The Crisis
A thrilling silent film from 1916 based on the Civil War novel of the same name by Winston Churchill. The movie follows a wealthy plantation owner and his son as they fight for the Confederacy, all the while grappling with questions of morality and patriotism. The film was praised for its sweeping cinematography and groundbreaking special effects.This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it.This work is in the "public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work.Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.
Indie Filmmaking in the Real World
Have you ever wondered what happens in the REAL WORLD of independent filmmaking?Indie Filmmaking in the REAL WORLD looks into the production of independent motion pictures - Not big budget Hollywood films, but films that are made for the LOVE of filmmaking. Kevin B. DiBacco - with his thirty years in the business - gives you a tour of what really happens on a film set when you have to constantly solve problems without throwing money at them. This is a fascinating look at behind the scenes in the independent filmmaking process.
Is Harpo Free?
Is Harpo Free? is a lively appreciation of film and television's ability to artistically explore concepts typical of philosophical metaphysics, such as free will, causality, and personal identity. Rather than using films and television programs as vehicles for philosophical arguments, the book instead celebrates the artistic ways in which they give life to various metaphysical concepts and how the artistic expression of these concepts and ideas helps us understand ourselves, the world, and our place within it. Through close analysis of a varied selection of works and their use of narrative, form, and style, Is Harpo Free? exemplifies a novel approach to appreciating the philosophical substance of films and television programs. Films and television programs discussed include A Night at the Opera; Run, Lola, Run; Shane; Harvey; Three Colours: Blue; The Americans; Dark; and Fargo.
Movies of the ’90s
The 1990s was an amazing decade for movies, witnessing the release of dozens of incredible films, including The Matrix, The Shawshank Redemption, Pulp Fiction, Goodfellas, Fargo, Jurassic Park, and so many more. Despite this embarrassment of riches, author Riley Webster believes this decade has never received as much praise or as many kudos as it deserves-until now. Whether you're a serious cinephile, a casual viewer, or merely seeking a heavy dose of 1990s nostalgia, this is the book for you.
Movies of the '90s
The 1990s was an amazing decade for movies, witnessing the release of dozens of incredible films, including The Matrix, The Shawshank Redemption, Pulp Fiction, Goodfellas, Fargo, Jurassic Park, and so many more. Despite this embarrassment of riches, author Riley Webster believes this decade has never received as much praise or as many kudos as it deserves-until now. Whether you're a serious cinephile, a casual viewer, or merely seeking a heavy dose of 1990s nostalgia, this is the book for you.
Moses and Egypt
This fascinating book provides an in-depth look at the making of the classic Hollywood epic, The Ten Commandments. Drawing on extensive archival research and interviews with filmmakers and actors, it offers a detailed account of the creative process and the challenges involved in bringing the biblical story to the big screen.This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it.This work is in the "public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work.Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.
Cameos
Cameos is a beautiful book showcasing a collection of cameos from ancient to modern times. The book is written by Cyril Davenport and includes stunning illustrations and descriptions of each cameo. This book is a must-read for anyone interested in art and its history.This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it.This work is in the "public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work.Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.
Federal Motion Picture Commission
A report on the establishment and mission of the Federal Motion Picture Commission, which was created to regulate and promote the burgeoning film industry in the United States.This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it.This work is in the "public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work.Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.
Television and Radio Writing
This comprehensive guide to television and radio writing covers everything from developing ideas and creating characters to writing dialogue and editing your work. Field draws on his extensive experience as a television and radio writer to provide practical advice and insider tips for aspiring writers. Whether you're interested in writing for sitcoms, dramas, or news programs, this book has something for you. Packed with examples from popular TV shows and radio programs, this is an essential resource for anyone interested in a career in television or radio writing.This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it.This work is in the "public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work.Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.
Documentary Film
This classic work by Paul Rotha is a pioneering study of documentary film. Rotha was a prominent British film-maker and critic, and this work is still considered a milestone in the history of cinema. The book discusses the potential of documentary film to creatively interpret and represent social reality.This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it.This work is in the "public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work.Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.
Television and Radio Writing
This comprehensive guide to television and radio writing covers everything from developing ideas and creating characters to writing dialogue and editing your work. Field draws on his extensive experience as a television and radio writer to provide practical advice and insider tips for aspiring writers. Whether you're interested in writing for sitcoms, dramas, or news programs, this book has something for you. Packed with examples from popular TV shows and radio programs, this is an essential resource for anyone interested in a career in television or radio writing.This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it.This work is in the "public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work.Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.
