Film, TV and Radio industries Books

Book Synopsis'Funny, filthy and fantastic. Cackled from start to finish' - Rylan ClarkHow do you ask your mate for that £50 back?When is OK to trump in front of your partner?And what should you do if you've accidentally sexted your boss?William and Jordan are from very different worlds.William's an etiquette expert, with his tongue firmly in his teacup and unparalleled knowledge of table linen. Jordan's a TV and radio presenter, the patron saint of Burnley and an expert in all things common. Together they've entertained millions of listeners worldwide with their hit podcast Help I Sexted My Boss.Now, they’ve pooled all of their wisdom on how to get through life’s most awkward moments.From candlelight suppers to picky teas, first dates to flatmate dramas, Help I Sexted My Boss is full of both useful and useless advice. This is your indispensable guide to navigating the trepidation and challenges of modern life.'Hilarious lads.. and weirdly useful. This generation’s Ant and Dec. If one of them was really posh. Great read' - Vicky PattisonSunday Times bestseller, November 2023Trade Review'Funny, filthy and fantastic. Cackled from start to finish' * Rylan Clark *'Perfect timing for Xmas' * Heat magazine *'Hilarious lads.. and weirdly useful. This generation’s Ant and Dec. If one of them was really posh. Great read' * Vicky Pattison *'A lovely hilarious book by lovely hilarious boys' * Joel Dommett *'Hilarious and awful at the same time' * Scott Mills *

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Book SynopsisThe first biography of the Rat Pack – Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr., Dean Martin, Peter Lawford, Joey Bishop et al – the original Swingers. Brilliant and beautifully written story of their rise and fall, and their connections with the Kennedys and the Mafia. They alit in Las Vegas for a month to make a movie and play a historic nightclub gig they called the Summit; they hit Miami, the Utah desert, Palm Springs, Chicago, Atlantic City, Beverly Hills, Hollywood back lots, illegal gambling dens, saloons, yachts, private jets, the White House itself. It was sauce and vinegar and eau de cologne and sour mash whiskey and gin and smoke and perfume and silk and neon and skinny lapels and tail fins and rockets to the sky. It was swinging and sighing and being a sharpie, it was cutting a figure and digging a scene. It was Frank and Sammy Davis Jr. and Dean Martin and Peter Lawford for a while and Joey Bishop when they asked him and Jack Kennedy and Sam Giancana and tables full of cronies and who knew how many broads. It was the ultimate spasm of traditional showbiz – both the last and the most of its kind. It was the Rat Pack. It was beautiful. ‘Rat Pack Confidential’ – you’re never far from a cocktail, a swingin’ affair and a fist-fight.

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Book SynopsisThe story of Eastmancolor's arrival on the British filmmaking scene is one of intermittent trial and error, intense debate and speculation before gradual acceptance. This book traces the journey of its adoption in British Film and considers its lasting significance as one of the most important technical innovations in film history. Through original archival research and interviews with key figures within the industry, the authors examine the role of Eastmancolor in relation to key areas of British cinema since the 1950s; including its economic and structural histories, different studio and industrial strategies, and the wider aesthetic changes that took place with the mass adoption of colour. Their analysis of British cinema through the lens of colour produces new interpretations of key British film genres including social realism, historical and costume drama, science fiction, horror, crime, documentary and even sex films. They explore how colour communicated meaning in films ranging from the Carry On series to Monty Python's Life of Brian (1979), from Lawrence of Arabia (1962) to A Passage to India (1984), and from Goldfinger (1964) to 1984 (1984), and in the work of key directors and cinematographers of both popular and art cinema including Nicolas Roeg, Ken Russell, Ridley Scott, Peter Greenaway and Chris Menges.Trade ReviewRooted in detailed primary research into aesthetics, production practices, technologies and institutions, Colour Films in Britain, provides a comprehensive and illuminating consideration of the adoption, diffusion and popularization of colour in British cinema from the mid-1950s. -- Duncan Petrie, University of York, UKColour Films in Britain is a landmark study of the transition to colour that occurred in the 1960s and 1970s. No other book has yet tackled this transition with such depth, breadth and precision. The collaborative efforts of Sarah Street, Keith M. Johnston, Paul Frith and Carolyn Rickards are a model for research that I hope will soon be taken up in other national and transnational contexts. -- Joshua Yumibe, Michigan State University, USATable of ContentsIntroduction Section 1: What is Eastmancolor? 1. Branding and Marketing the Eastmancolor Revolution 2. Eastmancolor, the British Film Industry, and Institutions Section 2: Eastmancolor and British Genre Films 3. Comedy and Satire 4. Social realism / contemporary drama 5. The Colour of Crime 6. Fantasy, Horror and Science Fiction 7. Historical and costume films 8. Musicals, pop films, and the concert film Section 3: Eastmancolor Outside the Mainstream 9. Key colourists, 1955-85 10. Art, experimental, and avant-garde practices 11. Eastmancolor and the Amateur Film 12. Short and Documentary Films 13. The Colour of Sex? Eastmancolor and the Sex Film Section 4: Preservation and Restoration 14. Cultures and Practices of Preservation and Restoration Conclusion First Appendix: Eastmancolor Film List, 1954-85 Second Appendix: Technical Appendix

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Book SynopsisReading Contemporary Serial Television Universes provides a new frameworkâthe metaphor of the narrative ecosystemâfor the analysis of serial television narratives. Contributors use this metaphor to address the ever-expanding and evolving structure of narratives far beyond their usual spatial and temporal borders, in general and in reference to specific series. Other scholarly approaches consider each narrative as composed of modular elements, which combine to create a bigger picture. The narrative ecosystem approach, on the other hand, argues that each portion of the narrative world contains all of the main elements that characterize the world as a whole, such as narrative tensions, production structures, creative dynamics and functions. The volume details the implications of the narrative ecosystem for narrative theory and the study of seriality, audiences and fandoms, production, and the analysis of the products themselves.Table of ContentsAcknowledgementsList of Figures and TablesList of ContributorsEditors’ IntroductionPart I – TheoryChapter 1: New Paths in Transmediality as Vast Narratives: The State of the FieldMatthew FreemanChapter 2: Crossing the Boundaries: Narrative Ecosystems as SemiospheresMarta BoniChapter 3: Evolution in Vampire-Centered TV EcosystemsHéctor J. Pérez and Fernando CanetChapter 4: Audiences and Fan Studies: Technological Communities and Their Influences on Narrative EcosystemsPaul BoothChapter 5: Spin-offs, Crossovers, and World Building "Energies"Derek JohnsonChapter 6: The Evolution of Characters in TV Series: Morphology, Selection and Remarkable Cases in Narrative EcosystemsVeronica Innocenti and Guglielmo PescatorePart II – AnalysisChapter 7: An Italian Ecosystem: GomorraIlaria A. De PascalisChapter 8: Thank God I'm a Country Series. Interacting Environments and Networks in NashvillePaola BrembillaChapter 9: You’re Sherlock Holmes, wear the damn hat! Character Identity in a TransfictionRoberta PearsonChapter 10: The Specificities of the North-European Seriality: Strong Local Voices in a Global Media-WorldHeidi PhilipsenChapter 11: Event TV Drama within Narrative Ecosystems: Extended Seriality and Differing Paratextual Orientations in the 50th Anniversaries of Cult TVMatt HillsChapter 12: The Game of Game of Thrones: Networked Concordances and Fractal DramaturgyAndrew Beveridge and Michael Chemers

