This book investigates how films made about the URA since the 1990s have engaged with, reproduced and contested cultural memories of the organisation, discussing how directors have addressed questions of narrativization, trauma, intergenerational connection, and political subjectivity as they engage in the politics of cultural memory on screen.

Film in Australia is a groundbreaking book that systematically addresses the wide-ranging output of Australian feature films. Adopting a genre approach, it gives a different take on Australian films made since 1970, bypassing the standard run of historical texts and actor- or character-driven studies of Australian film. Comedy, adventure, horror, science fiction, crime, art films and other types are analysed with clarity and insight so the reader can recognize and understand all kinds of Australian films, whether they are contemporary or older features, obscure gems or classic blockbusters. Film in Australia explains how particular types of films work, identifies sub-types, and surveys the work of local film makers in the different genres. Authoritatively argued for film studies courses, and based on the authors' deep and extensive knowledge of Australian film, it is also enjoyable and accessible for the general reader. A must-read for all students of Australian film.

Completely demystifies the art of fundraising for independent film and video projects for students, emerging, and seasoned media makers.

Richard Vaughn's account of the development of the American movie rating system situates contemporary cinema within the turbulent context of the history of censorship, America's cultural wars, and the impact of new technologies that have transformed entertainment. Based on the private papers and oral history of Richard D. Heffner, who headed MPAA's Classification and Rating Administration for two decades, from 1974 to 1994, it chronicles the often tense working relationship between Heffner and Jack Valenti, the long-standing currently 83 year old President and Chief Executive of the Motion Picture Association of America. It also documents the sometimes bruising encounters Heffner had with such Hollywood heavyweights as Clint Eastwood, Oliver Stone, Michael Douglas, George C. Scott, Lew Wasserman, Arthur Krim, Jerry Weintraub, and many others. Heffner's memoirs reveal the conflicted behind-the-scenes history of the American movie rating system from the perspective of a man once called "the least-known most powerful person in Hollywood." Stephen Vaughn has taught the history of communication at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, since 1981. His previous books include Ronald Reagan in Hollywood: Movies and Politics (1994), The Vital Past: Writings on the Uses of History (1985), and Holding Fast the Inner Lines: Democracy, Nationalism and the Committee on Public Information (1980). He is General Editor of a three-volume Encyclopedia of American Journalism, and has published a two-volume annotated bibliography in electronic format.

New York Times Bestseller Edgar Award winner for Best Fact Crime The Day of the Locust meets The Devil in the White City and Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil in this juicy, untold Hollywood story: an addictive true tale of ambition, scandal, intrigue, murder, and the creation of the modern film industry. By 1920, the movies had suddenly become America's new favorite pastime, and one of the nation's largest industries. Never before had a medium possessed such power to influence. Yet Hollywood's glittering ascendency was threatened by a string of headline-grabbing tragedies-including the murder of William Desmond Taylor, the popular president of the Motion Picture Directors Association, a legendary crime that has remained unsolved until now. In a fiendishly involving narrative, bestselling Hollywood chronicler William J. Mann draws on a rich host of sources, including recently released FBI files, to unpack the story of the enigmatic Taylor and the diverse cast that surrounded him-including three beautiful, ambitious actresses; a grasping stage mother; a devoted valet; and a gang of two-bit thugs, any of whom might have fired the fatal bullet. And overseeing this entire landscape of intrigue was Adolph Zukor, the brilliant and ruthless founder of Paramount, locked in a struggle for control of the industry and desperate to conceal the truth about the crime. Along the way, Mann brings to life Los Angeles in the Roaring Twenties: a sparkling yet schizophrenic town filled with party girls, drug dealers, religious zealots, newly-minted legends and starlets already past their prime-a dangerous place where the powerful could still run afoul of the desperate. A true story recreated with the suspense of a novel, Tinseltown is the work of a storyteller at the peak of his powers-and the solution to a crime that has stumped detectives and historians for nearly a century.

