful screenplay formatting and shows you how to demonstrate the professional expertise that will get your scripts noticed. All you need to know about formatting your screenplay to align with professional standards in a quick-reading and to-the-point page turner. This little book gets to the bottom line with an irreverent no-nonsense approach to putting your formatting on a level with Hollywood's working professional screenwriters. Making movies is a complex matter that is so difficult that very few people do it. And it all starts with writing a properly formatted script. This is the only step-by-step guide that quickly gives you all the tools you need to format your screenplay like a pro.
Smartphone Cinema
This book guides you through the process of using your phone to create different kinds of video and audio for TV, theaters, YouTube, TikTok, and podcasts.Drawing from the author's experience teaching classes on mobile filmmaking, this resource helps you tell stories better whilst going over the techniques necessary to control the phone professionally, also covering the accessories and software that can help you shape your narrative. Within the chapters you will first learn how to tell a compelling story, before delving into the proper methods for shooting video on your phone effectively and recording high quality audio. The book then explains the best techniques for editing and mixing these components together, always with the smartphone format in mind. Chapters also include the expert knowledge of a wide array of media makers that utilize this medium, from filmmakers to influencers, who give insight into the specific tools they use and how they approach the mobile phone as the hub of their creativity.This book will be a guide to first time makers, students of many disciplines (including student filmmakers), and professional filmmakers who want to leverage what the phone can bring to a shoot.
Stop Screwing Around and Format Your Screenplay Like a Pro
All you need to know about formatting your screenplay to align with professional standards in a quick-reading and to-the-point page turner. This book delivers the point-by-point essentials behind successful screenplay formatting and shows you how to demonstrate the professional expertise that will get your scripts noticed.
The Tropoholic's Guide to Hook Romance Tropes
NYT and USAT bestselling author and screenwriter, Cindy Dees, brings her formidable skills as a master storyteller and master writing teacher to this encyclopedic series analyzing the major tropes used in modern commercial fiction. In this volume, Cindy explores 32 iconic hook romance tropes, stories that explore ways your hero and heroine meet and come together as a couple and how that initial meeting establishes a set of problems that must be overcome before the hero and heroine can achieve their happily ever after..Written by a working writer for working writers, this is a comprehensive reference guide and brainstorming tool to help you quickly generate ideas, create characters and plot, revise and edit, brand and market your story. You'll write faster, cleaner, and deliver your audience a story they'll recognize and love.If you're writing a novel, script, play, comic, graphic novel, video game script, or any other story format, this book is for you. If you're writing a love story specifically, or you're writing any genre of fiction in which you'd like to include a romantic relationship, this book is for you.Each trope entry includes: a detailed definition and analysisdescriptions of all obligatory scenes necessary to structure this trope correctlylists of additional key scenes important to this tropean extensive list of questions to think about when writing this tropean extensive list of traps to avoid when writing this tropereasons why audiences love this tropea list of similar tropesa list of examples of each trope in action taken from television, film, and novels...writers in every genre of fiction are going to want these guides in their go-to reference books......a tour de force how-to on creating stories audiences adore......the books every writer has been waiting for-a comprehensive walk-through by an industry pro of everything to think about when building a story of pretty much any kind...
Nora Ephron at the Movies
The first illustrated monograph on writer, journalist, and director Nora Ephron, the visionary behind When Harry Met Sally, Sleepless in Seattle, and You've Got Mail. "A visual celebration of the writer-director's distinctive approach to world-building." (Vanity Fair) Nora Ephron at the Movies offers an unfiltered look at Ephron as a champion of the rom-com and as a feminist Hollywood trailblazer. It explores her life and work by pairing detailed criticism with exclusive interviews with Ephron's key collaborators, including Andie MacDowell and Jenn Kaytin Robinson, to add color and nuance to her life and legacy. With her singular voice, Nora Ephron flourished as a dominant force in the entertainment industry, focusing on the idiosyncrasies of romance that were universally relatable. The women in her stories paralleled reality--the veil was lifted, the glossy sheen removed. Her protagonists share an unwavering sense of humor about life's mishaps, and they never take themselves too seriously--like Julie trying to master the art of cooking lobsters in Julie & Julia, Sally's theatrical fake orgasm in Katz's deli in When Harry Met Sally, or Rachel perfecting a key lime pie only to throw it in her cheating husband's face in Heartburn. Through her keenly self-aware humor and semi-autobiographical stories, Ephron left behind a groundbreaking legacy as a beloved journalist, essayist, screenwriter, author, producer, director, and feminist who delivered stories of resilience embedded in sharp wit and upper-crust landscapes. Through that lens, she became emblematic of rom-coms, shifting and redefining conversations around the complexities of relationships and the women who have them.