Bay Lodyans
In Haitian Creole, bay lodyans means to tell stories to an audience, and more generally, to entertain. This book is the first to analyze popular contemporary Haitian films, looking especially at how they respond to the needs and desires of Haitian audiences in and beyond Haiti. Produced between 2000 and 2018 and largely shot with digital cameras and sometimes cellphones, these films focus on the complexities of community, nostalgia, belonging, identity, and the emotional landscapes of exile and diaspora. They reflect sociopolitical and cultural issues related to family, language, im/migration, religion, gender, sexuality, and economic hardship. Using storytelling and other less traditionally "academic" techniques, C矇cile Accilien advances Haitian epistemological frameworks. Bay Lodyans integrates terms and concepts from Haitian culture, such as jerans and kafou (derived from the French words for "to manage" and "crossroads," respectively) and includes interviews with Haitian filmmakers, actors, and scholars in order to challenge the dominance of Western theoretical approaches and perspectives.
Raising the Dead
George A. Romero never intended to become a master of horror, but Night of the Living Dead made him a legend of the genre. Raising the Dead dives into the expansive, extraordinary body of work found in Romero's archive, going beyond his iconic zombie movies into a deep and varied collection of writings that never made it to the big screen. From the early 1960s until his death in 2017, Romero was a hugely prolific writer, producing scripts in every conceivable genre, from arty medieval allegories to wacky comedies to grand-scale science fiction epics. Though he had difficulty funding non-horror projects, he continued to write in whatever mode his imagination dictated, and he rarely abandoned his ideas. Themes, story ideas, and even characters were re-purposed for new scripts, evolving and transforming with each new iteration and, sometimes, finding a home in a horror film. But in order to accommodate ideas that began in such different contexts, Romero would have to change the horror genre itself: a zombie movie could become a savage satire of consumerism or an excoriating critique of militaristic or capitalist hierarchies. The horror genre became what Romero made of it. Based on years of archival research, the book moves between unfilmed scripts and familiar classics, showing the remarkable scope and range of Romero's interests and the full extent of his genius. Raising the Dead is a testament to an extraordinarily productive and inventive artist who never let the restrictions of the film industry limit his imagination.
Documentary Film
This classic work by Paul Rotha is a pioneering study of documentary film. Rotha was a prominent British film-maker and critic, and this work is still considered a milestone in the history of cinema. The book discusses the potential of documentary film to creatively interpret and represent social reality.This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it.This work is in the "public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work.Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.
Midnight Marquee #82
Issue number 82 of the longest running horror film fanzine, edited by Gary J. Svehla, presents its 60th issue. From 1963 to 2023 the mag has been publishing issues by Svehla. After finding Famous Monsters in the local drug store, Svehla began his own little fanzine called Gore Creatures in 1963 at the age of 13. Well, 60 years later he is still putting out the mag, now Midnight Marquee, always ahead of the fanzine pack in keeping up with technology. Svehla always tries to find new takes and ideas for his articles.This issue contains: THE RAVEN Poe, Lugosi, Karloff, and Universal Pictures by Nathalie YafetTHE INVISIBLE RAY is Radium X: "You Die!" by Nathalie YafetTED BILLINGS [1882-1947] Another Forgotten Face by Jim CoughlinTHE SMILING GHOST A Brief Re-Evaluation by Alan WarrenWIZARD OF OZ Potholes in the Yellow Brick Road by Anthony AmbrosiaTERROR IN THE MIDNIGHT SUN BECOMES INVASION OF THE ANIMAL PEOPLE Giant Space Monster Invades Lapland by Barry AtkinsonCURSE OF THE FLY AND THE PROJECTED MAN A Double Bill of Teleportation Terrors by Barry AtkinsonHORROR OF DRACULA, BRIDES OF DRACULA, AND DRACULA- PRINCE OF DARKNESS Terence Fisher and The Vampire Mythologyby Gary J. SvehlaTHE SADIST Limping, Giggling, and a Bottle of Pop by Christopher GulloMidnight Marquee Book Review by Gary J. SvehlaMidnight Marquee Movie Review by Gary J. SvehlaFinal Mutterings by Gary J. Svehla
Moses and Egypt
This fascinating book provides an in-depth look at the making of the classic Hollywood epic, The Ten Commandments. Drawing on extensive archival research and interviews with filmmakers and actors, it offers a detailed account of the creative process and the challenges involved in bringing the biblical story to the big screen.This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it.This work is in the "public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work.Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.
