Film studies - an introduction.

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

Ed Sikov builds a step-by-step curriculum for the appreciation of all types of narrative cinema, detailing the essential elements of film form and systematically training the spectator to be an active reader and critic. Sikov primes the eye and mind in the special techniques of film analysis. His description of mise-en-scene helps readers grasp the significance of montage, which in turn reveals the importance of a director's use of camera movement. He treats a number of fundamental factors in filmmaking, including editing, composition, lighting, the use of color and sound, and narrative. Film Studies works with any screening list and can be used within courses on film history, film theory, or popular culture. Straightforward explanations of core critical concepts, practical advice, and suggested assignments on particular technical, visual, and aesthetic aspects further anchor the reader's understanding of the formal language and anatomy of film.

Table of contents provided by Syndetics

• Preface: What This Book Is -- and What It's Not
• Introduction: Representation and Reality
• 1 Mise-en-Scene: Within the Image
• What Is Mise-en-Scene?
• The Shot
• Subject-Camera Distance -- Why It Matters
• Camera Angle
• Space and Time on Film
• Composition
• Study Guide: Analyzing the Shot by Writing about the Image
• 2 Mise-en-Scene: Camera Movement
• Mobile Framing
• Types of Camera Movement
• Editing within the Shot
• Space and Movement
• Study Guide: Analyzing Camera Movement
• 3 Mise-en-Scene: Cinematography
• Motion Picture Photography
• Aspect Ratio: From 1:33 to Widescreen
• Aspect Ratio: Form and Meaning
• Lighting
• Three-Point Lighting
• Film Stocks: Super 8 to 70mm to Video
• Black, White, Gray, and Color
• A Word or Two about Lenses
• Study Guide: Analyzing Cinematography
• 4 Editing: From Shot to Shot
• Transitions
• Montage
• The Kuleshov Experiment
• Continuity Editing
• The 180-Degree System
• Shot/Reverse-Shot Pattern
• Study Guide: Analyzing Shot-to-Shot Editing
• 5 Sound
• A Very Short History of Film Sound
• Recording, Rerecording, Editing, and Mixing
• Analytical Categories of Film Sound
• Sound and Space
• Study Guide: Hearing Sound, Analyzing Sound
• 6 Narrative: From Scene to Scene
• Narrative Structure
• Story and Plot
• Scenes and Sequences
• Transitions from Scene to Scene
• Character, Desire, and Conflict
• Analyzing Conflict
• Study Guide: Analyzing Scene-to-Scene Editing
• 7 From Screenplay to Film
• Deeper into Narrative Structure
• Screenwriting: The Three Act Structure
• Segmentation: Form
• Segmentation: Meaning by A Segmentation of Inside Man
• Study Guide: Story Analysis and Segmentation
• 8 Filmmakers
• Film -- A Director's Art?
• Authorship
• The Auteur Theory
• The Producer's Role
• Teamwork
• Study Guide: The Problem of Attribution
• 9 Performance
• Performance as an Element of Mise-en-Scene
• Acting Styles
• Stars and Character Actors
• Type and Stereotype
• Women as Types
• Acting in -- and on -- Film
• Publicity: Extra-Filmic Meaning
• Study Guide: Analyzing Acting
• 10 Genre
• What Is a Genre?
• Conventions, Repetitions, and Variations
• A Brief Taxonomy of Two Film Genres -- the Western and the Horror Film
• Genre: The Semantic/Syntactic Approach
• Film Noir: A Case Study
• Film Noir: A Brief History
• Study Guide: Genre Analysis for the Introductory Student
• 11 Special Effects
• Beyond the Ordinary
• Optical and Mechanical Special Effects
• Computer-Generated Imagery (CGI)
• Study Guide: Effects and Meaning
• 12 Putting It Together: A Model 8- to 10-Page Paper
• How This Chapter Works
• "Introducing Tyler,"
• Glossary
• Acknowledgments
• Index

Author notes provided by Syndetics