Global Mountain Cinema
This book is dedicated to the particular challenges and opportunities mountains raise for histories and theories of cinema. In German-speaking countries, the relationship between mountains and cinema has been largely reduced to a small canon of Alpine filmmakers whose work has been categorized as the Classical Bergfilm. However, from a transnational and transgeneric perspective, the field of mountain cinema is not only much richer and more diverse, but also addresses questions that are vital to film and media studies and inform postcolonial and environmental discourses in the Anthropocene. In this vein, our volume goes beyond national contexts to provide a timely and much-needed investigation into the generic innovations and intersectional negotiations of national, ethnic, and gender norms that take place in mountain cinema and its related media forms.
The Cabin in the Woods
The Cabin in the Woods (2012), directed by Drew Goddard and co-authored by Goddard and Joss Whedon of Buffy-fame, was famously described by co-author Whedon as his 'loving hate letter' to horror. Interviews with Whedon reveal that his struggles with modern cinematic horror are not merely emotional, but intensely philosophical. This book is the first to read Cabin as a philosophical metatext that asks what horror offers audiences and why audiences accept. Like any good philosophy, the film offers no answers but raises questions: what 'choices' are possible in a pre-determined universe? How do we, the audience, see the victims of violence, and with what ethical consequences? And finally, the most fraught question of all: why do we keep looking?
Dark Dreams
Institutionalised as a child for a gruesome double murder and having undergone experimental psychiatric treatment into adulthood, George Tatum is finally released into society ... only to kill again.Of all the slasher films to appear in the 1980s, none were as brutal or would elicit as much controversy as Romano Scavolini's Nightmare. From round-the-clock screenings in New York City to becoming a popular VHS rental, the film was quickly championed by gorehounds thirsting for onscreen blood while alienating many others. Onscreen carnage was only the beginning. Critics found the film offensive and its moral tone ambiguous. The gruesome special effects were subject to fierce debate. The UK distributor served a prison sentence for releasing the film uncut, provocatively retitled as Nightmares in a Damaged Brain. It became one of the most notorious of the so-called 'video nasties'. Author Nick Cato first experienced Nightmare as part of a double feature in 1983. He is not alone in considering it one of the most intense horror films of all time. He is alone in having spent over forty years amassing material on the film, sifting through countless reviews (mostly negative) and magazine articles, attending dozens of theatrical screenings, and conducting many interviews. This book is the result. Dark Dreams -- a fan obsessed. Nightmare -- a slasher film that refuses to die.
Tcm Imports
Whether you're a longtime film buff or new to foreign movies, TCM Imports is an essential, accessible guide to an absorbing selection of cinema from around the world, curated by Turner Classic Movies host Alicia Malone. International cinema offers a one-of-a-kind window to the world, allowing viewers to experience foreign cultures and unique expressions of cinematic art, but it can feel daunting to approach for newcomers or to expand upon even for seasoned movie buffs. Let TCM Imports be your guide to a wide-ranging and engrossing collection of movies from around the world. Featuring films from every continent, touching on international waves--including, but by no means limited to, those renowned from Europe--and spanning a century of moviemaking, this resource is comprehensive but accessible. TCM Imports includes an eclectic list of films, including those that have been called high art, low art, or cult classics. There are obvious choices and some weird ones, but all are a good time, and all will inspire you to explore a different side of cinema. Each movie is covered with just enough description to get you excited (no spoilers!); behind-the-scenes stories; background on the filmmakers, stars, genres, and movements the films were a part of; and illustrated by full-color and black-and-white photos. With a thematic organization by seasons and moods inspired by time of year, this guide will set you up to enjoy a movie each week for a full year of foreign treasures, or allow you to dive into a binge-watch. Viewer's choice! ​ Among the films included: Amelie (2001), Ikiru (1952), Lady Snowblood (1973), The Girls (1968), In the Mood For Love (2000), Ali: Fear Eats the Soul (1974), Bicycle Thieves (1948), Daisies (1966), Spring in a Small Town (1948), Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge (1995), Late Spring (1949), Went the Day Well? (1942), The Passion of Joan of Arc (1928), Black Girl (1966), The Young Girls of Rochefort (1967), Purple Noon (1960), Cl矇o From 5 to 7 (1962), Parasite (2019), L'Avventura (1960), Metropolis (1926), The Rules of the Game (1939), Devi (1960), Death of a Cyclist (1955), Pale Flower (1964), Fanny and Alexander (1982), Black Christmas (1974), My Night at Maud's (1969)
Wes Anderson: The Archives
An exclusive look at one of the 21st century's most iconic and distinctive American filmmakers, replete with archival materials and contributions from beloved Hollywood voicesAn archive is always a time machine, but the archives of Wes Anderson take us on a journey not just through time, but through layers of stories and the experiences of storytelling--on paper and on film. This volume chronicles these stories with a deep dive into Anderson's personal archive, celebrating his 30-plus years in cinema. From the start of his career, he has maintained a rich library of notebooks, drawings, paintings, Polaroids, props, puppets, sets and costumes from his films. Presented here, these objects are enhanced and illuminated by Anderson's long-time collaborators, including actors Owen Wilson, Jason Schwartzman, Scarlett Johansson and Tilda Swinton; composer Alexandre Desplat; musician Seu Jorge; and music supervisor Randall Poster. The book also features an extensive interview with Anderson himself, reflecting on his films and working process.Wes Anderson: The Archives accompanies the first retrospective exhibition of Anderson's work, curated by La Cin矇math癡que fran癟aise in Paris and the Design Museum in London. It is the first book to be produced in such close partnership with the filmmaker himself.Wes Anderson, born in 1969 in Houston, Texas, is a renowned American filmmaker celebrated for his unique visual style, quirky characters and whimsical storytelling. His most notable works include The Royal Tenenbaums (2001), Moonrise Kingdom (2012), The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014) and The French Dispatch (2021). Anderson has received numerous awards, including the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay for The Grand Budapest Hotel, as well as multiple Golden Globe and BAFTA Awards.