From 1933 until America's entry into World War II in 1941, nearly 500 Nazi films were shown in American theaters, accounting for nearly half of all foreign language film imports during the period. These poorly disguised propaganda films were produced by Germany's top studios and featured prominent pro-German and Nazi actors, directors and technicians. The films were replete with overt and covert anti-Jewish imagery and themes, but in spite of this obvious intent to use the medium to justify Nazi ascendancy, viewers and film critics from such prominent publications as the New York Times, Variety, the Washington Post and the Chicago Times consistently overlooked the films' anti-Semitic message, dubbing them harmless entertainment. This is the complete history of German films shown in America from the founding of the Nazi government to America's involvement in the war. Summaries, descriptions and discussions of these almost 500 films serve to examine the major filmmakers and distributors who kept the German film industry alive during the rule of Hitler and the Third Reich. Special emphasis is placed on films directly commissioned by Joseph Goebbels, head of the German Ministry for the Enlightenment of the People and Propaganda and the man directly responsible for ensuring that the anti-Semitic ideology of the new regime was reflected in all films produced after January 30, 1933. Rarely seen photographs and illustrations complete an in-depth study of the Nazi use of this global medium.

This short handbook collects essays on all aspects of the motion picture industry by leading authorities in political economy, economics, accounting, finance, and marketing. In addition to bringing the reader an up-to-date perspective on what is known and what has been accomplished, it includes both new findings on a variety of topics and directions for additional research. Topics include estimation of theatrical and ancillary demand, profitability studies, the resolution of evident paradoxes in studio executive behavior, the interaction of the industry and government, the impacts of the most recent changes in accounting standards, and the role and importance of participation contracts. New results include findings on the true nature of the seasonality of theatrical demand, the predictive power of surveys based upon trailers, the impact of the Academy Awards, the efectiveness of prior history measures to gauge cast members and directors, and the substitutability of movies across different genres.

"Disney Stories: Getting to Digital" explores how Disney, the man and the company, used technological innovation to create characters and stories that engage audiences in many different media, in particular in Video Games and on the Internet.

Drawing on Disney films from the twenties and thirties, as well as the writings of historians, screenwriters and producers, "Disney Stories: Getting to Digital" explains how new film and animation techniques, many developed by Disney, worked together to evolve character and content development and produce entertaining stories that riveted audiences.

Through an insider's perspective of Disney's legendary creation process, the book closely examines how the Disney Company moved its stories into the "digital" world in the 1990s and the virtual, online communities of the 2000s. By embracing the digital era, Disney led storytelling and technological innovation by granting their audience the unique opportunity to take part in their creation process through their online games, including "The Lion King Animated Story Book," "Disney Blast" and "Toontown."

"Disney Stories: Getting to Digital" is intended for Disney fans and current practitioners looking to study the creation process of one of the most famous animation studios in existence. Professors teaching courses in new media, animation and interactive storytelling will also find this book a valuable asset.

"If I had a talent for anything, it was a talent for knowing who was talented."

Mike Medavoy is a Hollywood rarity: a studio executive who, though never far from controversy, has remained well loved and respected through four decades of moviemaking. What further sets him apart is his role in bringing to the screen some of the most acclaimed Oscar-winning films of our time: Apocalypse Now, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Amadeus, The Silence of the Lambs, Philadelphia, and Sleepless in Seattle are just some of the projects he green-lighted at United Artists, Orion, TriStar, his own Phoenix Pictures.

"The ultimate lose-lose situation for a studio executive: to wind up with a commercial bomb and a bad movie."

Of course, there are the box office disasters, and the films, as Medavoy says, "for which I should be shot." They, too, have a place in his fascinating memoir -- a pull-no-punches account of financial and political maneuvering, and of working with the industry's brightest star power, including Steven Spielberg, Martin Scorsese, Francis Ford Coppola, Kevin Costner, Robert De Niro, Jodie Foster, Sharon Stone, Michael Douglas, Meg Ryan, and countless others.

"Putting together the elements of a film is a succession of best guesses."

