Film Art: An Introduction with Tutorial CD-ROM
Average customer rating: 5 out of 5 stars
  • Excellent!
 Film Art: An Introduction with Tutorial CD-ROM
David Bordwell , and Kristin Thompson
Manufacturer: McGraw-Hill Humanities/Social Sciences/Languages
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0073310271

Book Description

Film is an art form with a language and an aesthetic all its own. Since 1979, David Bordwell's and Kristin Thompson's Film Art has been the best-selling and widely respected introduction to the analysis of cinema. While it continues to provide the best introduction to the fundamentals of serious film study, the eighth edition has been revised be more classroom friendly by introducing film techniques earlier in the text, followed by the chapters on Film Genres. Supported by a text-specific Tutorial CD-ROM with video clips, Film Art is automatically packaged with this outstanding student learning tool.

Customer Reviews:

5 out of 5 stars Excellent!.......2007-09-29

I purchased this book for a college course I'm taking. The book came promptly and in excellent condition. Would definitely recommend...
Looking at Movies: An Introduction to Film
Average customer rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • ontime and in good shape
  • Easily worth a look
  • a very good and comprehensive introductory book
 Looking at Movies: An Introduction to Film
Richard M. Barsam
Manufacturer: W. W. Norton & Company
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0393974367

Book Description

Shaped by Richard Barsam's more than twenty years of classroom experience, Looking at Movies uses students' natural enthusiasm for the subject as a foundation for going beyond enjoyment toward intelligent, analytical understanding of movies. Professor Barsam's clear writing, thorough presentation of fundamental film principles, and unique pedagogical additions to the traditional introductory text—including an entire chapter devoted to analytical writing—ensure that students approach screenings and writing assignments equipped with the analytical tools necessary to be active, insightful interpreters of movies. Looking at Movies is accompanied by two outstanding multimedia resources, the Student website and CD-ROM, both of which are integrated directly with the text.

Customer Reviews:

4 out of 5 stars ontime and in good shape.......2007-01-10

It was in good shape, and I received it ontime.

4 out of 5 stars Easily worth a look.......2004-01-03

Barsam's is a welcome addition to the field of introductory film texts, superior in many respects to similar entries (Giannatti, Phillips, etc.). The style is reader-friendly but in no way condescending; the examples are generous and representative of classic as well as current developments; the coverage is comprehensive. Indeed, with the accompanying CD-Rom and Website, the text is a virtual encyclopedia of information about the cinema, thereby justifying its slightly higher price. Moreover, this is the first text that begins to realize many of the media-specific qualities of the subject it attempts to illuminate.

This is a first edition, and understandably there are problems, some admittedly attributable to individual preferences. A few things I've noticed:

1. The website can be "buggy," at least to a Macintosh operating system. Numerous "Java Script" messages are appearing along with failures to play visual and audio files. Even with the misfires, the website is the most impressive I've ever used in conjunction with a text. Because of it, an instructor need have no apologies about using a text that includes discussions of numerous films unknown to students and impossible to screen in class.

2. The accompanying VCD contains valuable film examples but unfortunately doesn't include any clips from "Citizen Kane." I would hope that a future edition includes a DVD with Kane and other useful illustrative and instructive materials. Website information and quizzes often have too many technical glitches to make them effective time-savers for a teacher, who now must solve each student's difficulties with the website (the required 8-digit password doesn't help).

3. Barsam uses much personal and arbitrary descriptive language that subsequently becomes "reified" in the quizzes about the components of film. As a result, the quiz becomes as much about remembering the specific language of the author and textbook as about the properties of a filmic element (equally true of the book's competitors).

4. The order of topics will not appeal to every instructor. For example, the most basic element of film--the shot--isn't addressed until the discussion of photography in Chapter 4. Also, the attention to previously marginalized films and filmmakers can be quite uneven. African-American issues receive considerable space in several chapters in the book and on the website whereas feminist issues receive a couple of paragraphs. Moreover, there is very little consideration of "auteurism," the enabling and prevailing approach of academic cinema studies.