The Art of Directing
This accessible book is an exploration of the condition of the director from an insider's perspective, discussing how directors survive and thrive in the immensely challenging environment of the film and television industry.
Directors Tell the Story
The freshest storytelling today is on television, where the multi-episodic format is used for rich character development and innovative story arcs. This exciting new edition continues to offer rare insight and advice straight from two A-list television directors.
Eco-Theory and Annihilation
Eco-theory and Annihilation is part of theFilm Theory in Practice series, which blends the explanation of a film theory with the interpretation of a film and provides discrete examples of how film theory can serve as the basis for textual analysis.This book offers a concise introduction to eco-theory in jargon-free language and shows how this theory can be deployed to interpret Alex Garland's controversial film adaptation of Jeff VanderMeer's hit novel Annihilation.Eco-theory is one of the most exciting and timely offshoots of contemporary critical theory, but it is too frequently treated as only a recent development. Covering historical developments in nature philosophy, geology, and organic chemistry, as well as contemporary critical methodologies like systems theory and new materialism, Eco-Theory and Annihilation introduces readers to the full extent of eco-theory's lively variations, as well as investigates the complications that arise when those variations are mediated by the generic expectations of filmic science fiction.This book illuminates the deep history of eco-theory, maps its contemporary coordinates, and demonstrates how it can shed light on Garland's provocative eco-sci-fi thriller.
Producing and Directing the Short Film and Video
This is the definitive on producing and directing short films for the serious film student or beginning filmmaker. Its unique two-fold approach looks at filmmaking from the perspectives of both the producer and director, and clearly explains how their separate roles must work together to create a successful short film or video.
The Screens of Virtual Production
This book is the first dedicated edited collection that explores the virtualization of screen-making processes from pre-production to post-production, while attuning to the aesthetic, ideological and performative contexts upended by these integrated technologies.
Designing the BBC
Designing the BBC is a compelling history of the groundbreaking work of the BBC's Television Graphic Design Department from 1954 to 2021. Drawing on the unique content of the BBC Motion Graphics Archive and the first-hand perspectives of former BBC staff, this book provides a timely overview of more than 60 years of the BBC's innovative practice within motion graphics. Former BBC staff and leading design and television studies scholars investigate the archive, bring cultural memories to life and reflect on the Graphic Design Department's lasting impact. They consider the graphic design of a range of TV genres, including household favourites such as Doctor Who; sports programming such as Grandstand and big sporting events like the Olympics; children's television including Grange Hill; popular science programmes such as Tomorrow's World; news output such as The Nine O'Clock News, Election Night specials, the weather and the channel idents of BBC 2 and BBC One.
The Enchanting Kinora
Marketed as more affordable and safer than film cameras, the Kinora system, launched in 1903, was one of the first amateur filmmaking devices and represents one of the earliest attempts to create a domestic market for moving images. In The Enchanting Kinora, Elizabeth Evans examines the Kinora in its technological, industrial and socio-cultural context to explore how early attempts to domesticate moving images were configured. She closely analyses 84 previously unexamined Kinora reels, filmed using the early motion picture device between 1908-1913 and held by the Smedley Collection. These include 23 reels that were produced for public consumption and others that were meant solely for private viewing by the Smedley family. She goes on to consider the reels as material objects, examining not only their content, but also how the collection was preserved and catalogued by members of the family. Finally, she reflects on her own connection to the reels as the Smedleys' great-granddaughter. In doing so, Evans expands our understanding of moving images' emergence as part of a wider network of cultural practices in Edwardian Britain that featured within domestic as well as public and professional spaces.