The Moving Picture World, Volume 18, Issues 1-7
The Moving Picture World was a trade journal for the American film industry. It was published from 1907 to 1927, and for its first ten years, was the most influential trade paper in the American motion picture industry.This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it.This work is in the "public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work.Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.
The Othering of Women in Silent Film
In The Othering of Women in Silent Film: Cultural, Historical, and Literary Contexts, Barbara Tepa Lupack explores the rampant racial and gender stereotyping in early cinema and demonstrates how that imagery helped shape American attitudes and practices.
Analysing Blindness as an adaptation of An Essay on Blindness
This book aims to analyse the film directed by Fernando Meirelles (1955) and scripted by Don McKellar, Blindness, released in 2008, as an adaptation of Jos矇 Saramago's (1922-2010) book, Ensaio sobre a cegueira, published in 1995. To do this, we will first contextualise the book and the film in the artistic production of their respective creators, in order to make clear the differences between them, since the adapter of a literary work does not share the same point of view, aesthetic concern or historical moment with its author. We will then present various critical opinions on the relationship between literature and cinema, placed chronologically, to show the intrinsic relationship that one art form has with the other. In the end, we'll be able to see clearly how the study of Literature and Cinema views a film adaptation. A film based on a literary work is neither seen nor analysed as a mere transposition of the book into another medium.
Nonfiction Filmmaking for the Screen
Combining essays and interviews with nonfiction filmmakers, this collection explores the business side of nonfiction media creation for film and television. Over 30 industry professionals dispel myths about the industry and provide practical advice on topics such as how to break into the field; how to develop, nurture, and navigate business relationships; and how to do creative work under pressure. Readers will also learn about the entrepreneurial expectations in relation to marketing, strategies for contending with the emotional highs and lows of creating nonfiction media, and money management whilst pursuing a career in creating nonfiction media.Written for undergraduates and graduates studying filmmaking, media production, and documentary filmmaking, as well as aspiring nonfiction media creators and documentary filmmakers, this book provides readers with a wealth of first-hand information that will help them create their own opportunities and pursue a career in nonfiction film and television.
Television Publics in South Asia
Television has a prime role to play in the formation of discursive domains in the everyday life of South Asian publics. This book explores various television media practices, social processes, mediated political experiences and everyday cultural compositions from Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.With the help of country-specific case studies, it captures a broad range of themes which foreground the publics and their real-life experiences of television in the region. The chapters in this book discuss gendered television spaces, women seeking solace from television in pandemic, the taboo in digital TV dramas, television viewership and localizing publics, changing viewership from television to OTT, news and public perception of death, redefining 'the national', theatrical television and post-truth television news, among other key issues.Rich in ethnographic case studies, this volume will be a useful resource for scholars and researchers of media and communication studies, journalism, digital media, South Asian studies, cultural studies, sociology and social anthropology.
Death by Laughter
Shortlisted, 2025 Modernist Studies Association Book Prize Can you really die from laughing too hard? Between 1870 and 1920, hundreds of women suffered such a fate--or so a slew of sensationalist obituaries would have us believe. How could laughter be fatal, and what do these reports of women's risible deaths tell us about the politics of female joy? Maggie Hennefeld reveals the forgotten histories of "hysterical laughter," exploring how women's amusement has been theorized and demonized, suppressed and exploited. In nineteenth-century medicine and culture, hysteria was an ailment that afflicted unruly women on the cusp of emotional or nervous breakdown. Cinema, Hennefeld argues, made it possible for women to laugh outrageously as never before, with irreversible social and political consequences. As female enjoyment became a surefire promise of profitability, alarmist tales of women laughing themselves to death epitomized the tension between subversive pleasure and its violent repression. Hennefeld traces the social politics of women's laughter from the heyday of nineteenth-century sentimentalism to the collective euphoria of early film spectatorship, traversing contagious dancing outbreaks, hysteria photography, madwomen's cackling, cinematic close-ups, and screenings of slapstick movies in mental asylums. Placing little-known silent films and an archive of remarkable, often unusual texts in conversation with affect theory, comedy studies, and feminist film theory, this book makes a timely case for the power of hysterical laughter to change the world.
