Film: A Very Short Introduction by Michael Wood (PDF)

Description

Film is arguably the dominant art form of the twentieth century. In this Very Short Introduction, Michael Wood offers a wealth of insight into the nature of film, considering its role and impact on society as well as its future in the digital age. As Wood notes, film is many things, but it has become above all a means of telling stories through images and sounds. The stories are often quite false, frankly and beautifully fantastic, and they are sometimes insistently said to be true. Indeed, many condemn movies as an instrument of illusion, an emphatic way of seeing what is not there. And others celebrate the reverse: that film brings us closest to the world as it actually is. “Photography is truth,” a character says in a film by Jean-Luc Godard. “And cinema is the truth twenty-four times per second.” But they are stories in either case, and there are very few films, Wood observes, even in avant-garde art, that don’t imply or quietly slip into narrative.

User’s Reviews

Editorial Reviews: About the Author Michael Wood is Charles Barnwell Start Professor of English and Professor of Comparative Literature, Princeton University.

Reviews from Amazon users which were colected at the time this book was published on the website:

⭐The content in this very short introduction is top-notched. However, it may be difficult for the readers to go through the book because the structure of the book is not clearly outlined. For example, the Table of Content only lists three chapters: 1. Moving picture, 2. Trusting the image, and 3. The color of money. And that’s all. When you turn to each chapter, there are subtitles that are self-explanatory, such as Film and photography, Moviegoers, Director’s cut.I also find that the appendix section, which contains the References, Further reading, and Around the world in 80 movies, helpful. In particular, the Index will help you locate what subjects you are interested in. For example, on Japanese director Ozu’s movies (p.70-1) the author’s observations are very sharp. I quote the beginning of this section as follows and you can read the rest. But because this is a very short introduction, there are subjects that are not touched upon, for example, film noir, or pre-code movies are not discussed at all in the book.”Many film-makers create worlds we think we could inhabit, and some of them specialize in this effect, set up whole colonies of the imagination for us. But we can’t inhabit the films of Ozu, because he so scrupulously and adamantly situates us as spectators, watchers on the edge of a world we can’t enter and can’t replicate.”

⭐I have read a number of these “A Very Short Introduction” books,and this is the worst of them.Too technical and heavy duty. Written by an academic, who can’t write for a broad range of readers.A book by a mainstream knowledgeable film reviewer maybe more useful.

⭐Unless you want to ponder the question, “what is film” and are the answer “it is death”satisfies you, give this book a miss. It’s a lot of metaphysical drivel that adds nothing to your understanding of film and relies heavily on name dropping. I’m planning to read a book on how film critics look at films next, hopefully that will be less pretentious.

⭐A truly accessible book about film. His message is basically have your ears and eyes open and have your wits about you at the cinema and take what you want from movies, it’s not that difficult.

⭐This is a book in bad need of editing and added order. It reads like a continuous rambling in semi-directionless fascion -the author’s stream of thought. Some (not that many) interesting thoughts in here, but not enough to warrant wobbling through this mess.

⭐This is a good book, though it seldom mentions Italy. On page 48, it claims that US films dominate admissions. In 2006. India came first with 1091, Nigeria second with 872 films, and the US third with 485: yet, Italy, with 650 films came before the US!

⭐Good

⭐Good

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