When a Woman Ascends the Stairs (Onna Ga Kaidan O Agaru Toki)
Mikio Naruse's When A Woman Ascends The Stairs (1960) combines high melodrama with modernist film language, telling the story of Keiko, a bar hostess struggling to succeed in Tokyo's Ginza district. Catherine Russell's study of the film provides an in-depth analysis of Naruse's distinctive filmmaking, from his use of two-shots in confined spaces, unique lighting techniques, and his "invisible" and "rhythmic" editing style. She analyses the recurring motif of a woman's white-stockinged feet climbing stairs, considering how this symbolizes the social dynamics of the high-class Japanese sex industry that sustains hostess bar culture. Russell goes on to argue that the film is a "late" woman's film which engages with the institutional barriers to woman's success in postwar Japan. She situates the film within the trajectory of Naruse's career and analyses how his social critique is balanced with an aestheticization of a harsh and brutally gendered world, creating an affective tension that is symptomatic of Naruse's own position as an industrial worker.
Designing the BBC
Designing the BBC is a compelling history of the groundbreaking work of the BBC's Television Graphic Design Department from 1954 to 2021. Drawing on the unique content of the BBC Motion Graphics Archive and the first-hand perspectives of former BBC staff, this book provides a timely overview of more than 60 years of the BBC's innovative practice within motion graphics. Former BBC staff and leading design and television studies scholars investigate the archive, bring cultural memories to life and reflect on the Graphic Design Department's lasting impact. They consider the graphic design of a range of TV genres, including household favourites such as Doctor Who; sports programming such as Grandstand and big sporting events like the Olympics; children's television including Grange Hill; popular science programmes such as Tomorrow's World; news output such as The Nine O'Clock News, Election Night specials, the weather and the channel idents of BBC 2 and BBC One.
Every Frame Counts
This book, written by an industry expert, covers the duties of an assistant editor over the course of an entire feature film.Throughout the book, the author provides key insights and advice from years of experience, which will help assistant editors hit the ground running, keep up the pace, and continue thinking critically and creatively. The easy-to-navigate structure loosely follows that of the typical job by identifying and outlining four key phases: Dailies, Director's Cut, Screenings, and Finishing. Discussed therein are also passages that outline pre-production, the first day on the job, temp sound and VFX work, and turnovers as well as wrap and archiving.Special features include detailed screenshots, advanced tips for interacting with Avid Media Composer (the industry standard for Non-Linear Digital Editing), editorial-specific use cases for automation using FileMaker Pro, and best practices regarding every aspect of the job.This book is an intermediate resource for prospective and current assistant editors in the modern film and television editorial department.
This Thing of Darkness
Sergei Eisenstein's unfinished masterpiece, Ivan the Terrible, was no ordinary movie. Commissioned by Joseph Stalin in 1941 to justify state terror in the sixteenth century and in the twentieth, the film's politics, style, and epic scope aroused controversy even before it was released. In This Thing of Darkness, Joan Neuberger offers a sweeping account of the conception, making, and reception of Ivan the Terrible that weaves together Eisenstein's expansive thinking and experimental practice with a groundbreaking new view of artistic production under Stalin. Drawing on Eisenstein's unpublished production notebooks, diaries, and manuscripts, Neuberger's riveting narrative chronicles Eisenstein's personal, creative, and political challenges and reveals the ways cinematic invention, artistic theory, political critique, and historical and psychological analysis went hand in hand in this famously complex film.Neuberger's bold arguments and daring insights into every aspect of Eisenstein's work during this period, together with her ability to lucidly connect his wide-ranging late theory with his work on Ivan, show the director exploiting the institutions of Soviet artistic production not only to expose the cruelties of Stalin and his circle but to challenge the fundamental principles of Soviet ideology itself. Ivan the Terrible, she argues, shows us one of the world's greatest filmmakers and one of the twentieth century's greatest artists observing the world around him and experimenting with every element of film art to explore the psychology of political ambition, uncover the history of recurring cycles of violence and lay bare the tragedy of absolute power.
The Passion of Pedro Almod籀var
The films of Pedro Almod籀var teem with characters who at once are and are not alter egos of the director. In film after film, the Spanish auteur mines his past for alternative selves, telling and retelling formative stories from his own life, plumbing the depths of his memory while exploring other lives he might have led. What can Almod籀var's work tell us about the quest for self-knowledge--for understanding who we are and who we might yet become? James Miller considers seven of Almod籀var's most personal films, arguing that together they offer a revealing self-portrait of the director and his search for meaning. Beginning with Volver, Miller traces Almod籀var's signature obsessions backward and forward through the director's filmography. Deeply shaped by the counterculture of the 1960s--which arrived belatedly in Franco's Spain--Almod籀var has long been fascinated by the exhilarating power and devastating limitations of artistic and sexual transgression. In rich readings, Miller shows how Almod籀var tests the blurry line between fiction and reality, the bounds of individual freedom, and the durability of a sense of self. In so doing, the director turns cinema into a form of philosophical investigation and self-exploration. A keenly observed, masterfully written portrait of one of world cinema's greatest creative forces, The Passion of Pedro Almod籀var finds in film new ways to tell the story of a life.