Merchant-Ivory
Merchant-Ivory: Interviews gathers together, for the first time, interviews made over a span of fifty years with director James Ivory (b. 1928), producer Ismail Merchant (1936-2005), and screenwriter Ruth Prawer Jhabvala (1927-2013). Beginning with their earliest work in India, and ending with James Ivory's last film, The City of Your Final Destination (2009), the book traces their career, while offering valuable insights into their creative filmmaking process. The volume serves as a corrective to the prevailing critical orthodoxy attached to Merchant-Ivory's work, which tends to regard them as being solely concerned with historically accurate costumes and settings. As independent filmmakers, they have developed an idiosyncratic approach that resists facile classification. Merchant-Ivory have insisted on maintaining their independence. More importantly, this book shows how Merchant-Ivory have always taken considerable care in casting their films, as well as treating actors with respect. This is a deliberate policy, designed to bring out one of the triumvirate's principal thematic concerns, running throughout their work--the impact of the "clash of cultures" on individuals. Partly this has been inspired by their collective experiences of living and working in different cultures. They do not offer any answers to this issue; rather they believe that their task is simply to raise awareness; to make filmgoers conscious of the importance of cultural sensitivities that assume paramount significance in any exchange, whether verbal or nonverbal.
Blazing Saddles Meets Young Frankenstein
An in-depth look at the 1974 releases of Mel Brooks's Blazing Saddles and Young Frankenstein that will leave cinephiles enthralled.1974 was a busy year for Mel Brooks. Although still recovering after a series of failed projects threatened his career, he pulled off a one-two punch that saw the release of two of the most beloved American comedies ever made: Blazing Saddles and Young Frankenstein. Although both films are well-known, the stories beyond the making of each movie are less so. How did they come to be, and how did the era's culture and politics not only permit them to be made, but help them to become enduring comedy classics?With their riotous parodies of Westerns and classic horror movies, Blazing Saddles and Young Frankenstein were not only hilarious. They played with charged social and cultural themes in an inimitable way, raising the bar for modern comedies even as they reshaped the two genres they were sending up. Blazing Saddles Meets Young Frankenstein: The 50th Anniversary of the Year of Mel Brooks explores in depth the zeitgeist and cinematic alchemy that led to 1974 becoming "the year of Mel Brooks."
Alfred Hitchcock All the Films
Organized chronologically and covering every short film, television episode, and classic film that the "Master of Suspense" directed over the course of his illustrious, 60-year career, Alfred Hitchcock All the Films draws upon years of research to tell the behind the scenes stories of how each project was conceived, cast, and produced, down to the creation of the costumes, the search for perfect locations, and of course, the direction of some of cinema's most memorable scenes. Spanning more than six decades, and including stories of work with longtime collaborators like costume designer Edith Head, title designer Saul Bass, and composer Bernard Herrmann, this book details the creative processes that resulted in numerous classic films like Vertigo, The Birds, Psycho, Rear Window, North By Northwest, andTo Catch a Thief (to name a few). The director's classic TV series are also covered extensively along with original release dates, lesser-known short films, box office totals, surreptitious casting details, and other insider scoops that will keep fans and students alike turning pages. Featuring hundreds of vivid photographs that celebrate one of cinema's most iconic artists, Alfred Hitchcock All the Films is a visual feast that's perfect for the movie fan in your life.
Young Soviet Film Makers
Based on theatrical research of unusual depth and enterprise, Theatre as a Weapon (1986) shows how the workers' theatre of the 1920s and 1930s transformed the social function of theatre. Drawing largely on unpublished sources, it provides lively case studies of workers' theatre in the USSR, Germany and the United Kingdom. They range from the Russian mass spectacles in front of the Winter Palace, through the thousands of factory and courtyard performances in Germany, to the May Day activities of the Workers' Theatre Movement all over Britain. The authors worked for many years in political theatre in Britain, Austria and Germany, and they draw on their wide experience to focus on both major theoretical controversies and their practical ramifications. They show how workers' theatre became an instrument, a weapon, for political change, helping to raise the consciousness of thousands of workers and encouraging them to take action. They describe how worker-actors, musicians, writers and directors formed small, flexible troupes which contributed locally to the day-to-day struggles of their class, while at the same time participating in national and international political campaigns. Developments in dramatic structure are analysed, from the simple review form to the more complex scene-and-song montage. Placing the work of Meyerhold, Eisenstein, Piscator, Brecht and Eisler in this context, the authors demonstrate how the montage principle became the significant factor in the political theatre of this period. The book is illustrated with rare photographs which reflect the atmosphere of those mass movements. Unique in its coverage, Theatre as a Weapon is above all an analysis of how the mirror of realistic theatre was transformed into a dynamic weapon for social change. It fills an important gap in the history of working-class culture.
