|
Films
are frequently classified into a type of film, normally
referred to as a 'genre'. Genres can be based on gender,
nationality, time period, or purpose. There can even be
genres based on production (films by women as opposed
to about women.) Here are some tips on finding a
variety of resources.
Sample Genres
There is no official list of genres, but there are commonly
accepted categories used for films. Some films can be placed
into more than one genre and a director may become known for
a particular genre. Some of the more well-known genres are:
-
Horror
-
Documentary
-
Silent
-
Comedy
-
Western
|
- Action
- Martial Arts
- Epic
-
World cinema
- Musical
|
Of course,
these can frequently be subdivided even further--Horror
films can be narrowed to slasher, monster,
psychological/suspense, and many more. A very specialized
horror genre is the Dracula category, where one characters'
portrayal is the focus of the genre.
Books
To find materials,
you can look through these catalogs:
-
CSUSM
Library Catalog is what you can find in the
Kellogg Library
-
Circuit is the joint
catalog for CSUSM, SDSU, UCSD, and USD with delivery in
1-3 days for CSUSM users.
-
Melvyl searches the entire University of
California catalog system and delivers in 5-10 days
through Interlibrary Loan for CSUSM.
-
WorldCat
searches a 'universe' of library catalogs and delivers
in 5-10 days through Interlibrary Loan for CSUSM.
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' and 'adaptation' are such large topics
and can be defined in multiple ways, you will
want to think of ways to narrow it down, by title, director,
genre, etc. Ask a librarian to
help, or here are some
examples to consider:
CSUSM Genre Search in
the Library Catalog
Search the CSUSM catalog using the genre/form search
field (instead of the usual keyword or subject search).
Type in your desired genre to see the current list of
films in our collection that have been identified in
that category.
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.
Project Muse
Full-text coverage for hundreds of scholarly journals in
the humanities, social sciences, and mathematics
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.
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.
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.
May also be
useful
Ethnic NewsWatch
Full-text ethnic newspapers, searchable in English or
Spanish.
Womens Studies International
Includes over 204,000 records drawn from a variety of
essential women's studies databases.
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'.
Cinema Treasures
This site concentrates on the preservation of the movie
theaters, in many cases an important part of the movie-goers
experience.
Earlycinema.com
The focus is on the first 10 years of film making, both
the people involved and the development of the art.
Reel Classics
A mix of scholarly information and personal reviews, the
films are dealt with in depth, including such topics as
designers and musicians for the film.
Silent Era: The Silent
Film Website
This site addresses exactly what it says--silent films
and their stars and the venues in which they were shown.
|
