Palgrave Close Readings in Film and Television – serie

We are so used to images of words that it is easy to ignore the different ways in which they work in films. This book explores both the letters that come in the post and the many other kinds that are offered to us on screen.

Drawing on interdisciplinary perspectives of art, literature and music, Donaldson develops a stimulating understanding of a concept that has received little detailed attention in relation to film. Based in close analysis, Texture in Film brings discussion of style and affect together in a selection of case studies drawn from American cinema.

This pioneering book provides detailed analysis of scenes from nine British television dramas produced between 1954 and 2001. Taking dinner table scenes as a recurring motif, the study analyses changes in televisual style with reference to production practices, technology, aesthetic preferences, and social and institutional change.

Styles of filmmaking have changed greatly from classical Hollywood through to our digital era. So, too, have the ways in which film critics and scholars have analysed these transformations in film style. This book explores two central style concepts, mise en scène and dispositif, to illuminate a wide range of film and new media examples.

This book provides an in-depth study of Bette Davis, Joan Fontaine, Kim Novak and Meryl Streep, and the treatment of adultery in their films. The periods discussed cover Davis’s work in 1937 to 1943, Fontaine’s work between 1939 and 1950, Novak in 1954 to 1964, and finally Streep’s work between 1979 and 1985.

An ambitious interpretation of the critically celebrated and widely popular crime drama Breaking Bad , this book argues that not only should the series be understood as a show that revolves around the dramatic stakes of dignity, but that to do so reveals - in new ways - central aspects of serial television drama as an art form.

This is the first book in English exclusively devoted to the long take, one of the key elements of film style. Increasingly visible in contemporary international media, the long take currently attracts a good deal of attention in criticism and commentary. There are also significant strands of film theory in which duration has become a recurrent concern. In keeping with the approach of Palgrave Close Readings in Film and Television, this collection is devoted to the detailed critical analysis of specific long takes, explored in terms of how they function within their contexts, how they shape the visual field, the meanings they generate and the effects they create. The Long Take: Critical Approaches brings together essays by established and emerging scholars (all but one essay commissioned for this volume) in an exciting collection that analyses works from a range of filmmaking traditions, from the 1930s to the present day, selected to represent varied long take practices and to explore associated debates.

We are so used to images of words that it is easy to ignore the different ways in which they work in films. This book explores both the letters that come in the post and the many other kinds that are offered to us on screen.

Drawing on interdisciplinary perspectives of art, literature and music, Donaldson develops a stimulating understanding of a concept that has received little detailed attention in relation to film. Based in close analysis, Texture in Film brings discussion of style and affect together in a selection of case studies drawn from American cinema.

This pioneering book provides detailed analysis of scenes from nine British television dramas produced between 1954 and 2001. Taking dinner table scenes as a recurring motif, the study analyses changes in televisual style with reference to production practices, technology, aesthetic preferences, and social and institutional change.

Styles of filmmaking have changed greatly from classical Hollywood through to our digital era. So, too, have the ways in which film critics and scholars have analysed these transformations in film style. This book explores two central style concepts, mise en scène and dispositif, to illuminate a wide range of film and new media examples.

An ambitious interpretation of the critically celebrated and widely popular crime drama Breaking Bad , this book argues that not only should the series be understood as a show that revolves around the dramatic stakes of dignity, but that to do so reveals - in new ways - central aspects of serial television drama as an art form.

Irony in Film is the first book about ironic expression in this medium. Combining in-depth theorising with detailed close analysis, this pioneering study asks what ironic capacities films might possess, how film style may be used ironically, and what role intention should play in film interpretation.

This book puts forward a more considered perspective on 3D, which is often seen as a distracting gimmick at odds with artful cinematic storytelling. It demonstrates that the expressive placement of characters and objects within 3D film worlds can construct meaning in ways that are unavailable to ‘flat’ cinema.

This book is about the aesthetics and politics of contemporary artists’ moving image installations, and the ways that they use temporal and spatial relationships in the gallery to connect with geopolitical issues.