Refocus: The Films of Wes Craven
This edited collection provides an insightful look at the career and output of American horror director Wes Craven, whose most famous films - such as The Last House on the Left (1972), A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984) and Scream (1996) - came to define the form in the later decades of the 20th century. Also paying attention to Craven's more underrated work, from Deadly Friend (1986) through to his melodrama Music of the Heart (1999), this academic study argues that the filmmaker's influence can still be felt on cinema today, many years after his passing. Featuring 16 chapters and an extensive introduction, this addition to the ReFocus line will prove to be essential reading for scary movie connoisseurs and brings a valuable contribution to the growing field of horror film studies.
Danish and German Silent Cinema
The book examines how Danish and German film interacted with one another from 1910 through World War I till the advent of sound around 1930. The film businesses of the two countries were closely connected, and many film professionals crossed back and forth across national borders. The studies in this book include production and distribution history, censorship, celebrity studies, and aesthetic analysis. They contribute to European film and cultural history through extensive empirical investigation of films, persons and companies. The underlying perspective is that of entangled film history, an approach that stresses cross-border interchanges and mutual influences. Written by an international team of scholars, the book marks the conclusion of a four-year collective research project running alongside the stumfilm.dk initiative to digitise the entire Danish silent film heritage.
Refocus: The Films of Alejandro Jodorowsky
Known as the father of the "midnight cult movie" and co-founder of the avant-garde Panic movement in France, Alejandro Jodorowsky Prullansky defies all basic categorization. He is known as a provocateur, a performance artist, a visionary filmmaker, a controversial playwright, a philosopher, and a tarot reader, among other disparate classifications. These varied dimensions of artist and filmmaker converge seamlessly into his practice. He is recognized by audiences as a creator of controversial and mesmerizing films characterized by visual delirium, the injection of radical politics and mystical philosophy, and a post-surrealist aesthetics. ReFocus: The Films of Alejandro Jodorowsky pursues an interdisciplinary approach to analyze and contextualize Jodorowsky's films according to a variety of conceptual modalities: from occult and mystical orientations, to the political and decolonial aspects of his major films. This collection examines the formative metaphysical elaborations involved in Jodorowsky's earliest films, his pioneering of a truly unique independent film practice in Mexico, and his emergence and development as a visionary international filmmaker.
3... 2...1... We're on the Air
Imagine what it's like to make hundreds of decisions in just two hours on "live" network television with your work seen by millions of people. That's what a sports television producer does each time they sit in "the big chair." In 3...2...1... We're on the Air, Emmy Award Winning Producer Robert Steinfeld takes readers inside the world of sports television through his career producing some of the biggest sporting events, such as the Summer Olympics, the NBA and WNBA, the MLB, and the FIFA World Cup. Along the way he crossed paths with athletic stars like Cal Ripken, Alex Rodriguez, Nolan Ryan, Nancy Lieberman, Tim Duncan, David Robinson, Bill Walton and announcers Bob Costas, Jim Nantz, and Robin Roberts. Join Robert Steinfeld on his path from eager, ambitious teenage journalist to ultimately realizing his dream producing major sporting events. So, "3...2...1...We're On the Air!"
Toy Story
When it exploded in 1995 with Toy Story, the Pixar studio had no idea of the consequences and influence its work would have on the whole of animated cinema. This work covers the first century of animated cinema and the characteristics that have become part of Pixar's storytelling. Its successes, as well as its mistakes over almost 20 years of film production. All this, starting with a short film about toys...
London as Screen Gateway
London as Screen Gateway explores how London features within screen narratives and as a location of screen industry activity. Reflecting the diversity of roles the city plays both on screen and within the screen industries, the volume explores the intersection between London as a material place and its position within a cultural imaginary.Conceptualising London as an archival city, as a collection of specific places and spaces, and as a part of national and international cultural and economic flows, contributors from film studies, television studies and media studies approach London through the lenses of textual analysis, historical work, industry studies and user experience. Chapters explore how London has appeared on screen across film and television, how screen content frames notions of place and belonging within the diasporic communities across the city, how the city has become a hub for the UK and global screen industries and how it intersects with national and local media policy.This interdisciplinary volume will be of interest to scholars and students of film studies, television studies, media industry studies, games studies, cultural and media studies.
