Description
Book SynopsisIn this three-part book-length study of the work of Gregg Toland, Philip Cowan explores approaches to co-authorship in collaborative filmmaking to propose new ways of identifying, attributing, and evaluating the creative work of cinematographers. In the first part of the study, Cowan challenges the dominant, director-centered auteur approach to film studies, critiquing the historical development of authorship theory and providing a contemporary analysis of the cinematographer’s authorial role in creating images that communicate meaning through content and construction. By synthesizing and updating the work of previous film theorists to define the complexities of composition, movement, and lighting in the second part of the study, Cowan develops a new, comprehensive taxonomy of functional and aesthetic elements of the moving image. Finally, by using the co-author approach and the analytical tools developed in part two of the book, Cowan provides an in-depth re-examination of Toland’s work, highlighting the historical neglect of the cinematographer’s artistic contribution to filmmaking and developing a fresh approach to the analysis of contemporary cinematography in film.
Table of ContentsContents
List of Figures
Introduction
Part One: Authorship
Chapter 1: Theoretical Movements of Authorship in Film
Chapter 2: The Death and Resurrection of the Author
Chapter 3: Multiple Authorship in Film
Chapter 4: The Cinematographer
Part Two: Aesthetics
Chapter 5: Nilsen’s Representational Theory
Chapter 6: Carroll’s Functional Theory
Chapter 7: Functional Aesthetic Elements of Shot Composition
Part Three: Appreciation
Chapter 8: Gregg Toland in Depth
Chapter 9: Toland, Characteristics of the Medium and Spatial Elements
Chapter 10: Toland, Temporal Elements of Shot Composition and Lighting
Chapter 11: Toland as Co-Author (7,754)
Chapter 12: The Collaboration between Toland and Wyler
Conclusion
Gregg Toland Filmography
Additional Filmography
Bibliography
About the Author