5. The author's lack of experience with literary and composition issues is frequently apparent, though to the book's credit ample space is given to student writing. Still, the treatment of point of view in cinema becomes problematic, especially when the author refers to the camera's perspective as "omniscient." Also, the inclusion of an exemplary student essay, while extremely welcome, represents an unfortunate choice, in my opinion, since the essay is somewhat sophomoric, exhibits clumsy writing and omits a thesis(!).

All in all, a promising production by Barsam and Norton. I look forward to giving it a test drive.

5 out of 5 stars a very good and comprehensive introductory book.......2003-09-18

Just got this book and found it to be very well structured, with a comprehensive yet easy to understand language that made the material very compelling. It comes with a cd rom with film clips and it also offers website interactivity that supports and expands on the material covered by the book. The layout is very sleek and although a bit pricey ($ 70), this is what college textbooks go for now, so even at this price this book compares more than favorably to what's out there.
Introduction to Documentary:
Average customer rating: 1 out of 5 stars
  • Bad Introduction
 Introduction to Documentary:
Bill Nichols
Manufacturer: Indiana University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0253214696

Book Description

" . . . this engaging, thoughtful, accessible, and comprehensive work will stimulate many." -- Choice

Noted film scholar Bill Nichols provides a one-of-a-kind overview of the most important topics and issues in documentary history and criticism. Designed for students in any field that makes use of visual evidence and persuasive strategies, from the law to anthropology, and from history to journalism, this book spells out the issues and concepts that characterize documentary film and video production and provides the foundational key to further explorations in this exceptionally vital area of filmmaking today.

Customer Reviews:

1 out of 5 stars Bad Introduction.......2006-06-19

How to take seriously a comparatively recent book that first claims that all films are documentaries and than goes on to explain how there are various kinds of documentaries (some of which are obviously not documentaries at all)? Naturally, the terminology in film studies is not very well systematized, but there is no need to forget the work done in this field so far - this contemporary book, in a sense, seems to have been written immediately after classical (but somewhat dated) writings of John Grierson and Andre Bazin! A great deal of Grierson's and Bazin's writing is still interesting, much of it still holds water, but this is a diluted and clumsily combined version of their respective approaches.
"Reality" is a dangerous concept if we don't explain or define it, so is "realism" and of course, in this book particularly, so is the "documentary".
After the start that confuses the issues, some lucid observations and potentially explanatory examples lead nowhere and promote confusion. It's a pity.
Looking Awry: An Introduction to Jacques Lacan through Popular Culture (October Books)
Average customer rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • Lacanian heresy inside! Beware of being tainted!
  • Perfect - if that's what you want.
  • This book is great; those below who don't like it are clowns
  • Titling awry
  • Looking Awry This Book
 Looking Awry: An Introduction to Jacques Lacan through Popular Culture (October Books)
Slavoj Zizek
Manufacturer: The MIT Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 026274015X

Book Description

Slavoj Zizek, a leading intellectual in the new social movements in Eastern Europe, provides a virtuoso reading of the psychoanalytic theory of Jacques Lacan through the works of contemporary popular culture, from horror fiction and detective thrillers to popular romances and Hitchcock films.

Slavoj Zizek is a Researcher in the Institute of Sociology at the University of Ljubljana, Slovenia. He ran as a proreform candidate for the presidency of the republic of Slovenia, then part of Yugoslavia, in 1990.

Customer Reviews:

5 out of 5 stars Lacanian heresy inside! Beware of being tainted!.......2004-10-05

I am struck by the negative reviews that caution readers: "Zizek is not an orthodox Lacanian! Read him only if you have already understood Lacan!" This is, of course, the typically cultish--really Catholic--approach to Lacan that treats him as a holy text, pre-supposes a series of high priests who have been properly anoited and through whom one must receive the officially sanctioned interpretation. I don't read Zizek for Lacan--I read him for Zizek, and I encourage others to do likewise. *Looking Awry* and *Enjoy Your Symptom* are prehaps the easiest approaches to Zizek and his brand of cultural criticism, as they rely almost entirely on popular culture, especially film. Zizek's perverse (and often dirty) sense of humor and tendency to read against the grain at all costs are apparent on nearly every page, which makes this a very engaging read, indeed. Intellectually, there are some problems with his approach, of course--but Zizek's voice is such a refreshing change of pace, and his constant turn to a reading that you thought was impossible (but turns out to be preversely appealing) makes them all worthwhile.