Medavoy speaks out on how movie studio buyouts have stymied the creative process and brought an end to the "hands-off" golden age of filmmaking. An eyewitness to Hollywood history in the making, he gives a powerful and poignant view of the past and future of a world he knows intimately.

The global expansion of Hollywood and American popular culture in the first decades of the twentieth century met with strong opposition worldwide. Determined to defeat such resistance, the Hollywood moguls of the time created a powerful trade organization that worked closely with the U.S. State Department in an effort to expand the American film industry's dominance. This book offers insight into and analysis of European efforts to overcome the American film industry's pre-eminence. In contributing to the understanding of American popular culture at home and abroad, it demonstrates Hollywood's role in orchestrating the American century.

Hollywood and Silicon Valley have long been uncomfortable bedfellows. Out of fear of pirating and lost profits, entertainment companies have historically resisted technological changes. Conversely, high-tech companies, more concerned with technological progress, have largely ignored the needs of the entertainment industry. Nevertheless, those products that we now take for granted, such as DVDs, MP3 players, and the Internet, are all due to the synergy of technology and entertainment. The switch to digital and web formats for entertainment represents huge potential market opportunities for both Hollywood and Silicon Valley. It has opened up new possibilities for entertainment and expanded the way content is created, distributed and consumed. Consider the phenomenon of YouTube and its wildly popular user-created content, or the ability to download movies and TV shows from sites such as iTunes and watch them on your iPod or computer, anytime and anywhere. The dual forces of consumer demand and rapidly changing content distribution are combining in new ways to create changes that will strike at the very foundations of the entertainment and technology industries. Depending upon how entertainment and technology companies respond, these changes can help them prosper or put them out of business. Media companies will have to become more like technology companies; and technology companies will need to change too. Because content creation, distribution and consumption are ever more tightly linked, Hollywood will need to understand what's happening in Silicon Valley and vice versa; changes in one industry will reverberate through the other. Some companies such as AOL and Time Warner have tried and failed (at least so far) to harness these forces, while a few companies such as Disney, Intel, and Google have recently taken the initial steps. But many more companies wait, afraid to change but knowing they cannot conduct business as usual. With an insider's knowledge, researcher and consultant, Philip Meza insightfully clarifies what managers and investors in media and technology companies will need to do in order to successfully navigate today's tricky environment. Coming Attractions? Hollywood, High Tech, and the Future of Entertainment discusses the history of the key forces driving the relationship between entertainment and technology today and into the future.

Fashioning James Bond is the first book to study the costumes and fashions of the James Bond movie franchise, from Sean Connery in 1962's Dr No to Daniel Craig in Spectre (2015). Llewella Chapman draws on original archival research, close analysis of the costumes and fashion brands featured in the Bond films, interviews with families of tailors and shirt-makers who assisted in creating the 'look' of James Bond, and considers marketing strategies for the films and tie-in merchandise that promoted the idea of an aspirational 'James Bond lifestyle'. Addressing each Bond film in turn, Chapman questions why costumes are an important tool for analysing and evaluating film, both in terms of the development of gender and identity in the James Bond film franchise in relation to character, and how it evokes the desire in audiences to become part of a specific lifestyle construct through the wearing of fashions as seen on screen. She researches the agency of the costume department, director, producer and actor in creating the look and characterisation of James Bond, the villains, the Bond girls and the henchmen who inhibit the world of 007. Alongside this, she analyses trends and their impact on the Bond films, how the different costume designers have individually and creatively approached costuming them, and how the costumes were designed and developed from novel to script and screen. In doing so, this book contributes to the emerging critical literature surrounding the combined areas of film, fashion, gender and James Bond.

Based on extensive original research, including in studio archives, industrial surveys, official records, trade journals, and English and Chinese newspapers, this book explores the role of the American film industry in the development of cinema in China. It examines the Chinese industry's response to the American industry and the consequences of this response. It also considers the attitudes of Chinese film practitioners towards Hollywood and the contribution of those figures who acted as intermediaries between the two industries. Overall, the book casts much new light on the early development of the film industry in China and demonstrates the huge influence Hollywood had on it. Winner of the inaugural 2021 New Zealand Asia Society Book Award, second prize.