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Book Synopsis'At a time when fluff and gossip reign supreme, Hanna Flint's work is consistently insightful, informative and engaging all at once. I always finish reading it feeling just a tad bit smarter.' Candice Frederick, Huffington Post'One of the smartest pop culture commentators out there.' Toby Moses, GuardianThe leading film critic of her generation offers an eloquent, insightful and humorous reflection on the screen's representation of women and ethnic minorities, revealing how cinema has been the key to understanding herself, her body image and her ambitions as well as the world we live in. A staunch feminist of mixed-race heritage, Hanna has succeeded in an industry not designed for people like her. She interweaves anecdotes from familial and personal experiences - from episodes of messy sex and introspection to the time when actor Vincent D'Onofrio tweeted that Hanna Flint sounded 'like a secret agent' - to offer a critical eye on the screen's representation of women and ethnic minorities. Divided into sections 'Origin Story', 'Coming of Age', 'Adult Material', 'Workplace Drama' and 'Strong Female Character', the book ponders how the creative industries could better reflect our multicultural society.Warm, funny and engaging and full of film-infused lessons, Strong Female Character will appeal to readers of all backgrounds and seeks to help us better see ourselves in our own eyes rather than letting others decide who and what we can be.Trade ReviewUnlike any film book I've read before, Strong Female Character is part-polemic, part-historical and social study of film, and part memoir. Hanna Flint deftly weaves these strands to tell a funny, angry and compelling story for right now: of how the cinematic world built this millennium girl's life. Covering absent fathers, MeToo, first loves, eating disorders and masturbation, there's little Hanna doesn't tackle head on with her signature honesty and humour. The huge authority with which she writes about film is only matched by the emotional power in describing her own experiences. Truly original. A must for any film fan who has wondered how their own life intersects with the art that they love. -- Terri WhiteA really gorgeous and thorough examination on films that have helped shape me into the woman I am today. Hanna's writing is sharp and wholesome and shows not only a forensic knowledge on movies but a deep love and respect for film. This book is a real celebration and ode to women who hold up the art of cinema. -- Mollie GoodfellowA really gorgeous and thorough examination on films that have helped shape me into the woman I am today. Hanna's writing is sharp and wholesome and shows not only a forensic knowledge on movies but a deep love and respect for film. This book is a real celebration and ode to women who hold up the art of cinema. -- Megha Mohan * co-founder of The Second Source *A glorious coming-of-age memoir, Hanna Flint's Strong Female Character is a tour through the pop culture that made her, from formative crushes on Edward in Twilight to making sense of sexual assault with some help from Gone With the Wind and Blade Runner. At turns witty and moving, it's a breeze to read and left me with a stacked new list of films to enjoy. -- Toby MosesPacked with enough film references to make any nerd heart sing but this book is so much more: this is bare-your-soul writing that tells us how important cinema is in not only how we understand the world but how we move through it -- Kate Herron * director of Loki *Strong Female Character is a journey both through the writer's life and the movies that made her. Bitter-sweet, funny and sharp, it's for everyone that Disney never made a princess for -- David QuantickHanna is a terrific writer, with an eye for a telling detail and a strong, unique, passionate voice. She's put together some of the most revealing profiles to have run in Empire in recent years, vibrantly bringing her subjects' stories to life. And her reviews, too, are highly insightful, while always keeping a light touch. A real force in film writing. -- Nick De Semlyen * Editor, Empire *At a time when fluff and gossip reign supreme, Hanna Flint's work is consistently insightful, informative and engaging all at once. I always finish reading it feeling just a tad bit smarter. -- Candice Frederick * Huffington Post *A brilliantly clever, sharp, witty writer who has the ultimate respect and love for story. -- Rachel De-Lahay * BAFTA-nominated screenwriter and playwright *Hanna represents that rare thing in film criticism today - a funny and fearless soul, dedicated to the promise of cinema as a space where everyone's voice can be heard. -- Clarisse Loughrey * Chief Film Critic, The Independent *One of the smartest pop culture commentators out there, Hanna is able to filter the latest releases through a sophisticated lens of social justice with wit and flair. -- Toby Moses * Guardian *

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Book SynopsisChristine Gledhill is Professor in Film Studies, at the University of Sunderland, UK.Trade Review'In this rich collection, a large and varied group of prominent scholars covers the state of the field in Film Studies. The book presents the reader with a dynamic tissue of discussions, positions and proposals that are methodological, theoretical, historiographic, aesthetic, and political. This is the kind of constellation that originally energized the relatively young discipline of Film Studies, but even in its references to the history of film scholarship there is nothing nostalgic about Reinventing Film Studies. Its writers are some of the most innovative and influential figures in the field, and their accounts of the present are fundamentally aimed at mapping future directions. Their contributions are at once authoritative, rigorous and polemical. This volume will be a central reference point for anyone concerned with film and media scholarship for years to come.' Professor Philip Rosen, Department of Modern Cultu 'At this moment of technological change, film studies is entering an exciting new phase in which it faces many challenges, not least the demand that it reinvent itself once again. This stimulating anthology will play an indispensable part in that process, and I have no hesitation in recommending it.' Pam Cook, Professor of European Film and Media, Un 'I found the articles to be informative and theoretically sophisticated. I would highly recommend this anthology to both students and scholars interested in exploring theoretical frameworks which are 'really useful' in analysing film today.' Film-PhilosophyTable of ContentsPart 1: Really useful theory; from aesthetics to semiotics and half-way back again; why theory?; film theory and the revolt against master narratives; case study - "Singin' in the Rain" - a study of interpretation; who (and what) is it for? Part 2: Film as mass culture; dream factory; the publicness of cinema; case study - the political culture of address in a "Transitional Cinema" - Indian popular cinema; reception theory and audience research - the mystery of the vampire's kiss; re-examining stardom - questions of texts, bodies, and performances. Part 3: questions of aesthetics; after the classic, the classical and ideology - the difference of realism; rethinking genre; case study - judging audiences, the case of the trial movie; introducing film evaluation; "Style" posture and idiom - Tarantino's figures of masculinity. Part 4: The return to history; what is film history?; "Animated Pictures" - tales of cinema's forgotten future, after one hundred years of film; the mass production of the senses - classical cinema as cenacular modernism; case study - discipline and fun - psycho and postmodern cinema. Part 5: Cinema in the age of global multi-media; film theory and spectatorship in the age of the "posts"; case study - digging an old well - the labour of social fantasy in a contemporary Chinese film; facing up to Hollywood; the end of cinema - multi-media and technological change.

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Book SynopsisTakes us through the highs and lows of the screen trade, from high-powered dinner tables to obscure backlots, from the centres of power to far-flung locations, with a cast of characters that includes Russell Crowe, Cate Blanchett, Jeffrey Archer, Steven Segal and many others.

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Book SynopsisHelps to learn the secrets of successfully marketing and selling your film at more than 1,000 film festivals around the world, including the best ones for indie, documentary, short, student, digital, animation and more. This title reveals how to get a film accepted and what to do after acceptance.

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Book SynopsisA Los Angeles Times Bestseller Winner of the Best Non-Fiction Book Prize at the 2018 National Arts & Entertainment Journalism Awards “Ben Fritz crafts an electrifying and essential book that carefully chronicles how Hollywood tradition is collapsing and new models are fueling the future. A must-read.”—Ava DuVernay, director of A Wrinkle in Time, Selma, and 13th The stunning metamorphosis of twenty-first-century Hollywood and what lies ahead for the art and commerce of film Ben Fritz chronicles the dramatic shakeup of America’s film industry, bringing equal fluency to both the financial and entertainment aspects of Hollywood. He offers us an unprecedented look deep inside a Hollywood studio to explain why sophisticated movies for adults are an endangered species while franchises and super-heroes have come to dominate the cinematic landscape. And through interviews with

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Book SynopsisTrade Review“Nirvana for pop culture fans…a totally tubular testament to the excess of the ‘80s.” * Associated Press *"Delicious...A slice of nostalgia from the people who were there, and wading through those pages is like going home again." * Huffington Post *"[A] highly entertaining snapshot of a wild-frontier moment in pop culture." * Rolling Stone *“This is an essential read for anyone who was there or for those who missed it when MTV really meant Music TeleVision. These 5 VJ's were thrown into a completely new format and made it work beyond anyone’s wildest dreams. Mine included.” -- Rick Springfield“At last--the real inside story of the MTV explosion that rocked the world, in all its giddy excess, from the video pioneers who saw all the hair, drugs and guitars up close. VJ is the wild, hilarious, addictive tale of how one crazy moment changed pop culture forever.” -- Rob Sheffield * New York Times bestselling author of Talking to Girls About Duran Duran *“Dishy, hilarious, wild, and poignant.” * CBS News *“In this wry, engaging oral history, the original veejays recount with bemusement—and occasional horror—their meteoric rise during MTV's heady first years. The first chapter commences with a big-haired, big-mouthed David Lee Roth— and from there the rollicking pace never lets up.” -- Jancee Dunn * co-author of New York Times bestseller Cyndi Lauper: A Memoir *“There was no such job as a 'VJ' when this unlikely crew was chosen to serve as our hosts at a revolution. Their story is a revealing inside look at the highs, lows, and hairstyles that defined a generation.” -- Alan Light * author of The Holy or the Broken *“VJ is a near textbook on ingenuity, luck, perseverance, fame, and the adjustment to life post-fame. There are also at least fifteen paragraphs that made me think, "I can't believe they're actually revealing this!" -- Richard Marx“For latchkey kids of my generation, the original MTV VJs were the best babysitters we ever had. When our parents weren't looking, they gave us secret glimpses into a better, sexier world. They were the coolest people, on the coolest TV station, with the coolest jobs on the planet. This is their story.” -- Michael Ian Black * New York Times bestselling author of You’re Not Doing it Right *“MTV hit the airwaves during the golden age of album rock radio and massive rock touring, and took it all to another level. VJ is a fun and informative ride, told through the eyes of the five people who experienced the MTV phenomenon from the most intimate perspective possible.” -- Kevin Cronin * REO Speedwagon *“Crazy days and nights in a different time--Nina, Mark, Alan and Martha will bring it all to life for you. This book is a joyride!” -- Jane Wiedlen * The Go-Go's *

