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Film Research: The Basics

Film Research: The Basics. Gary Handman ghandman@library.berkeley.edu 3-8666. The point of all this. Describe the types and sources of information available related to film studies and other media research Discuss how to find this stuff in the library, using print and online resources.

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Film Research: The Basics

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  1. Film Research: The Basics Gary Handman ghandman@library.berkeley.edu 3-8666

  2. The point of all this... • Describe the types and sources of information available related to film studies and other media research • Discuss how to find this stuff in the library, using print and online resources

  3. Writing About Film… Scholarly/ In-depth Current Pop and fan Historical Industry

  4. Sources for Film & TV Scholarship and Research Cabinet of Dr. Caligari • Journals, Magazines, Newspapers • Reviews • Critical/ScholarlyArticles • Books • Web Sites (more about this later…) • Other online databases

  5. Journal Articles:Reviews? Critical Writing? What’s the Diff? • Reviews: • Found in popular periodicals, film periodicals, and (less often) in more scholarly journals • Assessment of aesthetic and content merits of a film • Usually cover current releases, more pop theatrical releases • Tend to be relatively short and relatively superficial (with some exceptions and depending on the publication and who’s doing the writing)

  6. Journal Articles:Reviews? Critical Writing? What’s the Diff? • Critical analysis: • Found in books and scholarly or film-related journals • Discuss films in: • broader historical, cultural, political, artistic context and/or • Focus on a specific aspect of a film, film genre, or filmmaker • Tend to be longer, more substantive than reviews (with some exceptions and depending on the publication and who’s doing the writing) • Often include notes, bibliographies, other scholarly apparatus

  7. Len Lye • REVIEWS • Current • Historical (older) • Found in: • Popular & fan journals and newspapers • Film studies & scholarly journals • Web sites • Fan and enthusiast sites • Commercial sites (e.g., studio sites, video distributors) • Academic sites

  8. Critical/Scholarly Articles • Current • Historical (scholarly writing about film: 1950’s--) • Found in: • Film studies & scholarly journals in other disciplines—eg: • Language & Lit • Women’s studies • Gay/Lesbian studies • Area studies…etc. • Web sites (even less occasionally…except for academic and commercial databases)

  9. Reviews Critical/ScholarlyArticles • Carroll, Noel • "Causation, the Ampliation of Movement and Avant-garde Film." Millennium /10-11, Fall-Winter 81-82; p.61-82 . Beller, Jonathan L. “Man with a Movie Camera (movie reviews) Communication Research April 1993 v20 n2 p298(16) • Journal Articles and Reviews

  10. Books • Scholarly/authoritative works • Pop schlock and fan works Jean-Luc Godard • How Do You Tell em’ apart? • Author’s credentials/affiliations • Publisher (e.g. BFI, AFI, University Presses vs pop press) • Scholarly apparatus and sources: notes, bibliographies, other documentation • If they’ve been widely cited by other scholars

  11. …But how do you locate this stuff? …Use Pathfinder • Inventory of what the Library owns: • Books • Journals (but not what’s inside of them!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) • Media (video & sound recording) • Manuscripts, documents, maps…etc. etc. etc. etc.) • Search by: • Author • Title (phrase or keywords) • Subject (phrase or keywords)

  12. Articles/Reviews (how do you find this stuff?) Article databases and Print Indexes • Film-related (not many exist) • General news • Literary and Arts • Other disciplines: e.g. Women’s Studies, American Studies, Ethnic Studies, History…etc. Jumping Off point for Finding Online Indexes: http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/MRC/filmstudies/reviewslist.html

  13. Metropolis Fritz Lang Once You Find a Citation, How Do You Find the Journal/Article? • Some indexes provide holdings info [UC eLinks] • Some indexes link tofull-text If neither…use Pathfinder to look up the JOURNAL

  14. Full-text! UCB Holdings!

  15. Seashell & the Clergyman Dir. Germain Dulac How to Begin? Before you click: THINK • Formulate your search in terms of: • KEY WORDS andSYNOMYMS: • --Looks for words anywhere in record: title, subject, abstract and full-text (if avail) • PHRASES: • --Looks for words in the exact order entered

  16. How to Begin? Before you click: THINK Formulate your search in terms of keyword and key phrases: Sex and Death in the films of Andy Warhol The representation of gender and masculinity in adult films

  17. How to Begin? Before you click: THINK Formulate your search in terms of keyword and key phrases: Sex [women, love, relationships] and Death[dying, mortality, fate] in the films [cinema, movie*] of Andy Warhol The representation [reflect* portray*] of gender [sex*] and masculinity[masculin*, male, men] in adult [erotic, pornographic] films [cinema, movie*] Truncation varies from db to db: * # ? emigra* = emigrant, emigrants, emigrate, emigration

  18. Marcel Duchamp • http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/MRC/ • FilmBibMenu.html • a growing listing of bibliographies on various film topics and individual films compiled by MRC (includes bibs for genres, filmmakers, national cinemas, and individual film).

  19. …being driven over the edge by your research? Call me: Gary Handman 643-8566 ghandman@library.berkeley.edu Review this presentation at: http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/MRC/filmstudies/instruction.html

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