Dark City: The Lost World of Film Noir

Dark City: The Lost World of Film Noir Review

Welcome to Dark City, urban landscape of the imagination. A place where the men and women who created film noir often find themselves dangling from the same sinister heights as the silver-screen avatars to whom they gave life. Eddie Muller, who led readers on a guided tour of the seamier side of motion pictures in Grindhouse: The Forbidden World of 'Adults Only' Cinema, now takes us on a spellbinding trip through treacherous terrain: Hollywood in the post-World War II years, when art, politics, scandal, style--and brilliant craftsmanship--produced a new approach to moviemaking, and a new type of cultural mythology.

 

Dark City is a 1999 Edgar Award Nominee for Best Critical / Biographical Work.

Thin Film

Thin Film Review

Stacy Crown has built his name into one of the most recognizable in the business. He has had a hand in virtually every major housing development in the Chicago region for the past three decades. His business booms, and he takes his growing firm across town into a posh new office. His hopes are high.

Then the great housing bubble bursts. Stacy and his company scramble to cut costs, but it’s to no great effect. Stacy leaves to visit his brother in San Diego to get away from it all. Once there, he discovers the city’s convention center is playing host to a conference on solar power. He loathes the ‘green’ movement, but decides to attend the conference nonetheless.

Back home, Stacy returns to his company to find that another employee has left. He calls an all-staff meeting to share with the others his intent to dissolve the business. But one of his younger employees, one he had dismissed as a hopeless idealist, suggests a new strategy for the company—one that gives light to what Stacy had learned while in San Diego.

Film Art: An Introduction with Tutorial CD-ROM

Film Art: An Introduction with Tutorial CD-ROM Review

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.

Film: An Introduction

Film: An Introduction Review

Film: An Introduction covers the movies students know and the films their instructors want them to know — including the silent classics of D.W. Griffith and Sergei Eisenstein, the Hong Kong cinema of John Woo, the documentaries of Errol Morris and Michael Moore, and the contemporary films of Quentin Tarantino and Peter Jackson. Through meticulous coverage, an unmatched art program with over 500 frame enlargements, accessible language, and unique study tools, Film helps beginning students develop the critical skills they need to analyze films and understand the medium in all its variety.

Halliwell's Who's Who in the Movies: The Only Film Guide That Matters

Halliwell's Who's Who in the Movies: The Only Film Guide That Matters Review

This best-selling encyclopedia is the definitive Who’s Who of cinema, with everything you will ever need to know about major and behind-the-scenes players. It’s packed with biographical profiles of actors and actresses, directors, producers, editors, and other key figures. "Halliwell’s Who’s Who in the Movies" also features filmographies, entries on the major studios and the foreign film industry, a history of the cinema, and information on all the major film awards, including a list of Oscar winners and nominations. Opinionated, witty, and packed with more information than any other film guide, it’s as wonderfully unclassifiable as it is impossible to put down.

Toms, Coons, Mulattoes, Mammies, and Bucks: An Interpretive History of Blacks in American Films

Toms, Coons, Mulattoes, Mammies, and Bucks: An Interpretive History of Blacks in American Films Review

Completely updated to include the entire twentieth century, this new fourth edition covers all the latest directors, stars, and films including Summer of Sam, Jackie Brown, The Best Man, and The Hurricane. From The Birth of a Nation—the groundbreaking work of independent filmmaker Oscar Micheaux—and Gone with the Wind to the latest work by Spike Lee, John Singleton, Denzel Washington, Halle Berry and Will Smith, Donald Bogle reveals the ways in which the depiction of blacks in American movies has changed—and the shocking ways in which it has remained the same.

The Independent Film Producer's Survival Guide: A Business and Legal Sourcebook

The Independent Film Producer's Survival Guide: A Business and Legal Sourcebook Review

In this comprehensive guidebook, three experienced entertainment lawyers tell you everything you need to know to produce and market an independent film—from the development process to deal making, financing, setting up the production, hiring directors and actors, securing location rights, acquiring music, calculating profits, digital moving making, distribution, and marketing your movie. This all-new second edition has been completed updated.

Movies and Meaning: An Introduction to Film (5th Edition)

Movies and Meaning: An Introduction to Film (5th Edition) Review

This comprehensive introduction to the film industry focuses on three topics: how movies express meanings, how viewers understand those meanings, and how cinema functions globally as both an art and a business. Movies and Meaning examines both how filmmakers create images and sounds and the mechanisms and processes by which viewers make sense of images and stories on screen. This approach helps readers understand not only the basic concepts but also how their own reactions and opinions impact the overall film experience.