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder in Film and Media
This book expounds how post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) became so ubiquitous. The relationships between trauma, memory, and media, including the cultural, psychological, and social dimensions of PTSD are analysed. This work provides an examination of PTSD across diverse cultural contexts, shedding light on its profound impact on human experience and societal structures. This work addresses the role of social media internationally, the pornography industry, and conspiracy theories, in perpetuating trauma and shaping societal attitudes. From feature films, including Apocalypse Now, The Deer Hunter, and Jacob's Ladder, to hit television shows such as the BBC's Bodyguard, visual cultures have been instrumental in popularizing an understanding of PTSD. Often these are traditional "triumph over adversity" narratives. In others what is relevant is the wider postwar political landscape. Controversial wars have led to mental health problems for returning soldiers, depicted as part of a metaphoric wound for a nation. At its heart, America is concerned with the survival of the fittest, a Social Darwinist creed fused with manifest destiny and turbo capitalism. Any weaknesses, such as mental problems including PTSD, contradicted and challenged the essence of the pioneering American spirit. A book on PTSD at this moment is necessary, as the subject has become popularized and politicized, just as "madness" became a term to define an era. Through advocating for interdisciplinary approaches to foster healthier perspectives and support, here we come to a deeper understanding of how digital cultures have impacted the politics of time and memory.
The Live-Action Animated Film
Since cinema's beginning, live actors and cartoon characters have traded places and invaded each other's spaces, with real people getting animated and animated character getting real. The Live-Action Animated Film looks at the long history of movies that combine live action with 2D, stop-motion, and 3D animation to hallucinogenic effect. This survey suggests that the experimental and idiosyncratic mixed pics of the twentieth century set the template for the mainstream blockbusters of the twenty-first. Covering everything from Technicolor musicals and creature features to contemporary remakes and reboots, The Live-Action Animated Film brings this significant, boundary-blurring genre into sharper focus. In retrospect, the introduction of cartoons into live action looks as central to film history as the coming of sound or color.
The Attractions of the Moving Image
An essential collection of new and selected essays by influential cinema and media studies scholar Tom Gunning. Tom Gunning is the author of multiple books and nearly two hundred essays that have defined the field of cinema and media studies. His works have transformed our understanding of early cinema and the American avant-garde and reset the terms of many central debates in film and media history and theory. His 1986 essay "The Cinema of Attractions" is among the most cited essays on film ever published. Gunning's writings articulate a distinctive and powerful model for thinking about cinema's history and likely future, addressing the full range of moving-image media, from film to still photography to digital media. His discussions draw on stage melodrama and magic lantern shows, as well as criminology, world's fairs, and Spiritualism, surveying the medium as a cultural phenomenon informed by the industrial and information ages, psychiatry, urban experience, discourses on art and aesthetics, and more. This collection brings together twenty-six essays that showcase the depth and range of Gunning's scholarship, including four that have never before been published. Together, they solidify Gunning's place as a scholar who has transformed the way generations of scholars, archivists, critics, and artists think about cinema.
New Directions in Israeli Media
A comprehensive analysis of the major trends and developments in contemporary Israeli media. In the twenty-first century, Israeli filmmaking has transformed from a localized industry into a globally recognized and diverse national cinema, its filmmakers gaining prominence internationally and introducing new themes, aesthetics, and voices to the scene. At the same time, Israeli television shows have emerged as a dominant force, propelled by the spread of streaming. Through the rise of online content creation and consumption, especially in the 2010s, new voices have revolutionized the creative landscape. With Israel's position at the cutting edge of technology and virtual platforms, Israeli media has seen a boom, winning prizes at international film festivals and adapting shows like Euphoria, Homeland, and Fauda for wider audiences. In New Directions in Israeli Media, thirteen contributors detail the shifting dynamics of Israeli cinema, television, and online content in the digital age, exploring how globalization, technological advances, and changing audience preferences are reshaping creative industries. Editors Yaron Peleg, Eran Kaplan, and Ido Rosen have assembled a volume that prompts critical reflection on the intersection of art, technology, and culture in a rapidly changing media landscape.
Unstaged Grief
Often dismissed as escapism, screen musicals of the 1960s in fact tapped into unspoken sadness about an America that was slipping away. Jake Johnson delves into film and television musicals of the era to examine their place in networks of grieving in America, for America, and about America. The Golden Age of musical theater ended just as Elisabeth K羹bler-Ross's On Death and Dying debuted, and Johnson uses K羹bler-Ross's five stages to frame the intertwining of musicals and grief. He analyzes films like Seven Brides for Seven Brothers and State Fair alongside paintings, poetry, and other images and texts to reveal how the musical theater engine built in the first half of the century broke down just as a new language emerged to describe the melancholy felt by people facing the end of the world they had known. Nuanced and original, Unstaged Grief plumbs the grief, loss, and hope behind the Technicolor spectacle and rousing showstoppers.
