| Gabriela Sonntag
Instruction Librarian
CSUSM Library
gsg@csusm.edu |
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Films
are constantly adapting new technologies and techniques, but
the older methods can still be of value, especially to the
low-budget film maker. Here are some tips on finding a
variety of resources.
Books
Books at Cal State San Marcos
Find
books by searching the Library
Catalog. Can't
think of terms to describe your topic? Catalogs use specific subject headings to group related
books together. A good strategy
is to:
PN1995.5.
Useful Subject Terms
Can't think of terms to accurately describe your topic?
Library catalogs use specific subject headings to group
related books together. 'Film', "motion picture' and 'technique' are such large topics
and can be defined in multiple ways, you will
want to think of ways to narrow it down, by type of
technique or aspect, etc. Ask a librarian to
help, or here are some
examples to consider:
Books at other libraries
* Books will be delivered to Library for pickup.
** Find a book in this databases, and fill-out an
Interlibrary Loan
delivery request. Book will be delivered to Library for
pickup.
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Journal Articles
The Research
Databases at CSUSM will offer articles on film genres in
general as well as specific films. When looking
for articles on a particular film, the easiest way is to type the title of
the movie into the database. Some databases do not offer
full text of the articles. Use the
 button
to check our other resources for full text.
ABI Inform Trade & Industry
Abstracts and full-text articles from more than 1,000
leading business and management publications, with
full-text for most popular sources. This addresses the
'business' side of film making
Academic Search Premier
Covers a wide array of subjects with full text for
nearly 1,850 scholarly journals, including more than
1,250 peer-reviewed titles.
Communication & Mass Media
Complete
Provides abstracts and full text for more than 200
communication journals.
JSTOR
Contains complete full-text back files (EXCEPT for the
latest five years) of core scholarly journals in such
areas as sociology, history, economics, political
science, mathematics, African-American studies, Asian
studies and others
MLA
Includes abstracts of articles from critical literary
and language journals. This is primarily concerned with
the original work of literature, but you will find
plenty of articles on adaptations here.
Project Muse
Full-text coverage for hundreds of scholarly journals in
the humanities, social sciences, and mathematics
RILM Music Abstracts
Abstracts from scholarly journals on international music
and related disciplines.
Possible journals to browse
include:
After you have found the articles you can search for these online
Communications journals. A good shortcut is to use the Catalog to search by Genre.
Use the term <Electronic
Journals Communication >, for a listing of all journals
available online.
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Web sites with article databases and further
links
- Director's Guild of America:
http://www.dga.org
indieWIRE:
http://www.indiewire.com/
Entertainment Law Resources at:
http://www.marklitwak.com/
American Film Institute:
http://www.afi.com
A music distribution site:
http://www.garageband.com/
Clickz has some excellent
articles in the EXPERTS tab./http://www.clickz.com/experts/
The
Electronic
Journal of Communication is a searchable full text of the journal
published by the Communication
Institute for Online Scholarship
The
NHK Broadcasting Culture Research Institute in Japan has an English-language
web site that includes research articles on several issues of broadcasting
(not confined to Japan only), e.g. an "Evaluation of Public Broadcasting
by Country: Results of an International Comparative Survey by Japan,
Britain, and the United States." Its research archive goes back
until fall 1997, the first issue of its publication.
On the web site of
The
World Advertising Research Center, you can select "Research"
and then dig deeper for interesting journal articles. The drawback
of this web site is that you have to register in order to view the
articles. You may register for a 7-day trial period which lets you
view all abstracts as well as download 25 articles for free.
Internet Sources
These may not be as scholarly
as published journal reviews, so be aware of the credentials
of the reviewer. Keep in mind when searching the internet
that not all material will be scholarly and other search
terms will be 'cinema' or 'film' rather than 'movie'.
IFP.org
A resource for independent filmmakers including
information on production and networking.
Filmmaking.com: The
Filmmaking Portal
For the independent as well as Hollywood-based
filmmaker, this site offers information on a wide range of
technical and business aspects.
Filmmaking.net
Along with some useful reference sources, there is a
directory of film schools and classified for equipment.
Nuts and Bolts Filmmaking
For the "guerilla filmmaker",
articles, tips, and downloads.
Screensite
Resources assembled by the University of Alabama for film
students and teachers.
The Art and Science of Film and Motion Picture Production
A list of sites collected by an individual, this offers a
lot of links to various aspects of film technique and
technology.
Thinkquest: Film Techniques
Thinkquest is geared towards a younger researcher, but
provides clear explanations of various types of film effects
and how they are achieved.
Traditional Film Camera Techniques
General explanations of various film effects, including angle
and depth of field.
Other Sources
: Reviews of films
These
may not be as scholarly as published journal reviews, so be
aware of the credentials of the reviewer.
Best 1,000 Movies Ever Made
As determined by the New York Times reviewers with
plot, and reviews. Reviews are accessible after
registering.
Greatest Films
One individual's lists of the greatest films, but
reviews, plot summaries, and histories of the films make
this valuable along with a "Tips on Viewing Films
Critically". Chronology, glossary, Academy Award winners
and more.
Images: A Journal of Popular Film and Culture
Discussion of films, genres and directors along with
reviews of both theatre-release movies and video.
Internet Movie Database
For basic information about a film, this is one of the
more complete sites. The comments from other visitors
are NOT scholarly, so don't rely on that part the site.
Movie Review
Query Engine
This site collects reviews from a variety of resources
for over 45,000 movies.
Rotten
Tomatoes
A bit light-hearted in its treatment and again
offers viewer comments as well as snips from published
reviews.
Roger Ebert
One of the more well-known popular movie reviewers,
this site assembles his reviews from the Chicago
Sun-Times newspaper.
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Citing Your Sources
As you write your paper, you'll need to cite passages and
ideas from the sources you've found. In order to cite
your resources properly, you need to follow the style
guide used by educators.
When you search ERIC use
the Bibliography Generator found on the
Save, Print, Email
page and then email yourself the list of articles
already in APA style!
For more complex questions see the
listing below.
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Publication manual of the American
Psychological Association. 5th ed.
Washington, DC : American Psychological Association,
2001.
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Below are some web sites that provide examples.
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