5 out of 5 stars Perfect - if that's what you want........2004-05-15

That's what I wanted, at least: An illustration of the key Lacanian concepts. What Zizek'bokk gives you, in fact, is the key to reading Lacan.

Lacan's seminar is an unreadable text - if that's your first/second/third etc. time. Lacan, you see, does not make conclusions. To illustrate that:
- You are writing a paper on, let's say, "Gaze". You would like to know what's Lacan's take on gaze. You open "On Gaze as Object a" chapter from "Four Fundamentals".
- you read a paragraph. You do not quite understand what you have read.
- you read the following paragraph. Now, understanding this one is even more difficult, because Lacan is assuming that you have fully understood the previous one. Ok, third paragragh ... Should I continue?
- You either think that this book is non-sense or that you are stupid. Both conclusions are wrong.

As soon as you get the background - Lacan's non-sense makes perfect sense. Zizek give this background in a highly entertaining manner (his writing is a jewel - keeps you thinking "If only I could write like that!"). I am currently doing a PhD in literature, and I have to go through plenty of academic rubbish - dry and actually, useless critical books, that make use of Lacan, Foucault and others to get published and never be read. Zizec is a breath of fresh air.

Please believe me - do not give up on Lacan, do not call him bad names, (like "idiotic nonsense, nobody ever understood him, they were all pretending to understand him because they were afraid to look stupid in the 60s") - before you read Zizec.

5 out of 5 stars This book is great; those below who don't like it are clowns.......2002-09-22

Jacques Lacan's theories are completely, utterly undecipherable. The only way to begin to understand the fundamentals of psychoanalytic theory is to read somebody else writing on Lacan. And thank God Zizek does that for us. To understand Lacan, I've always had to turn to film theory critism--Laura Mulvey--but none of that ever goes beyond theories of the gaze, neglecting to dispell the mystery around some of the most basic concepts of Lacan. Zizek rolls through these various terms and ideas, always providing an exemplification of the idea in popular culture, usually in Hitchcock or within Sci-Fi genres, and then a clear-to-understand definition. So if you're confused as to what desire, drive, lack, objet a, other, Other, the Real, or the Thing are in terms of Lacanian jargon, this might be your book.

4 out of 5 stars Titling awry.......2001-07-08

This book is very interesting but I think it would have been better to call it "An Introduction to Popular Culture trhough Jaques Lacan". This would be a proper title because Zizek dedicates more space to tell us what some products of popular culture are about (i.e. Stephen King's novel "Pet Sematary"; Robert Sheckley's short story "The Store of the Worlds") than to explain, or even outline, the theories of Jaques Lacan. This in itself is not a critique, I just want to say that the title can be misleading. You will not find here an explanation or an introduction to Lacan, but rather a Lacanian reading or interpretation of some products of popular culture (novels, short stories and films.) If you are looking for an easy or brief rendering of Lacan, this book will not be of much help. Moreover, I would say that the readers who will profit the most are those who are already familiar with, or at least know something about, Lacanian thought. This said, I think that Zizek's Lacanian reading of popular works is very good in some cases, and somewhat poor in others. For example, he recalls the novel "Pet Sematary" but he explains almost nothing about it. The good cases, however, make it worth the effort to read the book (Zizek's writing is complicated, but so is Lacan's), and even if you do not agree with some of his points, they are still useful to encourage thought and discussion. If you are interested in the study of popular culture, the interpretation of film and literature, or in the application of Lacanian theory to social analysis, this book will certainly be of use.