Death by Laughter
Shortlisted, 2025 Modernist Studies Association Book Prize Can you really die from laughing too hard? Between 1870 and 1920, hundreds of women suffered such a fate--or so a slew of sensationalist obituaries would have us believe. How could laughter be fatal, and what do these reports of women's risible deaths tell us about the politics of female joy? Maggie Hennefeld reveals the forgotten histories of "hysterical laughter," exploring how women's amusement has been theorized and demonized, suppressed and exploited. In nineteenth-century medicine and culture, hysteria was an ailment that afflicted unruly women on the cusp of emotional or nervous breakdown. Cinema, Hennefeld argues, made it possible for women to laugh outrageously as never before, with irreversible social and political consequences. As female enjoyment became a surefire promise of profitability, alarmist tales of women laughing themselves to death epitomized the tension between subversive pleasure and its violent repression. Hennefeld traces the social politics of women's laughter from the heyday of nineteenth-century sentimentalism to the collective euphoria of early film spectatorship, traversing contagious dancing outbreaks, hysteria photography, madwomen's cackling, cinematic close-ups, and screenings of slapstick movies in mental asylums. Placing little-known silent films and an archive of remarkable, often unusual texts in conversation with affect theory, comedy studies, and feminist film theory, this book makes a timely case for the power of hysterical laughter to change the world.
The Art of DreamWorks Trolls Band Together
The Art of DreamWorks Trolls Band Together celebrates the much-anticipated latest chapter in DreamWorks Animation's blockbuster musical franchise. Following beloved Trolls Poppy and Branch on an action-packed, rainbow-colored family reunion, this insider's guide showcases hundreds of character designs and concept art from the making of the movie, along with exclusive interviews from the writers, artists, and filmmakers who brought this psychedelic joy-bomb to life. This beautiful coffee table book is a gift to animation fans.
Copyright Vigilantes
Copyright Vigilantes: Intellectual Property and the Hollywood Superhero explains superhero blockbusters as allegories of intellectual property relations. In movies based on characters owned by the comics duopoly of DC and Marvel, no narrative recurs more often than a villain's attempt to copy the superhero's unique powers. In this volume, author Ezra Claverie explains this fixation as a symptom of the films' mode of production. Since the 1930s, the dominant American comics publishers have treated the creations of artists and writers as work for hire, such that stories and characters become company property. Thus, publishers avoided sharing the profits both from magazine sales and from licensing characters into other media. For decades, creators have challenged this regime, demanding either shares of profits or outright ownership of their creations. Now that the duopoly rents, licenses, and adapts superheroes for increasingly expensive franchises, and for growing international audiences, any challenge to intellectual property relations threatens a production regime worth billions of dollars. Duopoly movies, therefore, present any attempt to break the superhero's monopoly on their powers as the scheme of terrorists, mad scientists, or space Nazis--assuaging studio anxieties and revealing the fears of those who benefit most from the real-world ownership of superheroes. Weaving together legal analysis, Marxist political economy, and close readings of movies, Copyright Vigilantes explains the preoccupations of Hollywood's leading genre.
Refocus: The Films of Annemarie Jacir
This book offers a transnational, internationalist-feminist approach to the oeuvre of award-winning director, writer, and curator, Annemarie Jacir.Palestinian film culture is unique due to its geopolitical circumstances, including continued colonialism and occupation, and the refugeeship of its citizens. The scholarship on the politics of film and its role in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict - including activist work, international solidarity films, and work on Palestinian documentaries - is usually defined by historical overviews of geopolitical events and developments. In contrast, this book offers an auteur-focused study of a global artist influenced by but not limited to the political discourse surrounding the Occupied Palestinian Territories.Jacir is a Palestinian woman whose work is recognised globally as innovative, politically challenging, and genre-crossing. The book offers an in-depth study of her films and other works by locating it in a geospatial, sociocultural, and critical theoretical framework. It critically analyses Annemarie Jacir's development as an artist, filmmaker, and curator of film.
Code of Honor
Code of Honor: The Making of High Noon, Shane and The Searchers is the first book to provide a detailed history of the struggles and triumphs in the production of these three classic Amerian Western films. With access to the collections of directors Fred Zinnemann George Stevens and John Ford, author Michael F. Blake incorporates script drafts, memos, personal notes and daily production reports to explain how each film was made. Rare photos include behind the scenes shots, memorabilia.
