film studies sarah green, rachel howell, adriana marroquin, and ashley moser
TRANSCRIPT
FILM STUDIES
Sarah Green, Rachel Howell, Adriana
Marroquin, and Ashley Moser
WHAT IS FILM STUDIES?
“The study of film is a fascinating and diverse
subject that includes analyses of film industries
and technologies, textual analysis of films,
ethnographic analyses of audiences and film
consumption, and cognitive-psychological
research into how we watch and experience
films.”
—Nick Redfern, “Research Blogging in Film Studies.”
PART I: A TALE OF THREE RESOURCES
“From Celluloid to Digital”
as An overview of the electronic research
environment
Film Stills Resources
as Our understanding of information seeking
behavior
Film Studies for Free
as An emerging approach to research
FROM CELLULOID TO DIGITAL
As an entertainment medium, some of the most
useful resources may include non-scholarly
publications and sites, such as the general IMDB
site, or popular and trade magazines.
Alternatively, its entertainment-based value means
there is a lot of information to fish through in order
to find sources with a reputation of reliability.
FROM CELLULOID TO DIGITAL
The electronic scholarly environment offers sources
based on print sources, as well as scholarly commercial
products
(e.g. BFI Filmographies, American Filmscripts On-Line). Membership-based versions of public sites (i.e. IMDB) also
here
Film is inherently interdisciplinary, making non film-
specific resources unexpected but vital to many aspects of
film studies.
FILM STILLS RESOURCES Product of Emilee Mathews, a University of
Bloomington library science student Consulting for resources done by Angela
Courtney, subject librarian for Communication and Culture at Bloomington.
Based on a survey of information needs given to
film studies students.
FILM STILLS RESOURCES
Why we like this resource:
Based on actual film studies student needs.
A good starting point for people wishing to learn how to
effectively navigate resources and acts as an instructional
tool for approaching the scholarship.
Navigation points include Bibliography and Resources,
Copyright Information, Film Still Resources for Librarians
, and Recommended Library Resources.
FILM STILLS RESOURCES
Disadvantages:
Focuses mainly on finding film stills which is a more
narrow field of inquiry for film studies, but still gives
valuable resources and tips for researching the field
in broad terms as well.
Not peer reviewed, but as it is assembled by
information professionals it should be reliable
FILM STUDIES FOR FREEOrganized by Catherine Grant, Ph. D., at the
University of Sussex.
Lists open-access online film studies journals,
ebooks and film studies websites.
Links to Audiovisualcy, also operated by Grant as
well . Basically, essays on film in video format.
FILM STUDIES FOR FREE
Why We like this resource:
All of these resources are open-access, making them easily
accessible.
Easily searchable through search box.
Includes not just journal articles, but conference papers and
essays from non-peer-reviewed journals, bringing in a more
diverse and more quickly updated range of perspectives.
Linked resources cover interdisciplinary topics, which has
become increasingly prevalent in this field.
FILM STUDIES FOR FREE
Drawbacks:
If a user wants to know if an article is peer-
reviewed, she may have to look up the journal title in
UlrichsWeb.
Organized chronologically instead of by topic, which
might not be intuitive to some people.
PART II: A DARK AND STORMY SEMESTER
The course is thematic. The primary concern is not so
much the history of horror films, but rather what
horror is. What is horror? How do we represent
horror? What cultural function does horror serve?
And similar to Aristotle's line of questioning in his
Poetics, why do we 'like' horror? What pleasure do
we derive from horror?
— Cinema 344: Horror Film Syllabus
HORROR FILMS: ARTICLES AND B OOKS IN
THE UC BERKELEY L IBRARY
Bibliography curated by the Moffitt Library Media
Resources Center at UC Berkley
Lists books, journal articles, video recordings and
documentaries on different horror films.
Includes citations for journal articles on specific
horror tropes, including zombie movies, werewolf
movies and slasher films.
HORROR FILMS: ARTICLES AND B OOKS IN
THE UC BERKELEY L IBRARY
International films are also covered, being British, Italian and Asian.
There are also several sections on specific horror directors including
John Carpenter, Wes Craven, George Romero, Dario “The Italian
Hitchcock” Argento and Mario Bava
One can look up articles or books on specific films including American
Psycho, Day of the Dead, The Exorcist, and The Ring.
While these links are for UC Berkeley access, the citations are still
helpful to other students studying horror films.
DARK THOUGHTS
Editors:
Stephen Jay Schneider ,
Ph.D. Candidate of philosophy
at Harvard & film student at
Tisch School
Daniel Shaw, professor of
film and philosophy at Lock
Haven University of
Pennsylvania.
DARK THOUGHTS
Why we like this resource:
Draws on different scholars’ contributions and
addresses some of the questions posed by the
syllabus. Essays include: “Horror, tragedy and pleasure: the general theory of
horrific appeal” (Noël Carroll) “The lived nightmare: trauma, anxiety, and the
ethical aesthetics of horror” “Murder as art/the art of murder: aestheticizing
violence in modern cinematic horror”
DARK THOUGHTS
Why we like this resource (cont.):
Gives a good introduction to what horror is and why
it is appealing as a genre ; lays a foundation on
which a student could then examine other cultural
products of horror cinema.
Accessible
DARK THOUGHTS
What we would like to see accomplished further in
this resource:
Focuses mainly on American/British horror cinema
while the second half of the syllabus has an
international scope. For the course this resource
would need to be augmented by another resource
that highlights international horror cinema.
A post by Catherine Grant on her Film Studies for Free.
Curated collection of links to conference proceedings,
roundtable
discussions, and scholarly articles from open-access
journals on the
philosophy of horror.
“Many of the below studies have been inspired by the extensive considerations of film horror by philosopher Noël Carroll or engage with the themes raised by his work.”
HALLOWEEN GUIDE TO THE
PHILOSOPHY OF HORROR
HALLOWEEN GUIDE TO THEPHILOSOPHY OF HORROR
Why we like this resource:
Based around the philosophy of horror, which
matches the aim on the syllabus of exploring what
horror is.
Includes essays on non-U.S. films, fitting with
international bent
of the second half of the course
Fin