Top texts - BFI
<< back to 'Top texts' home
Jump to >>
Film Theory and Criticism
Published November 2007
First published in 1985, "The Cinema Book "was hailed as a landmark film studies text, presenting in accessible form two decades of intellectual activity on the subject. The second edition (1999) consolidated "The Cinema Book"'s international reputation as the leading guide to film studies. This new edition has been extensively revised, expanded, and updated to include brand new chapters together with original essays and case studies written by leading scholars from around the globe. It provides comprehensive coverage of seven major areas: Hollywood Cinema and Beyond; Stars; Technologies; World Cinemas; Genre; Authorship; and Developments in Theory. New topics include Global Hollywood; Contemporary Women Directors; Queer Theory; and Postmodernism. All sections are supported by in-depth analyses of films from the earliest days to the present.
Published February 1999
This text seeks to revise notions of film genre. It connects the roles played by industry critics and audiences in making and re-making genre. In a critique of major voices in the history of genre theory from Aristotle to Wittgenstein, Altman reveals the conflicting stakes for which the genre game has been played. Recognizing that the very term "genre" has different meaning for different groups, he bases his genre theory on the uneasy competitive yet complimentary relationship among genre users and discusses a range of films from "The Great Train Robbery" to "Star Wars", and from "The Jazz Singer" to "The Player".
Published March 1999
Avante-garde film is in a constant state of change and redefinition. In this history, A.L. Rees tracks the movement of the avante-garde film between, on the one hand, the cinema, and, on the other hand, modern art (with its postmodern coda). He also reconstitutes the avante-garde film as an independent form of art practice with its own internal logic and aesthetic discourse. This history of avante-garde film and video ranges from Cezanne and dada, via Cocteau, Brakhage and Le Grice, to the new wave of British video artists in the 1990s.
Published January 2001
This introductory title aims to make ideas and procedures in film studies more accessible. The title is organized around story, character and spectacle. Each chapter makes references to two films, contemporary and diverse. The author also uses study of specific sequences of film. Throughout the emphasis is placed on how meaning is made in the interaction between film "text" and spectator. The close study of specific film text is also used as the basis for opening up broader issues and ideas in film studies.
Television Theory and Criticism
Publishes November 2009
Readers learn how the transformation of Arab television came to be, the different kinds of channels, how programs are made and promoted, and how they are regulated. Throughout, the analysis focuses on the interaction of the television industry with Arab regimes, business, societies and cultures.
Publishes November 2009
In order to best portray these complex conditions, the book analyzes changes in television production, distribution and exhibition since the 1980s, uncovering the corporate strategies, technological innovations, and cultural transformations that have modified industry strategy, discourse, and practice. Making reference to numerous case examples, the text will delineate definitive trends and describe key industry players. These are indeed vibrant but unstable times for the American television industry and this volume explains the major forces that will shape the future of the medium in North America and no doubt around the world.
British Cinema
Published March 2009
The new edition of The British Cinema Book has been thoroughly revised and updated to provide a comprehensive introduction to the major periods, genres, studios, film-makers and debates in British cinema from the 1890s to the present. The book has five sections, addressing debates and controversies; industry, genre and representation; British cinema 1895-1939; British cinema from World War II to the 1970s, and contemporary British cinema.
Published December 2008
Seventies British Cinema provides a comprehensive re-evaluation of British film in the 1970s. The decade has long been written off in critical discussions as a 'doldrums' period in British cinema, perhaps because the industry, facing near economic collapse, turned to 'unacceptable' low culture genres such as sexploitation comedies or extreme horror.
European Cinema
Published April 2009
The new edition features a preface by Peter Graham alongside his preface to the 1968 edition, and an introduction by Ginette Vincendeau that contextualises the Nouvelle Vague in the light of recent developments in film theory and history and its influence on subsequent French film-making. There is also a new and substantial bibliography of works on the New Wave in English and French, making this an indispensable point of reference for anyone interested in the movement and its long-lasting effects on the theory and practice of cinema.
Published January 2008
An accessible and innovative survey of key topics in French cinema from the 1890s to the 21st century. Combining historical context, background information and detailed case studies and analysis of films, The French Cinema Book sets out a fresh agenda for the study and appreciation of French cinema.
Published December 2002
This work brings together film specialists from Europe and the United States to explore German film history from the late 19th to the early 21st century. It re-evaluates traditional areas of interest in German cinema (such as Weimar cinema, Nazi propaganda, and New German Cinema), and looks at neglected aspects, including early cinema, the cinema of the GDR, popular genre traditions, questions of national cinema and identity, and German film's transnational connections to Hollywood, as well as to exile and migrant cinemas. It places particular emphasis on genres and stars in the wider context of state and industry at home and abroad. The collection comprises five thematic sections: popular cinema; stars; institutional and cultural frameworks; cultural politics; and transnational connections.
World Cinema
Published November 2008
Chinese cinema continues to go from strength to strength. After art-house hits like Chen Kaige's Yellow Earth (1984) and Wong Kar-wai's In the Mood for Love (2000), the Oscar-winning success of Ang Lee's Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon (2000) disproved the old myth that subtitled films could not succeed at the multiplex. Chinese Films in Focus II updates and expands the original Chinese Films in Focus: 25 New Takes with fourteen brand new essays, to offer thirty-four fresh and insightful readings of key individual films. The new edition addresses films from mainland China, Taiwan, Hong Kong and other parts of the Chinese diaspora and the historical coverage ranges from the 1930s to the present.
Television Theory and Criticism
Published November 2008
Genre is central to understanding the industrial context and the visual form of television. This new edition of a key textbook brings together leading international scholars to provide an accessible and comprehensive introduction to the debates, issues and concerns of television genre.