3 out of 5 stars Looking Awry This Book.......2000-06-01

This book consists of three parts each of which treats so wide range of topics that there seems to be no logical consistency except Lacanian theory. In the first part, Zizek applys Lacanian theory on reality to various topics such as Zenofs paradox, Shakespearefs gHamleth, Stephen Kingfs gPet Semataryh, and Steven Spielbergfs gEmpire of the Sunh. Then, the second part focuses on Hitchcockfs works and the third part discusses gFantasy, Bureaucracy, Democracyh, however, both parts treat various works in popular culture, too. Actually, Zizek treats Lacanian theory on reality in the first part, on psychoanalysis in the second part, and on gthe Imaginary, the Symbolic, and the Realh in the third part, and the third part arranges the preceding parts. But I feel that this book is about how to analyze popular culture rather than about Lacan. As an introduction to Jacques Lacan, I think this book is too difficult. However, this bookfs style which does not have a logical consistency like an ordinary thesis might be more easy to know Lacanian theory than compactly explaining book with many diagrams.
Film History: An Introduction
Average customer rating: 5 out of 5 stars
  • The best single-volume book on film history
  • comparison
  • Comprehensive, nicely packaged
  • Just great
 Film History: An Introduction
Kristin Thompson , and David Bordwell
Manufacturer: McGraw-Hill Humanities/Social Sciences/Languages
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0070384290

Book Description

Written by two leading film scholars, Film History: An Introduction is a comprehensive survey of film-from the backlots of Hollywood, across the United States, and around the world. As in the authors' bestselling Film Art, concepts and events are illustrated with actual frame enlargements, giving students more realistic points of reference than competing books that use publicity stills.

Customer Reviews:

5 out of 5 stars The best single-volume book on film history.......2006-05-01

If you are interested in film history on the whole, please, give yourself a treat by purchasing this book. It is not cheap but it is worth every penny. I had it after a course in film history and despite being someone who usually sell or dump away my texts after graduation, I find it very hard to give this one away. Boy, am I glad I did not. As one's scope and experience in world cinema grows, so too does one's interest in this book. Bordwell and Thomas's style is academic but always enthusiastic, and theirs is the most comprehensive account of world cinema in English (pre-war Japanese cinema, anyone?). I have not found another general film book on world cinema history to match, and I will certainly be purchasing its third edition (what I have is the first) if that ever comes by.

5 out of 5 stars comparison.......2006-01-26

here's a short comparison I made between the following 3 film history books:

A History of the Cinema from Its Origins to 1970 (Eric Rhode)
A Short History of the Movies (Gerald Mast)
Film History: An Introduction, (Thompson-Bordwell)

I was looking for a technical/historical overview of the development of cinema, without idiosyncratic criticism and with emphasis on the origins of film techniques, genealogy of influences of filmmakers, relevant references to history, literature and other arts, and impartial accounts of filmmakers' careers.

Instead of a verdict, I will simply quote passages about two greats:

Rhode: [about Fellini] "Fellini's greatest works are inevitably works of laughter and tears. [...] Fellini gets into trouble when he deserts feeling for thought. La Dolce vita (1959) is a sterile thematic exercise [...] In the film's first sequence, a helicopter [...] The film, intellectualy, is over. Christ has been petrified into wood; he is the tool of modern machinery [...] Although the film has nothing more to say, Fellini continues for two hours, contrasting sensual things [...] Juliet of the Spirits [...] suffers from a similar over-schematization."

Mast: [about Antonioni] "Antonioni sometimes has trouble in allowing his images to accrete meaning [...] His failure to generalize experience was to be total in La notte (1960). Lacking any understanding of how writers think and feel, his portrait of the author, [...] is so unconvincing that the spectator may be tempted to think that Giovanni's crisis of conscience is no more than a rationalization of his inability to escape from his wife's purse-strings."

Thompson-Bordwell: [about Antonioni] "From the start of his career Antonioni demonstrated a mastery of deep focus (Fig. 19.30) and the long take with camera movement (pp. 427-429). The early works also pioneered [...] Antonioni's muted dramatization of shallow or paralyzed characters found a sympathetic response in an era that also welcomed Existentialism. [...] Juan Bardem, Miklos Jansco, and Theo Angelopoulos learned from his distinctive style. Francis Ford Coppola's The Conversation (1974) and Brian De Palma's Blow-Out (1981) derive directly from Blow-Up."


nuff said...

5 out of 5 stars Comprehensive, nicely packaged.......2002-02-12

I used this book in a film studies class about four years ago and I kept it because of the wealth of information. For the first time I understood the different epochs of film not only in the U.S. but also around the world. I was introduced to a wider variety of international film and the work of Eisenstein, Renoir, Kurosawa, and others. I highly recommend this book for the concise language, easy explanations, and beautiful black and white and color reproductions from many films. This book is a page turner.

