Metropolis to M
From the futuristic skyscrapers of Metropolis to the haunting shadows of M, Fritz Lang remains one of the most innovative filmmakers of the 20th century. In Metropolis to M: Fritz Lang's Cinematic Legacy, renowned film historian Hans Flemming takes readers on a captivating journey through the life and work of a visionary director who continually redefined the boundaries of cinema. This book delves into Lang's rise in the vibrant Berlin of the Weimar Republic, where masterpieces like Metropolis and Dr. Mabuse shaped the German Expressionist movement. It traces his path to the United States, where he revolutionized Hollywood with Film Noir classics such as The Big Heat. Through in-depth analyses and vivid storytelling, Flemming explores Lang's groundbreaking technical innovations, iconic visual style, and the profound themes that define his films: power, morality, and the fragility of human existence. Combining historical insight with little-known anecdotes, this book pays tribute to the "Architect of Shadows" and offers a fresh perspective on his enduring influence on cinematic art. Step into the world of Fritz Lang and uncover the genius of a man who changed the course of film history forever.
Metropolis to M
From the futuristic skyscrapers of Metropolis to the haunting shadows of M, Fritz Lang remains one of the most innovative filmmakers of the 20th century. In Metropolis to M: Fritz Lang's Cinematic Legacy, renowned film historian Hans Flemming takes readers on a captivating journey through the life and work of a visionary director who continually redefined the boundaries of cinema. This book delves into Lang's rise in the vibrant Berlin of the Weimar Republic, where masterpieces like Metropolis and Dr. Mabuse shaped the German Expressionist movement. It traces his path to the United States, where he revolutionized Hollywood with Film Noir classics such as The Big Heat. Through in-depth analyses and vivid storytelling, Flemming explores Lang's groundbreaking technical innovations, iconic visual style, and the profound themes that define his films: power, morality, and the fragility of human existence. Combining historical insight with little-known anecdotes, this book pays tribute to the "Architect of Shadows" and offers a fresh perspective on his enduring influence on cinematic art. Step into the world of Fritz Lang and uncover the genius of a man who changed the course of film history forever.
Italian Contemporary Screen Performers
Bringing together performance studies, celebrity studies, and media production studies, this open access book offers a comprehensive understanding of the multi-layered condition of film and television performers within the contemporary Italian screen media landscape. By focusing on a selection of stars who reached success from 2000 onwards, the collection highlights how the renewal of the Italian media industry in the late 1990s impacted different aspects of Italian screen performers' professional lives, from training to promotion and validation strategies.
The cinema of Austria and Switzerland
Austria and Switzerland have the common image of countries devoid of drama, whose problems have essentially been solved. In Cinema of Austria and Switzerland, 1969: 2015, Ricardo Luiz de Souza analyses a series of films made in the two countries during this period, looking at key filmmakers such as Alain Tanner, Gotz Spielmann, Ulrich Seidl and Michael Haneke, as well as other lesser-known names and films. And, without pretending to compose an exhaustive panel of both cinematographies, some trends and characteristics are defined by analysing these films.
Ida Lupino, Forgotten Auteur
An archival study of Ida Lupino's work in film and television directing, writing, producing, and acting from the 1940s to the 1970s. Though her acting career is well known, Ida Lupino was, until very recently, either unknown or overlooked as an influential director. One of the few female directors in Classical Hollywood, Lupino was the only woman with membership in the Directors Guild of America between 1948 and 1971. Her films were about women without power in society and engaged with highly controversial topics despite Hollywood's strict production code. Working in a male-dominated field, Lupino was forced to manage her public persona carefully, resisting attempts by the press to paint her solely as a dutiful wife and mother--a continual feminization--just so that she could continue directing. Filmmaker Alexandra Seros retells the story of Ida Lupino's career, from actor to director, first in film, then in television, using archival materials from collections housed around the world. The result provides rich insights into three of Lupino's independently directed films and a number of episodes from her vast television oeuvre. Seros contextualizes this analysis with discussions of gendered labor in the film industry, the rise of consumerism in the United States after World War II, and the expectations put on women in their family lives during the postwar era. Seros's portrait of Lupino ultimately paints her life and career as an exemplar of collaborative auteurship.
Kiss Your Television
An new anthology of telly tales and broadcast bimbling from semi-professional "TV rememberist" Ben Baker, author of "Christmas Was Better In The 80s" and "The Dreams We Had As Children: Children's ITV and Me". A celebration of the past and a desperate search for something in the present with retrospectives on the lost art of teatime television, Jasper Carrott and the excitement live TV, the failed attempts to create "the new Simpsons", my love for Cannon and Ball, the short lived phenomenon of 'exclusive' VHS episodes, when good telly shows become bad video games and, inevitably, ALF. Plus current TV Heaven and Hell, a perfect Christmas, Ghostwatch, the original Big Brother and more. "Ben Baker hasn't just been watching what you were watching on your telly - he was watching what was piled up next to it. Finding the interesting corners in the less interesting corners of television, armed only with a TV Times to save him from accidentally seeing Spatz (and the cover's even fallen off that), this is a riotous look at your favourite - and least favourite - shows from when you watched television because you thought you HAD to... and what you were thinking about while you were only half watching it. No, not like that. We hope." Tim Worthington, author of "The Golden Age of Children's TV"
Merry Christmas! Shitter Was Full!