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Book SynopsisExamining work by novelists, filmmakers, TV producers and songwriters, this book uncovers the manner in which the radio and the act of listening has been written about for the past 100 years.Ever since the first public wireless broadcasts, people have been writing about the radio: often negatively, sometimes full of praise, but always with an eye and an ear to explain and offer an opinion about what they think they have heard. Novelists including Graham Greene, Agatha Christie, Evelyn Waugh, and James Joyce wrote about characters listening to this new medium with mixtures of delight, frustration, and despair. Clint Eastwood frightened moviegoers half to death in Play Misty for Me, but Lou Reed''s Rock & Roll' said listening to a New York station had saved Jenny''s life. Frasier showed the urbane side of broadcasting, whilst Good Morning, Vietnam exploded from the cinema screen with a raw energy all of its own. Queen thought that all the audience heard Trade ReviewA fascinating and highly readable account of the representation of radio in other media. Martin Cooper’s history of a hundred years of radio in song, films, novels and television programmes is both a highly entertaining and fascinating read and also an important new source for radio historians. The perfect book to celebrate the one hundred years of radio broadcasting in Britain. * Hugh Chignell, Emeritus Professor of Media History, Bournemouth University, UK *Table of ContentsPreface 1. Introduction 2. Broadcasting on Air, 1922-1935 3. Developing Ways of Listening, 1935-1938 4. The Home Front, 1938-1949 5. New Elizabethans, and New Questions, 1950-1963 6. The Rise of Format Radio, 1964-1979 7. Video Killed the Radio Star, 1979-1983 8. The Radio DJ and the Cult of Personality, 1984-1993 9. Critique, Questions, and Satire, 1993-2004 10. Listening Back and Looking Forward, 2005-2022 11. Conclusion Sources Index

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a huge range and FREE tracked UK delivery on ALL orders.

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Book SynopsisIs this the right book for me?This book gives you everything you need to find, apply for and take part in any reality programme, quiz or talk show. It explains each type of show to you, but most importantly, gives you lots of practical advice from industry insiders on what to say in an application, how to audition, what to expect and how to cope with life before, during and after your 15 minutes of fame. Get on TV includes:Chapter 1: Which programme?Do it for the right reasonsBe preparedThe types of reality shows availableHow to find programmes that are looking for contributorsChapter 2: Who should you appear as?Appearing as yourselfAppearing on a children''s programmeAppearing as an expertAppearing as part of the audienceAppearing as an extraChapter 3: The application processGetting your story straightFilling out the application formVideo applications anTable of Contents : 1. Which programme? : 2. Who should you appear as? : 3. The application process : 4. Auditions – the screening process : 5. Practicalities : 6. Filming 7. What happens afterwards?:

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Book SynopsisThe Oscar-winning screenwriter who broke the Hollywood blacklist. Soon to be a major motion picture starring BRYAN CRANSTON (Breaking Bad), DIANE LANE (Under The Tuscan Sun), ELLE FANNING (Maleficent), JOHN GOODMAN (Argo), LOUIS C.K. (Louie) and Academy Award winner HELEN MIRREN.Trade ReviewWhat a relief... to read Bruce Cook's Trumbo, a book of clarity, probing intelligence, and considerable grace. Trumbo was a true original. His life has the chronicler it merits. * Nat Hentoff *A gossipy, anecdotal narrative that is fascinating reading * Publishers Weekly *He wrote a brilliant novel and a number of very good movies, and he demolished the Hollywood blacklist almost single-handed, but his greatest achievement was just being the incomparable Trumbo. Bruce Cook has captured the wit, intelligence, and unpredictability that made him one of the truly original people of our time * Ring Lardner Jr, two-time Academy Award-winning screenwriter (WOMAN OF THE YEAR and MASH) *As a study of life under the blacklist the book is superb... Essential reading for anyone interested in either the cinema or recent American history * Library Journal *PRAISE FOR THE FILM TRUMBO'a cracking good story, and Cranston does a great job portraying a man who made great sacrifices for his principles' * New York Post *the hugely entertaining, revealing and powerful portrait of this great screenwriter... an almost bigger-than-life colorful movie about the movies. A screen triumph for all involved, it is especially Bryan Cranston's magnificent work in the title role that towers over everything. * Deadline *Bryan Cranston finally translates his critical acclaim for Breaking Bad into an Oscar-caliber performance in darkly comic Trumbo, playing an eloquent, witty screenwriter who bucked the Hollywood blacklist and triumphed... a highly entertaining biopic... Director Jay Roach (Meet the Parents) may seem an unlikely fit for the material, but as Martin Ritt's blacklist comedy The Front (starring Woody Allen) showed and Trumbo reminds us, sometimes comedy can be the best weapon against demagogues * New York Post *Among movies about old moviemakers, Trumbo works better, and has more to say about the world at large, than My Week With Marilyn orHitchcock... Come for the smooth supporting turns by Louis C.K. and Alan Tudyk, the impersonations of icons like John Wayne and Douglas (played with chin-y gusto by Dean O'Gorman) and for Cranston, who fills the air with craggy, growly authority. Stay for the listless yet vital lesson in democracy. * Time *What makes the movie work are the lively performances, both from the supporting cast and from Cranston * Hollywood Reporter *a powerhouse Bryan Cranston... Cranston plays the hell out of Dalton Trumbo... Kudos to director Jay Roach for not wallowing in misery. His movie is bracing and buoyant when Trumbo takes on gossip gorgon Hedda Hopper (a wicked Helen Mirren) and writes cheapies for the King brothers (Stephen Root and a hilarious John Goodman). When Kirk Douglas hired Trumbo to write Spartacus in 1960, the Commie witch hunt was exposed as the sham it was. Witch hunts haven't gone, they've gone global (ask the folks at Charlie Hebdo). Cranston shows us there's nothing retro about watching Trumbo in his glory, speaking truth to power. * Rolling Stone *a timely tale of political paranoia and personal pain... Mirren, in Hopper's extravagant wardrobe, proves once and for all that she is the best at a truly underappreciated, classic Hollywood skill: wearing a hat. * Los Angeles Times *Bryan Cranston owns Trumbo, both character and film, from first word to last. The picture is an incredibly fun leap into a time-machine back into old-fashioned Hollywood, whose good and bad characteristics are twisted to be both endearing and entertaining. But more than this, its fiery central character is a big symbol of something that's missing in present-day Hollywood. Where are the Dalton Trumbos of today? * IndieWire *an important reminder of how democracy can fail ... and the strength of character it takes to fight the system * Variety *Come for Bryan Cranston, stay for Dalton Trumbo * Chicago Reader *A good-spirited, provocative and satisfying look at the great Hollywood screenwriter Dalton Trumbo... Bryan Cranston is terrific as the left-wing activist with the right ideas at the wrong time. * Film Journal *Bryan Cranston gives a performance as compelling and complex as the man himself must have been. Cranston's Trumbo is eminently interesting, from his rounded posture and curious eyes to his distinct cadence and diction. Appearing in nearly every frame of the film, Cranston infuses John McNamara's clever screenplay with even more life. * Las Vegas Sun *Bryan Cranston shines as the titular character of Trumbo. Transforming into the role with the old school panache of a seasoned character actor. Armed with his usual quick witted style and knack for bringing those he has played to life, Cranston doesn't pull any punches. Few thespians, save for example Jonnny Depp as Hunter S. Thomson, Philip Seymour Hoffman as Capote or Daniel Day Lewis in any role he undertakes, are we graced with talent which truly transforms into the person they have set out to personify. This is one of those films. * Digital Journal *

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Book SynopsisWith an in-depth case study of Sally Potter's 2012 film Ginger & Rosa, and drawing upon interviews with international film industry practitioners, From Film Practice to Data Process is a groundbreaking examination of film production in its totality, in a moment of profound change.

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Book SynopsisDrawing on over 30 interviews with key personnel from Working Title, Polygram and Universal, the author examines not only how this remarkable company has evolved but also why it has evolved in the way that it has by situating its history within the ever-changing landscape of the British and Hollywood film industries.Trade Review"Essential reading for anyone engaged in the serious study of contemporary British cinema, Nathan Townsend's book provides a long overdue full critical analysis of Working Title's operations and outputs since its inception four decades ago. It traces the company's complex history and surveys the full range of its transnational endeavours, from Oscar-winning highs to critic infuriating lows, and is nourished throughout by Townsend's conceptual sophistication and granular attention to detail." -Melanie Williams, University of East Anglia

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Book SynopsisLegendary movie producer Larry Kasanoff knows firsthand that massive success requires taking big risks. It means embracing your crazy side: the most unique, boldest, and bravest part of you, and your greatest asset when it comes to creating something truly original. In A Touch of The Madness, Larry uses behind-the-scenes stories of some of Hollywood’s biggest blockbusters, including Terminator 2 Judgment Day, Platoon, True Lies, Dirty Dancing, and the Mortal Kombat film series, to show you the three principles that form the foundation of a thriving career in any industry: Create a great idea that will excite your audience Ask as many times (and as many people) as it takes to get a “yes” Play while you work - don’t forget to have fun with it The current of the river of life will always try to pull you towards the middle, towards complacency and mediocrity. Other companies or competitors that don’t give into that current will eclipse you. The best tool you have for swimming against that current of mediocrity is innovation.

