Film Theory For Beginners

This highly original and informative guide to the origins and development of film theory will be an indispensable tool for all students. It describes and contextualises the origins and development of film theory in the 20th century, and discusses all of the major movements and ideas. From the Lumiere brothers through to Tarantino and the postmodern movement, all of the major aspects of film will be analysed. Film theory will be distinguished from film criticism and all of the important theoretical movements that have influenced thinking about film will be explained.

'What is Film Theory? is an introduction to the key elements of film theory. So, what is film theory as a subject? Film studies is divided in to key subjects and themes: there's film art which looks at the aesthetics of film; cinema studies which looks at institutions, films themeselves and the industry; film theory which looks at the concepts, philosophies and disciplines which underline film studies. As such, the book will look at subjects including semiotics and strucutalism, psychoanalysis, formalist film theory, cognitive approaches and neoformalism. In the light of the readers' reports it will also address more 'cultural' issues such as queer theory, ethnicity, postcolonialism and world cinema..

Film Studies From Hollywood to Bollywood, explore the fantastic world of film Whether you’re preparing to study film at university or you simply have a passion for cinema, you’re bound to enjoy this book. Here’s where you’ll learn how people communicate ideas in films, how the industry works and who’s on the team, the impact of film on popular culture, the different genres and styles, film theory, the joys of animation and so much more. Explore far-reaching effects – examine the narrative, artistic, cultural, economic and political implications of cinema Compare and contrast film and reality – explore conceptual frameworks for a film’s relationship to reality Find out just how they do it – discover how stories are developed in movies and how a storyline is related to broader issues in society Work out what it’s all about – get to grips with avant-garde cinema and find out what such films really offer Take the incredible world tour – sample the unique styles of cinema in Europe, Japan, India and other countries Go larger than life – learn about greats in the industry, venture into film analysis and look at the transitions into 21st century cinema Open the book and find: How people tell stories in film Ways film is used to explore current issues and attitudes Responsibilities of cinema tographers and producers The mysteries of mise-en-scene All about digital-age animation Auteurs from the 1930s to today What poststructuralism and postmodernism really mean Ten must-watch movies

Film Theory: The Basics provides an accessible introduction to the key theorists, concepts, and debates that have shaped the study of moving images. It examines film theory from its emergence in the early twentieth century to its study in the present day, and explores why film has drawn special attention as a medium, as a form of representation, and as a focal point in the rise of modern visual culture. The book emphasizes how film theory has developed as a historically contingent discourse, one that has evolved and changed in conjunction with different social, political, and intellectual factors. To explore this fully, the book is broken down into the following distinct sections: Theory Before Theory, 1915-1960 French Theory, 1949-1968 Screen Theory, 1969-1996 Post-Theory, 1996-2015 Complete with questions for discussion and a glossary of both key terms and key theorists, Film Theory: The Basics is an invaluable resource for those new to film studies and for anyone else interested in the history and significance of critical thinking in relation to the moving image.

Concepts in Film Theory is a continuation of Dudley Andrew's classic, The Major Film Theories. In writing now about contemporary theory, Andrew focuses on the key concepts in film study -- perception, representation, signification, narrative structure, adaptation, evaluation, identification, figuration, and interpretation. Beginning with an introductory chapter on the current state of film theory, Andrew goes on to build an overall view of film, presenting his own ideas on each concept, and giving a sense of the interdependence of these concepts. Andrew provides lucid explanations of theories which involve perceptual psychology and structuralism; semiotics and psychoanalysis; hermeneutics and genre study. His clear approach to these often obscure theories enables students to acquire the background they need to enrich their understanding of film -- and of art.

The Routledge Encyclopedia of Film Theory is an international reference work representing the essential ideas and concepts at the centre of film theory from the beginning of the twentieth century, to the beginning of the twenty-first. When first encountering film theory, students are often confronted with a dense, interlocking set of texts full of arcane terminology, inexact formulations, sliding definitions, and abstract generalities. The Routledge Encyclopedia of Film Theory challenges these first impressions by aiming to make film theory accessible and open to new readers. Edward Branigan and Warren Buckland have commissioned over 50 scholars from around the globe to address the difficult formulations and propositions in each theory by reducing these difficult formulations to straightforward propositions. The result is a highly accessible volume that clearly defines, and analyzes step by step, many of the fundamental concepts in film theory, ranging from familiar concepts such as ‘Apparatus’, ‘Gaze’, ‘Genre’, and ‘Identification’, to less well-known and understood, but equally important concepts, such as Alain Badiou’s ‘Inaesthetics’, Gilles Deleuze’s ‘Time-Image’, and Jean-Luc Nancy’s ‘Evidence’. The Routledge Encyclopedia of Film Theory is an ideal reference book for undergraduates of film studies, as well as graduate students new to the discipline.

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.

In Film Theory: Rational Reconstructions, Warren Buckland asks a series of questions about how film theory gets written in the first place: How does it select its objects of study and its methods of inquiry? How does it make discoveries and explain filmic phenomena? And, How does it formulate and solve theoretical problems? He asks these questions of film theory through a rational reconstruction and a classical commentary. Both frameworks clarify and reformulate vague and inexact expressions, redefine obscure concepts, and examine the underlying logic of film theory arguments. This not only subjects film theory to rigorous examination; it also teaches students how to write theory, by enabling them to question and critically interrogate the logic of previous film theory arguments. The book consists of nine chapters that closely examine a series of canonical film books and essays in great detail, by Peter Wollen, Laura Mulvey, Thomas Elsaesser, Stephen Heath, and Slavoj Žižek, among others.