Copyright Vigilantes
Copyright Vigilantes: Intellectual Property and the Hollywood Superhero explains superhero blockbusters as allegories of intellectual property relations. In movies based on characters owned by the comics duopoly of DC and Marvel, no narrative recurs more often than a villain's attempt to copy the superhero's unique powers. In this volume, author Ezra Claverie explains this fixation as a symptom of the films' mode of production. Since the 1930s, the dominant American comics publishers have treated the creations of artists and writers as work for hire, such that stories and characters become company property. Thus, publishers avoided sharing the profits both from magazine sales and from licensing characters into other media. For decades, creators have challenged this regime, demanding either shares of profits or outright ownership of their creations. Now that the duopoly rents, licenses, and adapts superheroes for increasingly expensive franchises, and for growing international audiences, any challenge to intellectual property relations threatens a production regime worth billions of dollars. Duopoly movies, therefore, present any attempt to break the superhero's monopoly on their powers as the scheme of terrorists, mad scientists, or space Nazis--assuaging studio anxieties and revealing the fears of those who benefit most from the real-world ownership of superheroes. Weaving together legal analysis, Marxist political economy, and close readings of movies, Copyright Vigilantes explains the preoccupations of Hollywood's leading genre.
Show
"A devastating chronicle of an aborted series." Publishers Weekly For every hit TV show, there are a hundred misses...thousands if you include the ones that never made it past their pilot, the sample episode of the proposed series.This is the inside story of one of those doomed TV pilots, a would-be 1990 sitcom about presidential speechwriters first titled E.O.B., then The War Room, and finally Word of Mouth, developed by the acclaimed writer/producer team of Bruce Paltrow, Tom Fontana, and John Tinker, fresh off of their Emmy award-winning success St. Elsewhere and in huge demand by the networks. The producers granted journalist Daniel Paisner unprecedented access, revealing for the first time exactly how television gets made... and how it doesn't.SHOW is a ground-breaking book about television that hasn't lost its impact or relevance with the passage of time...remaining unmatched for its insights into the pilot production process. Now it's back in print with the author's new introduction and an afterword by Phoef Sutton, the multiple Emmy award winning writer/producer of Cheers and Boston Legal.Praise for Show "Regardless of its age and changes to the industry over the past 30 years, SHOW gives one of the best glimpses behind the curtain at how TV gets made that I've read." Rob Owen, TribLive"Paisner takes us through the process from inception to turn-down, documenting in almost day-to-day detail the messy mechanics behind the high gloss of network television. What it shows best is the screwball randomness of network television, where the unlikeliest premise can command enormous resources and generate a monster hit--or not." Los Angeles Times"Show has made me re-live the many pilots I have worked on... and even though much has changed, much has remained the same. I don't know whether to thank you for that or curse you!" Phoef Sutton, from his Afterword"If a camel is a horse designed by a committee, successful TV shows, on the evidence of the cautionary tale at hand, almost have to be accidents of nature..." Kirkus Reviews Originally published as Horizonal Hold: The Making and Breaking of a Network Television Pilot
The Film Business
First published in 1973 The Film Business makes a factual survey of British films from their beginnings in 1896 to 1972. Ernest Betts offers character studies of men who have built the film industry and made it what it is. He examines the financial and political background and shows how, while intending to encourage film production, it has often had exactly the opposite effect and inhibited its free development. Betts also attacks the manner in which the American film industry has taken over the British film industry and points to the failure of successive governments to save it from repeated crises and losses. Through these fluctuations the author keeps a firm eye on the film itself and brings the judgement of film critics past and present to bear on British cinema, as it moves uncertainly and not without its triumphs into the 1970s. This is an interesting read for students and scholars of film studies, British film history and British cinema.
Watching the Cops
Globally, police officers are the object of unprecedented visual scrutiny. The use of mobile phones, CCTV and personal body cams means that police are not only being filmed on the job but are also filming themselves. In popular culture, police have featured heavily on the big screen since the era of silent shorts and on television since the 1930s. Their fictional portrayals today take on added significance in light of social unrest surrounding cases of police brutality and discrimination. These essays explore 21st century portrayals of police on film and television. Chapters often emphasize the Black Lives Matter movement and consider the tone, quality, appropriateness and intention of film and television featuring police activity. Extensively covered works include Mindhunter, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Cops, Criminal Minds and RoboCop, and among the major topics addressed are policing communities, hunting serial killers, police animals, and police in historic settings ranging from the 19th century through the present day and into science fiction futures.