This book is about the aesthetics and politics of contemporary artists’ moving image installations, and the ways that they use temporal and spatial relationships in the gallery to connect with geopolitical issues.

Built around close readings of 11 noir films, this book seeks to refresh our understanding of “film noir” by returning to the films themselves.

Built around close readings of 11 noir films, this book seeks to refresh our understanding of “film noir” by returning to the films themselves.

Ray offers closereadings that call attention to what we have missed in such classic films as La Règle du Jeu, It Happened One Night, It’s a Wonderful Life, Vertigo, Holiday, The Philadelphia Story, Casablanca, Breathless, and Tickets.

Ray offers closereadings that call attention to what we have missed in such classic films as La Règle du Jeu, It Happened One Night, It’s a Wonderful Life, Vertigo, Holiday, The Philadelphia Story, Casablanca, Breathless, and Tickets.

This book defends an account of ambiguity which illuminates the aesthetic possibilities of film and the nature of film criticism. This book, then, considers ambiguity as a form of reasonable doubt, one that invites us to reflect on our critical efforts, rethinking the operation of film criticism.

This book defends an account of ambiguity which illuminates the aesthetic possibilities of film and the nature of film criticism. This book, then, considers ambiguity as a form of reasonable doubt, one that invites us to reflect on our critical efforts, rethinking the operation of film criticism.

This book offers a critical account of film performances by nonprofessional actors. Since the turn of the century and the rise of digital filmmaking, the performances of nonprofessional actors have remained a staple of independent cinemas from all over the world, including films associated with the loose trend often referred to as Slow Cinema.

This book offers a critical account of film performances by nonprofessional actors. Since the turn of the century and the rise of digital filmmaking, the performances of nonprofessional actors have remained a staple of independent cinemas from all over the world, including films associated with the loose trend often referred to as Slow Cinema.

This book explores visions of home in cinema and the ways in which women inhabit the onscreen realm. Looking closely at a range of films made between 1936 and 2013, it examines how filmmakers reconfigure studio sets and real locations through the filmmaking process into mutable onscreen domains imbued with depth, metaphor, and expressivity.The book studies the films through the lens of four filmmaking processes in particular: découpage, mise-en-scène, sound and editing. Close analysis reveals how filmmakers use these cinematic ‘building blocks’ to shape onscreen worlds charged with emotion and animated by the warp and weft of psychic life.Images of home abound in the cinema, and women frequently find themselves at the core of both structures. Drawing on recent spatial and feminist enquiry, the book reviews the idea of home as a fixed and stable location and illustrates how the art of cinema is well equipped to explore home as an imaginary as well as a material realm.With its emphasis on film practice as a route into critical reflection, this book will be of interest to filmmakers, film theorists and those who simply want to understand more about how films work.

This book explores visions of home in cinema and the ways in which women inhabit the onscreen realm. Looking closely at a range of films made between 1936 and 2013, it examines how filmmakers reconfigure studio sets and real locations through the filmmaking process into mutable onscreen domains imbued with depth, metaphor, and expressivity.The book studies the films through the lens of four filmmaking processes in particular: découpage, mise-en-scène, sound and editing. Close analysis reveals how filmmakers use these cinematic ‘building blocks’ to shape onscreen worlds charged with emotion and animated by the warp and weft of psychic life.Images of home abound in the cinema, and women frequently find themselves at the core of both structures. Drawing on recent spatial and feminist enquiry, the book reviews the idea of home as a fixed and stable location and illustrates how the art of cinema is well equipped to explore home as an imaginary as well as a material realm.With its emphasis on film practice as a route into critical reflection, this book will be of interest to filmmakers, film theorists and those who simply want to understand more about how films work.

This book examines the concept of coherence in film studies. The author then proceeds to a close analysis of stylistically perplexing narrative films, in order to demonstrate how we can broaden, expand and readjust the classical criteria of coherence.