Download or read book Title Sequences as Paratexts written by Michael Betancourt and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2017-10-30 with total page 214 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In his third book on the semiotics of title sequences, Title Sequences as Paratexts, theorist Michael Betancourt offers an analysis of the relationship between the title sequence and its primary text—the narrative whose production the titles credit. Using a wealth of examples drawn from across film history—ranging from White Zombie (1931), Citizen Kane (1940) and Bullitt (1968) to Prince of Darkness (1987), Mission: Impossible (1996), Sucker Punch (2011) and Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 2 (2017)—Betancourt develops an understanding of how the audience interprets title sequences as instances of paranarrative, simultaneously engaging them as both narrative exposition and as credits for the production. This theory of cinematic paratexts, while focused on the title sequence, has application to trailers, commercials, and other media as well.
Download or read book Ideologies of the Real in Title Sequences Motion Graphics and Cinema written by Michael Betancourt and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2019-08-13 with total page 273 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book explores the question of realism in motion pictures. Specifically, it explores how understanding the role of realism in the history of title sequences in film can illuminate discussions raised by the advent of digital cinema. Ideologies of the Real in Title Sequences, Motion Graphics and Cinema fills a critical and theoretical void in the existing literature on motion graphics. Developed from careful analysis of André Bazin, Stanley Cavell, and Giles Deleuze’s approaches to cinematic realism, this analysis uses title sequences to engage the interface between narrative and non-narrative media to consider cinematic realism in depth through highly detailed close readings of the title sequences for Bullitt (1968), Kolchak: The Night Stalker (1974), The Number 23 (2007), The Kingdom (2008), Blade Runner: 2049 (2017) and the James Bond films. From this critique, author Michael Betancourt develops a modal approach to cinematic realism where ontology is irrelevant to indexicality. His analysis shows the continuity between historical analogue film and contemporary digital motion pictures by developing a framework for rethinking how realism shapes interpretation.
Download or read book The Multiple Worlds of Fringe written by Tanya R. Cochran and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2014-08-21 with total page 274 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: With diverse contributions from scholars in English literature, psychology, and film and television studies, this collection of essays contextualizes Fringe as a postmodern investigation into what makes us human and as an examination of how technology transforms our humanity. In compiling this collection, the editors sought material as multifaceted as the series itself, devoting sections to specific areas of interest explored by both the writers of Fringe and the writers of the essays: humanity, duality, genre and viewership.
Download or read book Joss Whedon s Dollhouse written by Sherry Ginn and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2014-05-08 with total page 255 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Although it lasted barely more than a season, Dollhouse continues to intrigue viewers as one of Joss Whedon’s most provocative forays into television. The program centered on men and women who have their memories and personalities repeatedly wiped and replaced with new ones by a shadowy corporation dedicated to “fulfilling the whims of the rich.” This chilling scenario was used to tell stories about big issues—power and resistance, freedom and servitude, class and gender—while always returning to its central themes of identity and individuality. In Joss Whedon’s Dollhouse: Confounding Purpose, Confusing Identity, Sherry Ginn, Alyson R. Buckman, and Heather M. Porter bring together fourteen diverse essays that showcase the series’ complex vision of the future. Contributors probe deeply into the fictional universe of the show by considering the motives of the wealthy clients and asking what love means when personalities are continually remade. Other essays consider the show’s relations to politics, philosophy, and psychology and its representations of race and gender. Several essays explore the show’s complex relationship to transhumanism: considering the dark potential for dehumanization and abuse that lurks beneath the promise of turning bodies into temporary vessels for immortal, downloadable personalities. Though a short-lived series, Dollhouse has been hailed as one of television’s most thoughtful explorations of classic science fiction themes. As the first serious treatment of this landmark show, this collection will interest science-fiction scholars and Whedon fans alike.
Download or read book Film Title Sequences written by Deborah Allison and published by Independently Published. This book was released on 2021-06-18 with total page 232 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Since the days of silent cinema, opening title sequences have provided audiences with far more than just a list of names. Their designers-whether anonymous studio employees or world-renowned artists such as Saul Bass and Maurice Binder-have found countless ways to captivate and entertain us while the credits unfurl. Featuring all the creative devices at the filmmakers' disposal, these introductions serve to whet our appetite for the films ahead while helping to shape our viewing expectations in crucial ways. This anthology brings together 18 years of publications by Deborah Allison, who was one of the first scholars to conduct extensive research into the history of American film title sequences. Topics covered include the main functions of opening title sequences; an historical survey of key design trends in American film titling; aesthetic responses to the advent of widescreen cinema; theme songs and generic iconography in Westerns; novelty title sequences and self-reflexivity; cartoons and caricatures of cast and crew; and retro title sequences. The collection also features a new and exclusive essay about title sequence design in the twenty-first century.