HIP-HIP-HOORAY FOR CHRISTMAS VACATIONOn December 1, 1989 the world was introduced to the third and most successful sequel in the Vacation franchise as Clark Griswold's dream of having a fun old-fashioned family Christmas descends into a hilarious nightmare of dark comedy misadventure.Released on the 35th Anniversary of the film's premier, this book is a celebration of the movie along with trivia and behind-the-scenes details related to Christmas Vacation, which originated from a John Hughes short story called "Christmas '59" originally published in the December 1980 issue of National Lampoon magazine.If National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation is an annual must-watch film for you each holiday season, or if it's a movie you enjoy quoting from "the whole year through" then you'll love this collection of fascinating details about it and the people involved in making it.
Canadian cinema
Canada is often seen as that huge, unproblematic territory to the north of the United States, where life is peaceful, people have no major worries, it's very cold and where American guilt and contradictions have no impact. But it is also often seen as a nation without an identity; something like a successful appendage of the United States, but devoid of its own values and, in the end, with nothing interesting to say or show to the rest of the world. A rich and empty region, not very significant. This is the stereotype, and Canadian cinema suffers from it. It has always been seen as an uninteresting continuation of North American cinema; a branch of Hollywood located further north and, in its more standardised trajectory, Canadian cinema corresponds to this profile. In Canadian Cinema: 1963-2015, Ricardo Luiz de Souza studies the cinema made in this country, going beyond this stereotype and analysing some of the most important films by classic filmmakers such as David Cronenberg and Claude Jutra, and new ones such as Xavier Dolan.
Screens and Illusionism
Screens and Illusionism explores the effects of illusionism as foundational to contemporary acts of perception and aesthetics. Our point of departure is the acknowledgement that our sensory perception is fundamentally subject to mediation, through a class of objects, techniques, and technologies. We emphasize mediation to consider the loss of optical certainty, and explore illusionism within the register of the uncanny. The volume is divided into three sections: Screens as Perceptual Vehicles (Part I), Mediation and its Avatars (Part II), and Alternative Teleologies of Media (Part III). Overall, the collection resonates with contemporary discussions of screen culture, media materiality and intermediality. It explores an array of pre- and post-cinematic devices and spectacular entertainments, forging links between "old" and "new" media, and across media formats.
Refocus: The Films of Abel Ferrara
Over his four-decade long career, Abel Ferrara has built himself a reputation as one of the most audacious and unconventional filmmakers in contemporary cinema. After his beginnings in the exploitation circuit of the late 1970s he become one of the central figures in the indie wave of the 1980s and 90s and is now an established arthouse director whose versatile oeuvre crosses the boundaries of cult, independent and Hollywood cinema. ReFocus: The Films of Abel Ferrara offers a comprehensive critical survey of the director's work. The volume brings together a broad range of methodological, theoretical, historical and philosophical perspectives on Ferrara's work, and case studies include Ms 45, The Driller Killer, Bad Lieutenant, Pasolini and Welcome to New York.
Fever
The music! The dancing! The clothes! The hair! (Watch the hair!) Celebrating almost 50 years of the iconic Saturday Night Fever, this first-ever complete history includes exclusive interviews, rare photographs, behind-the-scenes stories, and brand-new insights into the cult-hit phenomenon that's been stayin' alive for generations . . . Whether you're a brother or whether you're a mother, it's impossible to resist the throbbing disco beats--and lasting cultural impact--of Saturday Night Fever. Released in December 1977, the low-budget "disco movie" was the surprise gift that kept on giving. It made millions at the box office, earned an Oscar nomination for TV-actor-turned-movie-star John Travolta, catapulted the Bee Gees' music career into the stratosphere with a record-breaking, Grammy-winning soundtrack album, and ignited a "disco inferno" that burns to this day. From Travolta's iconic white polyster suit and legendary dance moves to the flashing lights and illuminated floor of the 2001 Odyssey disco in Brooklyn, Saturday Night Fever captured the era like no other film--and launched a phenomenon that changed the world forever. Here, for the first time, is the complete history of Saturday Night Fever. From the New York magazine article that inspired the film--"Tribal Rites of the New Saturday Night" by Nik Cohn--to the on-and-off-set dramas of Travolta, director John Badham, and producer Robert Stigwood, this deep dive into the making of a movie classic also includes special interviews with actors Donna Pescow and Joseph Cali, among others. It explores the huge impact of the film on the industry--including the "Death to Disco" backlash--as well as on American culture itself. With modern-day insights into its 1970s-era portrayals of gender, sex, and race, this is a richly detailed, delightfully entertaining celebration as glittering and multifaceted as a mirrored disco ball. It's a must-have for every movie and music lover who's ever caught the Fever . . .
Hawk
This is a reference book on the 1966 television series Hawk. The book includes the 17 episodes in date order, complete cast listings, directorial credits, numerous photographs, and a story synopsis for each episodes. Burt Reynolds starred as police lieutenant John Hawk, a full-blooded Iriquois Indian working the streets of New York City as a special detective for the D.A.'s office.
