Film theory and criticism...

R

RCummings4885

Member
Hey all. New to the board and couldn't quite figure where to post this one. Here seemed best.

I'm a self taught filmmaker with nary a class of theory or criticism. I've been checking out films on all sorts of film studies' sylabi (is that right?) which isn't financially harming at all with netflix however I don't want to go spend 40 or 50 dollars on a book that is really worthless. Any recommendations on some really good books specifically on theory, criticism and history? Anybody?

Much appreciated,
Ryan
 
Screening Space, Vivian Sobchak. What is Cinema? Vols I & II, Andre Bazin. Film Language, Christian Metz. Channels of Discourse (can't remember the author but there's a caricature of Madonna on the cover). Film Form, Sergei Eisenstein.

There are a bunch more on the shelf but I'm not near it right now.

I don't want to discourage your interest if you're really interested but just from my own perspective if your primary interest is production - and more to the point, you are actually producing your own stuff - theory and criticism are at best moderately interesting wastes of time better spent eating, sleeping, or watching Leave it to Beaver reruns. People who make films, make films. People who write theory and criticism - with a few notable exceptions - probably couldn't figure out which end of the camera to aim in the direction of their subject.
 
Film Theory is pretty dense, and the literature can be in impenetrable. I was originally studying Computer Engineer, but defected to Film Theory (and earned a BA) because it was harder and more challenging!

Sad Max lists some of the obligatory texts. I don't really know what to recommend as a beginner though. Maybe take a glance through Google Books or Amazon to find something you're comfortable with?

There's a huge gulf between production and theory. Film theory is largely based on language and political theory, and (surprisingly) very little theorizing is done on films themselves.
 
The texts I suggested are basically college-freshman-level ones. More 'beginner' than that is probably an even worse waste of time, than the ones on the list.
 
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