Directing actors is the hardest thing faced by both beginning and experienced directors. Filmmaking hardware like cameras, lenses, and editing machines do what they are told. Actors have minds of their own, often making directors lives miserable. Here is an inspired and insightful must-read for directors at all levels of their craft, which is based on the extensive experiences of veteran Director John Badham, as well as no-holds-barred, out-of-school tales from such celebrated directors and actors as Sydney Pollock, Michael Mann, John Frankenheimer, Mel Gibson, James Woods, Jenna Elfman, and many more. Beneath the entertaining and instructive war stories lies the truth: how directors elicit the best performances from difficult and terrified actors. You'll learn how to use proven techniques to help actors give their best performances, including the ten best and ten worst things to say and what you can do when an actor wont or cant do what the director wants. Its all here, put into print by a renowned director with stories to tell and lessons to impart.

Italian cinema triumphed globally in the 1960, with directors such as Rossellini, Fellini, and Leone, and actors like Sophia Loren and Marcello Mastroianni known to audiences around the world. But by the end of the 1980s, the Italian film industry was all but dead. The Rise and Fall of the Italian Film Industry traces the rise of the industry from its origins in the 19th century to its worldwide success in the 1960s, and its rapid decline in the subsequent decades. It does so by looking at cinema as an institution - subject to the interplay between the spheres of art, business, and politics at the national and international level. By examining the roles of a wide range of stakeholders (including film directors, producers, exhibitors, the public, and the critics) as well as the system of funding and the influence of governments, author Marina Nicoli demonstrates that the Italian film industry succeeded when all three spheres were aligned, but suffered and ultimately failed when they each pursued contradictory objectives. This in-depth case study makes an important contribution to the long-standing debate about promoting and protecting domestic cultures, particularly in the face of culturally dominant and politically- and economically-powerful creative industries from the United States. The Rise and Fall of the Italian Film Industry will be of particular interest to business and economic historians, cinema historians, media specialists, and cultural economists.

From the beginning of the sound era until the end of the 1930s, independent movie-making thrived. Many of the independent studios were headquartered in a section of Hollywood called "Poverty Row." Here the independents made movies on the cheap, usually at rented facilities where shooting was limited to only a few days. From Allied Pictures Corporation to Willis Kent Production, 55 Poverty Row Studios are given histories in this book. Some of the studios, such as Diversion Pictures and Cresent Pictures, came into existence for the sole purpose of releasing movies by established stars. Others, for example J.D. Kendis, were early exploitation filmmakers under the guise of sex education. The histories include critical commentary on the studio's output and a filmography of all titles released from 1929 through 1940.

Eddie Mannix and Howard Strickling are virtually unknown outside of Hollywood and little-remembered even there, but as General Manager and Head of Publicity for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios, they lorded over all the stars in Hollywood's golden age from the 1920s through the 1940s - including legends like Garbo, Dietrich, Gable and Garland. When MGM stars found themselves in trouble, it was Eddie and Howard who took care of them - solved their problems, hid their crimes, and kept their secrets. They were ""the Fixers."" At a time when image meant everything and the stars were worth millions to the studios that owned them, Mannix and Strickling were the most important men at MGM. Through a complex web of contacts in every arena, from reporters and doctors to corrupt police and district attorneys, they covered up some of the most notorious crimes and scandals in Hollywood history, keeping stars out of jail and, more importantly, their names out of the papers. They handled problems as diverse as the murder of Paul Bern (husband of MGM's biggest star, Jean Harlow), the studio-directed drug addictions of Judy Garland, the murder of Ted Healy (creator of The Three Stooges) at the hands of Wallace Beery, and arranging for an unmarried Loretta Young to adopt her own child - a child fathered by a married Clark Gable. Through exhaustive research and interviews with contemporaries, this is the never-before-told story of Eddie Mannix and Howard Strickling. The dual biography describes how a mob-related New Jersey laborer and the quiet son of a grocer became the most powerful men at the biggest studio in the world.