5 out of 5 stars Just great.......1997-02-22

this is one of the most comprensive and clear books on film history. Just great to use it as a main reference book to college student
The Major Film Theories: An Introduction (Galaxy Book ; Gb450)
Average customer rating: 4 out of 5 stars
  • Nice Intro but incomplete
  • Good introduction
  • A bit inaccessible for an introduction
  • Close to perfection! An absolute must read.
  • simple is as simple reads
 The Major Film Theories: An Introduction (Galaxy Book ; Gb450)
J. D. Andrew
Manufacturer: Oxford University Press, USA
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0195019911

Book Description

Both a history of film theory and an introduction to the work of the most important writers in the field, Andrew's volume reveals the bases of thought of such major theorists as Munsterberg, Arnheim, Eisenstein, Balazs, Kracauer, Bazin, Mitry, and Metz.

Customer Reviews:

4 out of 5 stars Nice Intro but incomplete.......2006-03-05

First, the strengths: Andrew gives intelligent summaries and discussion of some major historical film theorists, with chapters on Munsterberg, Arnheim, Eisenstein, Balazs, Kracauer, Bazin, Mitry, Metz, and Ayfre, and Agel. He focuses on the debate between the formalists (who believe film art is defined by its formal properties including editing, framing, mise-en-scene, lighting, and etc.) and the realist tradition (who believe that film art is defined by its basis in photography, a physical impression of its subject). The highlight is undoubtedly Andrew's excellent discussion of the great French critic Andre Bazin, which is not surprising since Andrew's Ph.D thesis was on Bazin. The weaknesses: This was published in 1976, and so it completely ignores the vast body of criticism published since then, especially feminism, and the influence of Lacan and psychoanalytic theory. Still, this is not a bad starting point for students of film theory.

4 out of 5 stars Good introduction.......2006-03-01

Just as the book states, this is an introduction to film theories; and as such it fulfills its promise. The explanations and discussions are almost always clear, at times somewhat rarefied, but overall an authentic book.

3 out of 5 stars A bit inaccessible for an introduction.......2004-01-13

My main issue with this book is that the title ("An Introduction") implies that the book is for anyone with an interest in film theory. However, the author sometimes goes into nearly-impenetrable technical jargon. I would disagree with the assertion that this book is easy to understand.

For instance, from page 57 comes the sentence: "In Piaget's terms, he [Eisenstein] wanted cinema to become or to produce a 'global syncretism of individual transductive inferences.'" And this is supposed to be an introduction? (You may be able to view page 57 through Amazon.com's "Search inside the book" feature.) I found myself re-reading paragraphs a few times to try to comprehend what was being said. I would recommend this book as a good survey of film theory for readers who have already had exposure to film theory and have some background in philosophy, psychology, and linguistics.

Another problem is that the book was published in 1976, so roughly 25% of film theory history is missing. An updated or revised edition is needed. It would be interesting to see if/how the recent Dogme 95 movement fits into film theory history.

This book might be valuable to film students or film geeks who've read other books about film theory, but for the average reader, this isn't the best "introduction" on the subject.

4 out of 5 stars Close to perfection! An absolute must read........2003-07-25

For people interested in the theory and psychology of cinema, this is a great starting point and is a must have in any collection. J. Dudley Andrew breaks down the theories of Mitry, Metz, Arheim, and Bazin, among others, into easy to understand chapters without losing the essense of the theories. This book and the material are both so interesting that this will have you hooked on film theory. Instead of purchasing the individual books by each theorist, Andrew's book is the way to go in more ways than one. It is very easy to understand, which some books on film theory aren't, and he uses great quotes from each of the theorists. Andrew followed this up with "Concepts in Film Theory" which is the opposite of this book. It is much more difficult to understand and follow so beware.

