The Story of Film: A Worldwide History - Softcover

Cousins, Mark

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1560259337 ISBN 13: 9781560259336

Publisher: Da Capo Press, 2006

Synopsis

The Story of Film presents the history of the movies in a way never told before. Weaving personalities, technology, and production with engaging descriptions of groundbreaking scenes, Mark Cousins uses his experience as film historian, producer, and director to capture the shifting trends of movie history without recourse to jargon. We learn how filmmakers influenced each other; how contemporary events influenced them; how they challenged established techniques and developed new technologies to enhance their medium. Striking images reinforce the reader's understanding of cinematic innovation both stylistic and technical. Presenting three epochs — Silent (1885–1928); Sound (1928–1990) and Digital (1990–Present) — The Story of Film spans the birth of the moving image; the establishment of Hollywood; the European avant-garde movements; personal filmmaking; world cinema and recent phenomena such as Computer Generated Imagery and the ever-more "real" realizations of the wildest of imaginations. Here are mainstream entertainment films and maverick talents, breathtaking moments and technical revolutions, blockbuster movies and art-house gems, icons of the screen and the hard workers behind the scenes. It is a powerful story of the world's most popular artistic medium.

About this title

About the Author

Mark Cousins is an author, film critic, producer, and documentary director. He is Honorary Lecturer in Film and Media Studies at the University of Stirling and teaches The Aesthetics of World Cinema at Edinburgh College of Art. As director of the Edinburgh International Film Festival in the 1990s, he pioneered the Scene by Scene discussion format, later adapting it into a celebrated BBC television series and book of the same name. Among those who gave career interviews were Martin Scorsese, Roman Polanski, Woody Allen, Shohei Imamura, Bernado Bertolucci, Jeanne Moreau, Kirk Douglas, and the Coen brothers. The subjects of his documentary films have included neo-Nazis, the first Gulf War, and Mikhail Gorbachev. His other publications include the acclaimed Imagining Reality: The Faber Book of Documentary and an introduction to the screenplay of Billy Wilder's The Apartment.

Edition details

• Publisher: Da Capo Press
• Publication date: 2006
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1560259337
• ISBN 13: 9781560259336
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 512