This is the history of advertising in motion pictures from the slide ads of the 1890s to the common practice of product placement in the present. Initially, product placement was seen as a somewhat sleazy practice and also faced opposition from the film industry itself; it has grown dramatically in the past 25 years. From Maillards Chocolates advertising with a shot of Cardinal Richelieu enjoying a hot cup of cocoa in 1895, to product placements in 2002s Minority Report, for which advertisers were rumored to have paid $25 million, this book explores the developing union of corporate America and Hollywood.

This work addresses such topics as televisions conditioning of filmgoers to accept commercials, companies donation of props, the debate about advertising such activities as smoking and drinking in films, and product displacement, or demands by companies to keep their products absent from unpopular or controversial films. Film stills and a bibliography complete the book.

German National Cinema is the first comprehensive history of German film from its origins to the present. In this new edition, Sabine Hake discusses film-making in economic, political, social, and cultural terms, and considers the contribution of Germany's most popular films to changing definitions of genre, authorship, and film form.

The book traces the central role of cinema in the nation 's turbulent history from the Wilhelmine Empire to the Berlin Republic, with special attention paid to the competing demands of film as art, entertainment, and propaganda. Hake also explores the centrality of genre films and the star system to the development of a filmic imaginary.

This fully revised and updated new edition will be required reading for everyone interested in German film and the history of modern Germany.

The experience of going to the movies, be it a single screen theater, twin, multiplex or drive-in, is affected by many different factors that have shifted over the years. Just as movies emerged from silent to talking, black and white to color, there has invariably been change in the way movies are made, copied, distributed and viewed. This change in the moviegoing experience, for better or for worse, is worth studying. This work examines the American moviegoing experience from 1968 to 2001 - the way in which movies are made and regulated (including the demise of the Production Code and the emergence of the ratings system) as well as changes in lighting, cinematography and coloring techniques. The projection practices of the past and present, during and after the presence of the Projectionists Union, and the advent of the ""platter,"" which allowed for automated projection, are discussed. How home video and cable affected the content of films after the eighties and the history of computerized special effects leading to the development of digital cinema projection are included. The work also covers the changing types of venues over the last third of a century and other aspects that affect, positively or negatively, the entire moviegoing experience.

Now in Paperback! The New Historical Dictionary of the American Film Industry is a unique reference work, a 'what's what' of the history of filmmaking not only in Hollywood but throughout the United States. More than 750 entries document the history of studios, production companies and distributors, and provide complete information on technical innovations, genres, industry terms, and organizations. Included are entries on more than 100 film companies active in the 'teens, as well as all major Hollywood studios, and major technical innovations such as CinemaScope and Dolby Sound. General entries range from 'The Cold War' to 'Westerns' and include film series such as 'Andy Hardy' and 'The Thin Man.' Extensive cross referencing and an index help the reader locate information throughout the text. A completely revised and updated edition of The American Film Industry, this new edition furnishes an informed, experienced look behind the scenes of filmmaking and an invaluable reference source. Paperback edition available 2001.

"The most detailed and up-to-date book on independent cinema, an invaluable reference work." - Molly Haskell, "Washington Post"

"Thoughtful and substantial." - Stuart Klawans, "The Nation"

"An indispensable text for anyone who wants to understand the independent world." - David Ansen of "Newsweek"

"At a time when independent American films are more visible and important than ever before, this is an invaluable study. Emanuel Levy's writing is wise, passionate, and amazingly well-informed." - Roger Ebert

"The time is ripe for an intelligent, informed, well-organized book on the world of independent cinema - and Emanuel Levy has given us just that." - Leonard Maltin

A Los Angeles Times Bestseller

The most important development in American culture of the last two decades is the emergence of independent cinema as a viable alternative to Hollywood. Indeed, while Hollywood's studios devote much of their time and energy to churning out big-budget, star-studded event movies, a renegade independent cinema that challenges mainstream fare continues to flourish with strong critical support and loyal audiences.