One with the Force
Explores how popular religions and philosophies have influenced and are manifested in the world of Star Wars.You have watched Luke Skywalker destroy the Death Star in A New Hope, seen Yoda merge with the Force in Return of the Jedi, and heard Rey contact the Jedi of the past in The Rise of Skywalker. But did you know that the Star Wars films contain parallels to religions and philosophies from around the world--from Christianity to Buddhism, and from Native American teachings to the Vedic knowledge of ancient India? In One with the Force: 18 Universal Truths in Star Wars, Krista Noble explores these parallels. She discusses the Force, collective consciousness, enlightenment, and immortality, revealing that the Star Wars films have a universal perspective on life. Readers will learn about the connections between these films and the Vedic tradition, Buddhism, Taoism, Sikhism, Judaism, Christianity, Islam, and Native American/First Nations beliefs. They will see that the philosophy of the Jedi doesn't only apply "in a galaxy far, far away"; it is also highly relevant to everyday living. Like Luke Skywalker, we should all search our feelings to discover the deepest truths of life, pursue our individual destinies, and strive to reach our full potential as human beings. In these ways, we can embody the wisdom of the Jedi.
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 for 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. Follow these simple guidelines and you'll write a screenplay that can be your ticket into the world of highly-paid Hollywood professionals.
I Could Have Been a Contender (On Five Films)
This book proposes an in-depth inquiry of five films (Bread and Chocolate, A Pain in the Ass, Queen of Hearts, The Mediterranean Forever, and Raging Bull), which deal with the Italian reality outside of Italy. The segment-by-segment examination of these works discloses parameters that can be used to define a deterritorialized culture which I name the Italic culture. This sort of synchronous and chronological seg-mentation of a film can assist scholars and students to better understand what constitutes the cinematographic narrative of ethnic films or, if the reader prefers, films on ethnicity, though one does not necessarily mean the other
Portuguese Studies 40.2 (2024)
The second issue of Portuguese Studies for 2024, issue 2 of volume 40. Portuguese Studies is a peer-reviewed biannual multi-disciplinary journal devoted to research on the cultures, literatures, history and societies of the Lusophone world. This issue is a special issue, titled 'Filmed Representations of Former Portuguese Asia and The Indian Ocean', guest edited by Maria do Carmo Pi癟arra.
Spanish cinema
Spanish cinema tends to be summarised by very specific names and seems to be limited to them. The first name that usually springs to mind is that of Luis Bunuel, but it's important to remember that Viridiana is the only film directed by the master in his homeland Today, somewhat forgotten, we have the name of Carlos Saura, author of some great films in the 1960s and 1970s, before going into decline. And Pedro Almod籀var is obviously the name in the spotlight today, although his films no longer have the impact that characterised him in his heyday. But beyond these more obvious names, and as usual, other filmmakers should be remembered and great films have been made. A filmmaker like Victor Erice, for example, marked his presence in the history of cinema with a masterpiece like The Spirit of the Beehive. In Spanish Cinema: 1959-2014, Ricardo Luiz de Souza analyses films produced in Spain, with the aim of defining and studying some of the strands present in Spanish cinema, starting with the films of Bunuel, Saura and Almod籀var, but also seeking to situate less renowned filmmakers and films that are fundamental parts of the cinematic landscape.
Looking in the first person
The subjective camera encompasses the point of view in its multiple narrative, enunciative and audiovisual implications. With its growing presence as an expressive and narrative resource in contemporary audiovisual, the first person shot expands the meaning and dimension of the classic subjective camera, relating technique and technology in the aesthetics of the subjective point of view, relating film narrative and spectator.
Mirror
MIRRORANDREI TARKOVSKYPOCKET MOVIE GUIDEBy Jeremy Mark RobinsonA new study of Russian filmmaker Andrei Tarkovsky (1932-1986) and the 1975 film Mirror. Tarkovsky directed seven feature films, including Mirror, Andrei Roublyov, Solaris and The Sacrifice. Mirror (a.k.a. Zerkalo or The Bright, Bright Day) is Andrei Tarkovsky's beloved project. It remained his favourite film, and closest to his concept of cinema. Mirror is loosely autobiographical, and combines many elements, ranging from poetry read in voiceover by the director's father, to dream sequences, flashbacks, newsreel and memory devices. The movie is a poetic exploration of childhood. Film as personal psychogeography, self-reflexive, even indulgent. This study of Mirror explore aspects of Andrei Tarkovsky's output, including scripts, budget, production, shooting, editing, camera, sound, music, acting, themes, symbols, motifs, and spirituality. Mirror is analyzed in dept. The second half of the book comprises an exploration of the movie scene-by-scene (sometimes shot-by-shot). Andrei Tarkovsky is one of the most fascinating of filmmakers. He is supremely romantic, an old-fashioned, traditional artist - at home in the company Leonardo da Vinci, Pieter Brueghel, Aleksandr Pushkin, Fyodor Dostoievsky and Byzantine icon painters. Tarkovsky is a magician, no question, but argues for demystification (even while films celebrate mystery). His films are full of magical events, dreams, memory sequences, multiple viewpoints, multiple time zones and bizarre occurrences. As genre films, Andrei Tarkovsky's movies are some of the most accomplished in cinema. As science fiction films, Stalker and Solaris have no superiors, and very few peers. Tarkovsky happily and methodically rewrote the rules of the sci-fi genre: Stalker and Solaris are definitely not routine genre outings. They don't have the monsters, the aliens, the visual effects, the battles, the laser guns, the stunts and action set-pieces of regular science fiction movies. Contains illustrations, of Andrei Tarkovsky's films, Tarkovsky at work, his favourite painters, and many images from Mirror. Bibliography, filmographies and notes. Illustrated. 172pp. www.crmoon.com
Cinema, Games and Advertising
Just like cinema, games are an audiovisual product, but with the differential of interactivity with players. As a new media, electronic games have shown themselves to have great communicational potential, and the evolution of technology has led to the need to create a promotional strategy for games. Thus, taking as a reference the audiovisual strategies for advertising films according to Vanoye and Goliot-L矇t矇 (1994), this book seeks to analyse the changes that have occurred in the strategy and audiovisual aesthetics of the trailers for the Call of Duty game franchise, from the animations to the current live-action trailers.
