Film and Television: A Guide to the Reference Literature (Reference Sources in the Humanities)

The popularity and pervasiveness of film and television in 21st-century life is inescapable. Whether viewed as entertainment, educational, or cultural forms, the effect of these media on our lifestyles and attitudes is unmistakable. No wonder an increasing number of academics, students, and laypeople are drawn to study their particular appeal. Mark Emmons's magnum opus is a true labor of love. International in scope, it offers 1,244 substantially annotated entries, organized by topic. Its focus is movies and television shows: how they are produced; the people who make and appear in them; their content, their distribution and exhibition; and their reception by audiences, reviewers, critics, and scholars. Beginning with general guides, dictionaries and encyclopedias, the book then turns to filmographies, filmmakers, and filmmaking respectively. Filmographies lists films and television shows in the categories of national cinema and genre, made by studios or filmmakers, or featuring various groups of people. Filmmakers includes biographies and credits for filmmakers and actors. Filmmaking includes reference sources on making film and television shows. An indispensable guide for librarians, faculty, students, neophyte filmmakers, and fans everywhere.

Mark Emmons is Librarian and Associate Professor at the University of New Mexico. His lifelong passion for film led him to work briefly in the film and television industry immediately after graduating from UCLA in 1983. Realizing that he liked watching films more than making them, he explored a career in teaching before finding his niche as a librarian in 1990. As a librarian, he has selected books and films for the library collection, taught students how to conduct research, and answered reference questions about film and television. He has also written chapters on web-based film resources and on how to teach film research to undergraduates.