Poster for Citizen Kane, illustrated by William Rose, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Using this Guide
This guide is designed to help students in Professor Mike Mirabile's Spring 2023 course on Radical Film. If you have questions, please ask Erica!
Books on Reserve
An Introduction to Film Analysis by Michael Ryan; Melissa LenosAn Introduction to Film Analysis is designed to introduce students to filmmaking techniques while also providing an invaluable guide to film interpretation. It takes readers step by step through: -the basic technical terms -shot-by-shot analyses of film sequences -set design, composition, editing, camera work, post-production, art direction and more -each chapter provides clear examples and full colour images from classic as well as contemporary films Ryan and Lenos's updated edition introduces students to the different kinds of lenses and their effects, the multiple possibilities of lighting, and the way post-production modifies images through such processes as saturation and desaturation. Students will learn to ask why the camera is placed where it is, why an edit occurs where it does, or why the set is designed in a certain way. The second section of the book focuses on critical analysis, introducing students to the various approaches to film, from psychology to history, with new analysis on postcolonial, transnational and Affect Theory. New to this edition is a third section featuring several in-depth analyses of films to put into practice what comes before: The Birds, The Shining, Vagabond, In the Mood for Love, Before the Devil Knows You're Dead.
Call Number: ask at Check-Out desk
Publication Date: 2020
Citizen Kane by Laura MulveyCitizen Kane's reputation as one of the greatest films of all time is matched only by the accumulation of critical commentary that surrounds it. What more can there be to say about a masterpiece so universally acknowledged? Laura Mulvey, in a fresh and original reading, illuminates the richness of the film, both thematically and stylistically, relating it to Welles's political background and its historical context. In a lucid and perceptive critique she also investigates the psychoanalytic structure that underlies the film's presentation of Kane's biography, for once taking seriously what Orson Welles himself disparagingly referred to as 'dollar-book Freud.' In her foreword to this special edition, published to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the BFI Film Classics series, Laura Mulvey focuses on the film's politics, highlighting the contemporary 'rhymes' in Kane's portrayal of a scandal-prone press baron in a time of economic crisis.
Call Number: ebook; also available in print (ask at Check-Out desk)