Cinema of Outsiders is the first and only comprehensive chronicle of contemporary independent movies from the late 1970s up to the present. From the hip, audacious early works of maverick David Lynch, Jim Jarmusch, and Spike Lee, to the contemporary Oscar-winning success of indie dynamos, such as the Coen brothers ("Fargo"), Quentin Tarentino ("Pulp Fiction"), and Billy Bob Thornton ("Sling Blade"), Levy describes in a lucid and accessible manner the innovation and diversity of American indies in theme, sensibility, and style.

Documenting the socio-economic, political and artistic forces that led to the rise of American independent film, Cinema of Outsiders depicts the pivotal role of indie guru Robert Redford and his Sundance Film Festival in creating a showcase for indies, the function of film schools in supplying talent, and the continuous tension between indies and Hollywood as two distinct industries with their own structure, finance, talent and audience.

Levy describes the major cycles in the indie film movement: regional cinema, the New York school of film, African-American, Asian American, gay and lesbian, and movies made by women. Based on exhaustive research of over 1,000 movies made between 1977 and 1999, Levy evaluates some 200 quintessential indies, including "Choose Me," "Stranger Than Paradise," "Blood Simple," "Blue Velvet," "Desperately Seeking Susan," "Slacker," "Poison," "Reservoir Dogs," "Gas Food Lodging," "Menace II Society," "Clerks," "In the Company of Men," "Chasing Amy," "The Apostle," "The Opposite of Sex," and "Happiness,"

Cinema of Outsiders reveals the artistic and political impact of bold and provocative independent movies in displaying the cinema of "outsiders"-the cinema of the "other America."

During the 1930s many Americans avoided thinking about war erupting in Europe, believing it of little relevance to their own lives. Yet, the Warner Bros. film studio embarked on a virtual crusade to alert Americans to the growing menace of Nazism.

Polish-Jewish immigrants Harry and Jack Warner risked both reputation and fortune to inform the American public of the insidious threat Hitler's regime posed throughout the world. Through a score of films produced during the 1930s and early 1940s-including the pivotal "Sergeant York"-the Warner Bros. studio marshaled its forces to influence the American conscience and push toward intervention in World War II.

Celluloid Soldiers offers a compelling historical look at Warner Bros.'s efforts as the only major studio to promote anti-Nazi activity before the outbreak of the Second World War.

The most comprehensive and useful book ever created for filmmakers seeking both independence and success in the marketplace, this guide is loaded with insider tips on idea development, writing a mission statement, marketing and pitching a production, and much more. 30+ illustrations & photos.

Nordic National Cinemas explores the film histories and cultures of Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden and Challenges prevailing notions of Nordic cinema. Taking issue with the identification of Nordic cinemas with such internationally famed directors as Bergman and Dreyer, the authors examine each country's domestic film production, social and political context and domestic audiences.
Nordic National Cinemas traces the development of the cinema in the Nordic countries, from its origins in the early years of this century and the golden years of film making in the 1920s and 1930s, through the film production and censorship during the war year, the new-realism in the 1950s and 1960s, the influence of American cinema and the commercial and critical success of films in recent years. The authors not only explore the work of figures such as the early Hollywood directors Mauritz Stiller and Victor Sjostrom and the internationally renowned Carl Dreyer and Ingmar Bergman, directors of such classics as Vampyr, Ordet, Wild Strawberries and Cries and Whispers, but also nationally important filmmakers such as August Blom, Bodil Ipsen, Lau Lauritzen and Nils Malmros and contemporary film makers as Gabriel Axel, director of Babette's Feast the Kaurismaki brothers, directors of The Match Factory Girl and The Leningrad Cowboys and the recently acclaimed Lars von Trier, director of Breaking the Waves.
The authors examine the phenomenon of Nordic cinema and, despite the similarities and collaborations between the countries, stress that Nordic cinema is the cinema of five particular traditions. Each chapter discusses the history and film culture of the individual country and considers three specific questions: state control and support of film production; the cultural characteristics of Nordic film which both unify and define peculiarities of each each country; film production, content and form. In a final chapter, the authors assess the direction and future of the Nordic cinemas.