"Style and Meaning: Studies in the Detailed Analysis of Film is a vigorous book which boots us well beyond the old impasse of warring classical vs. modern schools or sensibilities in cinema studies. It does by concentrating carefully on the methodology of stylistic analysis, providing a range of vivid demonstrations - and essentially leaving some of the baggage of the auteurist and thematic legacy at the door." - Adrian Martin, Screening the Past
Approaches to the detailed analysis of film and related questions about interpretation and value are once again being widely debated in film studies. Style and meaning is the first edited collection for many years to focus on these matters. All the essays centre on methods of close analysis and ground their discussion in the detail of individual films. With a common focus on the decisions made by film-makers, the writers explore different aspects of the relationship between textual detail and broader conceptual frameworks. The selection of texts has been made to reflect not only those areas of film history which have traditionally been explored through mise-en-scene criticism, but also areas such as the avant-garde and television drama which have not tended to receive such detailed investigation. In these ways, the book conducts a series of dialogues with issues in film study which are specifically provoked by close analysis.