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Book SynopsisWhat has brought about the transformation of the British film industry over the last few decades, to the beginnings of what is arguably a new golden era? In the mid-1980s the industry was in a parlous state. The number of films produced in the UK was tiny. Cinema attendance had dipped to an all-time low, cinema buildings were in a state of disrepair and home video had yet to flourish. Since then, while many business challenges - especially for independent producers and distributors - remain, the industry overall has developed beyond recognition. In recent years, as British films have won Oscars, Cannes Palms and Venice Golden Lions, releases such as Love Actually, Billy Elliot, Skyfall, Paddington and the Harry Potter series have found enormous commercial as well as critical success. The UK industry has encouraged, and benefitted from, a huge amount of inward investment, much of it from the Hollywood studios, but also from the National Lottery via the UK Film Council and BFI. This book portrays the visionaries and officials who were at the helm as a digital media revolution began to reshape the industry. Through vivid accounts based on first-hand interviews of what was happening behind the scenes, film commentator and critic Geoffrey Macnab provides in-depth analysis of how and why the British film industry has risen like a phoenix from the ashes.

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Book SynopsisRocliffe Notes is a compendium for screenwriters and filmmakers which brings together tips and opinions from over 140 film and TV industry professionals, and provides a step-by-step, common-sense guide on how writers and writer-directors can best present themselves to the industry. Including insider insights from award-winning industry players, it details their habits, writing processes, daily passions and preoccupations, whilst also looking at the nuts and bolts of the industry, aiming to motivate writers on their own creative journey, maximise networking opportunities and encourage a professional approach to writing. An essential armament in any writer's store, contributors include: Moira Buffini, Danny Huston, David Parfitt, Jack Thorne, Sarah Gavron, John Madden, John Yorke, Nik Powell, Peter Kosminsky, Christine Langan and Asif Kapadia.Trade ReviewA really useful guide to getting on in the world of film -- Richard EyreAn indispensable addition to the writer's bookshelf * Lock and load, brides of Christ *

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Book SynopsisThe story of Eastmancolor's arrival on the British filmmaking scene is one of intermittent trial and error, intense debate and speculation before gradual acceptance. This book traces the journey of its adoption in British Film and considers its lasting significance as one of the most important technical innovations in film history. Through original archival research and interviews with key figures within the industry, the authors examine the role of Eastmancolor in relation to key areas of British cinema since the 1950s; including its economic and structural histories, different studio and industrial strategies, and the wider aesthetic changes that took place with the mass adoption of colour. Their analysis of British cinema through the lens of colour produces new interpretations of key British film genres including social realism, historical and costume drama, science fiction, horror, crime, documentary and even sex films. They explore how colour communicated meaning in films ranging from the Carry On series to Monty Python's Life of Brian (1979), from Lawrence of Arabia (1962) to A Passage to India (1984), and from Goldfinger (1964) to 1984 (1984), and in the work of key directors and cinematographers of both popular and art cinema including Nicolas Roeg, Ken Russell, Ridley Scott, Peter Greenaway and Chris Menges.Trade ReviewRooted in detailed primary research into aesthetics, production practices, technologies and institutions, Colour Films in Britain, provides a comprehensive and illuminating consideration of the adoption, diffusion and popularization of colour in British cinema from the mid-1950s. -- Duncan Petrie, University of York, UKColour Films in Britain is a landmark study of the transition to colour that occurred in the 1960s and 1970s. No other book has yet tackled this transition with such depth, breadth and precision. The collaborative efforts of Sarah Street, Keith M. Johnston, Paul Frith and Carolyn Rickards are a model for research that I hope will soon be taken up in other national and transnational contexts. -- Joshua Yumibe, Michigan State University, USATable of ContentsIntroduction Section 1: What is Eastmancolor? 1. Branding and Marketing the Eastmancolor Revolution 2. Eastmancolor, the British Film Industry, and Institutions Section 2: Eastmancolor and British Genre Films 3. Comedy and Satire 4. Social realism / contemporary drama 5. The Colour of Crime 6. Fantasy, Horror and Science Fiction 7. Historical and costume films 8. Musicals, pop films, and the concert film Section 3: Eastmancolor Outside the Mainstream 9. Key colourists, 1955-85 10. Art, experimental, and avant-garde practices 11. Eastmancolor and the Amateur Film 12. Short and Documentary Films 13. The Colour of Sex? Eastmancolor and the Sex Film Section 4: Preservation and Restoration 14. Cultures and Practices of Preservation and Restoration Conclusion First Appendix: Eastmancolor Film List, 1954-85 Second Appendix: Technical Appendix

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Book Synopsis

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Book SynopsisThomas Doherty tells the story of the 1947 hearings into alleged Communist subversion in the movie industry. Show Trial is a character-driven inquiry into how the HUAC hearings ignited the Hollywood blacklist, providing a gripping new history of one of the most influential events of the postwar era.Trade ReviewThomas Doherty’s fans, of whom I am one, know he is a first-rate film historian with a sharp eye for political theater as well as a stylish writer with a knack for turning a phrase. Show Trial gives a thorough, well-contextualized, clear-eyed, and witty account of the 1947 HUAC “Hollywood Ten” hearings, full of pithy characterizations and choice bits of business. -- J. Hoberman, author of An Army of Phantoms: American Movies and the Making of the Cold WarThomas Doherty’s Show Trial is a uniquely pragmatic history of the Hollywood Blacklist—a big book on a big topic that ruthlessly defies and confounds orthodoxy at every turn. No book in print provides a fuller accounting of the hearings themselves. And no author to date gives his readers so much room to appreciate and understand who said what and why. -- Jon Lewis, author of Hard-Boiled Hollywood: Crime and Punishment in Postwar Los AngelesDoherty is one of the best, if not the best, writers in the American studies world today, and has produced an excellent book that will command a great deal of attention. Show Trial sheds new light on the story of the Hollywood Ten and HUAC and does it in fresh and exciting ways. One of the book’s greatest strengths is that it stays away from familiar academic debates that focus heavily on politics and instead tells a character-driven story using quotes from a wide variety of contemporaneous participants. Doherty places the personalities of the era—left and right—on center stage. This is easily the most comprehensive and comprehensible study of HUAC and the Hollywood Ten to date, and I predict it will become the book to read on this topic. -- Steven Ross, author of Hitler in Los Angeles: How Jews Foiled Nazi Plots Against Hollywood and AmericaIlluminating. . . . With accessible prose and astute academic insight, Doherty shows us that both the studios and the Hollywood Ten were victims of HUAC. His Show Trial is likely to become the standard authority on the genesis of the Hollywood blacklist. -- Christopher Yogerst * The Washington Post *Deeply absorbing, expertly researched, and thoroughly entertaining. -- Noah Isenberg * The New Republic *[Doherty] brings fresh scepticism to the many self-serving myths that have encrusted the tale. . . . It is impossible to read Show Trial without thinking about its relevance to the current situation in America. The country is again faced with a resurgence of nativism, racism and isolationism (ironically, it is now progressives who are warning about nefarious Russian influence) and a culture of believing figures in the public eye to be guilty until proven innocent. One can only hope for another pendulum swing, such as the one Thomas Doherty, in this engaging study, demonstrates happened over the Hollywood blacklist. -- Phillip Lopate * Times Literary Supplement *A thorough and lively chronicle of a shameful episode in American political and entertainment history. * Kirkus Reviews *A riveting, exhaustive look at the 1947 House Un-American Activities Committee investigation into Communists in the film industry. . . . In the current era of legislative upheaval, Doherty’s vital, impressive history feels both relevant and urgent. * Publishers Weekly *Written with breathtaking concision and all the intrigue of a spy novel, Doherty’s account of the 1947 House Un-American Activities Commission (HUAC) hearing frames the alleged subversion of Hollywood by Communists as the mirror image of the Moscow Trials. -- Carrie Rickey * Film Quarterly *A shameful interlude in American history highly relevant to today’s political divisions. * Booklist *The historian Thomas Doherty explains in yet another expertly crafted book on American movie history, that the combination of Hollywood and communism has always made for a great show. * Journal of American History *Engrossing. . . . The world suffers no shortage of books about the blacklist, but Show Trial stands out for telling its story without grinding axes. -- Jesse Walker * Reason *Doherty thoroughly chronicles the HUAC circus, with its parade of well-known stars—both defiant (screenwriters Dalton Trumbo) and reluctant (Humphrey Bogart)—and accusers, such as Rep. J. Parnell Thomas. . . . For readers who appreciate both Hollywood's golden age and the postwar politics that animated it. * Library Journal *Doherty proves there are still a few surprises, even after recent revisionist accounts exposed deeper ties than previously known between the Hollywood Ten and their Soviet controllers. In his fascinating Show Trial: Hollywood, HUAC, and the Birth of the Blacklist, Doherty doesn’t romanticize the Ten or try to justify the excesses of HUAC. Instead, he highlights a lesser-known aspect of the hearings: the dilemma of Hollywood centrists and liberals squeezed between the extremists on both sides. Like anti-Trump conservatives today, anti-Communist liberals in late 1940s Hollywood found that the middle could be a very lonely place. -- Mark Horowitz * Commentary *A lively and highly readable account. . . . Show Trial provides a vivid picture of an episode in US history that, for a barely credible mixture of political ugliness and downright farce, has rarely been equalled. Or at least, not until recently. -- Philip Kemp * Sight & Sound *Show Trial is a solid piece of reportage on a specific event that had shattering results. . . . We’ve all read accounts of this fateful showdown between Washington and Hollywood, but never in such depth or with such well-informed commentary. -- Leonard MaltinA difficult book to summarize, Show Trial reflects a lot of hard work and has interesting content almost page by page. The fresh research is fascinating, much of it from recently released HUAC documents revealing (partly) what went on backstage of the extravaganza. -- Patrick McGilligan * Cineaste *Show Trial may not be the final word on HUAC and Hollywood but it will be the must-cite source wherever academic research encounters the HUAC and Hollywood nexus, especially concerning the year of 1947. -- Michael Kitson * Senses of Cinema *Doherty's numerous biographical asides enhance the readability of his work while providing much-needed nuance regarding a complicated period of American history. * Choice *General readers will enjoy the rich anecdotal material and the bright and breezy style of Doherty's work. Scholars will also find in the narrative and the sources the raw materials of future work. * Historian *An excellent introduction to the topic for a younger generation who may not have known that the Trump era is not the first in U.S. history to play fast and loose with the Constitution. -- Jan-Christopher Horak * Archival Spaces: Memory, Images, History *Table of ContentsProgram NotesThanks and AcknowledgmentsList of AbbreviationsPart I. Backstories1. How the Popular Front Became Unpopular2. Hollywood’s War Record3. The Preservation of American Ideals4. The Magic of a Hollywood Dateline5. Smearing Hollywood with the Brush of CommunismPart II. On Location in Washington6. Showtime7. Lovefest8. Friendlies, Cooperative and Uncooperative9. Hollywood’s Finest10. Doldrums11. Crashing Page 112. Contempt13. $64 Questions and No Answers14. Jewish Questions15. The Curtain DropsPart III. Backfire16. The Waldorf and Other Declarations17. Blacklists and Casualty Lists18. Not Only VictimsA Bibliographical NoteNotesIndex