Women, Feminism and Italian Cinema
Italian cinema experienced its peak of domestic and international popularity in the years between the 'economic miracle' of the late 1950s and the social and political turmoil of the 1970s. But how did the growing development of the feminist movement in this period impact on Italian film culture? And what role did that film culture play in women's lives?This book explores the multiple intersections between feminism and Italian cinema from the perspective of women's everyday relationship with the medium. Drawing from a feminist approach to Gramscian cultural theory, the book builds an archival counter-history of Italian cinema in which women took part as movie-goers, activists and practitioners, by means of a collective-historical agency that challenged cinema's patriarchal structures and strategies of invisibilisation.
George A. Romero's Independent Cinema
George A. Romero is recognised as one of the most culturally significant horror auteurs in American cinema. From his debut Night of the Living Dead onwards, he demonstrated a commitment to politically challenging low-budget genre cinema, gaining fan adoration and critical esteem. Romero's cult status may be assured, but the activities of the Pittsburgh-based production company that facilitated a substantial part of his output have largely been untold. George A. Romero's Independent Cinema is the first in-depth analysis of Romero's Laurel Entertainment, revealing the decision-making and business planning that takes place away from Hollywood, while offering an industry-determined analysis of such films as his zombie masterpiece Dawn of the Dead and the seldom-discussed Martin and Knightriders. Tracking Laurel Entertainment across four decades, this book draws upon business and economic studies to critically recast historical developments in the American independent film sector, providing a forensic-level insight into a media production company whose output redefined horror cinema.
Resonant Bodies in Contemporary European Art Cinema
What does it mean to exist, in our experience of cinema, according to listening? How do sound and 'noise' reconfigure relations between spectators and screens, and by extension, spectators and their worlds? How do films raise questions about the ethics and politics of listening to different bodies?Resonant Bodies in Contemporary European Art Cinema answers these questions through an analysis of films by Catherine Breillat, Gaspar No矇, Tony Gatlif, Arnaud des Palli癡res, Lars von Trier and Peter Strickland. These post-millennial European directors have worked with sound in ways that resist the full-definition and perfect hearing offered by Dolby technology. Instead, they have privileged 'noise' - sounds that take us to the limit of what we can hear - in a move that foregrounds the body on screen and constructs spectators as listening bodies.
Researching Historical Screen Audiences
Showcasing current research and contemporary debate in the field of screen history and audience studies, Researching Historical Screen Audiences draws upon a wide variety of previously untapped sources - including photographs, maps, Mass Observation reports, diaries, fan letters, cinema records and original oral testimonies- to explore the challenges and pleasures of conducting research in this field. Containing twelve new essays from an international group of leading and emerging scholars, the book explores and assesses the current status and shape of the field of historical audience research, showcasing new research which foregrounds the transnational and multi-cultural dimensions of past cinemagoing, the roles played by management personnel and marketing campaigns, and the currently under-explored area of the past reception of home video.
Masculinity in British Cinema, 1990-2010
From the new man to the metrosexual, British society from the 1990s to the 2000s was pre-occupied with questions about masculinity, and more specifically with the idea that it was somehow 'in crisis.' The first book-length study of British cinematic representations of masculinity in this period, this fascinating study offers a feminist analysis of key tropes in this era, including the New Lad, fatherhood and masculine violence. Positioning these representations within the specific context of British manifestations of postfeminism and neoliberalism, the book explores the shifting representations of masculinity in popular British cinema and offers a detailed analysis of important recent developments in gender culture. With case studies of films like Brassed Off (1996), The Full Monty (1997), Trainspotting (1996) and About a Boy (2002), this book is a fascinating insight into an understudied period of British cinema and culture.
Buffy and the Art of Story Season Three Part 1
What can you learn about fiction writing from watching - and rewatching - Buffy the Vampire Slayer? Anything and everything about creating gripping plots, building three-dimensional, and weaving in themes that will speak to your audience long after your novel or screenplay ends. In this book, story coach and novelist L. M. Lilly delves into each episode of the first half of Season Three of the cult TV series. She looks at how the writers construct gripping plots, arc characters throughout the series, and weave in themes and subplots that break the viewers' hearts. All of which adds up to stories that are still gaining new audience members decades later. Each chapter includes questions to help you improve your own writing and storytelling by: Crafting turns that spin your story in surprising yet believable waysWeaving in themes that speak to your audienceShowing character growth and emotion through words, gestures, and small momentsCutting to subplots at key moments for maximum emotional impactAnd moreIf you love Buffy, and you love creating stories - or just taking them apart to see how they work - this book is for you.Order your copy today.