Toward a More Perfect Rebellion
Toward a More Perfect Rebellion tells the riveting story of the socially engaged filmmakers of color who studied in the Ethno-Communications Program at the University of California, Los Angeles, between 1969 and 1973. While the program is best known for training the trailblazing group of Black directors known as the L.A. Rebellion, this book also includes the radical Asian American, Chicana/o, and Native American filmmakers who collaborated alongside their Black classmates to create one of the most expansive and groundbreaking bodies of work of any US university cohort. Through extensive interviews with the filmmakers and cross-racial analysis of their collective filmography, Josslyn Jeanine Luckett sheds light on a largely untold history of media activists working outside Hollywood yet firmly rooted in Los Angeles, aiming their cameras with urgency and tenderness to capture their communities' stories of power, struggle, and improvisational brilliance.
The Attractions of the Moving Image
An essential collection of new and selected essays by influential cinema and media studies scholar Tom Gunning. Tom Gunning is the author of multiple books and nearly two hundred essays that have defined the field of cinema and media studies. His works have transformed our understanding of early cinema and the American avant-garde and reset the terms of many central debates in film and media history and theory. His 1986 essay "The Cinema of Attractions" is among the most cited essays on film ever published. Gunning's writings articulate a distinctive and powerful model for thinking about cinema's history and likely future, addressing the full range of moving-image media, from film to still photography to digital media. His discussions draw on stage melodrama and magic lantern shows, as well as criminology, world's fairs, and Spiritualism, surveying the medium as a cultural phenomenon informed by the industrial and information ages, psychiatry, urban experience, discourses on art and aesthetics, and more. This collection brings together twenty-six essays that showcase the depth and range of Gunning's scholarship, including four that have never before been published. Together, they solidify Gunning's place as a scholar who has transformed the way generations of scholars, archivists, critics, and artists think about cinema.
Double Crossed
Despite Hollywood's recent efforts to appeal to more racially diverse audiences, mainstream movies routinely present a limited view of non-Whites generally, and Black women specifically, in stark contrast to the broadly developed spectrum of White characters. Black women characters are frequently rendered invisible, and even in films featuring their image, Black women characters too often fall prey to historically stereotypical patterns. These consistently marginalized Black female images serve to reflect and reinforce messages of racial imbalance distributed worldwide. In Double Crossed: Black Female Intersectionality in Hollywood, author Frederick W. Gooding Jr. chronicles the Black female experience through the lens of Hollywood. Gooding begins by contextualizing the origins of early Black female imagery on screen, largely restricted to the domestic mammy figure, then traces how these images have shifted over time. Through close readings of such films as Gone with the Wind, Bringing Down the House, The Princess and the Frog, and The Help, as well as case studies looking at Oprah Winfrey and Shonda Rhimes, Gooding considers not only the image the Black woman creates, but also the shadow she casts. This volume demonstrates the historical, economic, and social consequences of Hollywood's distorted representation of Black women on screen and in real life.
Double Crossed
Despite Hollywood's recent efforts to appeal to more racially diverse audiences, mainstream movies routinely present a limited view of non-Whites generally, and Black women specifically, in stark contrast to the broadly developed spectrum of White characters. Black women characters are frequently rendered invisible, and even in films featuring their image, Black women characters too often fall prey to historically stereotypical patterns. These consistently marginalized Black female images serve to reflect and reinforce messages of racial imbalance distributed worldwide. In Double Crossed: Black Female Intersectionality in Hollywood, author Frederick W. Gooding Jr. chronicles the Black female experience through the lens of Hollywood. Gooding begins by contextualizing the origins of early Black female imagery on screen, largely restricted to the domestic mammy figure, then traces how these images have shifted over time. Through close readings of such films as Gone with the Wind, Bringing Down the House, The Princess and the Frog, and The Help, as well as case studies looking at Oprah Winfrey and Shonda Rhimes, Gooding considers not only the image the Black woman creates, but also the shadow she casts. This volume demonstrates the historical, economic, and social consequences of Hollywood's distorted representation of Black women on screen and in real life.