4 out of 5 stars simple is as simple reads.......2002-08-21

A great book, does exactly what it says on the cover, admittedly thirty years or so old, it still grapples sipmly with the theorie's you'd want to be introduced to if you've no idea what you're doing by looking at different theorists' views and counterviews. This book won't tell you what to think, it'll give you a set of arguments and let you decide where you go with it . . . in my humble opinion . . .
On Film-making: An Introduction to the Craft of the Director
Average customer rating: 5 out of 5 stars
  • He changed me
  • Great man, great book.
  • Very, very good
  • How To Make Movies, Good Movies
 On Film-making: An Introduction to the Craft of the Director
Alexander Mackendrick
Manufacturer: Faber & Faber
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0571215610
Release Date: 2005-08-11

Book Description

A priceless examination of the filmmaker's craft, from the renowned director of Sweet Smell of Success

After more than twenty years in the film industry as a screenwriter, storyboard editor, and director of memorable films such as The Ladykillers, Alexander Mackendrick turned his back on Hollywood and began a new career as the Dean of one of the country's most demanding and influential film schools. His absolute devotion to the craft of filmmaking served as a powerful impetus to students at the California Institute for the Arts for almost twenty five years, with a teaching style that included prodigious notes, neatly crafted storyboards, and handouts containing excerpts of works by Kierkegaard, Aristotle, and others. At the core of Mackendrick's lessons lay a deceptively simple goal: to teach aspiring filmmakers how to structure and write the stories they want to tell, while using the devices particular to the medium of film to tell their stories effectively.

In this impressive volume, edited by Paul Cronin, the myriad materials that made Mackendrick's reputation as an instructor are collected for the first time, offering a chance for professionals as well as students to discover a methodology of filmmaking that is challenging yet refreshing in its clarity. Meticulously illustrated and drawing on examples from such classic films as North by Northwest, Citizen Kane, and Touch of Evil, Mackendrick's elegant lessons are sure to provide inspiration for a new generation of filmmakers.

Customer Reviews:

5 out of 5 stars He changed me.......2007-04-14

When Sandy MacKenrick told my CalArts MFA Thesis committee that my thesis film script was, "long, much too long, and very much too long" and, "doomed to never be completed", I was shocked and terrified.

Sandy was one of the most brilliant and irritating people ever to tell a story or to browbeat an egotistical young film student. His films and lectures convey that contradiction -- his every work is a pearl.

If you were not lucky enough to get Sandy's notes while at CalArts, you must buy this book.

Odds are good, you won't have the genius of Sandy MacKendrick, but you will appreciate how much you could grow as you strive to attain what he found so simple.

I was proud to invite Sandy to the first screening of my thesis film, "Pirate's Dagger", and it still hurts that he was too ill to attend. I wouldn't have gotten it done without his special form of encouragement.

5 out of 5 stars Great man, great book........2007-01-12

Too intelligent to be a director, to make compromises in the craft of film making with the studio system of his time, Alexander Mackendrick only left us a glimpse of his own potential in his body of work. He did however pass his vision and passion for creativity onto the next generation in his teaching. In this book his voice is loud and clear, without being dogmatic. It's like having a drink with a friend in a bar and having him sort out all your problems with scripts, actors and life. No director should be without a copy. From the beginner to the established star everybody can find something in this book and all conveyed in the manner both intense and unpatronising that was uniquely his.

5 out of 5 stars Very, very good.......2006-06-29

Unlike most how-to directing and writing books, Mackendrick was an accomplished director with decades of professional experience. He speaks from hard-won experience, not dubious armchair notions of what makes a successful film or director. He is wise enough to know there are no "secrets" or immutable laws of storytelling, only rules of thumb. Every time I go back to it, I learn something new, and with every film I make, I am struck by points in the book which ring ever more true. This book will not make you a great director by reading it, but Mackendrick has the good sense and candor to know that a book or a course never will, only lots and lots of hard work and dedication.

5 out of 5 stars How To Make Movies, Good Movies.......2005-08-19

Shaw said, "Those who can, do; those who can't, teach." In a strange way, Alexander Mackendrick fits both sides of that dictum. "Sandy" Mackendrick was an accomplished film director. After having worked in advertising, he started making films for the British Government during World War II. After the war he wrote scripts and he began directing. For the Ealing Studios, he made _Whiskey Galore!_, _The Man in the White Suit_, and _The Ladykillers_. Then he came to Hollywood, where he made the wonderfully biting _Sweet Smell of Success_. He could direct fine movies, and he did; but then he slipped into the "can't do" category, not for any lack of talent, but because he was not much of a deal-maker, and resented having to negotiate details with the studios. He started teaching, becoming dean of the film school at the California Institute of the Arts in 1969. He continued teaching until his death in 1993, but now filmmakers and audiences can get a glimpse of what he taught, in _On Film-making: An Introduction to the Craft of the Director_ (Faber and Faber). It is a sampling of his lecture handouts, some illustrated by his own sketches, that he delivered to students over the years, and shows the richness of his thinking on the surprising complexities of artistic decisions regarding even simple shoots on tiny films. Those who enjoy movies, but don't know much about how they are made, will be astonished at how many details of technique the director has to consider before anyone yells "Action!" Those who make movies, or want to, could not do better than to study what Mackendrick has to say.

