Understanding Movies (10th Edition) [Paperback]

Louis Giannetti (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 3, 2004 | ISBN-10: 0131890980 | ISBN-13: 978-0131890985 | Edition: 10th

Helps readers understand how the many languages of film work together to create meaning. Louis Giannetti organizes Understanding Movies around the key elements of filmmaking, including cintematography, Mise en Scène, movement, editing, sound, acting, drama, casting, story, screenwriting, ideology, and theory. He synthesizes every element through a complete case study: Citizen Kane. This book's ideas are illuminated with hundreds of high-quality still photos, more than 70 in full color, taken from movies such as The Matrix, Almost Famous, jackass the movie, Chicago, Lord of the Rings, Mystic River, and Traffic. New in this edition: a full section on contemporary special effects and computer generated imagery (CGI); up-to-the-minute information on new developments in film technology; more coverage of recent films and filmmakers; more ethnic diversity (including new material on the Islamic cinema); and more lavish use of color and high-quality paper. An updated Companion Website contains animations, video clips from interviews with movie professionals, and Research Navigator access to New York Times film reviews. For everyone who wants to understand the artistry and meaning of the movies.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Giannetti's book is invaluable for anyone who wants a deeper appreciation of the movies. Drawing on a lifetime of wisdom, he explains clearly and passionately how the movies work, and why. I have used earlier editions of this classic work for years, recommend it constantly and welcome this latest edition." — Roger Ebert, Ebert & Roeper

About the Author

Louis Giannetti is a Professor Emeritus of English and Film at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland. He has taught courses in film, literature, writing, drama, and humanities. He has published many articles, both popular and scholarly, on political subjects, literature, and drama. In addition to being a professional film critic for several years, he has, written about movies for such scholarly journals as Literature/Film Quarterly, The Western Humanities Review, and Film Criticism. Professor Giannetti is also the author of a book on cinema theory. GODARD AND OTHERS: ESSAYS ON FILM FORM, published in both Britain and the United States. Professor Giannetti's other books include MASTERS OF THE AMERICAN CINEMA (Prentice Hall, 1981), a survey of American fiction films from the perspective of eighteen key figures. FLASHBACK: A BRIEF HISTORY OF FILM, FOURTH EDITION (Prentice Hall, 2001), written with Scott Eyman, is a history organized by decade, outlining the major events, trends, and important filmmakers and their work, with emphasis on the American cinema. Both books are copiously illustrated. UNDERSTANDING MOVIES has been a best-selling text in all its previous editions, widely used in the United States and in such countries as Australia, Britain, Singapore, Canada, New Zealand. South Africa, and Japan. It has been translated into Chinese, Korean, and Hebrew. Professor Giannetti is the father of two daughters, Christina and Francesca. He lives in Shaker Heights, where lie spends an inordinate amount of time tending his Japanese-style garden.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 592 pages
• Publisher: Prentice Hall; 10th edition (April 3, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0131890980
• ISBN-13: 978-0131890985
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 7.4 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.9 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #321,151 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

105 of 124 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Review of 10th edition, June 22, 2004

By 

Robert Jordan (San Diego, CA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Understanding Movies (10th Edition) (Paperback)

Hey, wanna make a bunch of money? Let's write a college text book! We've got a captive audience that has no choice but to buy our book. Then every two or three years we can release a new edition and eliminate that nasty habit students have of reselling used text books they no longer need. Too much work, you say? Okay, let's just slap a different picture on the cover and release the old edition again! Can't quite picture it? Need an example to emulate? Try this one:

I've been using Louis Giannetti's Understanding Movies since the second or third edition. Over the years I've occasionally been pleased to see a new edition which boasts some major improvements. But in my opinion, there haven't been any since the seventh edition. Now here's the tenth edition and every film student in the country has to fork out for it rather than getting their roommate's 9th edition for a buck or two.

So what do you get for that extra money? A new cover certainly. I don't know about you but I wouldn't be caught dead with a text book with Gladiator on the cover - that would be SO three years ago! And there's an entirely new chapter! That's worth paying an extra fifty bucks - no, wait. Same chapter that's been there since Clinton was president. They just renamed it.

Did some technological revolution change the face of cinema, warranting a new version of the book to address it? Giannetti has added a new section on special effects to the chapter on photography. It's less than one page of text. I haven't read the entire book yet, but I've yet to see any reference to the fact that some films have been shot entirely on hi-def video rather than celluloid, or that this might be a significant trend in the future. The closest thing to a landmark film in the last ten years has been Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings trilogy. But the only reason Giannetti even mentions it is to point out that Ian McKellen is gay.

But while we ignore or slight what could have made this edition fresh and vital, we keep that which makes it antiquated. Yes, I'm talking about the shot by shot reproductions of important films seen in Understanding Movies as far back as I can remember. We have SIXTY images from The Battleship Potemkin's justly famous Odessa Steps sequence. There's TWENTY-FOUR PAGES of story-board images from Hitchcock's North by Northwest. Giannetti's not alone here - lots of film textbook authors do this. Come on! If anyone wants to do a shot-by-shot analysis of a film like Potemkin or North by Northwest, they can get the DVD. If a film instructor thinks it's that important for students to have this level of exposure to those scenes, they can be screened in class. In the 21st century I consider it just book padding to add thirty pages of superfluous material to a text like this.

Okay, I've calmed down a bit. There's really nothing terribly wrong with Giannetti's book. It's interesting. It covers the subject material quite well. It's just that it did that ten years ago and it offends me when every two or three years students discover at the end of their courses that their books can't be resold and the following semester every student will discover there are no used editions to purchase. Sweet racket.

So enjoy that photo of Sean Penn on the cover - it cost you an extra fifty bucks!

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Pull that movie apart, June 8, 2008

By 

bernie "webviator" (Arlington, Texas) - See all my reviews
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And put it back together again.
There are many good books on the market that specialize one or two aspects if films and/or the film industry. However this book "Understanding Movies" by Louis Giannnetti, takes you from near ground zero to a good understanding of such aspects as:
Photography
Mise en Scène (pronounced meez on sen, with the second syllable nasalized)
Movement
Editing
Sound
Acting
Drama
Story
Literature
Ideology
Theory
The films used for examples range from classics to contemporary. You will have seen most if not all of them. The author did not go off in some mission to describe some weird out of the way movie. This helps you focus on the subject being discussed.

A side benefit is that this book is a great picture book to remember your favorite movie and occasionally the one you missed.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An incredible introduction to film., April 2, 2006

By 

M. Scott Bone - See all my reviews

This review is from: Understanding Movies (10th Edition) (Paperback)

Gianetti continues to produce the ultimate in introductory film texts. He seemlessly introduces us to the history of cinema while teaching us everything we need to know to fully understand film. After finishing this text you will no longer look at films the same way.
The end of the book was by far the most intriguing. Gianetti devotes a whole chapter to what is arguably the greatest film in history, Citizen Kane. His synopsis allows the reader to truly understand the beauty of the movie as well as cinema as a whole.
A must buy for anyone truly interested film.