Photographer's Guide to the Fujifilm FinePix X100

Photographer's Guide to the Fujifilm FinePix X100 Review

This book, a complete guide to the operation and features of the Fujifilm FinePix X100 digital camera, is a follow-up to the earlier guides the author has written for advanced compact digital cameras. The new book explains all operations, features, menus, and controls of the FinePix X100 camera in clear language, providing guidance not only about how to accomplish things with the camera, but when and why to use certain features. The book does not assume any specialized knowledge by the reader, but adopts a patient tone in explaining topics such as autofocus, manual focus, depth of field, aperture priority, shutter priority, HDR (High Dynamic Range) photography, white balance, and macro photography. The book also includes discussions of the special features of the camera, including its hybrid viewfinder system. The book has more than 190 photographs, almost all in full color, which provide illustrations of the controls and menus of the FinePix X100, and also include examples of the various types of photographs that can be taken using the many creative settings of the camera, including the Film Simulation settings, which let the photographer alter the color processing of images; various menu options such as Dynamic Range, Highlight Tone, and Shadow Tone; and the strong array of features for continuous shooting. In addition, the book goes beyond the realm of everyday photography, providing introductions to more advanced topics such as infrared photography, street photography, astrophotography, and creating 3D (three-dimensional) images that can be viewed with conventional red and blue 3D glasses. The book also includes a full discussion of the video recording abilities of the FinePix X100, which can record high-definition (HD) movies with stereo sound. In three appendices, the book provides information about accessories available for the camera, including cases, filter adapters, and external flash units; it sets forth a list of useful web sites and other resources for further information; and it includes a section with helpful quick tips that give particular insights into how to take advantage of the sophisticated features of the X100 camera in the most efficient ways possible. The book includes a detailed Table of Contents and a full Index, so the reader can quickly find needed information about any particular feature or aspect of the camera.

The Filmmaker's Eye: Learning (and Breaking) the Rules of Cinematic Composition

The Filmmaker's Eye: Learning (and Breaking) the Rules of Cinematic Composition Review

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This is the only book that combines conceptual and practical instruction on creating polished and eloquent images for film and video with the technical know-how to achieve them.

Loaded with hundreds of full-color examples, The Filmmaker's Eye is a focused, easy-to-reference guide that shows you how to become a strong visual storyteller through smart, effective choices for your shots.

After a short introduction to basic principles, a variety of shots are deconstructed in the following format:

• Why It Works: an introduction to a particular type of shot
• How It Works: callouts point out exactly how the shot works the way it does--the visual rules and technical aspects in action
• Technical Considerations: the equipment and techniques needed to get the shot.
• Breaking the Rules: examples where the "rules" are brilliant subverted

This book:

• Helps you make smart visual choices with this quick, focused, and visual guide to cinematic composition.
• Shows you how to master the rules, then break them.
• Includes examples and discussions from a range of international films.

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Jan 14, 2012 09:23:04

A History of Narrative Film, Fourth Edition

A History of Narrative Film, Fourth Edition Review

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Sophisticated in its analytical content, current and comprehensive in its coverage of all aspects of film and filmmaking, and informed throughout by fascinating historical and cultural contexts, A History of Narrative Film is widely acknowledged to be the definitive text in the field.

The Fourth Edition adds an entire chapter on computer-generated imaging, updates filmographies for nearly all living directors mentioned in the text, and includes major new sections that both revisit old content and introduce contemporary trends and movements.

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Jan 12, 2012 12:50:32

Taxi Driver (BFI Film Classics)

Taxi Driver (BFI Film Classics) Review

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Taxi Driver made Martin Scorsese's reputation as a director. This book provides a personal commentary on the film, a brief production history and a detailed filmography. In the "BFI Film Classics" series.

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Jan 11, 2012 01:02:15

Philosophy Through Film

Philosophy Through Film Review

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Some of the world’s best-loved films can be used as springboards for examining enduring philosophical questions. Philosophy Through Film provides guidance in how to watch films with an eye for their philosophical content, helping students become familiar with key topics in all of the major areas in Western philosophy, and helping them master the techniques of philosophical argumentation.

The perfect size and scope for a first course in philosophy, Philosophy Through Film assumes no prior knowledge of philosophy. It is an excellent teaching resource and learning tool, introducing students to key topics and figures in philosophy through thematic chapters, each of which is linked to one or more "focus films" that illustrate a philosophical problem or topic.

Revised and expanded, the Second Edition features a new chapter on political philosophy, an introductory chapter explaining how to watch films philosophically, an appendix with primary readings, and the addition of five new focus films. Films examined in depth include:

• The Matrix
• Vanilla Sky
• Hilary and Jackie
• Memento
• I, Robot
• Minority Report
• Crimes and Misdemeanors
• Antz
• Equilibrium
• The Seventh Seal
• The Rapture
• Leaving Las Vegas
  

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Jan 04, 2012 18:30:07

Flashback: A Brief Film History (6th Edition)

Flashback: A Brief Film History (6th Edition) Review

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Consolidating major figures and film movements into their decade of greatest influence or prestige, this “no-nonsense” book offers a generously illustrated, concise, and very readable history of fiction movies with an emphasis on American cinema. Eclectic in methodology and written in a plain English style that audiences can relate to, it examines the full scope of traditional film history and criticism, viewing film as both an art and an industry— as it mirrors popular audience values, social ideologies, and historical epochs.

 

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Jan 02, 2012 20:06:04