Jack the Ripper on Film & TV
This is a reference book dealing with selected motion picture and television productions having to do with the character known as Jack the Ripper, who terrorized the East End of London in the Autumn of 1888. The book includes all productions in date order, with directorial credits, running times, complete cast listings, numerous photographs (including film posters), and a story synopsis for each entry.
Falling in Love at the Movies
Prepare to swoon, ugly cry, laugh, and fall in love with this officially licensed exploration of the impact and legacy of one of film's most beloved genres from Turner Classic Movies: the rom-com. Romantic comedies have had an incredible influence on popular culture, shaping everything from how we think of relationships to fashion. Often swept aside in film history, these movies are thought of as pure comfort viewing. Although they certainly provide those fuzzy feelings, they have also had a significant artistic influence and cultural impact. Spanning decades of romantic comedies--from movies of the 1930s such as It Happened One Night and the rom com craze of the 80s and 90s including When Harry Met Sally...all the way to contemporary hits like Crazy Rich Asians, and everything in between--Falling in Love at the Movies will make you fall in love (all over again) with romantic comedies. Esther Zuckerman--accomplished entertainment journalist and member of the New York Film Critic's Circle--takes readers on a journey through the rom-com. She examines the psychological aspects that make us so drawn to these types of films, diving deep into the key auteurs--from Preston Sturges to James L. Brooks to Nora Ephron and beyond--who both created and subverted the canon. These directors, actors, and writers shaped the genre, establishing and also busting traditional pillars and tenets of these movies such as the "Perfect Pair" or "The Man in Crisis" and "The High Maintenance Woman." Featuring full-color images from the films throughout, along the way Zuckerman takes detours, explores iconic lines of dialogue (Who could forget Julia Roberts' "I'm also just a girl, standing in front of a boy, asking him to love her" iconic moment from Notting Hill?) to memorable scenes (the magical moments at the Empire State Building in An Affair to Remember and Sleepless in Seattle) and weaves in interviews of artists and romantic comedy fanatics in the industry. Looking beyond the traditional rom-com, Zuckerman digs into the nooks and crannies, the films that buck the trend of "happily ever after," the ones that think beyond heteronormative narratives, and the indies that kept the rom-com alive outside of the studio system, to offer a more comprehensive story of the rom-com than has ever been seen before--and one that you're bound to love. How's that for a happy ending?
Global Movie Magazine Networks
A free ebook version of this title is available through Luminos, University of California Press's Open Access publishing program. Visit www.luminosoa.org to learn more. This groundbreaking collection of essays from leading film historians features original research on movie magazines published in China, France, Germany, India, Iran, Latin America, South Korea, the U.S., and beyond. Vital resources for the study of film history and culture, movie magazines are frequently cited as sources, but rarely centered as objects of study. Global Movie Magazine Networks does precisely that, revealing the hybridity, heterogeneity, and connectivity of movie magazines and the important role they play in the intercontinental exchange of information and ideas about cinema. Uniquely, the contributors in this book have developed their critical analysis alongside the collaborative work of building digital resources, facilitating the digitization of more than a dozen of these historic magazines on an open-access basis.
A History of Italian Cinema
This book provides a complete description of the development of Italian film and cinema from its beginnings in 1895 until today. Special emphasis is placed on those periods in which Italian film history became aesthetically decisive for world cinematography: silent film of the 1910s, neorealism after World War II, and auteur and genre cinema around 1960. And then on the multifaceted development up to the present day, which still guarantees films from Italy a significant place in international cinema. The chapters are introduced with compact descriptions of Italy's political and social history and the institutional formation of film and cinema. This is the basis for the extensive examination of genres and films. The film analyses also include a look at the reception by the audiences.
Postcolonial Bollywood and Muslim Identity
The book joins a growing scholarship in the field of Bollywood film studies, encompassing methodological sub-groups such as discursive or narrative studies, textual analysis, audience research, and the political economy of Bollywood. It particularly focuses on the representation of Muslims in postcolonial Bollywood cinema that draws upon earlier questions and concerns about narrative style and the politics of representing Muslims. It also includes issues concerning Muslim film genres and the chronological shift in the portrayal of Muslims that is contingent upon national politics. In Bollywood cinema, Muslims have traditionally been portrayed through the lens of religion. Narratives associated with that specific religious identity have been adapted, based on the socio-political setting of the country at the time of the film's making. The study, thus, adds to scholarship on 'representation' in popular Hindi cinema.