Mackendrick emphatically agrees with Truffaut, who in his interview book with Hitchcock wrote, "Whatever is _said_ instead of being _shown_ is lost on the viewer." (One of Mackendrick's many slogans: "Movies SHOW... and then TELL.") Always, regard to the audience is paramount: "Try to tell the story while always remembering that the audience has somewhere better to go and something better to do." Like a good storyteller, use curiosity, expectation, and suspense to keep them buttonholed. The reader of this book will want to be familiar with certain films to which Mackendrick returns again and again, like _The Third Man_ or _On the Waterfront_, but not all the cinema is fine cinema. In a chapter titled "Plausibility and Willing Suspension of Disbelief," he discusses the sci-fi film _Them!_ which he says is a "piece of nonsense" but shows solid, simple plot mechanisms, and follows the rule that "we are allowed only one major Incredible Thing" (Giant ants are invading!) while "everything else in the story should actually be logical, even over-logical." There is rich advice about dealing with actors. A student who asked, "How does a director get an actor to do what he wants?" took Mackendrick off guard, as he had never asked the question in those terms. It's the wrong question. "You don't," came the eventual answer, "You try to get the actor to want what you need."

Mackendrick knows you can't teach the art and inspiration that directors have to have intuitively, though there is a useful chapter titled "A Technique for Having Ideas." The craft involved in direction, though, has a possibility of being taught, and he has here covered the craft from scriptwriting through editing. I only sit in audiences for films (and the intimidating muster of factors Mackendrick brings up that the director must consider tells me I am in the right spot in front of the screen, not behind the camera), but I have a much better appreciation for what a director does after reading these fine instructions. I also wish that every director now working would simply follow these rules. The principles here, if followed universally, would benefit directors, audiences, and the quality of Hollywood's output, not to mention its bottom line.
Film Art: An Introduction and Film Viewers Guide
Average customer rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars
  • Text is good. The publisher is sloppy!
  • From a film professor
  • I DO recommend this book
  • I do not recommend this book
 Film Art: An Introduction and Film Viewers Guide
David Bordwell , and Kristin Thompson
Manufacturer: McGraw-Hill Humanities/Social Sciences/Langua
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0072878800

Customer Reviews:

3 out of 5 stars Text is good. The publisher is sloppy!.......2004-12-13

I used this text for my Introduction to Film and Film Studies course. It was usually an easy to read and understand text. The main problem that I have with the text itself is the examples used. I highly doubt that introductory students have seen a lot of the films used such as Ozu's "Tokyo Story" and Resnais's "Last Year at Marienbad". The authors might want to consider using examples from films that are a little more widely viewed than Eisenstein's films.

If you're a prof and considering this book, please make sure that what you call a tracking shot actually matches what the textbook says. If you don't, it can create endless confusion.

Also, the publisher of this book really need to go into the text and fix some problems. More than once I was told that an example was on page 000 and there's a section in the mise-en-scene chapter that says that information has been removed and should be put back in. This can be confusing and also makes the book look sloppy.

5 out of 5 stars From a film professor.......2004-08-24

Since an earlier review was from a film professor who trashed this book, I thought it would be a good idea if another film professor stepped forward to defend it. The complaints from the aforementioned film professor are vague -- Film Art is apparently "pretentious" and "full of itself." If my college professors advanced criticisms that were as vague as that, and provided absolutely NO evidence or further explanations of their opinions, I wouldn't have continued my studies. It's pretty sad when a beginning undergraduate film student offers a much more articulate and thorough review of a text than a professor.