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Book SynopsisAriel Rogers rethinks the history of moving images by exploring how experiments with screen technologies in and around the 1930s changed the way films were produced, exhibited, and experienced. She challenges conventional narratives about the novelty of the twenty-first-century multiscreen environment.Trade ReviewThere is no other book remotely like this. On the Screen is original in the material it unearths and discusses, offering an innovative history of film and technology. It strikes an easy balance between big ideas and focused analysis, addressing unmapped screen dynamics as crucial elements of cinema. -- Haidee Wasson, author of Museum Movies: The Museum of Modern Art and the Birth of Art CinemaOffering an extensive and systematic exploration of screen practices in the 1930s, Ariel Rogers recharacterizes this seemingly solid, coherent era by analyzing its multiplicity and heterogeneity. The screen becomes a kaleidoscopic reality. -- Francesco Casetti, author of The Lumière Galaxy: Seven Key Words for the Cinema to ComeFilm theory's classic question "What is cinema?" often gets a (stereo)typical answer around the idea that movies exist when projected on standard screens in theaters. With her well-known and lauded attention to archival research, Ariel Rogers revises this received account of cinema and essentially rewrites it from the ground up. This is a rich and rewarding study that combines sharp scholarship with compelling new interpretation to change the field. -- Dana Polan, New York UniversityA thoroughly documented account of the broad culture of synchronicity in screen culture over the long 1930s. * Choice *On the Screen is a major achievement that insists on screen technology as an integral component of film history. * Technology and Culture *Rogers’s detailed and impressively supported account of how film screen technologies have proliferated is a timely and relevant study. * Film Criticism *Rogers provides a vivid sense of the historical particularity of screens in the long 1930s. * Film Quarterly *Table of ContentsAcknowledgmentsIntroduction1. Production Screens in the Long 1930s: Rear Projection and Special Effects2. Theatrical Screens, 1926–1931: Transforming the Screen3. Theatrical Screens, 1931–1940: Integrating the Screen4. Extratheatrical Screens in the Long 1930s: Film and Television at Home and in TransitCoda: Multiplicity, Immersion, and the New ScreensNotesBibliographyIndex

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Book SynopsisAriel Rogers rethinks the history of moving images by exploring how experiments with screen technologies in and around the 1930s changed the way films were produced, exhibited, and experienced. She challenges conventional narratives about the novelty of the twenty-first-century multiscreen environment.Trade ReviewThere is no other book remotely like this. On the Screen is original in the material it unearths and discusses, offering an innovative history of film and technology. It strikes an easy balance between big ideas and focused analysis, addressing unmapped screen dynamics as crucial elements of cinema. -- Haidee Wasson, author of Museum Movies: The Museum of Modern Art and the Birth of Art CinemaOffering an extensive and systematic exploration of screen practices in the 1930s, Ariel Rogers recharacterizes this seemingly solid, coherent era by analyzing its multiplicity and heterogeneity. The screen becomes a kaleidoscopic reality. -- Francesco Casetti, author of The Lumière Galaxy: Seven Key Words for the Cinema to ComeFilm theory's classic question "What is cinema?" often gets a (stereo)typical answer around the idea that movies exist when projected on standard screens in theaters. With her well-known and lauded attention to archival research, Ariel Rogers revises this received account of cinema and essentially rewrites it from the ground up. This is a rich and rewarding study that combines sharp scholarship with compelling new interpretation to change the field. -- Dana Polan, New York UniversityA thoroughly documented account of the broad culture of synchronicity in screen culture over the long 1930s. * Choice *On the Screen is a major achievement that insists on screen technology as an integral component of film history. * Technology and Culture *Rogers’s detailed and impressively supported account of how film screen technologies have proliferated is a timely and relevant study. * Film Criticism *Rogers provides a vivid sense of the historical particularity of screens in the long 1930s. * Film Quarterly *Table of ContentsAcknowledgmentsIntroduction1. Production Screens in the Long 1930s: Rear Projection and Special Effects2. Theatrical Screens, 1926–1931: Transforming the Screen3. Theatrical Screens, 1931–1940: Integrating the Screen4. Extratheatrical Screens in the Long 1930s: Film and Television at Home and in TransitCoda: Multiplicity, Immersion, and the New ScreensNotesBibliographyIndex

