Kristin Thompson Boeken

Film is an art form with a language and an aesthetic all its own. Since 1979, Film Art by David Bordwell and Kristin Thompson has been the best-selling and widely respected introduction to the study of cinema. Using a skills-centered approach, the authors strive to help students develop a core set of analytical tools that will deepen their understanding of any film, in any genre. Film Art is generously illustrated with frame enlargements that enable students to view images taken directly from the completed films.

Acclaimed for its breakthrough approach and its combination of theoretical analysis and empirical evidence, this is the standard work on the classical Hollywood cinema style of film-making from the silent era to the 1960s.

"Classical works have for us become covered with the glassy armor of familiarity," wrote Victor Shklovsky in 1914. Kristin Thompson "defamiliarizes" readers with eleven films, showcasing the flexibility of the neoformalist approach she developed in her earlier work. She critiques the tendency of critics to apply rigid methods to films that easily conform to those frameworks. In contrast, neoformalism encourages a unique analysis for each film, prompting continual modification of analytical assumptions. Thompson’s varied and insightful analyses range from the ordinary Hollywood film, Terror by Night, to masterpieces like Late Spring and Lancelot du Lac. She introduces a formal historical perspective on realism, exemplified by Bicycle Thieves and The Rules of the Game. Other chapters explore how classical cinema can subvert its conventions, as seen in Stage Fright and Laura, which play with audience expectations. Additionally, she examines Tati's Les Vacances de Monsieur Hulot and Play Time, alongside Godard's Tout va bien and Sauve qui peut (la vie). While neoformalist analysis is rigorous, it remains accessible, allowing readers to engage with individual essays on specific films. Ultimately, the work aims to offer new perspectives on cinema as a whole, beyond simply enhancing the understanding of these particular films.

This comprehensive survey not only acknowledges the contributions of Hollywood and films from other US sources, but broadens its scope to examine film-making internationally.

In a book as entertaining as it is enlightening, Kristin Thompson offers the first in-depth analysis of Hollywood's storytelling techniques and how they are used to make complex, easily comprehensible, entertaining films. She also takes on the myth that modern Hollywood films are based on a narrative system radically different from the one in use during the Golden Age of the studio system.Drawing on a wide range of films from the 1920s to the 1990s--from Keaton's Our Hospitality to Casablanca to Terminator 2 --Thompson explains such staples of narrative as the goal-oriented protagonist, the double plot-line, and dialogue hooks. She domonstrates that the "three-act structure," a concept widely used by practitioners and media commentators, fails to explain how Hollywood stories are put together.Thompson then demonstrates in detail how classical narrative techniques work in ten box-office and critical successes made since the New Hollywood began in the 1970 Tootsie , Back to the Future , The Silence of the Lambs , Groundhog Day , Desperately Seeking Susan , Amadeus , The Hunt for Red October , Parenthood , Alien , and Hannah and Her Sisters . In passing, she suggests reasons for the apparent slump in quality in Hollywood films of the 1990s. The results will be of interest to movie fans, scholars, and film practitioners alike.

Bordwell provides his guide on how to watch, and what to watch for, during a cinematic experience. Included are advice on how to write analytical essays and reviews concerning the film.