Film Art with free Film Viewer's Guide [Paperback]

David Bordwell (Author), Kristin Thompson (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 007238932X | ISBN-13: 978-0072389326 | Publication Date: August 1, 2000 | Edition: 6th

Film is an art form with a language and an aesthetic all it's own, and since 1979 David Bordwell and Kristin Thompson's Film Art has been the most repected introduction to the art and analysis of cinema.

In the new sixth edition, Film Art continues it's commitment to providing the best introduction to the fundamentals of serious film study - images throughout the book are collected from actual film frames, not from production stills or advertising photos - but the book has been extensively re-designed to improve readability and teachability. Additionally, the text can be packaged with the award-winning Film, Form, and Culture CD-ROM, and is supported by an extensive Instructor's Manual and text-specific website.

Editorial Reviews

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: 458 pages
• Publisher: McGraw-Hill Humanities/Social Sciences/Languages; 6th edition (August 1, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 007238932X
• ISBN-13: 978-0072389326
• Product Dimensions: 10.2 x 8.3 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #520,611 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Indispensable book from a film genius!, April 4, 2005

By 

Todd A.O. (Los Angeles) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Film Art with free Film Viewer's Guide (Paperback)

This is a *great* book. I am former student of David Bordwell's MA program in Film at the Univ of Wisconsin-Madison. This is a wonderful introduction to and keen analysis of the whole of cinema, not a mean feat for any book on film! A bit pricey, you might think, but it's jam-packed, ranging from the broad strokes to the minutiae of film. I can remember back to the first edition, decades ago, that I think sold for something like a then-whopping $15 in paper. Yes, it's designed mainly for textbook use for "film appreciation," but I don't think any serious student or film enthusiast can speak inteligently about film without this book. David Bordwell is one of the most respected voices in film studies today -- who would have thought he used to be a door-to-door vacuum salesman back in Iowa in the early early 1970's! Devoid of the jargony style [read: post-structuralist, semiotic, etc] analyses of so many other film books. [And, this from a guy who can sling the jargon with the best of them! Just read some of his scholarly essays in the film studies journals.] Seriously, though -- what a expansive writing career -- from general film studies textbook to scholarly works on Asian cinema, individual film artists like Eisenstein and Dreyer, to more recent works on Hong Kong action films. What a treat to see a great mind at work. Highly recommended for all! Studying at UW-Madison with people like Bordwell was one of several factors in my going into film preservation archive work.

5.0 out of 5 stars GIVE THE BOOK A BREAK!, June 26, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: Film Art with free Film Viewer's Guide (Paperback)

this is a wonderful textbook! it was completely revised and actually redesigned for the 6th edition. it includes an online learning center available to all owners of the book, and includes a "how to watch films and write an effective essay" guide. this is not to mention the hundreds of b+w and full color photos, and the clear easy to understand text. film art is fully indexed with a bibliography and glossary. it even features an internet resources section with selected reference sites from the web. i suggest the other reviewer get a cinemagraphic education, and review this again. their ignorance shows!

0 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars It was'nt in stock, January 9, 2007

By 

Ana Rosa M. Melo - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Film Art with free Film Viewer's Guide (Paperback)

I never bought this item because you were out of it.