Film Studies: Start Here

How films are conceived,planned, and produced leaves a mark upon the films, directly and structurally. The relations between film style and mode of production are, according to the authors, reciprocal and mutually influencing. The authors trace such topics as style, economics, and technology over time, demonstrating how significant changes occurrred in Hollywood from the earliest days through the sixties.

This best-selling text is a succinct guide to thinking critically and writing precisely about film. Both an introduction to film study and a practical writing guide, this brief text introduces students to film terms and the major film theories, enabling them to write more critically. With numerous student and professional examples along the way, this engaging and practical guide progresses from taking notes and writing first drafts to creating polished essays and comprehensive research projects. Moving from movie reviews to theoretical and critical essays, the text demonstrates how an analysis of a film becomes more subtle and rigorous as part of a compositional process.

Film is an art form with a language and an aesthethic all its own. This edition has been re-designed in colour greatly enhancing the text's visual appeal and overall accessibility to today's students. The text is supported by a CD-ROM with video clips, and text-specific website.

'Understanding Movies' is designed to help students analyse movies with precision and technical sophistication. Its focus is on formalism - how the forms of the film create meaning. It is updated with recent films and personalities for students.