'The Television Genre Book' is structured in eleven sections which introduce the concept of 'genre' itself and how it has been understood in television studies, and then address in turn key televisual genres: drama, soap opera, comedy, news, documentary, reality television, children's television, animation, prime time and day time.
Published August 2006
What television viewers around the world watch often depends less on popularity or government policies than on the personal relationships between buyers and sellers in the international programme market. A few thousand acquisitions and distribution professionals decide what programmes the earth's inhabitants can watch, and who can watch them. This book provides an inside look at the cultural assumptions and business practices of these television merchants. It argues that the market in television programs responds principally to institutional needs, rather than to the wishes of the viewing public or the skills of television's creative artists. Leaving aside conventional questions about the production contexts, textual strategies, or popular reception of entertainment television worldwide, this project trains its focus on the business practices of global television sales in order to provide a lucid overview of the diversity of firms, business practices, and programming genres present in international television. Consequently, this volume provides the first comprehensive portrait of the operations of the international television business, the people who work in the business, and the ideas that circulate among these businesspeople. Such a portrait is crucial to any theoretical treatment of television globalisation, since international television executives determine global television flows in the first instance, based on their own understandings of the economics of the business and the preferences of their primary audiences.
Published March 2006
Tele-Visions: An Introduction to Studying Television Studies has been specifically designed to offer a comprehensive, authoritative, accessible and lively introduction to the subject of television studies. Written by many of the leading international figures in the field, it covers all the major issues, debates, key terms, histories and methodologies that go to make up this exciting new area of expertise. Skilfully illuminated through actual programmes, detailed case studies and recommended readings, it will offer an invaluable insight into how television is produced, broadcast, controlled, consumed and critically examined. From textual analysis to audience studies; from studying drama to studying documentary; from policy and regulation to regionality and globalisation; from authorship to ideology; from modernism to postmodernism; from aesthetics to fandom; from histories to futures; this book offers an expansive and clearly structured account of both how and why we study television. Unapologetically ambitious, "Tele-Visions" will both explain and expand our knowledge of the subject, clarifying traditional areas of debate while also setting out new agendas and critical possibilities. It is an essential book for anyone studying television and the media today. Fully illustrated - it includes selected reading guides and full bibliographies that will help students at all levels.
Published October 2001
The new AS level is expected to signigicantly increase numbers of students taking Media Studies at school; UK sales expected to be on a par with bfi Publishing's flagship text, The Cinema Book; Book will receive big solus promotion to schools and colleges; This is the indispensable Media Studies textbook for AS/A level and Higher Media Studies syllabuses. An accessible overview of the key concepts leads into coverage of all major media forms, and genres within particular media. Included are: Varied and substantial activity sections; Extensive opportunities for students to apply media theory in their own work; Stills, cartoons and other illustrations; Uniquely full treatment of new media and the internet; Extensive coverage of film, television, radio, newspapers and magazines; Sections for all media, covering institutions, representation, audiences, genre, language and products; Suitable for students and their teachers for 16 years upwards, Media and Meaning can be used as an aid to class study and for independent student learning. Accessible, and with a strong emphasis on context and concepts, this book is a lively introduction to contemporary media which can be read for pleasure as well as part of formal study by a very wide range of readers. Full list of contents overleaf.
Published June 2003
This work discusses the varied history of British television drama from its beginnings on the BBC in the 1930s and 40s to its position at the beginning of the 21st century and the multi-channel digital era. It examines significant developments, such as: live TV drama before the 60s; the shift to the pre-recorded and filmed drama of the 60s and 70s; the impact of ITV populist dramas ("Emergency Ward Ten", "Coronation Street") and single play strands like "Armchair Theatre"; the wave of BBC 60s drama; ITV telefantasies such as "The Avengers"; the drama-documentaries of the 60s and 70s ("Law and Order"); the response to Thatcherism in the 80s ("Boys From the Black Stuff"); the heritage dramas of the 80s and 90s ("Brideshead Revisited"); and concluding with the stylish 90s dramas such as "Queer As Folk", "This Life" and "Cold Feet".
Published December 2003
During the second half of the 20th century, the developments in television broadcasting exerted an immeasurable influence over our social, cultural and economic practices. This volume presents an overview, written by leading media scholars, which traces the history of broadcasting in two major centres of television development and export: Great Britain and the USA. With this integrated format, "The Television History Book" encourages readers to make connections between events and tendencies that both unite and differentiate these national broadcasting traditions. From the origins of the public service and commercial systems of broadcasting to the contemporary period of technological and economic convergence, this book provides an accessible overview of the history of television technology, institutions, policies, programmes and audiences.
Documentary
Published November 2008
CLAIMING THE REAL II tells the story of the emergence, development and current state of documentary film emerged and addresses the social, political, industrial and ethical factors that have determined documentary production, esepcially in the English-speaking world.
Published October 2007
This wide-ranging study traces the history of the documentary from the first Lumiere films to Michael Moore's 'Fahrenheit 9/11'. Chanan argues that documentary makes a vital contribution to the public sphere - where ideas are debated, opinion formed and those in authority are held to account.
<< back to 'Top texts' home
Copyright © 2010 Macmillan Publishers Limited.
Unless otherwise indicated, this Web Site and its contents are the property of Macmillan Publishers Limited.
A company registered in England and Wales under Company Number: 785998 with its registered office at
Brunel Road, Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hants, RG21 6XS, United Kingdom.
USA & Canada site | Australia site |
Legal Notice |
Privacy Policy | Contact us
