The ninth edition of A Short History of the Movies continues the tradition―scrupulously accurate in its details, up-to-date, free of jargon―that has made it the most widely adopted textbook for college courses in film history, and now includes a fresh look at "Persistence of Vision" and a new chapter on digital cinema.
This volume offers students a panoramic overview of the worldwide development of film, from the first movements captured on celluloid, to the early Mack Sennett and Charlie Chaplin shorts, through the studio heyday of the 1930s and 1940s and the "Hollywood Renaissance" of the 1960s and 1970s, to the pictures and their technology appearing in the multiplexes and living rooms of today. This new edition, which has been revised and rewritten to reflect current scholarship, recent industry developments, and new films and filmmakers, represents an accurate, scrupulous updating of a classic.
A Short History of the Movies, Tenth Edition
Bruce Kawin, University of Colorado at Boulder
Gerald Mast (late), University of Chicago
The tenth edition of A Short History of the Movies continues its long-standing tradition of scrupulously accurate details, up-to-date information, and jargon-free writing style that has made it the most widely adopted film history textbook.
This edition offers students a panoramic overview of the worldwide development of film. From the early experiments with motion photography, through the American studio years of the 1930’s and 1940’s, from Neorealism and the New Wave, up to the present age of digital cinema, A Short History of Film provides a comprehensive presentation of the history of cinema. This tenth edition has been revised and updated to include current scholarship, recent industry developments, and new films and filmmakers.
Features:
· Provides solid scholarship in its emphasis on key technical and aesthetic principles in an accessible, intelligent, and highly readable format.
· Contains approximately 500 color and black-and-white photographs―including frame enlargements and production stills― that enhance the narration.
· Presents the material in chronological order and in concise chapters making the text easy to synchronize with a survey course.
New to this Edition:
· Covers the new generation of digital camera systems and projectors in a chapter on Digital Cinema (Ch. 18), also updated to reflect the newest developments in shooting, post-production, and digital projection.
· Discusses "Women in the Studio Era" in a new section that explores the contribution of women behind and in front of the camera during a critical period of film history.
· Presents new material and more coverage of the Russian Revolutions and dialectical montage, the Sixth Generation in China, and Bollywood in India.
Praise for A Short History of the Movies, Tenth Edition:
“This is easily the most ‘readable’ yet thorough survey of film history currently available. It manages to be ‘student friendly’ while remaining rigorous enough to tell the complex tale of film history with sufficient detail and perspective.” ― David O. Thomas, Ph. D., Ohio University
“This text is engaging and very reader friendly ― comprehensive, yet never overwhelming students with dense factual information.” ― Susan Tavernetti, De Anza College
