- Hardcover: 512 pages
- Publisher: Pavilion Books (27 Aug 2004)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 1862055742
- ISBN-13: 978-1862055742
- Product Dimensions: 24.2 x 17.4 x 4 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 277,619 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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More About the Author
Product Description
Product Description
The Story of Film is the most accessible and compelling history of the medium yet published. Film critic, producer and presenter, Mark Cousins shows how film-makers are influenced both by the historical events of their times, and by each other. He demonstrates, for example, how Douglas Sirk's Hollywood melodramas of the 1950s influenced Rainer Werner Fassbinder's despairing visions of 1970s Germany; and how George Lucas' Star Wars epics grew out of Akira Kurosawa's The Hidden Fortress. The Story of Film is divided into three main epochs: Silent (1885-1928), Sound (1928-1990) and Digitial (1990-Present), and within this structure films are discussed within chapters reflecting both the stylistic concerns of the film-makers and the political and social themes of the time. Film is an international medium, so as well as covering the great American films and film-makers, the book explores cinema in Europe, Africa, Asia, Australasia and South America, and shows how cinematic ideas and techniques cross national boundaries. Avoiding jargon and obscure critical theory, the author constantly places himself in the role of the moviegoer watching a film, and asks: 'How does a scene or a story affect us, and why?' In so doing he gets to the heart of cinematic technique, explaining how film-makers use lighting, framing, focal length and editing to create their effects. Clearly written, and illustrated with over 400 stills, including numerous sequences explaining how scenes work, The Story of Film is essential reading for both film students and the general moviegoer.
About the Author
Mark Cousins has a first class degree in Film and Media Studies and Fine Art from the University of Stirling. He has since lectured on film history, been published internationally and made documentary films on arts and political themes. A former Director of the Edinburgh Film Festival, he now presents Scene-by-Scene on BBC television, conducting career interviews with actors and directors including Martin Scorcese, Woody Allen, Roman Polanski, Shohei Imamura, Jack Lemmon, Sean Connery, Tom Hanks, Dennis Hopper, Kirk Douglas, Rod Steiger, Jeanne Moreau, Lauren Bacall, the Coen Brothers, Bernardo Bertolucci, David Cronenberg, David Lynch, Donald Sutherland, Ewan McGregor and Jayne Russell. He lives in Edinburgh, Scotland.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
20 of 22 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent history of film....,
By Jason Parkes "We're all Frankies'" (Worcester, UK) - See all my reviews (No. 1 Hall OF FAME REVIEWER)
This review is from: The Story of Film (Hardcover)
Mark Cousins is known for fronting the now defunct 'Moviedrome'-series and the excellent 'Scene by Scene'- which also now seems defunct- where he interviewed figures like David Lynch and Martin Scorsese while taking in scenes from their brilliant careers. 'The Story of Film' advances on Cousins' journalistic work and combines with his academic work in the medium in Scotland...'The Story of Film' does what he says on the cover really, a concise history of cinema focusing on movements and scenes accompanied by still-images from many of the films discussed. It's extremely user-friendly and would make an ideal primer to anyone interested in Film Studies - and a lot cheaper than books like 'Film Art' too! A book I'd rank up there with 'The Cinema Book' , 'The Oxford Guide to Film Studies' & Susan Hayward's book of film definitions (though the list of terms and further reading is a little short at the end- I'd like to have seen more titles included, a minor gripe though...) 'The Story of Film' is a riveting read that contextualises the greatest art form of the 20th Century and covers such figures as Werner Herzog, Pier Paolo Pasolini, Scorsese, Ken Loach, Lynch, Jean-Luc Godard, Steven Spielberg, Luchino Visconti...and so on. Great part on The New German Cinema, on the influence of Bertolucci's masterpiece 'The Conformist' (1970) on The New American Cinema (notably Paul Schrader) & on how the U.S. blockbuster (The Exorcist, Jaws, Star Wars IV: A New Hope) ultimately ruined the auteurist movement established by 'Easy Rider','Bonnie & Clyde','Taxi Driver','The Conversation' & 'American Gigolo.' 'The Story of Film' is excellently written, extremely informative and a breeze to read - ANYONE interested in film should read it...
4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Wide Ranging,
By Christopher Hawtree (Hove, Sussex) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Story of Film (Hardcover)
This guy knows his onions.
It is not perhaps a book that anybody reads straight through. There is so much in it that one has to break off now and then to... watch a film. And he makes one want to catch up. This is a all a world away from slick, industry-driven journalism but it is also not arid "film studies" as he makes many interesting links between images across the decades.
7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Knowledgable and informative,
By
This review is from: The Story of Film (Paperback)
This is a great book. I read this over a period of several weeks, one section at a time. It has so much information in it! It can be enjoyed by someone simply interested in a specific era of film; a student; a teacher; or for dipping in and out of as a reference.
Written in an easy style it does not assume any prior knowledge. I have studied film within a Cultural Studies degree and I still learned so much. A valuable resource with plenty of still images and other references to move on to. It covers silent films: 1895-1928; sound: 1928-1990; digital from 1990 to date. A range of countries, genres films covered. Excellent!
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