Cinemal
A foray through the wilds where experimental films and animals collide Like the flash of a tropical bird's iridescent wing, cinema can be furtive and intensely beautiful--and it can leave a viewer craving more. Cinemal is Tessa Laird's passionate inquiry into the ways that films mimic the majesty, mystery, and movements of animals, her field notes from countless hair-raising encounters with films in their natural habitat. Part of a growing focus on nonhuman animals in film, Cinemal ventures to the "furry underbelly" of global experimental film practice, focusing on films from New Zealand, Australia, and South America. Laird examines how animals are depicted in film and analyzes the various animal qualities of cinema, like scratching and sniffing, vibrant colors, and voices (barking, howling, or echolocation). Burrowing into the work of filmmakers such as Arthur and Corinne Cantrill, Sriwhana Spong, and Ana Vaz, Laird's energetic prose embodies the films she discusses, seamlessly combining personal anecdotes with art theory and philosophy to spread a wide sensory buffet. Lively and optimistic, Laird uses cinematic animal tropes to encourage readers to rethink what it means to be human. She argues that, in a time of ecological collapse, such an impulse is a necessary means of imagining other, healthier ways of being in this world. Connecting us with the more-than-human, Cinemal lures us toward the beastly becomings of film and, ultimately, our own animal natures. Retail e-book files for this title are screen-reader friendly.
Cinemal
A foray through the wilds where experimental films and animals collide Like the flash of a tropical bird's iridescent wing, cinema can be furtive and intensely beautiful--and it can leave a viewer craving more. Cinemal is Tessa Laird's passionate inquiry into the ways that films mimic the majesty, mystery, and movements of animals, her field notes from countless hair-raising encounters with films in their natural habitat. Part of a growing focus on nonhuman animals in film, Cinemal ventures to the "furry underbelly" of global experimental film practice, focusing on films from New Zealand, Australia, and South America. Laird examines how animals are depicted in film and analyzes the various animal qualities of cinema, like scratching and sniffing, vibrant colors, and voices (barking, howling, or echolocation). Burrowing into the work of filmmakers such as Arthur and Corinne Cantrill, Sriwhana Spong, and Ana Vaz, Laird's energetic prose embodies the films she discusses, seamlessly combining personal anecdotes with art theory and philosophy to spread a wide sensory buffet. Lively and optimistic, Laird uses cinematic animal tropes to encourage readers to rethink what it means to be human. She argues that, in a time of ecological collapse, such an impulse is a necessary means of imagining other, healthier ways of being in this world. Connecting us with the more-than-human, Cinemal lures us toward the beastly becomings of film and, ultimately, our own animal natures. Retail e-book files for this title are screen-reader friendly.
Transnational Cinema Solidarity
After the 1973 coup that put an end to the socialist government of Salvador Allende, most Chilean filmmakers went into exile. Dispersed all over the world, they made more than two hundred fiction films, documentaries, animations, videos, and works for television. Jos矇 Miguel Palacios builds upon extensive archival research to trace a transnational history of this radical cinema, beginning with its emergence out of global solidarity networks in the 1970s. Chronicling the dangerous efforts to smuggle film reels out of Chile, the discourses of political cinema these films inspired as they traveled between film festivals, and the prints' unfinished process of return to Chilean archives and museums over the past two decades, Transnational Cinema Solidarity offers a politicized understanding of world and transnational cinema that emphasizes geopolitical relations and cinematic alliances based on solidarity.
#MeToo TV
The #MeToo movement has heightened awareness about the prevalence of sexual violence across professional, public, and private spheres. Since the movement began, many individuals have bravely stepped forward to share their experiences within media industries that historically protected predators while silencing survivors. Television and streaming content also conveys messages about gender, sex, consent, and power that influences public consciousness. These portrayals of sexual violence warrant re-examination from the perspective of the #MeToo movement. This essay collection explores sexual violence within television and streaming media, building on the previous work, Screening #MeToo: Rape Culture in Hollywood (SUNY Press 2022). The current anthology features essays covering a diverse range of genres--from documentary and true crime to drama and comedy--across various platforms, including network television and streaming services. The contributing authors analyze representational tropes through an intersectional perspective and examine how trauma, memory, romance, and fantasy intersect the narratives presented. Prompting further exploration from readers, these perspectives serve as a foundation for discussing rape culture in American television and streaming.
Holding Television Accountable
This work discusses the impact of television show audience participation and expectations in the age of social media through reception theory, content analysis, and primary research on social media platforms. It explores how audience reception can influence creative decisions and initiatives, such as "cancel culture" and diversity efforts, by thoroughly and critically analyzing shows like Girls, The 100, Big Brother, and Southern Charm to illustrate this phenomenon. Various types of television are examined, including reality TV, network and cable TV, and streaming TV, to explore the influence of audience reception on creative ownership and accountability, thus demonstrating the power of social media in the hands of viewers.
Transnational Cinema Solidarity
After the 1973 coup that put an end to the socialist government of Salvador Allende, most Chilean filmmakers went into exile. Dispersed all over the world, they made more than two hundred fiction films, documentaries, animations, videos, and works for television. Jos矇 Miguel Palacios builds upon extensive archival research to trace a transnational history of this radical cinema, beginning with its emergence out of global solidarity networks in the 1970s. Chronicling the dangerous efforts to smuggle film reels out of Chile, the discourses of political cinema these films inspired as they traveled between film festivals, and the prints' unfinished process of return to Chilean archives and museums over the past two decades, Transnational Cinema Solidarity offers a politicized understanding of world and transnational cinema that emphasizes geopolitical relations and cinematic alliances based on solidarity.
