University of Chicago Press
Minding Movies: Observations on the Art, Craft, and Business of Filmmaking
Key Metrics
- David Bordwell
- University of Chicago Press
- Hardcover
- 9780226066981
- 9.1 X 6.1 X 1 inches
- 1.15 pounds
- Performing Arts > Film - History & Criticism
- English
Secure TransactionBook Description
David Bordwell and Kristin Thompson are two of America's preeminent film scholars. You would be hard pressed to find a serious student of the cinema who hasn't spent at least a few hours huddled with their seminal introduction to the field--Film Art, now in its ninth edition--or a cable television junkie unaware that the Independent Film Channel sagely christened them the Critics of the Naughts. Since launching their blog Observations on Film Art in 2006, the two have added web virtuosos to their growing list of accolades, pitching unconventional long-form pieces engaged with film artistry that have helped to redefine cinematic storytelling for a new age and audience.
Minding Movies presents a selection from over three hundred essays on genre movies, art films, animation, and the business of Hollywood that have graced Bordwell and Thompson's blog. Informal pieces, conversational in tone but grounded in three decades of authoritative research, the essays gathered here range from in-depth analyses of individual films such as Slumdog Millionaire and Inglourious Basterds to adjustments of Hollywood media claims and forays into cinematic humor. For Bordwell and Thompson, the most fruitful place to begin is how movies are made, how they work, and how they work on us. Written for film lovers, these essays--on topics ranging from Borat to blockbusters and back again--will delight current fans and gain new enthusiasts.
Serious but not solemn, vibrantly informative without condescension, and above all illuminating reading, Minding Movies offers ideas sure to set film lovers thinking--and keep them returning to the silver screen.
Author Bio
David Bordwell is Jacques Ledoux Professor of Film Studies, Department of Communication Arts, University of Wisconsin–Madison. Professor Bordwell has written several books focusing on the history of film style, film narration, and the poetics of cinema.
In 2013, film historian and theorist David Bordwell deposited approximately 125 film prints at the Academy Film Archive, all in 35mm. The David Bordwell Collection is particularly noteworthy for the strength of its Hong Kong holdings, some of which are unavailable in any other English-translated format. The collection includes such titles as “Crippled Avengers” (1979), “Once Upon a Time in China I-V” (1991-1994), “Iron Monkey” (1993), “Green Snake” (1994), and “Naked Killer” (1995), as well as non-Hong Kong titles such as “Desperately Seeking Susan” (1985), “Prospero’s Books” (1991), and “The Long Day Closes” (1992).
Research Interests
Introduction to Graduate Study in Film
Seminar in Film Analysis
Seminar in Contemporary Film Theory
Seminar in Contemporary Film Criticism
Narrative Theory and Film
Japanese Cinema
Japanese Cinema of the 1930s
Technology and Technique in American Cinema
Space and Narration in the Fiction Film
The Films of Jean-Luc Godard
Cognitive Poetics of Cinema
Stylistic Analysis of Film
The Film Spectator
Contemporary Asian Cinema
Comparative Film Analysis
Education
- B.A. (English) State University of New York at Albany, 1969
- M.A. (Speech and Dramatic Arts, concentration in Film) University of Iowa, 1972
- Ph.D. (Speech and Dramatic Arts, concentration in Film) University of Iowa, 1974.
- Honorary degree: Doctora philosophiæ honoris causa, University of Copenhagen. Awarded 13 November 1997.
Source: davidbordwell.net and Oscars.org
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