Where Is Abbas Kiarostami?
When Abbas Kiarostami suddenly passed away in July 2016, he was already an iconic figure in world cinema--and his reputation as a master filmmaker has only grown since. In this book, celebrated scholar Hamid Dabashi offers a new way of looking at Kiarostami's artworld, one that questions the very idea of film philosophy. Dabashi's authoritative account of the philosophical resonances of Kiarostami's oeuvre offers an iconoclastic critique of the field's Eurocentrism and, in vivid prose, makes the case for a new method of appreciating the work of this essential figure. The result is a provocative perspective on the totality of Kiarostami's legacy that, with deep roots in Iranian aesthetic and Persian poetic and philosophical traditions, overcomes film's provincial preoccupation with its Western heritage and charts a new path forward for film-philosophy.
Appleseed
APPLESEEDMASAMUNE SHIROWTHE MANGA AND THE ANIMEby Jeremy Mark RobinsonColor EditionThis is a study of the Appleseed manga by Masamune Shirow (real name Masanori Ota, born in 1961, Kobe, Japan), and the adaptations of Appleseed in animation. Shirow is a Japanese artist best known for the comics Ghost In the Shell, Appleseed and Dominion: Tank Police. This is a colour edition, with over 180 illustrations, most in colour.Masamune Shirow is one of the great creators in the world of Japanese manga and anim矇 - his works have been the basis of several important franchises, with Ghost In the Shell the best-known. Shirow's art is marked by futuristic, cyber-punk settings, fabulous, often eccentric designs, elaborate mecha (such as tanks and mobile suits), attractive warrior women and detailed storytelling (accompanied by his famous, sometimes arcane notes). The impact of the work of Masamune Shirow has been immense in anim矇 and manga: Ghost In the Shell alone led to not one but two classic movies, two outstanding TV series (plus a third, the Arise series), and spin-off movies. Add to that the live-action Ghost of 2017, and more Ghosties on the way. Then there's the Appleseed digital animations and Appleseed cel animation, plus Black Magic, Real Drive, Ghost Hound (Unseen World) and Dominion: Tank Police. It all adds up to a remarkable presence in TV and movies. In cinema, Masamune Shirow's influence is easy to spot in the Star Wars prequels, in the Matrix movies, in Avatar, in Minority Report, in the Avengers series, and in many a superhero flick. Illustrated in colour with over 180 images from Ghost In the Shell, and Masamune Shirow's output. Hardcover - full colour laminate cover.Bibliography, resources and notes. 296 pages.www.crmoon.com
Disney the Art of Moana 2
This stunning volume of the Disney Art of series is an exclusive look behind the scenes of Walt Disney Animation Studio's original feature film, Moana 2. Journey from Motunui across the vast Ocean with Moana and her crew in this installment of the beloved Art of Disney series that tells the story behind the art and making of Moana 2. Here is a stunning art book that highlights the beautiful development art and paintings from the film's creation--including character designs, storyboards, color scripts, and much more--and features exclusive interviews from the creative team along with behind-the-scenes details. Copyright (c) 2024 Disney Enterprises, Inc. All rights reserved EXCLUSIVE BEHIND-THE-SCENES DETAILS: Fans will want to delve into and explore this new Walt Disney Animation film through production art, stories, and making-of details exclusive to this book. ENDLESSLY GIFTABLE: The next in the fan-favorite, collectible series of Art of titles, this Disney art book is the perfect gift for Disney fans, animation students, film buffs, and more. PART OF THE FAN-FAVORITE ART BOOK SERIES: The collectible Art of series from Disney is perfect for animation enthusiasts, filmmakers, students, and fans of Disney. Add this installment to the shelf with other books like The Art of Wish, The Art of Encanto, and The Art of Frozen. Perfect for: Animation fans Disney and Walt Disney Animation fans Students, educators, and aspiring animators and filmmakers Disney+ subscribers Fans of Moana and the Disney princesses
The Fantasy Worlds of Irwin Allen
The ultimate guide to the productions of Irwin Allen, legendary creator of Lost in Space, Land of the Giants, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, and The Time Tunnel. Take a visual journey through the mind and career of the Master of Disaster, producer of The Poseidon Adventure and The Towering Inferno, illustrated with over 2,000 exclusive images. This lavish coffee table hardback book is the first and only book of its kind to take a visual journey through the mind and career of legendary producer Irwin Allen, the "Master of Disaster"--the man behind some of the most popular television programs of the 1960s and the visionary who invented the special effects movie blockbuster format with his 1970s hits The Poseidon Adventure and The Towering Inferno. It traces Allen from his early days as a Hollywood agent and radio personality to his lengthy stint at 20th Century Fox, where he produced movies such as The Lost World and Five Weeks in a Balloon and the popular television shows Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, Lost in Space, The Time Tunnel and Land of the Giants. Allen employed the studio's sprawling lot and soundstages, its library of movie footage, costumes and props, and its veteran special effects craftsmen to bring vivid color and movie-quality action, miniature effects and visuals to television viewers accustomed to low-budget, black and white programming. Allen's flare for action and visual punch gave audiences some of the 1960s most popular and iconic figures: Admiral Nelson and Captain Crane of Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea; the Lost in Space Robot and Jonathan Harris' nefarious Dr. Zachary Smith; Will Robinson and the Robinson family of space travelers; the pop art kaleidoscope of The Time Tunnel; the Jupiter 2, the Seaview, the Flying Sub, the Spindrift. Before George Lucas and Steven Spielberg, Irwin Allen broke box office records with two of the biggest movie blockbusters of all time: The Poseidon Adventure and The Towering Inferno. Wooed to Warner Bros. at the height of his power with the offer of a building named in his honor and one of the most generous studio contracts ever given a producer, Allen faced his biggest challenge: topping himself with The Swarm, Beyond the Poseidon Adventure, When Time Ran Out, and a series of ambitious projects for television. Illustrated with more than 2000 images including concept and production artwork, storyboards, blueprints, design sketches, miniatures and behind-the-scenes photographs, many of them never before published, this is the ultimate guide to Allen's famous productions, from his documentaries The Sea Around Us and The Animal World to his spectacular TV-movie City Beneath the Sea, plus fascinating unproduced projects, all explored in detail for the first time.
