Search results for ""author yannis tzioumakis""

This introduction to American Independent Cinema offers both a comprehensive industrial and economic history of the sector from the early twentieth century to the present and a study of key individual films, filmmakers and film companies.

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This book charts three decades of specialist and independent filmmaking in Hollywood. The specialty film divisions of the major Hollywood studios were established to focus on the European arthouse film market before moving on to the burgeoning American independent film market. Hollywood's Indies is the first book to offer an in depth examination of the phenomenon of these labels, by tracing their history since the establishment of the first such division in 1980, United Artists Classics. The book provides a detailed account of the divisions, their business practices, their position within the often labyrinthine structure of contemporary entertainment conglomerates, their relationship to the Hollywood majors and their contribution to independent cinema in the United States. It provides a fresh perspective on the history of contemporary American independent cinema, which Tzioumakis divides into three periods: the independent, the indie and the indiewood. Each of these eras is characterised by a particular group of studio specialty labels and, to a large extent, by a distinct expression of 'independent' filmmaking. A number of case studies are provided, including such celebrated films as Lianna, Mystery Train, The Brothers McMullen, Barcelona, Greenberg and many others.

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Despite more than a passing nod to such crowdpleasing classics as Hitchcock's North by Northwest, playwright-turned-independent filmmaker David Mamet's The Spanish Prisoner is a particularly idiosyncratic film that betrays its origin outside the Hollywood mainstream. Featuring a convoluted narrative, an excessive, often anti- classical, visual style, and belonging to the generic category of the 'con game film' which often challenges the spectator's cognitive skills, The Spanish Prisoner is a film that bridges genre filmmaking with personal visual style, independent film production with niche distribution, and mainstream subject matter with unconventional filmic techniques. This book discusses The Spanish Prisoner as an example of contemporary American independent cinema while also using the film as a vehicle to explore several key ideas in film studies, especially in terms of aesthetics, narrative, style, spectatorship, genre and industry. Key Features oDistinguishes between independent and 'indie' cinema through an examination of the 'classics divisions,' especially Sony Pictures Classics oAssesses the position of David Mamet within American cinema oIntroduces the genre categories of the 'con artist' and the 'con game' film and discusses The Spanish Prisoner as a key example of the latter oExamines the ways in which narrative, narration and visual style deviate from the mainstream/classical aesthetic

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This is a landmark volume of 17 chapters, bringing together some of the leading scholars in film and television studies. This is the first book to survey American independent cinema’s interface with the converged landscape of contemporary television, which fits with the growing interest in media convergence and continued interest in quality TV - both common on undergraduate courses. Includes chapters on well-known shows such as Girls, Breaking Bad, Master of None, and Glow

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