Tom Brown – författare

Heralded as "the most significant invention [for film] since the coming of sound" (The Observer 2003), by 2005 DVD players were in approximately 84 million homes in the US, making it the "fastest selling item in history of US consumer electronics market" (McDonald 2007: 135). This book examines the phenomenal growth of DVDs in relation to the cultures, economies, texts, audiences and histories of film, television and new media.

Film and Television After DVD brings together a group of internationally renowned scholars to provide the first focused academic inquiry into this important technology. The book picks up on key issues within contemporary media studies, making a particularly significant contribution to debates about convergence and interactivity in the digital media landscape. Essays consider DVD as a technology that exists outside the boundaries of "new" and "old" media, examining its place within longer histories of home film cultures and production practices of the film and television industries, whilst also critically evaluating what is genuinely "new" about digital media technologies. From DVDs to downloading, peer-to-peer networking and HD-DVD, this book speaks of the rapidly evolving digital mediascape. Ultimately, Film and Television After DVD is a book that considers the convergence of film, television and new media and their academic disciplines through the DVD as a distinct cultural object, pointing to persistent questions in the study of audiovisual culture that will remain intriguing long after the shelf-life of the DVD itself.

Heralded as "the most significant invention [for film] since the coming of sound" (The Observer 2003), by 2005 DVD players were in approximately 84 million homes in the US, making it the "fastest selling item in history of US consumer electronics market" (McDonald 2007: 135). This book examines the phenomenal growth of DVDs in relation to the cultures, economies, texts, audiences and histories of film, television and new media.

Film and Television After DVD brings together a group of internationally renowned scholars to provide the first focused academic inquiry into this important technology. The book picks up on key issues within contemporary media studies, making a particularly significant contribution to debates about convergence and interactivity in the digital media landscape. Essays consider DVD as a technology that exists outside the boundaries of "new" and "old" media, examining its place within longer histories of home film cultures and production practices of the film and television industries, whilst also critically evaluating what is genuinely "new" about digital media technologies. From DVDs to downloading, peer-to-peer networking and HD-DVD, this book speaks of the rapidly evolving digital mediascape. Ultimately, Film and Television After DVD is a book that considers the convergence of film, television and new media and their academic disciplines through the DVD as a distinct cultural object, pointing to persistent questions in the study of audiovisual culture that will remain intriguing long after the shelf-life of the DVD itself.

The biographical film or biopic is a staple of film production in all major film industries and yet, within film studies, its generic, aesthetic, and cultural significance has remained underexplored. The Biopic in Contemporary Film Culture fills this gap, conceptualizing the biopic with a particular eye toward the "life" of the genre internationally. New theoretical approaches combine with specially commissioned chapters on contemporary biographical film production in India, Italy, South Korea, France, Russia, Great Britain, and the US, in order to present a selective but well-rounded portrait of the biopic’s place in film culture.

From Marie Antoinette to The Social Network, the pieces in this volume critically examine the place of the biopic within ongoing debates about how cinema can and should represent history and "real lives." Contributors discuss the biopic’s grounding in the conventions of the historical film, and explore the genre’s defining traits as well as its potential for innovation. The Biopic in Contemporary Film Culture expands the critical boundaries of this evolving, versatile genre.

The biographical film or biopic is a staple of film production in all major film industries and yet, within film studies, its generic, aesthetic, and cultural significance has remained underexplored. The Biopic in Contemporary Film Culture fills this gap, conceptualizing the biopic with a particular eye toward the "life" of the genre internationally. New theoretical approaches combine with specially commissioned chapters on contemporary biographical film production in India, Italy, South Korea, France, Russia, Great Britain, and the US, in order to present a selective but well-rounded portrait of the biopic’s place in film culture.

From Marie Antoinette to The Social Network, the pieces in this volume critically examine the place of the biopic within ongoing debates about how cinema can and should represent history and "real lives." Contributors discuss the biopic’s grounding in the conventions of the historical film, and explore the genre’s defining traits as well as its potential for innovation. The Biopic in Contemporary Film Culture expands the critical boundaries of this evolving, versatile genre.

Spectacle is not often considered to be a significant part of the style of ‘classical’ cinema. Indeed, some of the most influential accounts of cinematic classicism define it virtually by the supposed absence of spectacle. Spectacle in ‘Classical’ Cinemas: Musicality and Historicity in the 1930s brings a fresh perspective on the role of the spectacular in classical sound cinema by focusing on one decade of cinema (the 1930s), in two ‘modes’ of filmmaking (musical and historical films), and in two national cinemas (the US and France). This not only brings to light the special rhetorical and affective possibilities offered by spectacular images but refines our understanding of what ‘classical’ cinema is and was.

Spectacle is not often considered to be a significant part of the style of ‘classical’ cinema. Indeed, some of the most influential accounts of cinematic classicism define it virtually by the supposed absence of spectacle. Spectacle in ‘Classical’ Cinemas: Musicality and Historicity in the 1930s brings a fresh perspective on the role of the spectacular in classical sound cinema by focusing on one decade of cinema (the 1930s), in two ‘modes’ of filmmaking (musical and historical films), and in two national cinemas (the US and France). This not only brings to light the special rhetorical and affective possibilities offered by spectacular images but refines our understanding of what ‘classical’ cinema is and was.