Film Art: An Introduction [Paperback]

David Bordwell (Author), Kristin Thompson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 2003 | ISBN-10: 0072484551 | ISBN-13: 978-0072484557 | Edition: 7th

This fourth edition is a revision of the successful introduction to film appreciation and aesthetics. It begins with an overview of film production, moves on to a consideration of the formal elements and techniques, covers film criticism and concludes with a brief section highlighting the key moments in film history. Illustrated with over 500 frame enlargements, many in colour, "Film Art" has been updated to include analysis of some of the most interesting films of recent years including "Raging Bull" and "Desperately Seeking Susan".

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Film Art is often assigned to college students taking their first film class. Authors David Bordwell and Kristin Thompson do not follow the traditional method of teaching film art through a close analysis of individual films. Instead, they provide an overview of the major issues students confront when they watch movies. In clear, straightforward prose, the authors describe and dissect the complexities of filmmaking, film narrative, film form, and film technique. This book serves as a fine introduction not only to the field of film studies, but also to the theories and concerns of two of the most important scholars in that field. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

About the Author

David Bordwell is Jacques Ledoux Professor of Film Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He holds a master's degree and a doctorate from the University of Iowa. He is the author of The Films of Carl Theodor Dreyer (University California Press, 1981), Narration in the Fiction Film (University Wisconsin Press, 1985), Ozu and the Poetics of Cinema (British Film Institute/Princeton University Press, 1988), Making Meaning: Inference and Rhetoric in the Interpretation of Cinema (Harvard University Press, 1989), The Cinema of Eisenstein (Harvard University Press, 1993), On the History of Film Style (Harvard University Press, 1997) and Planet Hong Kong: Popular Cinema and the Art of Entertainment (Harvard University Press, 2000). He has won a University Distinguished Teaching Award.

Kristin Thompson is an Honorary Fellow at the University of Wisconsin - Madison. She holds a master's degree in film from the University of Iowa and a doctorate in film from the University of Wisconsin - Madison. She has published Eisenstein's Ivan the Terrible (Princeton University Press, 1981), Exporting Entertainment: America's Place in World Film Markets, 1907-1934 (British Film Institute, 1985), Breaking the Glass Armor: Neoformalist Film Analysis (Princeton University Press, 1988), and Wooster Proposes, Jeeves Disposes; or Le Mot Juste (James H. Heinman, 1992). In her spare time she studies Egyptology. The authors have collaborated on Film History (McGraw-Hill, 1994) with Janet Staiger, on The Classical Hollywood Cinema (Columbia University Press, 1985) and Storytelling in the New Hollywood (Harvard University Press, 1999)

Product Details

• Paperback: 532 pages
• Publisher: Mcgraw-Hill College; 7th edition (June 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0072484551
• ISBN-13: 978-0072484557
• Product Dimensions: 10.1 x 8.4 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #190,633 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent first text for film students August 19, 2005

By Alexander Rabina

Format:Paperback

I'm learning film in the first year at college, and this text is proving its worth. It's got all the basic and major theory concepts, with bucketloads of examples, film stills and diagrams to back up the theory, so you never feel like there's no practical application for what you're learning. Most of the time, the examples are from popular and/or classic films, so you're bound to know what Bordwell and Thompson are talking about as they introduce new ideas.

Nowdays I can't watch films or TV shows without noticing how obvious some of the techniques described in this book are. It's really quite satisfying knowing how to 'read' the language of film, and having an edge over your friends when you go to the movies :)

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Really good read considering it's a textbook April 5, 2007

By L. Mahayni

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

This was assigned in my film history class; but I plan to read the whole thing again later, because it is not only informative but it's also a very good read. It's well organized and puts together a cohesive look at how films go together. I don't give it full marks because it does have the usual murky areas and overly textbook-ish spots. It's also way overpriced for something that isn't available new and yet is not a 'vintage' book.

11 of 16 people found the following review helpful

1.0 out of 5 stars The Worst Textbook of All Time April 28, 2008

By Rachel Unger

Format:Paperback

After spending 3 years as a film major, I was cornered into the Intro to Film studies class that worked out of this absurdly expensive book. 95% of the material we covered I already understood, but reading them in Film Art and trying to understand what the heck was going on made me want to drop out of college. This text manages to take the simplest of film theories and misconstrue them into boring, dense readings using some of the strangest (not the best, by any means) examples from films, some of which you might have seen, others probably you've never heard of (and never will again, even if you're in the field).

For the love of sanity somebody write a better film textbook, this one is horrible. You're much better off reading A Guide to Writing About Film and Film: An International History of the Medium. Professors, please stop assigning this book, trying to plow through this text alone has turned a lot of people I know off of film studies.