The Cognitive Impact of Contemporary Television Series
Television serial fiction is one of the most popular cultural products around the world today, and there is much indirect evidence that its stories influence the understanding of those who watch and enjoy it. All the chapters gathered in this collection address the idea that the specific aesthetic and narrative properties of television seriality contribute to distinct ways of conveying cognitive impact in a broad sense: from content learning, to reflection on social and philosophical issues, to character engagement and emotional reactions. The Cognitive Impact of Contemporary Television Series goes through some of the thematic constants of the last decade of television seriality, such as dystopia, coming-of-age or metaphysical drama, making panoramic views and delving into specific case studies, like The Purge, The End of the F***ing World and Undone, among many others. This book will be of interest to graduate students and scholars working in television studies, as well as in film studies, cognitive media theory, media psychology, and aesthetics.
The Cognitive Impact of Contemporary Television Series
Television serial fiction is one of the most popular cultural products around the world today, and there is much indirect evidence that its stories influence the understanding of those who watch and enjoy it. All the chapters gathered in this collection address the idea that the specific aesthetic and narrative properties of television seriality contribute to distinct ways of conveying cognitive impact in a broad sense: from content learning, to reflection on social and philosophical issues, to character engagement and emotional reactions. The Cognitive Impact of Contemporary Television Series goes through some of the thematic constants of the last decade of television seriality, such as dystopia, coming-of-age or metaphysical drama, making panoramic views and delving into specific case studies, like The Purge, The End of the F***ing World and Undone, among many others. This book will be of interest to graduate students and scholars working in television studies, as well as in film studies, cognitive media theory, media psychology, and aesthetics.
Financing the British Film Industry
Financing the British Film Industry provides a comprehensive history of the financing of British film production from the origin of the industry until the end of the Second World War. It documents the growth of the film business from a cottage industry to a mature business enterprise. It considers the capitalisation of the industry and analyses the relationships between producers, banks and insurance companies. It charts the fluctuating fortunes of British film-making and the various government-backed initiatives support the production sector. James Chapman argues that the difficulties of the British film industry arose not from the extravagances of individual producers or the collapse of particular companies but from underlying economic and structural weaknesses: that the industry was too reliant on short-term finance and that the domestic market was insufficient to guarantee a profitable return for anything other than a modestly-budgeted film
Women's New Cinema in Contemporary Turkey
For the first time in the history of cinema, Turkey witnesses a generation of female directors who occupy their own space within the New Cinema Movement. They claim an authority of their own and create a distinct cinema. However, recent scholarship on the cinema of Turkey predominantly conceptualises contemporary cinema in relation to the patriarchal discourse of male auteurs and recognises its female directors in a tokenistic manner. This book is the first academic work recognising this historical moment - the flourish of a women's cinema in Turkey which disrupts the dominant discourses and brings another view to look at the post-millennial cinema. This study identifies the new production methodologies used by the contemporary female directors from Turkey in relation to socio-political and cultural dynamics and conceptualises these features under the term, 'Women's New Cinema'. It also undertakes feminist textual exegesis of selected case studies in these directors' work.
Romanian and Chinese Cinemas
Drawing on what used to be the erstwhile internationalist cultural space of Communist Eurasia, the author reads socialist-era and postsocialist films made in Romania and China as promoting a common aesthetics predicated on the miserabilism of Third Cinema. The book argues that, despite indictments that socialist cultures were saturated with the oppressing ideology of socialist realism in the 1950s and various forms of indoctrination thereafter, in practice, film directors had the leverage to tackle social issues even in those works that are deemed today "propagandist." Refusing to endorse contemporary theories that seek to align the Romanian and the Chinese New Waves solely to Western cinematic practices, the author argues that China's fifth and sixth generation films as well as New Romanian Cinema are hugely indebted to socialist-era themes, as well as to the dogmatism of socialist realism. Identifying continuity rather than rupture between the socialist past and the capitalist present, the author seeks to redress an imbalance that contemporary scholars of Romanian and Chinese cinemas oftentimes ignore.
Shaping Film Festivals in a Changing World
This volume is a collective attempt on the part of a community of academics, film festival curators, and archivists to come to terms with practical and intellectual challenges of the pandemic and post-pandemic realities affecting cultures of film festivals. The collection draws contours of critical inquiry orienting current film festival research and practice to explore new directions in archiving and decolonizing practices and big data analysis in the post-Covid-19 context and beyond. The four-part study gathers the voices of academics and practitioners who engage in a dialogue to articulate critical areas for both study and practice of film festivals, and identifies conceptual tools to address them: "Archival Turn," "Decolonizing Film Festival Studies," "Post-Covid-19 and Film Festival Studies" and "Data Visualization and Film Festival Research and Practice."