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Book SynopsisRochona Majumdar examines key works of Indian art cinema to demonstrate how film emerged as a mode of doing history and that, in so doing, it anticipated some of the most influential insights of postcolonial thought. She analyzes the films of Satyajit Ray, Mrinal Sen, and Ritwik Ghatak as well as a host of film society publications.Trade ReviewFrom writer Rochona Majumdar comes this decidedly anti-colonialist read about the history of Indian cinema, with a specific eye towards post-independence India and the house of cards its democracy is built on. Highlight of the book is whenever Majumdar waxes philosophical about Ritwik Ghatak, a filmmaker worthy of much more discussion here stateside. -- Joshua Brunsting * CriterionCast *Rochona Majumdar, the historian, intervenes in the rich discourse surrounding the films of Satyajit Ray, Mrinal Sen, and Ritwik Ghatak through her meticulously researched and compelling book, Art Cinema and India’s Forgotten Futures: Film and History in the Postcolony. -- Swarnavel Eswaran * South Asian History and Culture *Majumdar’s brief comment on Ray’s Calcutta trilogy as an ethnographic turn in his career, for example, is a fine provocation to rethink the shifting significance of realism in Ray’s oeuvre. Such remarks invite scholars to study these filmmakers in a comparative vein across regional, national, and transnational concerns, a task set in motion by Majumdar’s book. -- TRINANKUR BANERJEE * Film Quarterly *Rochona Majumdar's book on Art Cinema is a compelling chapter on India's modern history recorded on screen. -- Tanushree Ghosh * The Indian Express *Rochona Majumdar's book is a pleasingly accessible academic study on Indian art cinema. -- Jel Arjun Singh * India Today *The book is nuanced and its arguments are complex. Yet, it is lucid and accessible, and makes for a compelling reading. It is a compulsory book for anyone interested in history and/or visual culture. -- Dr. Arvind Elangovan * Critical Collective *How does cinema apprehend its historical moment? With characteristic eloquence and insight, Majumdar gives us a vivid account of India’s art cinema and film societies to take the shifting pulse of a nation in the early decades of its independence. In Art Cinema and India's Forgotten Futures, a rigorous interrogation into the category of radical art extends archivally-rich readings of works by Ray, Sen and Ghatak, to ground a powerful vision of films that put the specious terms of India’s democracy under scrutiny. This book changes how we will think about histories of, and histories within, art cinema. -- Priya Jaikumar, author of Where Histories Reside: India as Filmed SpaceHistory and film criticism are profoundly imbricated in Art Cinema and India’s Forgotten Futures. Even as the book uncovers new archives for postcolonial research, it triumphantly validates cultural criticism as historical method. An invaluable scholarly work. -- Rajeswari Sunder Rajan, coeditor of Commodities and Culture in the Colonial WorldThe tradition of art cinema in India has rarely been framed with such a rich archival ambition. Displaying an eye for detail and a strong conceptual drive, Majumdar creatively establishes a similarity between the art film maker’s capacity for historical reflection and the historian’s craft. -- Ranjani Mazumdar, author of Bombay Cinema: An Archive of the CityLike the incisive art cinema she unsheathes, Rochona Majumdar probes India in its painful passage beyond partition, staggering into modernity. Cinema has never been more ‘critical’ than in Bengal from 1960 to 1974 as Satyajit Ray, Ritwik Ghatak, and Mrinal Sen exposed the innards of an immense ailing culture of which the brightness of Bollywood is but a fever symptom. Majumdar, to use her fertile word, apprehends the absolute necessity not just of art films like those she deftly analyses, but of the fragile film society movement that let them breathe. It’s an inspiring if tragic history, one she carefully remembers for a future that may still be possible. -- Dudley Andrew, Yale UniversityIn this engaging book, Majumdar has brought art cinema alive in a carefully contextualized study of Ray, Sen, and Ghatak—three Bengali directors who, she argues, anticipated critical historians. Her writing is evocative, thoughtful and illuminating. -- Partha Chatterjee, Professor Emeritus of Anthropology, Columbia UniversityTable of ContentsIntroductionPart I: The History of Art Cinema1. Art Cinema: The Indian Career of a Global Category2. The “New” Indian Cinema: Journeys of the Art Film3. Debating Radical Cinema: A History of the Film Society MovementPart II: Art Films as History4. Ritwik Ghatak and the Overcoming of History5. “Anger and After”: History, Political Cinema, and Mrinal Sen6. The Untimely Filmmaker: Ray’s City Trilogy and a Crisis of HistoricismEpilogue: Art Cinema and Our PresentAcknowledgmentsNotesSelect BibliographyIndex

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Book SynopsisTrade Review”A rigorous and monumental historical study of Bombay-produced Hindi cinema, which addresses the paradoxes of Bollywood's histories in highly engaging as well as truly enlightening ways. This is an essential study of Indian popular cinema and its indomitability.”—Catherine Grant, coauthor of The Videographic Essay: Criticism in Sound and Image”The longue durée of Bollywood is the subject of Unruly Cinema. A lively and textured account of the contradictory development of mainstream Hindi cinema as an industrial product, on the one hand, and an art form, on the other, this book is a must read for students of South Asian film, the culture industry, and discourses of globalization.”—Keya Ganguly, author of Cinema, Emergence, and the Films of Satyajit Ray

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Book SynopsisTrade Review”A rigorous and monumental historical study of Bombay-produced Hindi cinema, which addresses the paradoxes of Bollywood's histories in highly engaging as well as truly enlightening ways. This is an essential study of Indian popular cinema and its indomitability.”—Catherine Grant, coauthor of The Videographic Essay: Criticism in Sound and Image”The longue durée of Bollywood is the subject of Unruly Cinema. A lively and textured account of the contradictory development of mainstream Hindi cinema as an industrial product, on the one hand, and an art form, on the other, this book is a must read for students of South Asian film, the culture industry, and discourses of globalization.”—Keya Ganguly, author of Cinema, Emergence, and the Films of Satyajit Ray

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Book SynopsisTrade ReviewThis carefully researched and nuanced account of local film history is essential reading for researchers and students who are interested in understanding the evolution of film culture as it played out beyond Hollywood. * Early Popular Visual Culture *[A] quietly radical rewriting of American film history since the 1910s. * Historical Journal of Film, Radio, and Television *Table of ContentsAccessing Moving Images AcknowledgmentsAbbreviationsIntroduction: Defining the Local Film1. The Silent Pageant: Municipal Booster Films 2. The Home Talent Film and the Origins of Itinerancy3. "How Movies Are Made": Hollywood and the Local Film4. Itinerants Adopt a Baby: The Local Hollywood Film and the Operational Aesthetic5. Kidnapping the Movie Queen: Amateur Aesthetics as Cultural Critique 6. The Cameraman Has Visited Your Town: The Local Film and the Politics of Recognition7. Every Town has its Main Street: The Banal Localism of the Civic Film8. Reclaiming the Local Film: Artifacts, Archives, and AudiencesConclusion: See Your Town Disappear: The Historicity of the Local FilmFilmographyBibliographyIndex

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Book SynopsisFrom Twin Peaks (including the 2017 return) to Girls, a veteran critic and scholar draws on decades of industry expertise and exclusive interviews with renowned creators to examine the rise of art television.Trade ReviewNochimson's book is well worth reading not only for its insights but for the dialogue and reflection it opens up among readers. * Lost in the Movies *Television Rewired is an essential contribution to the still-crystallizing critical definition of auteur television…from the unique perspective of a critic who has engaged with the medium in profound ways. * 25 Years Later *This book details the creative process of each of the series [that developed the concept of the television auteur], based on interviews and detailed research by the author…Recommended. * CHOICE *A lively and fascinating book...Throughout Nochimson is thoroughly consumed by the question of what constitutes television art, and what plausibly counts as a defense of its achievements; her prose is utterly compelling in its gentle unfolding of such complex and challenging questions. * New Review of Film and Television Studies *[Nochimson provides] solid, but accessible, insights into the process of auteur television expression....After reading Television Rewired, I learned a new vocabulary for television viewing. The book is not a judgment of what is good or bad. Nochimson expanded my appreciation for television by explaining exactly what it is I am watching. * Popular Culture Studies Journal *Table of Contents Introduction: The David Effect The Founding Titans: Men without Formula Chapter 1. David Lynch, Twin Peaks Chapter 2. David Chase, The Sopranos Chapter 3. David Simon, The Wire The Legacy: New Options, New Questions, Retooled Formulas Chapter 4. David Simon and Eric Overmyer, Treme Chapter 5. Matt Weiner, Mad Men Chapter 6. Lena Dunham, Girls Chapter 7. Backlash! Formula 2.0 Coda: The Return of David Lynch Acknowledgments Notes Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisA study of a decade's native Russian film production through the 1917 Revolution. Showing how these films appealed to a new middle class, the author examines the organization and evolution of the industry and looks at genres, motifs and themes in 65 of the most important surviving films.

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Book SynopsisThoroughly revised and updated, this second edition offers a fundamental and comprehensive treatment of how mobile systems operate in a variety of scenarios. This unrivalled approach concentrates on the properties of the radio channel, a vital and central feature that places fundamental limitations on the performance of radio systems. Bringing the reader completely up-to-date, this book: * Features two new chapters: ''Multipath Mitigation Techniques'' and ''Radio System Planning'' * Surveys various alternative methods of predicting the mean signal strength and its variability, and discusses their applications * Introduces ray-tracing methods in connection with indoor propagation * Discusses multipath and its effects on narrowband and wideband systems * Describes channel sounders and reviews methods of hardware and software simulation * Examines man-made noise and interference and discusses the resulting performance degradation By equipping the reader witTrade Review"In a textbook for a graduate course and reference for systems designers and researchers, Parsons...synthesizes from technical papers basic information about the mobile radio channel itself..." (SciTech Book News Vol. 25, No. 2 June 2001)Table of ContentsPreface. Preface to the First Edition. Introduction. Fundamentals of VHF and UHF Propagation. Propagation over Irregular Terrain. Propagation in Built-up Areas. Characterisation of Multipath Phenomena. Wideband Channel Characterisation. Other Mobile Radio Channels. Sounding, Sampling anf Simulation. Man-made Noise and Interference. Mitigation of Multipath Effects. Planning Radio Networks. Appendix A: Rayleigh Graph Paper and Receiver Noise Figure. Appendix B: Rayleigh Distribution (dB) and CNR in a Rayleigh Fading Environment. Appendix C: Deriving PDFs for Variables in Logarithmic Units. Appendix D: Effective Signal Envelope. Index.