Ghost in the Shell
GHOST IN THE SHELLMASAMUNE SHIROW. MAMORU OSHIIPOCKET MOVIE GUIDEby Jeremy Mark RobinsonColour EditionThis is a study of the 1995 movie Ghost In the Shell, based on the manga of Masamune Shirow (real name Masanori Ota, born in 1961, Kobe, Japan), a Japanese artist best known for the comics Ghost In the Shell, Appleseed and Dominion: Tank Police. This is a colour edition, with over 150 illustrations, most in colour. Masamune Shirow is one of the great creators in the world of Japanese manga and anim矇 - his works have been the basis of several important franchises, with Ghost In the Shell the best-known. Shirow's art is marked by futuristic, cyber-punk settings, fabulous, often eccentric designs, elaborate mecha (such as tanks and mobile suits), attractive warrior women and detailed storytelling (accompanied by his famous, sometimes arcane notes). The impact of the work of Masamune Shirow has been immense in anim矇 and manga: Ghost In the Shell alone led to not one but two classic movies, two outstanding TV series (plus a third, the Arise series), and spin-off movies. Add to that the live-action Ghost of 2017, and more Ghosties on the way. Then there's the Appleseed digital animations and Appleseed cel animation, plus Black Magic, Real Drive, Ghost Hound (Unseen World) and Dominion: Tank Police. It all adds up to a remarkable presence in TV and movies. In cinema, Masamune Shirow's influence is easy to spot in the Star Wars prequels, in the Matrix movies, in Avatar, in Minority Report, in the Avengers series, and in many a superhero flick. Illustrated in colour with over 150 images from Ghost In the Shell, and Masamune Shirow's output. Hardcover - full colour laminate cover.Bibliography, resources and notes. 272 pages.www.crmoon.com
Secret Violences
Although Michelangelo Antonioni became one of the icons of "modernist" cinema in the 1960s, his position in the pantheon of great directors has never been quite secure. Unlike his famous contemporaries, such asIngmar Bergman and Luchino Visconti, whose essential contribution to the art of cinema is hardly ever questioned, Antonioni's work has been repeatedly denigrated from many angles for both aesthetic and political reasons. Though the historical importance of some of Antonioni's films as an incarnation of certain attitudes and problems characteristic of the 1960s and 70s is not denied, they are often considered pass矇, artificial and boring. Contesting prevalent readings, which focus on existential and psychological motifs involving anxiety and the malady of sentiments, this book offers a re-evaluation of Antonioni's most important films interpreted as political cinema engaged with issues which are still crucial in the 21st century. Far from being politically neutral, Antonioni's oblique and "abstract" approach makes possible the prising open and devaluation of the morally and politically constrictive "organic" narrative structures. HIs approach overthrows the primacy of character and plot, on the one hand, by showing them to be emanations of the spectral materiality of capital, and, on the other hand, by allowing for an opening into the utopian dimension, implying engagement in the rethinking of our attachments to the world.
Visualizing Film History
Though many archival digital objects were not "born digital," film archives are now becoming important resources for digital scholarship as a consequence of digitization. Moreover, with advancements in digital research methods involving video annotation, visual analysis, and GIS affecting the way we look at archival films' material, stylistic histories and circulation, new research practices are more important than ever.Visualizing Film History is an accessible introduction to archive-based digital scholarship in film and media studies and beyond. With a combined focus on the history of film historiography, archiving, and recent digital scholarship-covering a period from the "first wave" of film archiving in the early 1900s to recent data art-this book proposes ways to work critically with digitized archives and research methods. Christian Olesen encourages a shift towards new critical practices in the field with an in-depth assessment of and critical approach to doing film historiography with the latest digital tools and digitized archives.Olesen argues that if students, scholars and archivists are to fully realize the potential of emerging digital tools and methodologies, they must critically consider the roles that data analysis, visualization, interfaces and procedural human-machinery interactions play in producing knowledge in current film historical research. If we fail to do so, we risk losing our ability to critically navigate and renew contemporary research practices and evaluate the results of digital scholarship.