Holocaust Representations in Animated Documentaries
Animated documentaries dealing with the Holocaust, Holocaust survivors, and their descendants constitute a new phenomenon and inaugurate a new field of Holocaust commemoration. This book is the first comprehensive analysis of animated Holocaust documentaries. It explores movies produced in the USA, Canada, Australia, Europe, and Israel. Based on theories developed in the fields of animated documentary, Holocaust studies, cinema studies, trauma studies, and memory studies, this volume discusses the ways in which animated Holocaust documentaries create a new layer of Holocaust microhistory, their advantages, and their disadvantages. It shows how these movies visualize subject matter that previously eluded live-action documentaries such as the unfilmed past and people's inner worlds. The book shows that Holocaust animated documentaries also have specific shortcomings and have generated a new set of problems relating to Holocaust memory and representation. For example, the vast majority marginalize the horrors and instead focus on bravery, resilience, and hope.
Hong Kong Crime Films
Hong Kong Crime Films is the first book detailing the post-war history of the genre before the release of John Woo's A Better Tomorrow (1986), the film that put Hong Kong action-crime on the global map. Focusing on what it calls the mode of 'criminal realism' in the crime film, the book shows how depictions of Hong Kong's social reality (including crime) were for decades anxiously policed by colonial censors, and how crime films tended (and still tend) to confound and transgress critical definitions of realism. Drawing on extensive archival research, Hong Kong Crime Films covers several neglected topics in the study of Hong Kong cinema, such as the evolving generic landscape of the crime film prior to the 1980s, the influence of colonial film censorship on the genre, and the prominence and contestation of "realism" in the local history of the crime film.
Hammer Goes to Hell
This book utilises never seen before materials held in the Hammer Script Archive to present a new perspective on one of the most famous British production studios of all time. While many studies of Hammer Films have been written, none have accounted for the significant amount of creative and economic labour that went into over 100 unmade projects at the company. Using primary materials such as screenplays and correspondence, the book examines the production contexts of an eclectic range of Hammer's unmade films, ranging from Loch Ness Monster project Nessie to Dracula in India script Kali Devil Bride of Dracula. Using Hammer as a case study, the book represents a significant academic intervention by being the first sustained industry study to primarily use unmade projects. The book offers a fresh perspective on a legendary film studio, and argues for the importance and sustained study of unmade films within film history.
Unhomed
In this rich cultural history, Pamela Roberston Wojcik examines America's ambivalent and shifting attitude toward homelessness. She considers film cycles from five distinct historical moments that show characters who are unhomed and placeless, mobile rather than fixed--characters who fail, resist, or opt out of the mandate for a home of one's own. From the tramp films of the silent era to the 2021 Oscar-winning Nomadland, Wojcik reveals a tension in the American imaginary between viewing homelessness as deviant and threatening or emblematic of freedom and independence. Blending social history with insights drawn from a complex array of films, both canonical and fringe, Wojcik effectively "unhomes" dominant narratives that cast aspirations for success and social mobility as the focus of American cinema, reminding us that genres of precarity have been central to American cinema (and the American story) all along.
Law at the Movies
This book asks "How can legal doctrine be turned into filmic art?" By "legal doctrine" Stanley Fish does not mean the sonorous abstractions that usually accompany the self-presentation of law--Justice, Equity, Equality, Liberty, Autonomy, and the like. Rather he has in mind the specific rules and procedures invoked and analyzed by courts on the way to declaring a decision--lawyer/client confidentiality, the distinction between interdicted violence and the violence performed by the legal system, the interplay of positive law and laws rooted in morality, the difference between civilian law and military law, the death penalty, the admissibility of different forms of evidence. In the movies he discusses, these and other points of doctrine and procedure do not serve as a background, occasionally visited, to the substantive issues that drive the plot and provide the characters with choices; they declare the plot, and character is formed and tested in relationship to their demands. Apparently technical matters are pressed until they occupy both foreground and background and become the movie's true subject. If large, abstract concepts emerge, they emerge at the back end of doctrine and are, in effect, produced by doctrine. These are not law-themed movies; they are movies about the unfolding of legal process.