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Book SynopsisOffers a comprehensive account of film production in the Third World. This work considers the paradoxes of social structure and cultural life in the post-independence world, where even such basic concepts as 'nation', 'national culture', and 'language' are problematic.Table of ContentsAcknowledgments Note on Titles Introduction Part One The Social, Cultural, and Economic Context 1. Third World Societies 2. Culture and National Identity 3. Cinema and Capitalism Part Two Theory and Practice of Third World Film Making 4. The Beginnings of Non-Western Film Production 5. Individual Authorship 6. "Third Cinema" Part Three National Film Industries 7. The Indian Subcontinent 8. East and Southeast Asia 9. Latin America 10. The Middle East and Africa Part Four Cinema Astride Two Cultures 11. Satyajit Ray 12. Youssef Chahine 13. Glauber Rocha 14. Y1lmaz GOney 15. Ousmane Sembene 16. Jorge Sanjines Conclusion Notes Bibliography Sources for Photographs Index

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Book SynopsisOffers readers a look at the time when sound was a vexing challenge for filmmakers and the source of contentious debate for audiences and critics. Donald Crafton presents a panoramic view of the talkies' reception as well as an in-depth look at sound design in selected films, amongst other issues.Table of ContentsAcknowledgments 1 Introduction: The Uncertainty of Sound PART 1: A NEW ERA IN ELECTRICAL ENTERTAINMENT 2 Electric Affinities 3 Virtual Broadway, Virtual Orchestra: De Forest and Vitaphone 4 Fox-Case, Movietone, and the Talking Newsreel 5 Enticing the Audience: Warner Bros. and Vitaphone 6 Battle of the Giants: ERPI and RCA Consolidate Sound 7 The Big Hedge: Hollywood's Defensive Strategies 8 Boom to Bust 9 Labor Troubles 10 Inaudible Technology 11 Exhibition: Talkies Change the Bijou PART 2: THREE SEASONS: THE FILMS OF 1928-1931 12 The New Entertainment Vitamin: 1928-1929 13 Taming the Talkies: 1929-1930 14 The Well-Tempered Sound Track: 1930-1931 15 The Sound of Custard: Shorts, Travelogues, and Animated Cartoons 16 Outside the Mainstream 17 Foreign Affairs PART 3: HEARING THE AUDIENCE 18 The Voice Squad 19 Constructive Criticism: The Fans' Perspective 20 Buying Broadway: THE JAZZ SINGER's Reception 21 "The Great Ninety Per Cent" Appendix 1: Selected Box Office Grosses, 1928-1931 Appendix 2: Academy Awards Related to Sound, 1927-1931 List of Abbreviations Notes Bibliography Picture Sources General Index Index of Films

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Book SynopsisThis book shows how, beginning in the 1950s, a largely predictable business has been transformed into a volatile and complex multimedia enterprise now commanding over 80 percent of the world’s film business. Waterman asks how the economic forces leading to this success have combined to change the kinds of movies Hollywood produces.Trade ReviewHollywood's Road to Riches focuses on the details and peculiarities of the film business with a depth and breadth that no one else provides. Combining knowledge of facts and institutions with insightful economic analyses makes the book exceptional. -- Steven S. Wildman, Michigan State UniversityHollywood's Road to Riches is informative, intelligent, and even entertaining. -- Michael Riordan, Columbia UniversityWith box office returns slumping, Waterman has produced a timely study of Tinseltown's development since the end of World War II. -- Roy Liebman * Library Journal *[Hollywood's Road to Riches] provide[s] a thorough economic account of how American film studios and their predecessors have exploited our appetite for movies over the past 60-plus years. -- David Ondaatje * Times Higher Education Supplement *No less artful are the inspired, often Byzantine economics that have sustained the film industry for more than a century, which prove a surprisingly engrossing topic in David Waterman's Hollywood's Road to Riches. -- J. David Slocum * Playboy *

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Book SynopsisRefuting the conventional scholarly view that Hollywood studios are basically interchangeable, this history of the contemporary American movie industry argues that we can see the individual studios' fingerprints on even the smallest aspects of their films.Trade Review"Connor structures his analysis of product - Jaws, Footloose, Saturday Night Fever, and Flashdance, to name a few - around the idea of corporate auteurship. In each film one can find a link between the artist and the production committee . . . Recommended." -- A. Hirsh * CHOICE *"Connor offers interpretations of key films from the 1970s and 80s that are often highly original and unexpected, making sure that The Studios After the Studios has many thrilling moments of discovery (and surprise). As an important contribution to film studies, it will be especially productive in re-opening the debate on Hollywood and authorship." -- Thomas Elsaesser * University of Amsterdam *"It certainly is a very welcome contribution not just to Hollywood cinema studies but also to media industry studies and film studies more generally." -- Yannis Tzioumakis * New Review of Film and Television Studies *Table of ContentsContents and AbstractsIntroduction chapter abstractEvery movie is "on some level about the business," according to Academy Award winner Robert Towne. The introduction examines that claim in light of Towne's film Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes, and finds it to be true. 1Logorrhea, or, How to Watch a Hollywood Movie chapter abstractThis opening chapter shows the reader how to approach a Hollywood film. The key is the studio logo at the beginning. In dozens of cases, those logos bleed into the story world of the film. The Paramount mountain turns into the landscape of Raiders of the Lost Ark; the X in "Fox" glows at the beginning of X-Men; and the ice cap on the Universal globe melts at the beginning of Waterworld. In these evanescent images, studios are tying their stories to their corporate identities, encouraging us to see these movies as studio stories. The remainder of the chapter discusses various reasons why scholars believe that studios don't matter and shows why that kind of thinking is wrong. Alternative theories include those of Horkheimer and Adorno, Jerome Christensen, and John Thornton Caldwell. 2The Literal and the Littoral: Jaws chapter abstractEveryone knows Jaws invented the blockbuster. Because of marketing? The story? Some connection to our primal fears? Half of the audience saw Jaws as a knowing throwback to the cheesy monster movies of old; the other half just saw it as a monster movie. That split audience—one sophisticated, one not—would be the key to the studio renaissance. Jaws isn't yet the story of its studio, but it is the story that teaches the audience how to look out for what lies beneath. 3Paramount I: From the Director's Company to High Concept chapter abstractThe seventies were supposed to be the glory days of the director, the auteur era. Yet even when the studios were at their weakest, directors such as George Lucas, Francis Ford Coppola, and Roman Polanski were terrified of them. Paramount did all that it could to turn auteurism into a business plan, but the paranoid auteurs would have none of it. Everyone, from studio chief Robert Evans to Coppola, was trapped in a fantasy of the 1930s. This nostalgia for the classical era gave rise to some of the studio's greatest hits—Rosemary's Baby, The Godfather, The Conversation—but it was only when they put the thirties aside and turned to the present that the studio found a way out of the cul-de-sac. The solution was Saturday Night Fever. 4Our Man in Armani: The Ovitz Interregnum chapter abstractThe most important new player in Hollywood in the eighties was Mike Ovitz's CAA. A relentless packager of films, CAA preyed on weak studios, turning movies like 5Paramount II: The Residue of Design chapter abstractUnable to make auteurism into a model, Paramount turned away from directors and complex narratives toward production designers and clean, hyperlegible images. "High-concept" style conquered substance, but it was a style that stayed true to the studio's history of extreme production design. The studio capitalized on the success of Saturday Night Fever by making a series of "popsicals" like Flashdance and Footloose and by turning Eddie Murphy into a movie star. But as Gulf + Western remade itself as Paramount Communications, the studio was under tremendous pressure to justify its role. Barry Diller argued that the movies were the heart of the new, synergistic conglomerate. Still, the changes at Paramount chased away the inventors of high concept. Left behind were Don Simpson and Jerry Bruckheimer, and their next film, Top Gun, showed how the paranoid gaze of the seventies could meld with the high finish of the eighties. 6Let's Make the Weather: Chaos Comes to Hollywood chapter abstractThe Hollywood mantra is "Nobody Knows Anything." Faced with a bottomless pit of risk, studios are always looking for insurance policies—hot writers, stars, genres; complex financing deals; accounting scams. In the nineties, one of the most comforting visions of risk management was "chaos theory," and the key idea was the "butterfly effect," the belief that the slightest change could make all the difference. Nothing was more reassuring to assemblers of talent than the notion that their smallest decisions were world shaping. This chapter discusses Groundhog Day, Jurassic Park, and Pocahontas. 7That Oceanic Feeling: One Merger Too Many chapter abstractThis chapter looks at two colossal corporate meltdowns—the destruction of Vivendi Universal and the catastrophic corporate losses at AOL TimeWarner—in order to understand what happens to the movies when the synergy goes terribly wrong. At Vivendi, the crucial story is the failed attempt to turn Curious George into a company mascot on the order of Mickey Mouse. At Warners, the essential story was Steven Soderbergh's valiant attempt to generate, via the Ocean's 11 series, enough corporate momentum to keep the dream alive. 8The Anxious Epic and the Qualms of Empire: Conglomerate Overstretch chapter abstractThe wave of epics that followed Gladiator—King Arthur, Alexander, Kingdom of Heaven, 300—became think pieces for conglomerate overstretch. The epics of the new millennium weren't like the roadshows of the fifties. These were not tales of empires on the march but of empires in retreat. Directors who wanted to tell stories about the perils of empire during the Iraq War found themselves dependent upon far-flung international megacorporations that looked an awful lot like the imperialists they were opposing. Criticism of the war started to look like criticism of the company, and the studios began to lose their hold on the corporate imagination.

