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A comprehensive introduction to the history and key themes of the genre. The main issues and debates raised by horror, and the approaches and theories that have been applied to horror texts are all featured. In addressing the evolution of the horror film in social and historical context, Paul Wells explores how it has reflected and commented upon particular historical periods, and asks how it may respond to the new millennium by citing recent innovations...
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This book "explores the distinctive language of animation, its production processes, and the particular questions about who makes it, under what conditions and with what purpose. In this first study to look specifically at the ways in which animation displays unique models of 'auteurism' and how it revises generic categories. Paul Wells challenges the prominence of live-action movie-making as the first form of contemporary cinema and visual culture....
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Avant-Garde Film: Forms, Themes and Passions examines the variety of concerns and practices that have comprised the long history of avant-garde film at a level appropriate for undergraduate study. It covers the developments of experimental film-making since the modernist explosion in the 1920s in Europe through to the Soviet film experiments, the American Underground cinema and the French New Wave, structuralism and contemporary gallery work of the...
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"In discussing films such as Touching the Void (2003), Capturing the Friedmans (2003) and the work of Nick Broomfield, this timely introduction to the growing field of documentary explores the definition and understanding of the form, as well as the relationship between documentary and drama, specifically the notion of reconstruction and re-enactment. Paul Ward also examines animated documentaries, the meeting point of comedy and documentary modes,...
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Film Noir: From Fritz Lang to Fight Club explores the murky world of a genre responsible for many of film's most enduring images. Mark Bould discusses problems of definition and the often ambiguous nature of film noir and looks at modern films that could be called neo-noir. Iconic and enduring, film noir attracted great stars (Bogart, Bacall, Mitchum, Lancaster), many of the best directors of the era (Wilder, Lang, Preminger, Hawks, Siodmak, Welles)...
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Short cuts volume 25
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"This introduction to contemporary digital cinema tracks its intersection with video art, music video, animation, print design and live club events to create an avantgarde for the new millennium. It begins by investigating digital cinema and its contribution to innovations in the feature-film format, examining animation and live-action hybrids, the gritty aesthetic of the Dogme 95 filmmakers, the explosions of frames within frames and the evolution...
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Teen Movies: American Youth on Screen is a detailed look at the depiction of teens on film and its impact throughout film's history. Timothy Shary looks at the development of the teen movie -- the rebellion, the romance, the sex and the horror -- up to contemporary portrayals of ever-changing youth. Films studied include: Rebel Without a Cause (1955), Splendor in the Grass (1961), Carrie (1976), The Breakfast Club (1985), and American Pie (1999).
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Short cuts volume 06
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Stephen Keane's history of the disaster genre offers a detailed analysis of films such as The Towering Inferno, Independence Day, Titanic, and The Day After Tomorrow. He looks at the ways in which disaster movies can be read in relation to both contextual considerations and the increasing commercial demands of contemporary Hollywood. In this second edition, he adds new material regarding cinematic representations of disaster in the wake of 9/11 and...
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Italian Neorealism: Rebuilding the Cinematic City is a valuable introduction to one of the most influential of film movements. Exploring the roots and causes of neorealism, particularly the effects of the Second World War, as well as its politics and style, Mark Shiel examines the portrayal of the city and the legacy left by filmmakers such as Rossellini, De Sica, and Visconti. Films studied include Rome, Open City (1945), Paisan (1946), The Bicycle...
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On December 8, 1967 Time magazine put Bonnie and Clyde on its cover and announced, "The New Cinema: Violence-Sex-Art." The following decade has long been celebrated as a golden age in American film history. In this innovative study, Peter Krämer offers a systematic discussion of the biggest hits of the period (including The Graduate [1967], The Exorcist [1973] and Jaws [1975]). He relates the distinctive features of these hits to changes in the film...
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Short cuts volume 07
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The Western Genre: From Lordsburg to Big Whiskey offers close readings of the definitive American film movement as represented by such leading exponents as John Ford, Howard Hawks, and Sam Peckinpah. In his consideration of such iconic motifs as the Outlaw Hero and the Lone Rider, John Saunders traces the development of perennial aspects of the genre, its continuity and, importantly, its change. Representations of morality and masculinity are also...
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Short cuts volume 33
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Offering a concise analysis of film genre, this text introduces the topic in an accessible manner, covering theory and sample analyses of genre films such as the western, science fiction and the musical, through to horror, comedy and the thriller.
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Short cuts volume 34
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'Romantic Comedy' offers an introduction to the analysis of one of the most popular but generally overlooked film genres. The book provides an overview of Hollywood's romantic comedy conventions, examining the iconography, narrative patterns and ideology which inform such films.
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New Korean Cinema charts the dramatic transform+ation of South Korea's film industry from the democratization movement of the late 1980s to the 2000s new generation of directors. The author considers such issues as government censorship, the market's embrace of Hollywood films, and the social changes which led to the diversification and surprising commercial strength of contemporary Korean films. Directors such as Hong Sang-soo, Kim Ki-duk, Park Chan-wook,...
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Short cuts volume 51
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Action Movies: The Cinema of Striking Back is a study of action cinema, exploring the ethics and aesthetics of the genre with reference to its relatively short history. It moves from seminal classics like Bullitt (1968) and Dirty Harry (1971) through epoch-defining films like Rambo: First Blood Part II (1985) and Die Hard (1988) to revisions, reboots, and renewals in films like Kill Bill Vol. 1 (2003), Taken (2008), and The Expendables (2010). The...
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In the fall of 1918, a world ravaged by war was suddenly hit by a mysterious and deadly plague. As fear of the dreaded "Spanish" flu fills the town of Unity with paranoia, drastic measures are taken. But when the disease descends upon the town despite their precautions, the citizens begin to turn on each other, looking for a scapegoat.
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Mise-en-scène: Film Style and Interpretation explores and elucidates constructions of this fundamental concept in thinking about film. In uncovering the history of mise-en-scène within film criticism, and through the detailed exploration of scenes from films as Imitation of Life and Lone Star, John Gibbs makes the case for the importance of a sensitive understanding of film style, and provides an introduction to the skills of close reading. This...
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Queer Cinema: Schoolgirls, Vampires, and Gay Cowboys illustrates queer cinematic aesthetics by highlighting key films that emerged at historical turning points throughout the twentieth century. The book traces the representation of gays and lesbians from the sexual liberation movements of the roaring 1920s in Berlin to the Stonewall Rebellion in New York City and the emergence of queer activism and film in the early 1990s. The book explains early...