Sucker Punch
The 1930s, 40s and 50s were the heyday of the boxing film, attracting some of the biggest stars of the time - including Errol Flynn, James Cagney, Kirk Douglas and Paul Newman - and some of the best directors. Yet it is a genre that has received little critical attention apart from a few films singled out because they can be categorised as 'film noir'. It would be easy to assume, therefore, that the typical boxing film of this period was a dark melodrama with the tragic and doomed figure of the boxer at its centre, but that gives a false picture of a genre that included comedies and costume dramas among its 130-plus films. Sucker Punch invites the reader to take a wider look at the scope and breadth of the genre by providing a detailed discussion of 20 boxing films - a selection from each decade - from Hollywood and British studios. Some, such as Body and Soul, have become part of the established 'canon' of Film Studies, while lighter fare, such as Ringside Maisie or Gentleman Jim, have been overlooked by the critics but are worthy of re-examination - not simply because they are enjoyable films in their own right, but also because they offer insights into social attitudes of the times. The book draws on contemporary sources, such as trade-paper film reviews, as well as modern academic criticism, to build a highly readable account of the development of the boxing genre and its narrative conventions.
The City on Screen
'The City on Screen: Modern Strangers of Cinematic Istanbul' attempts to analyze how Istanbul is captured through the projector; in other words, the ontological relationship between city and film and how it is elaborated within the context of Istanbul and the sense of strangerhood. This book shifts the axis of Istanbul, typically known as a touristic city, to its underlying details through the strangers in the modern city. Five different films set in this region are analyzed in the text that help to reveal and clarify the socio-urban life of modern Istanbul. The characters and stories in these films tell how Istanbul has socially and architecturally become a city of strangers. The films analyzed include 'A Touch of Spice' (2004), 'Men on the Bridge' (2009), 'A Run for Money' (1999), 'Distant' (2002), and '10 to 11' (2009). The theoretical framework of this book is based on the works of Georg Simmel, Zygmunt Bauman and Richard Sennett. These three thinkers have all attempted to look for answers to the sociological question of strangerhood in urban living. This book accomplishes this connection by discussing the similarities and differences between each of their theories regarding the city, cinema and strangerhood.
Lest We Forget
John Ford (1894-1973) directed scores of memorable movies that feature countless scenes that linger in one's memory. He is the only director to have won four Best Director Academy Awards, for The Informer (1935), The Grapes of Wrath (1940), How Green Was My Valley (1941), and The Quiet Man (1952).There have been many biographies and film studies of John Ford and his motion pictures. There has never been a single volume devoted to the stock company of actors and actresses who worked for him, some continually, many intermittently, from his silent westerns of the 'teens to his final films of the 1960s. This book spotlights 112 members of Ford's fluid repertory company and includes a mini-chapter on each member of the troupe.And it was a diverse group. One wrote three books on the Baha'i Faith religion; another boxed the heavyweight champion of the world to a draw; one eloped with Loretta Young when she was seventeen; one participated in the Yukon gold rush; a photograph of one player's ear is the club logo for a professional wrestling association; another taught Lucy how to jitterbug; one was a legendary undercover agent for the OSS in France during World War II; another was a member of the advisory board to the Bank of America concerning loans to the studios; two were rodeo world champions.All of them, from obscure bit players to barely-remembered character actors to legendary film stars, made substantial contributions to Ford's movie legacy.About the AuthorBill Levy is the author of John Ford: A Bio-Bibliography and Beyond the Beach: The Wit and Wisdom of Nevil Shute. He has been writing his "Forgotten Gems" column on films of the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s for New Jersey's monthly senior publication, Fifty Plus, since 2001. He lives in Mendham, New Jersey.
Investor Financing of Independent Film
This book explains how to comply with the federal and states securities regulations when seeking to raise money from private investors for the development, production and/or distribution of a feature or documentary film. Drawing from the experience and expertise of a securities and entertainment attorney who has worked with independent filmmakers for 30 plus years, this resource explores securities law compliance in order to help readers comply with the law and avoid criminal and civil liability, while successfully raising investor funds for their film projects. Readers will gain an understanding of why the securities laws apply to most investor financing transactions, what choices need to be made by the filmmaker, what information needs to be disclosed to prospective investors, how to comply with the SEC's policy regarding financial projections, what is the appropriate investment vehicle for various forms of investor financing, what limitations are imposed on the use of finders and how to handle the required federal and state notice filings. It is an essential resource for any film student taking a film finance course (or a production course with a film finance component), as well as any independent film producers, entertainment/securities attorneys and film school instructors, who want to be informed about the legal and practical aspects of investor financing of independent films.