Visualizing Film History
Though many archival digital objects were not "born digital," film archives are now becoming important resources for digital scholarship as a consequence of digitization. Moreover, with advancements in digital research methods involving video annotation, visual analysis, and GIS affecting the way we look at archival films' material, stylistic histories and circulation, new research practices are more important than ever.Visualizing Film History is an accessible introduction to archive-based digital scholarship in film and media studies and beyond. With a combined focus on the history of film historiography, archiving, and recent digital scholarship-covering a period from the "first wave" of film archiving in the early 1900s to recent data art-this book proposes ways to work critically with digitized archives and research methods. Christian Olesen encourages a shift towards new critical practices in the field with an in-depth assessment of and critical approach to doing film historiography with the latest digital tools and digitized archives.Olesen argues that if students, scholars and archivists are to fully realize the potential of emerging digital tools and methodologies, they must critically consider the roles that data analysis, visualization, interfaces and procedural human-machinery interactions play in producing knowledge in current film historical research. If we fail to do so, we risk losing our ability to critically navigate and renew contemporary research practices and evaluate the results of digital scholarship.
Women’s Transborder Cinema
Can we write women's authorial roles into the history of industrial cinema in South Asia? How can we understand women's creative authority and access to the film business infrastructure in this postcolonial region? Esha Niyogi De draws on rare archival and oral sources to explore these questions from a uniquely comparative perspective, delving into examples of women holding influential positions as stars, directors, and producers across the film industries in India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. De uses film tropes to examine the ways women directors and film entrepreneurs claim creative control within the contexts of anti-colonial nationalism and global capitalism. The region's fictional cinemas have become staging grounds for postcolonialism, with colonial and local hierarchies merged into new imperial formations. De's analysis shows how the gendered intersections of inequity and opportunity shape women's fiction filmmaking while illuminating the impact of state and market formations on the process. Innovative and essential, Women's Transborder Cinema examines the works of South Asia's women filmmakers from a regional perspective.
Indigenous Ecocinema
Introducing the concepts of d-ecocinema and d-ecocinema criticism, Monani expands the purview of ecocinema studies and not only brings attention to a thriving Indigenous cinema archive but also argues for a methodological approach that ushers Indigenous intellectual voices front and center in how we theorize this archive. Its case-study focus on Canada, particularly the work emanating from the imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival in Toronto-a nationally and internationally recognized hub in Indigenous cinema networks-provides insights into pan-Indigenous and Nation-specific contexts of Indigenous ecocinema.This absorbing text is the first book-length exploration foregrounding the environmental dimensions of cinema made by Indigenous peoples, including a particularly fascinating discussion on how Indigenous cinema's ecological entanglements are a crucial and complementary aspect of its agenda of decolonialism.
Magic and Illusion in the Movies
From top hats to top secrets, this book is a celebration of illusion technology and mechanisms of trickery through a genre-crossing selection of films. Heroes, villains, spies, con-men, and madmen, magicians all, have utilized complex constructs and trickery in thrilling cinematic adventures from the earliest days of cinema to the present. Current blockbusters such as Spider-Man: Far from Home and the Mission: Impossible series feature amazing acts of deception, often appearing far-fetched, that are in fact surprisingly close to today's technology. Along with the James Bond saga, classics such as The Wizard of Oz, Nightmare Alley, and The Sting are joined by a host of other movies superficially seeming to be very different, yet proving there is more than meets the eye.
Narrative, Film, and Identity
Our identities are shaped by narratives, and cinema contributes to that process. While there is substantial scholarship on both narrative identity and film narrative, there is very little investigation of the intersection between them. This book provides that, with particular attention to how the interaction between film narratives and life narratives affect the meaning of life. Traditional issues like spectator activity and realism appear in a different light when viewed through this interaction. It also reveals how film can both help and hinder the meaning of our lives by sustaining oppressive narratives or promoting new narrative possibilities.
Film and Place in an Intercultural Perspective
The book offers an interdisciplinary overview of the film and place relationship from an intercultural perspective. It explores the complex domain of place and space in cinema and the film industry's role in establishing cultural connections and economic cooperation between India and Europe.With contributions from leading international scholars, various case studies scrutinise European and Indian contexts, exploring both the established and emerging locations. The book extends the dominantly Britain-oriented focus on India's cinema presence in Europe to European countries such as Italy, Switzerland, Poland, Slovenia, Finland, and Sweden, where the Indian film industry progressively expands its presence. The chapters of this book look at Indian film production in Europe as a cultural bridge between India and Europe, fostering mutual understanding of the culture and society of the two regions.This interdisciplinary book will be of interest to researchers in film studies, cultural anthropology, cultural geography, tourism, economics, sociology, and cultural studies. It will also be interest to practitioners working in local authorities, destination management, tourism, and creative business, all of whom see the value of film production in attracting visitors, investment, and creating new networks with local economic actors. The book offers much-needed data and tools to translate their professional goals and potentials into effective regional strategies and activities.
