A Freshman Film Student's Reading List

[IndianaJones]

I'm bored so I thouhgt I'd post my reading list for this coming year, well the reading list for my film studies classes. Thought it might interest some people.

Film Books Reading List

General Reference
The MovieGuide
Halliwell’s Film Guide
Hamilton, Edith. Mythology: Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes
Kane, Thomas S.. The New Oxford Guide to Writing
Katz, Ephraim. The Film Encyclopedia 3rd ed.
Konigsberg, Ira. The Complete Film Dictionary, 2nd ed.
Maltin, Leonard. Movie & Video Guide
Opdycke, John B.. Harper’s English Grammar
Partridge, Eric. Usage and Abusage
Strunk, William. Elements of Style
Wilhelm, Elliot. VideoHound’s World of Cinema: The Adventurer’s Guide to Movie Watching

Cinema Surveys
Cook, David A. A History of Narrative Film, 2nd ed
Dyer, Richard, and Ginete Vincendeau, eds. Popular European Cinema
Sarris, Andrew. The American Cinema
Talbot, Daniel. Film: An Anthology
Thompson, Kristin, and David Bordwell. Film History: An Introduction

Film History
Berg, A. Scott. Goldwyn
Baskind, Peter. Easy Riders, Raging Bulls: How the Sex-Drugs-And-Rock ‘N’ Roll Generation Saved Hollywood
Bogle, Donald. Toms, Coon, Mulattoes, Mammies, & Bucks: An Interpretive History of Blacks In American Film, 3rd ed
Bordwell, David, Janet Straiger, and Kristin Thompson. The Classical Hollywood Cinema: Film Style & Mode of Production to 1960
Brownlow, Kevin. The Parade’s Gone Buy…
Capra, Frank. The Names Above the Title
Cherchi Usai, Paolo. Burning Passions: An Introduction to the Study of Silent Film
Clarens, Carlos. Crime Movies
Cowie, Peter. Coppola: A Biography
Everson, William K. American Silent Film
Friedrich, Otto. City of Nests: A Portarait of Hollywood in the 1940’s
Gabler, Neal. An Empire of Their Own: How the Jews Invented Hollywood
Griffin, Nancy, and Kim Masters. Hit & Run: How Jon Peters and Peter Guber Took Sony For A Ride in Hollywood
Harmetz, Ajean. The Making of the Wizard of Oz
Huston,John. An Open Book
Kracaucer, Siegfried. From Caligari to Hitler: A Psychological History of the German Film
Pierson, John. Spike, Mike, Slakers, & Dykes: A Guided Tour Across A Decade ofAmerican Independent Cinema
Pollock, Dale(A.K.A. My Dean). Skywalking: The Life and Films of George Lucas
Schatz, Thomas. Genius of the System: Hollywood Film making in the Studio Era
Sklar, Robert. Movie-Made America: A Cultural History of American Movies
Spoto, Donald. The Darker Side of Genius: The Life of Alfred Hitchcock


Aesthetics
Arnheim, Rudolf. Film As Art
Bordwell, David, and Kristi Thompson. Film Art: An Introduction, 4th ed.
Horton, Andrew S., and Joan Magretta., eds. Modern European Filmmakers and the Art of Adaptation
Kerr, Walter. Tragedy and Comedy
Silver, Alain, and Elizabeth Ward. Film Noir: An Encyclopedic Reference to the American Style
Sitney, P. Adams. Sculpting in Time: Reflections on the Cinema


Non-Fiction Film
Barnouw, Erik. Documentary: A History of the Non-Fiction Film
Barsam, Richard M. Nonfiction Film: A Critical History, revised ed.


Cinematography
Elkins, David. The Camera Assistant’s Manual, 2nd ed
Elkins, David. Camera Terms and Concepts

Editing
Murch, Walter. In the Blink of An Eye: A Perspective on Film Editing
Reiz, Karel, and Gavin Millar. The Technique of Film Editing, enlarged edition
Rosenblum, Ralph, and Robert Karen. When the Shooting Stops… the Cutting Begins: A Film Editor’s Story


Screenwriting
Cooper, Dona. Writing Great Screenplays For Film and TV, 2nd ed
Field, Syd. The Screenwriter’s Workbook
Goldman, William. Adventures in the Screen Trade
Haiuge, Micheal. Writing Screenplays that Sell
Vogler, Christopher. The Writer’s Journey, 2nd ed


Directing
Lumet, Sydney. Making Movies


Producing
Houghton, Buck. What a Producer Does
Vachon, Christine. Shooting to Kill

Finance
Daniels, Bill, David Leedy, and Steven D. Sills. Movie Money: Understanding Hollywood’s Creative Accounting Practices

[CMJ]

Wow I'm impressed. Those are alot of great books. I bet I had to get about 2/3 of them myself...but not in my first Film class. Soem of those I didn't get to till my 3rd of 4th year!!Man...you guys must be really into theory. UNT is a theory school too...but we're also REALLY into production. In fact I've heard we have one of the best undergrad production schools around.

[IndianaJones]

Cool, I hope you do good work with what you've learned.

I already started in on the Lumet book, and I'mbreazing through it. Its really interesting and fun to learn about what such great people have done to change, mold and shape the industry. Plus I'mgetting to know the do's and don't's of the business before I start making mistakes.

[JonathanLB]

My personal opinion:

Strunk, William. Elements of Style -- the greatest book ever written. No book has helped my writing more than this one. It's wonderful.

[Figrin D an]

Strunk's 'Elements of Style' was required reading my senior year of high school (Advanced Placement English). We had several little quizzes covering various portions of book, as well. It was not always a pleasent experience, but I agree, it is a great tool for improving one's writing skills. Strunk makes some great points about common grammar mistakes and overused words.

Can't say that I've read any of the other books, but then again I'm not a film student... :)

Very ambitious list though, just by the sheer number of texts. Good Luck! :)

[Darth23]

Abusage?

:p

[JonathanLB]

That reading list is about what I would read in maybe 100 years. It's insanely long...

[Darth23]

So how many classes is that list for? I'm surprised there's no Joseph Campbell on the list.

[IndianaJones]

Lets see...

I have

History of American Film

Intro to Directing

Intro to Producing

Intro to Screen Writing

and others I can't remember at the moment.

[CMJ]

Gee my first RTVF classes were Perspectives on Film and Perspectives on Radio and Television. That was a LONG time ago now... :) You have a better load than I did at your age Indy. :)

[buff jedi 2]

Where the He// is green eggs and ham at ,on that list???

[CMJ]

LMAO!!

[Mu Satach 2]

I loved Lumet's book. :)

Especially the comments about the Teamsters. :lol:

[Darth23]

There should be some realistic Hollywood books in there. Like 'Schmoozing 101' or 'Make the Pitch, Anytime Anywhere'. A movie-making with credit cards book.