Download or read book Typography and Motion Graphics The Reading Image written by Michael Betancourt and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2018-11-20 with total page 211 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In his latest book, Michael Betancourt explores the nature and role of typography in motion graphics as a way to consider its distinction from static design, using the concept of the ‘reading-image’ to model the ways that motion typography dramatizes the process of reading and audience recognition of language on-screen. Using both classic and contemporary title sequences—including The Man With the Golden Arm (1955), Alien (1979), Flubber (1998), Six Feet Under (2001), The Number 23 (2007) and Scott Pilgrim vs. The World (2010)—Betancourt develops an argument about what distinguishes motion graphics from graphic design. Moving beyond title sequences, Betancourt also analyzes moving or kinetic typography in logo designs, commercials, film trailers, and information graphics, offering a striking theoretical model for understanding typography in media.
Download or read book Popular Media Cultures written by L. Geraghty and published by Springer. This book was released on 2015-04-14 with total page 256 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Popular Media Cultures explores the relationship between audiences and media texts, their paratexts and interconnected ephemera. Authors focus on the cultural work done by media audiences, how they engage with social media and how convergence culture impacts on the strategies and activities of popular media fans.
Download or read book Synchronization and Title Sequences written by Michael Betancourt and published by Taylor & Francis. This book was released on 2017-09-19 with total page 247 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Synchronization and Title Sequences proposes a semiotic analysis of the synchronization of image and sound in motion pictures using title sequences. Through detailed historical close readings of title designs that use either voice-over, an instrumental opening, or title song to organize their visuals—from Vertigo (1958) to The Player (1990) and X-Men: First Class (2011)—author Michael Betancourt develops a foundational framework for the critique and discussion of motion graphics’ use of synchronization and sound, as well as a theoretical description of how sound-image relationships develop on-screen.
Download or read book Re Entering the Dollhouse written by Heather M. Porter and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2022-05-11 with total page 303 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Premiering on Fox in 2009, Joss Whedon's Dollhouse was an innovative, contentious and short-lived science fiction series whose themes were challenging for viewers from the outset. A vast global corporation operates establishments (Dollhouses) that program individuals with temporary personalities and abilities. The protagonist assumes a different identity each episode--her defining characteristic a lack of individuality. Through this obtuse premise, the show interrogated free will, morality and sex, and in the process its own construction of fantasy and its audience. A decade on, the world is--for better or worse--catching up with Dollhouse's provocative vision. This collection of new essays examines the series' relevance in the context of today's social and political issues and media landscape.
Download or read book African American Female Leadership in Major Motion Pictures written by Tracy L.F. Worley and published by Taylor & Francis. This book was released on 2024-02-09 with total page 87 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book explores the factors contributing to the under-representation of African American female directors in mainstream cinema leadership. It also unmasks the potential strategies African American female film directors might pursue to reduce this inequity. Author Tracy L. F. Worley draws on research around ethics to conclude that there are specific consequences of the male gaze on women in cinema leadership, especially African American female directors of box office cinema. Combining extensive analysis of ethics and ethical stance relative to the motion picture industry with perspectives from working African American female directors, the text discusses the ethical considerations and historical inequities, including the male gaze, and uses those findings to define how the inequities can be opportunities. The efficacy model for cinematic leadership is presented as a mechanism for viewing obstacles through the lenses of gender, ethnicity, and culture so they become drivers for African American women to achieve success. Ideal for students of directing and filmmaking, as well as aspiring professional filmmakers wishing to gain a better understanding of the industry as it stands today.
Download or read book Writing on the Edge written by Johannes Mahlknecht and published by Universitatsverlag Winter. This book was released on 2016 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Writing on the Edge analyzes texts that surround movies - so-called filmic paratexts. They include opening and closing credits, film posters, and tie-in products such as novelizations. More accessory than an actual part of the film they accompany, paratexts nevertheless serve as an essential framing device that generates expectations and guides audiences through their viewing experience. The book discusses the exchange between the extradiegetic nature of paratexts and the diegesis of the films proper - the space between the producers' attempts to 'advertise a product' and the filmmakers' attempts to 'tell a story'. 'Writing on the Edge' investigates cinema's manifold conventions developed to link these realms. In doing so, the book analyzes a wide range of credit sequences and promotional materials covering all periods of film history.