Experiencing National Culture Abroad
Immigrant film festivals are multifaceted events where complex networks of identities and symbolic values are constructed, circulated, and debated through various channels, including program screenings, ancillary events, press releases, financial backing, and audience engagement. As such, immigrant film festivals can be seen as discourse-producing practices. Based on this idea, this book offers a comprehensive study of three prominent Turkish film festivals in Germany: the International Frankfurt Turkish Film Festival, the Nuremberg Turkey/Germany Film Festival, and the Munich Turkish Film Days. The overarching objective is to comprehend the multifaceted influence of these festivals on the construction of discourses on Turkish immigrant identity while also seeking to illuminate how these festivals reshape both the host country and the country of origin and produce ideas for Turkish immigrants This is achieved through an examination of the diverse representation strategies engendered by these festivals. By employing a multifaceted research approach--including content analysis, audience studies, semi-structured interviews with festival managers, and participant observation--this study seeks to provide a nuanced understanding of the complex interplay between immigrant film festivals, cultural identity formation, and the socio-political dynamics within both the host and origin countries. Through rigorous scholarly inquiry, it aims to contribute to academic discourse on the role of film festivals in shaping cultural narratives, fostering intercultural dialogue, and facilitating processes of integration and belonging within immigrant communities.
George Cukor’s People
The director of classic films such as Sylvia Scarlett, The Philadelphia Story, Gaslight, Adam's Rib, A Star Is Born, and My Fair Lady, George Cukor is widely admired but often misunderstood. Reductively stereotyped in his time as a "woman's director"--a thinly veiled, disparaging code for "gay"--he brilliantly directed a wide range of iconic actors and actresses, including Cary Grant, Greta Garbo, Spencer Tracy, Joan Crawford, Marilyn Monroe, and Maggie Smith. As Katharine Hepburn, the star of ten Cukor films, told the director, "All the people in your pictures are as goddamned good as they can possibly be, and that's your stamp." In this groundbreaking, lavishly illustrated critical study, Joseph McBride provides insightful and revealing essayistic portraits of Cukor's actors in their most memorable roles. The queer filmmaker gravitated to socially adventurous, subversively rule-breaking, audacious dreamers who are often sexually transgressive and gender fluid in ways that seem strikingly modern today. McBride shows that Cukor's seemingly self-effacing body of work is characterized by a discreet way of channeling his feelings through his actors. He expertly cajoled actors, usually gently but sometimes with bracing harshness, to delve deeply into emotional areas they tended to keep safely hidden. Cukor's wry wit, his keen sense of psychological and social observation, his charm and irony, and his toughness and resilience kept him active for more than five decades in Hollywood. George Cukor's People gives him the in-depth, multifaceted examination his rich achievement deserves.
Mastering the Craft of Diverse and Inclusive Screenwriting
This accessible and informative textbook provides a guide to the craft of screenwriting with an emphasis on diverse perspectives, underrepresented groups and their screen stories. Readers will learn to master writing a feature-length screenplay in a framework that focuses on diversity, equity and inclusion. With case studies to aid understanding, the book explores the screenwriting process in stages, explaining how to create a logline, as well as character bios, writing and choosing a genre, differentiating between writing a treatment, a synopsis, composing an outline, incorporating the formatting process and finally creating a scene and sequence. The techniques specific to screenwriting will also be covered in the text such as writing dialogue and action, establishing setting and time period and most importantly mastering the craft of visual storytelling. At the same time, the textbook introduces concepts of content choices that are diverse and inclusive, such as stereotypes vs. archetypes, intersectional characters, underrepresented groups and themes such as social justice, systemic racism, class conflict, gender inequity and climate change. Due to its subject matter and inclusive approach, this textbook will be an essential guide for all aspiring and current screenwriters who want to successfully navigate and complement today's developing industry.
From Rio, 40 Degrees to City of God
This book is the result of research into Memory and Brazilian Cinema and their relationship with the city of Rio de Janeiro. It revisits feature films that, between the 1950s and 2000s, had the city as their theme: its landscapes, streets, buildings, as well as characters that represent the carioca way of life. The result is a descriptive catalog of the films chosen, proving the cinematic potential of the Marvelous City, whether as a setting or even as the main character.
The Parallax View
Alan J. Pakula's The Parallax View (1974) is a renowned example of the paranoid conspiracy thriller, a genre that was a marker of the 1970s. The period was haunted by the murders of John F Kennedy (1963), Malcolm X (1965), Martin Luther King (1968), and Robert Kennedy (1968), together with the crimes of the Manson family, Altamont, the Vietnam War, and the Watergate scandal. Mark Campbell's study of the film situates it within this historical moment of increasing paranoia and conspiracy, analyzing the ways in which it not only reflected, but also actively constructed, this febrile worldview. He contextualizes the film as an adaptation of Loren Singer's 1970 pulp novel by the same name, and highlights the role of influential cinematographer, Gordon Willis, in constructing the visual style that was essential to the filmic representation of paranoia. Focusing on the film itself, Campbell provides a detailed analysis of key scenes, particularly the central six-minute brainwashing sequence which featured imagery drawn from pop culture, advertising slogans, and violent imagery. He examines Pakula's use of the film-within-a-film visual trope, and how the scene refers to the then widely-held suspicion that television and mass media were tools of psychological "conditioning", highlighting how this concern was reflective of new anxieties about corporate and media power.
