I was expecting this to be a chronological history of film but it was broken into different topics: eye, body, sets & architecture, time, voice & langI was expecting this to be a chronological history of film but it was broken into different topics: eye, body, sets & architecture, time, voice & language, power & ideology, and technology & technophobia. I like the setup, it is just different than I thought it would be.
This is a neat book and more in depth than I was expecting, and is more a book on film theory rather than an introductory book. It helped that I’d seen a lot of the films mentioned but I don’t think it’s necessary to have watched them, and I made a list of several I haven’t seen that look really good! It was really interesting reading about how some producers want to cut production costs so they turn to the military for assistance and are given support with Pentagon approval of the script and prescreening. He listed examples such as The Green Berets, Zero Dark Thirty, Transformers and The Mickey Mouse Club. That’s just something I never thought about.
There are definitely some areas I wish he had gone into more, however this is more of an overview of various topics so it’s understandable.
I don’t like the endings of each chapter because they feel like college essay summaries which is kind of awkward. Instead of transitioning to the next chapter, the last two pages of each chapter summarize the previous pages and even repeat some of the illustrations. No need for the repetition of words and images.
I LOVE that his references are cited! I’d like to read several of the books that are referenced.
Overall I think this is entertaining, insightful and the illustrations are great....more
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