Download or read book Semiotics and Title Sequences written by Michael Betancourt and published by Taylor & Francis. This book was released on 2017-09-19 with total page 179 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Title sequences are the most obvious place where photography and typography combine on-screen, yet they are also a commonly neglected part of film studies. Semiotics and Title Sequences presents the first theoretical model and historical consideration of how text and image combine to create meaning in title sequences for film and television, before extending its analysis to include subtitles, intertitles, and the narrative role for typography. Detailed close readings of classic films starting with The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, and including To Kill A Mockingbird, Dr. Strangelove, and The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, along with designs from television programs such as Magnum P.I., Castle, and Vikings present a critical assessment of title sequences as both an independent art form and an introduction to the film that follows.
Download or read book The Knights Templar in Popular Culture written by Patrick Masters and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2022-02-15 with total page 217 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From the Arthurian epic poem Parzival to Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, and the Assassin's Creed video game series, the Knights Templar have captivated artists and audiences alike for centuries. In modern times, the Templars have featured in many narrative contexts, evolving in a range of contrasting story roles: the grail guardian, the heroic knight, the villainous knight, and the keeper of conspiracies. This study explores why these gone but not forgotten warrior monks remain prominent in popular culture; how history influenced the myth; and how the myth has influenced literature, film and video games.
Download or read book Television s Spatial Capital written by Myles McNutt and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2021-12-30 with total page 261 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book launches a comprehensive detailing of the dramatic expansion of the geography of television production into new cities, states, provinces, and countries, and how those responsible for shaping the "landscape" of television have been forced to adapt, taking established strategies for engaging with space and place through mediated representation and renegotiating them to account for the new map of television production. Modeling media studies research that considers the intersection of production, textuality, distribution, and reception, Myles McNutt identifies how the expansion of where television is produced has intersected with the kinds of places represented on television, and how shifts in the production, distribution, and consumption of television content have shifted the burden of representing cities and countries both locally and internationally. Through a combination of industry interviews, textual analysis, and in-depth consideration of industry and audience discourse, the book argues that where television takes place matters more today than it ever has, but that the current system of spatial capital remains constrained by traditional industry logics that limit the depth of engagement with place identity even as the expectation of authenticity grows significantly. Representing a cross section of media industry studies, television studies, and cultural geography, this book will appeal to scholars and students within multiple areas of media studies, including production studies and audience studies, in addition to television studies broadly.
Download or read book Semiotics and Title Sequences written by Michael Betancourt and published by Taylor & Francis. This book was released on 2017-09-19 with total page 145 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Title sequences are the most obvious place where photography and typography combine on-screen, yet they are also a commonly neglected part of film studies. Semiotics and Title Sequences presents the first theoretical model and historical consideration of how text and image combine to create meaning in title sequences for film and television, before extending its analysis to include subtitles, intertitles, and the narrative role for typography. Detailed close readings of classic films starting with The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, and including To Kill A Mockingbird, Dr. Strangelove, and The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, along with designs from television programs such as Magnum P.I., Castle, and Vikings present a critical assessment of title sequences as both an independent art form and an introduction to the film that follows.
Download or read book Examining Paratextual Theory and its Applications in Digital Culture written by Desrochers, Nadine and published by IGI Global. This book was released on 2014-04-30 with total page 430 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The paratext framework is now used in a variety of fields to assess, measure, analyze, and comprehend the elements that provide thresholds, allowing scholars to better understand digital objects. Researchers from many disciplines revisit paratextual theories in order to grasp what surrounds text in the digital age. Examining Paratextual Theory and its Applications in Digital Culture suggests a theoretical and practical tool for building bridges between disciplines interested in conducting joint research and exploration of digital culture. Helping scholars from different fields find an interdisciplinary framework and common language to study digital objects, this book serves as a useful reference for academics, librarians, professionals, researchers, and students, offering a collaborative outlook and perspective.
Download or read book Cinematic Articulation in Motion Graphics written by Michael Betancourt and published by CRC Press. This book was released on 2021-09-16 with total page 219 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book develops a critical and theoretical approach to the semiotics of motion pictures as they are applied to a broader range of constructions than traditional commercial narrative productions. This interdisciplinary approach begins with the problems posed by motion perception to develop a model of cinematic interpretation that includes both narrative and non-narrative types of productions. Contrasting traditional theatrical projection and varieties of new media, this book integrates analyses of title sequences, music videos, and visual effects with discussions on classic and avant-garde films. It further explores the intersection between formative audio-visual cues identified by viewers and how viewers’ desires direct engagement with the motion picture to present a framework for understanding cinematic articulation. This new theoretical model incorporates much of what was neglected and gives greater prominence to formerly critical marginal productions by showing the fundamental connections that link all moving imagery and animated text, whether it tells a story or not. This insightful work will appeal to students and academics in film and media studies.