In any case, Film Art is an excellent introduction to the study of film, largley because it is NOT pretentious or full of itself. Unlike many theoretical accounts of film, Film Art is set forth in extremely clear language, is painstakingly organized for maximum clarity, is filled with visual examples and evidence from a staggeringly wide variety of films (Hollywood, foreign, documentary, avant-garde, old, new, etc.), and is thoroughly informed by both a mastery of film aesthetics and history, but also a practical knowledge of film production. Though it is not about film production and was not written by fillmmakers, its authors are totally familiar with the practices of film production and, unlike so many film scholars who leave production details to the techies, employ this body of practical knowledge to clarify how films work.

An excellent resource for teachers and students alike!

5 out of 5 stars I DO recommend this book.......2004-08-15

The previous review of this book was by a film professor. This one is by a film STUDENT. This book was required reading for my first film class which was an introduction to film class called: the Language of Film. This book is definitely a great introduction to the art of film. It is not a book about filmmaking. It is a book that introduces with each chapter a new angle from which film can be studied. Everything about film is covered: Film history; genre films; narrative form; the stages of film production, distribution, and exhibition; mise-en-scene; editing and sound in cinema; film criticism; and the future of film. Each section is accompanied by examples and screen captures from popular classic and modern films, and scattered quotations from popular and obscure filmmakers.

The title of this book is a perfect description of what the book is. If you are a beginner, it is perfect for an overview or outline of what film is. If you are an advanced film student, it is great for sharpening your knowledge of film.

With regard to the previous review by the film professor who was afraid that this book would put off his/her students, it would be better for students to know early on what they are getting themselves into. If you are actually turned off after reading this book, you shouldn't go any further with your film studies.

In conclusion, this is a great book that introduces the purely cinematic aspects of film that distinguishes it from every other art form. I highly recommend it.

1 out of 5 stars I do not recommend this book.......2004-07-20

Run, do not walk, away from this book unless you are an advanced film student. If you simply want to learn about film, this book is way too full of itself, in the terms and the verbiage it uses. It's fine for people who know they are going to "study film" for a career, but many students (*most* of *my* students) take a basic film appreciation class as a general education, one time, film class to simply learn "how to talk to other people about film," and to meet their graduation requirements. For that purpose, this book comes off as pretentious, and not at all geared toward a world *outside of* serious film study.

I sometimes think there are professors who choose books like this because they get so involved in being *scholarly* that they've forgotten what it's like to be a student. Or, they can't put themselves in the place of any student other than those whose *life goal* it is to "study" film.

This book is fine for students who have their eye on a career in film, but it's not a good book for beginning students who just want to learn a bit about film to better themselves, and to make themselves more well-rounded. There are other books that cover all the same topics, but do it in a much more straight-forward, real-world manner. "The Art of Watching Films" by Boggs, and "Understanding Movies" by Giannetti come to mind. (I favor Boggs.)
New Documentary: A Critical Introduction
Average customer rating: Not rated
    		New Documentary: A Critical Introduction
    Stella Bruzzi
    Manufacturer: Routledge
    ProductGroup: Book
    Binding: Paperback

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    ASIN: 0415182964

    Book Description

    New Documentary provides a comprehensive account of the last two decades of documentary filmmaking in the US, Britain and Europe. Bruzzi discusses key genres, filmmakers, and issues for the study of non-fiction film and television. Bruzzi discusses the relationship between recent, innovative examples of the genre and the more established canon of documentary. She also explores how issues of gender identity, queer theory, performance, "race" and spectatorship are important to our understanding of contemporary documentary.

    Film Theory: An Introduction
    Average customer rating: Not rated
      		Film Theory: An Introduction
      Robert Stam
      Manufacturer: Blackwell Publishing Limited
      ProductGroup: Book
      Binding: Paperback

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      ASIN: 063120654X

      Book Description

      This book is a lively and provoking introduction to film theory. It is suitable for students from any discipline but is particularly aimed at students studying film and literature as it examines issues common to both subjects such as realism, illusionism, narration, point of view, style, semiotics, psychoanalysis and multiculturalism. It also includes coverage of theorists common to both, Barthes, Lacan and Bakhtin among others. Robert Stam, renowned for his clarity of writing, will also include studies of cinema specialists providing readers with a depth of reference not generally available outside the field of film studies itself. Other material covered includes film adaptations of works of literature and analogies between literary and film criticism.

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