Cinematic Intermediality
This edited collection proposes new directions for understanding cinematic intermediality, mapping out innovative approaches to film's relationship with some of its most influential artistic predecessors in the fields of performance, sculpture, painting, photography and dance. With essays by leading researchers and practitioners, this book investigates cinema's productive synergies and crossovers with the other arts through a broad range of avant-garde and experimental work. Mapping a trajectory from pre-cinema to the digital era, the book considers the impact of technological materiality on intermedial expression, incorporating both mainstream and experimental practice, world cinema and peripheral cinemas. Bridging the gap between theory and practice, it opens up new pathways for thinking about how intermediality, as both a creative method and an interpretative paradigm, might be explored alongside probing questions of what cinema is, has been and can be.
Capturing Big Ideas for Less in Feature Film
This accessible guide is directed towards filmmakers with restricted resources and shortened schedules who want to ensure their creation of riveting, fresh, and exciting projects. Whether a film is produced under a low or high budget, itemphasizes that a small world coupled with a big idea can serve strong themes, and powerful stories.
Hollywood Haunts the World
The secret history of the world can be decoded through film. In Hollywood Haunts the World: An Investigation into the Cinema of Occulted Taboos, Robert Guffey deconstructs the most powerful taboos of the twentieth century (and the initial decades of the twenty-first century) by analyzing how disturbing and transgressive ideas involving Theosophy, Gnosticism, Freemasonry, Darwinian Evolution, Surrealism, Freudian and Jungian psychology, race relations, paranoia, UFOs, xenophobia, political conspiracies, the JFK assassination, virtual reality, and alternate dimensions have been reflected in films--both American and foreign--throughout the past one hundred years. Popular films and TV shows that fall under Robert Guffey's cutting-edge scrutiny include Guillermo del Toro's Nightmare Alley, Larry Wade Carell's Girl Next, Matt Shakman's WandaVision, Anthony and Joe Russo's Avengers: Infinity War, Scott Derrickson's Dr. Strange, Steven Spielberg's Ready Player One, Jennifer Kent's The Babadook, Christopher Nolan's Inception, Stanley Kubrick's Eyes Wide Shut, Vince Gilligan's Breaking Bad, Oliver Stone's JFK, Mark Frost and David Lynch's Twin Peaks, John Carpenter's They Live, Alan Pakula's The Parallax View, John Frankenheimer's The Manchurian Candidate, Jack Arnold's It Came from Outer Space, Edgar G. Ulmer's The Man from Planet X, Robert Florey's Murders in the Rue Morgue, Buster Keaton's Sherlock Jr., and Victor Sj繹str繹m's The Phantom Carriage.
Disney/Pixar the Art of Elio
This stunning book showcases the art, behind-the-scenes details, and making of the Disney and Pixar animated film Elio The next in the fan-favorite, collectible Disney and Pixar Art of series, The Art of Elio presents the story behind the out-of-this-world film from Pixar Animation Studios. Adventure across the galaxy with alien-obsessed Elio in this essential story of connection, friendship, and searching for your place in the world, or in this case, universe. This book highlights the stunning artwork from the film's creation--including character designs, storyboards, color scripts, and much more--and features exclusive interviews with the creative team along with behind-the-scenes details. This book is the perfect gift for aspiring artists, animators, film buffs, and fans. (c) 2025 Disney Enterprises, Inc. and Pixar. All rights reserved. EXCLUSIVE LOOK AT ANIMATION FILMMAKING: Fans will want to delve into and explore this Pixar Animation film through production art, stories, and making-of details exclusive to this book. PART OF THE FAN-FAVORITE SERIES: The collectible Art of series is perfect for animation enthusiasts, filmmakers, students, and fans of Disney and Pixar. Add The Art of Elio to the shelf with other bestselling books like The Art of Elemental, The Art of Turning Red, and The Art of Soul. Perfect for: Animators and animation students Disney fans of all ages Cinephiles and movie buffs Pop culture enthusiasts and historians Families that love watching Disney and Pixar films together Fans of sci-fi books and movies People interested in aliens, extraterrestrials, space, and space travel
The Harry O Viewing Companion
In the golden era of 1970s TV detective shows, Harry O stood out. David Janssen, already renowned for his role in The Fugitive, played Harry Orwell, a San Diego cop who retired after being shot in the back. The chemistry between Janssen and Anthony Zerbe, who delivered an Emmy-Award winning performance as Lt. K.C. Trench, captivated viewers and contributed to the show's popularity. While Harry O was largely character-driven, it also featured compelling plots that retained the show's audience throughout its two seasons. This viewing companion to Harry O covers all episodes, providing information about cast, crew, and locations along with story analysis. Informed by archival material, including series' creator Howard Rodman's papers, it also features new interviews conducted by the authors, providing insight into the creation of the series. From the filming of the pilot episodes in 1972 to the show's cancellation in 1976, the book offers a comprehensive history of each step in the show's development.