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Book SynopsisContains twenty in-depth studies of prominent New Zealand directors, producers, actors, and cinematographers. This book displays the diversity of filmmaking in New Zealand and highlights the specific industrial, aesthetic, and cultural concerns that have created a film culture of international significance.

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Book SynopsisThe Contemporary Hollywood Film Industry is a collection of essays by leading scholars that examines the state of the U.S. film industry, from the l980s to present day.Trade Review"Its purpose is to explain the Hollywood 'industry' with industrial-strength clarity. Mission accomplished." (CHOICE)Table of ContentsAbout the Contributors. Figures and Tables. Preface. Introduction. Part I: The Structure of the Industry. 1. The Studio System and Conglomerate Hollywood. Tom Schatz. 2. Finance and Production: Creating the Film Commodity. Janet Wasko. 3. Distribution and Marketing in Contemporary Hollywood. Philip Drake. 4. Theatrical Exhibition: Accelerated Cinema. Charles Acland. 5. Ancillary Markets – Television: From Challenge to Safe Haven. Eileen R. Meehan. 6. Ancillary Markets -- Video and DVD: Hollywood Retools. Frederick Wasser. 7. Ancillary Markets -- Video Games: Promises and Challenges of an Emerging Industry. Randy Nichols. 8. Ancillary Markets – Recorded Music: Charting the Rise and Fall of the Soundtrack. Jeff Smith. Part II: Industry Dynamics. 9. Hollywood Labor Relations: The Effects of Media Concentration on the Film and Television Workforce. Susan Christopherson. 10. The Star System: Producing Hollywood Stardom in the Post-Studio Era. Paul McDonald. 11. Hollywood and the State: The American Film Industry Cartel in the Age of Globalization. Manjunath Pendakur. 12. Hollywood and Intellectual Property. Ronald V. Bettig. Part III: International Territories. 13. Hollywood and the World: Export or Die. John Trumpbour. 14. Britain: Hollywood UK. Paul McDonald. 15. France: A Story of Love and Hate. Joel Augros. 16. Germany: A Very Special Relationship. Peter Kramer. 17. Italy: The Rise and Fall of the Italian Market. Krishna P. Jayakar and David Waterman. 18. Latin America: How Mexico and Argentina Cope and Cooperate with the Behemoth of the North. Tamara L. Falicov. 19. East Asia: For Better of Worse. John A. Lent. 20. India: Hollywood’s Domination, Extinction and Re-animation (with thanks to Jurassic Park). Nitin Govil. 21. Australia and New Zealand: Expats in Hollywood and Hollywood South. David Newman. Index

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Book SynopsisThe Contemporary Hollywood Film Industry is a collection of essays by leading scholars that examines the state of the U.S. film industry, from the l980s to present day.Trade Review“Covers all levels of motion pictures from a business perspective … .This book examines the industry in contemporary marketing terms, and each essay clearly explains another aspect of American film as a business. THE CONTEMPORARY HOLLYWOOD FILM INDUSTRY is a truly indispensable book, and a pioneering effort in understanding cinema’s business aspects. It’s thorough study of the financial side of motion pictures, complete with full lists of sources after each insightful essay, is fascinating, enlightening, and instructive.” (RogueCinema.com, December 2008)Table of ContentsList of Figures viii List of Tables xii Acknowledgments xiii Notes on Contributors xiv Introduction: The New Contours of the Hollywood Film Industry 1Paul McDonald and Janet Wasko Part I The Structure Of The Industry 11 1 The Studio System and Conglomerate Hollywood 13Tom Schatz 2 Financing and Production: Creating the Hollywood Film Commodity 43Janet Wasko 3 Distribution and Marketing in Contemporary Hollywood 63Philip Drake 4 Theatrical Exhibition: Accelerated Cinema 83Charles Acland 5 Ancillary Markets – Television: From Challenge to Safe Haven 106Eileen R. Meehan 6 Ancillary Markets – Video and DVD: Hollywood Retools 120Frederick Wasser 7 Ancillary Markets – Video Games: Promises and Challenges of an Emerging Industry 132Randy Nichols 8 Ancillary Markets – Recorded Music: Charting the Rise and Fall of the Soundtrack Album 143Jeff Smith Part II Industry Dynamics 153 9 Labor: The Effects of Media Concentration on the Film and Television Workforce 155Susan Christopherson 10 The Star System: The Production of Hollywood Stardom in the Post-Studio Era 167Paul McDonald 11 Hollywood and the State: The American Film Industry Cartel in the Age of Globalization 182Manjunath Pendakur 12 Hollywood and Intellectual Property 195Ronald V. Bettig Part III International Territories 207 13 Hollywood and the World: Export or Die 209John Trumpbour 14 Britain: Hollywood, UK 220Paul McDonald 15 France: A Story of Love and Hate – French and American Cinema in the French Audiovisual Markets 232Joel Augros 16 Germany: Hollywood and the Germans – A Very Special Relationship 240Peter Krämer 17 Italy: The Rise and Fall of the Italian Market 251Krishna P. Jayakar and David Waterman 18 Latin America: How Mexico and Argentina Cope and Cooperate with the Behemoth of the North 264Tamara L. Falicov 19 East Asia: For Better or Worse 277John A. Lent 20 India: Hollywood’s Domination, Extinction, and Re-animation (with thanks to Jurassic Park) 285Nitin Govil 21 Australia and New Zealand: Expats in Hollywood and Hollywood South 295David Newman Index 307

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Book SynopsisTelevision in the Multichannel Age is a comprehensive, multidisciplinary approach to the history of multichannel television in all its forms from cable to direct-to-home satellite and beyond. Chapter by chapter, the book traces the evolution of cable television from its pre-historical origins in the late 1940s to the communications satellites and DBS distribution systems of the modern digital age, both in the U.S. and internationally. Guides the reader through the history of multichannel television from its origins in the 40s to the modern age Discusses factors that influence today's television landscape including government policy-making, emerging technologies, and the public's programming tastes Concentrates on domestic multichannel technologies while considering global impacts of these technologies Includes newly discovered oral history transcripts, personal interviews, goTrade Review"Megan Mullen tells the story of American cable television the way it should be told: small-town start-ups, daring entrepreneurs, rising media moguls, unexpected outcomes of media regulation, new communication technologies, proliferation of viewing choices, and ever-growing audiences. Television in the Multichannel Age is top-notch scholarship that is also and immensely useful reading for students in the classroom." --Jim Schwoch, Northwestern University “The author … has done a good job of condensing sixty years of cable history into a tight, well-organized summary. An excellent overview of the industry.” Television Quarterly “Mullen writes in an accessible style, tackles both technical and business history, and adds a dash of colorful business people. She also wisely includes international developments as a counterpoint to this very American story. Recommended.” Choice "Mullen writes in an accessible style, tackles both technical and business history, and adds a dash of colorful business people. She also wisely includes international developments as a counterpoint to this very American story." R.W. Morrrow, Morgan State University Table of ContentsList of Illustrations. Preface. 1. Introduction. 2. Cable Pre-history and the Community Antenna Pioneers: before 1960. 3. Regulatory Beginnings: 1960-7. 4. "Blue Sky": 1968-74. 5. Cable Meets Satellite: 1975-80. 6. The Satellite Years: 1980-92. 7. Multichannel Television's Mature Years: 1993-Present. 8. The View from 2007: The Future of Multichannel Television. Bibliography. Index.

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