New Scotland Yard
This is a reference book on the TV series New Scotland Yard, which aired from 1972-74, consisting of 46 episodes in four series. The book includes all episodes in date order, numerous photographs, complete cast listings, directorial credits, and a story synopsis for each episode. New Scotland Yard was a police drama series produced by London Weekend Television (LWT) for the ITV network between 1972 and 1974. It features the activities of two officers from the C.I.D. in the Metropolitan Police Force headquarters at New Scotland Yard, as they dealt with the assorted criminals of the day. John Woodvine and John Carlisle starred.
Shadows in a Phantom Eye, Volume 14 (1944-1946)
Since the late 19th century, film has been the ultimate medium by which to express and illuminate the darker, wilder recesses of man's imagination. An alchemical convergence of magic lantern experiments and new photographic technology led to the production of the very first moving images, including visual captures of magic, mystery, violence, cruelty, crime, sex, nudity, devilry and death.SHADOWS IN A PHANTOM EYE Volume 14 reveals a flickering carnival of attractions and aberrations from the years 1944-1946, a period when film noir emerged from the shadows and the golden age of horror movies entered its terminal stages, supplanted by the real-life newsreel images of destruction, atrocity and terror emerging from the ruins of war-torn Europe. This volume references approximately 900 films from all countries and reproduces over 200 rare photographic images, posters and illustrations, many newly unearthed from international film archives and never before published.SHADOWS IN A PHANTOM EYE is the ultimate multi-volume guide for those wishing to explore an alternative global history of the moving image in its inaugural decades - a history that reveals a wild, often disturbing and provocative world which includes Hollywood but also stretches far, far beyond.
Shadows in a Phantom Eye, Volume 15 (1947-1949)
Since the late 19th century, film has been the ultimate medium by which to express and illuminate the darker, wilder recesses of man's imagination. An alchemical convergence of magic lantern experiments and new photographic technology led to the production of the very first moving images, including visual captures of magic, mystery, violence, cruelty, crime, sex, nudity, devilry and death.SHADOWS IN A PHANTOM EYE Volume 15 reveals a flickering carnival of attractions and aberrations from the years 1947-1949, a time when the global film industry, and the world in general, were rebuilding after the devastation of World War 2, with movie producers gearing up for a new age of glorious Technicolor and other innovations to compete with rise of television as mass entertainment. This volume references approximately 550 films, and features around 100 photographic illustrations from film productions and also from relevant documentary sources. It also contains as a quick reference tool a 100-page appendix which includes the film title index from each of the preceding fourteen volumes.SHADOWS IN A PHANTOM EYE is the ultimate multi-volume guide for those wishing to explore an alternative global history of the moving image in its inaugural decades - a history that reveals a wild, often disturbing and provocative world which includes Hollywood but also stretches far, far beyond.
A Seriously Groovy Movie Christmas
The 1960s and 70s formed the wilderness years of the Christmas movie. Sandwiched between the genre's post-war golden age and its commercial revival in the 1980s, these decades have come to be regarded as the Bermuda Triangle of festive cinema - where many features have become lost in the mists of Christmas past and have subsequently been forgotten by later generations.Far from a creative backwater, however, this period would bear witness to some of the most fascinating, unconventional and experimental Christmas movies ever to reach the big screen, with features such as "The Apartment", "The Lion in Winter" and "Black Christmas" all subverting expectations of the holiday season to produce compelling narratives and memorable themes through wildly different artistic approaches.From the author of "The Golden Age of Christmas Movies", "A Righteously Awesome Eighties Christmas" and "A Totally Bodacious Nineties Christmas", this book considers the festive cinema of the sixties and seventies in detail, taking a look at the movies that came to define this unpredictable period in recent history while also reflecting on those features that broke the mould in entirely different ways - including "Santa and the Ice Cream Bunny", "The Magic Christmas Tree" and (perhaps most infamously of all) "Santa Claus Conquers the Martians". When these tempestuous decades carried the torch for Christmas films, the features on offer may rarely have been traditional, but even today they remain captivating, intriguing and very difficult to ignore for those who are willing to revisit them.
