FILM STUDIES

Sarah Green, Rachel Howell, Adriana

Marroquin, and Ashley Moser

WHAT IS FILM STUDIES?

“The study of film is a fascinating and diverse

subject that includes analyses of film industries

and technologies, textual analysis of films,

ethnographic analyses of audiences and film

consumption, and cognitive-psychological

research into how we watch and experience

films.”

—Nick Redfern, “Research Blogging in Film Studies.”

PART I: A TALE OF THREE RESOURCES

“From Celluloid to Digital”

as An overview of the electronic research

environment

Film Stills Resources

as Our understanding of information seeking

behavior

Film Studies for Free

as An emerging approach to research

FROM CELLULOID TO DIGITAL

As an entertainment medium, some of the most

useful resources may include non-scholarly

publications and sites, such as the general IMDB

site, or popular and trade magazines.

Alternatively, its entertainment-based value means

there is a lot of information to fish through in order

to find sources with a reputation of reliability.

FROM CELLULOID TO DIGITAL

The electronic scholarly environment offers sources

based on print sources, as well as scholarly commercial

products

(e.g. BFI Filmographies, American Filmscripts On-Line). Membership-based versions of public sites (i.e. IMDB) also

here

Film is inherently interdisciplinary, making non film-

specific resources unexpected but vital to many aspects of

film studies.

FILM STILLS RESOURCES Product of Emilee Mathews, a University of

Bloomington library science student Consulting for resources done by Angela

Courtney, subject librarian for Communication and Culture at Bloomington.

Based on a survey of information needs given to

film studies students.

FILM STILLS RESOURCES

Why we like this resource:

Based on actual film studies student needs.

A good starting point for people wishing to learn how to

effectively navigate resources and acts as an instructional

tool for approaching the scholarship.

Navigation points include Bibliography and Resources,

Copyright Information, Film Still Resources for Librarians

, and Recommended Library Resources.

FILM STILLS RESOURCES

Disadvantages:

Focuses mainly on finding film stills which is a more

narrow field of inquiry for film studies, but still gives

valuable resources and tips for researching the field

in broad terms as well.

Not peer reviewed, but as it is assembled by

information professionals it should be reliable

FILM STUDIES FOR FREEOrganized by Catherine Grant, Ph. D., at the

University of Sussex.

Lists open-access online film studies journals,

ebooks and film studies websites.

Links to Audiovisualcy, also operated by Grant as

well . Basically, essays on film in video format.

FILM STUDIES FOR FREE

Why We like this resource:

All of these resources are open-access, making them easily

accessible.

Easily searchable through search box.

Includes not just journal articles, but conference papers and

essays from non-peer-reviewed journals, bringing in a more

diverse and more quickly updated range of perspectives.

Linked resources cover interdisciplinary topics, which has

become increasingly prevalent in this field.

FILM STUDIES FOR FREE

Drawbacks:

If a user wants to know if an article is peer-

reviewed, she may have to look up the journal title in

UlrichsWeb.

Organized chronologically instead of by topic, which

might not be intuitive to some people.

PART II: A DARK AND STORMY SEMESTER

The course is thematic. The primary concern is not so

much the history of horror films, but rather what

horror is. What is horror? How do we represent

horror? What cultural function does horror serve?

And similar to Aristotle's line of questioning in his

Poetics, why do we 'like' horror? What pleasure do

we derive from horror?

— Cinema 344: Horror Film Syllabus

HORROR FILMS: ARTICLES AND B OOKS IN

THE UC BERKELEY L IBRARY 

Bibliography curated by the Moffitt Library Media

Resources Center at UC Berkley

Lists books, journal articles, video recordings and

documentaries on different horror films. 

Includes citations for journal articles on specific

horror tropes, including zombie movies, werewolf

movies and slasher films.

HORROR FILMS: ARTICLES AND B OOKS IN

THE UC BERKELEY L IBRARY 

International films are also covered, being British, Italian and Asian.  

There are also several sections on specific horror directors including

John Carpenter, Wes Craven, George Romero, Dario “The Italian

Hitchcock” Argento and Mario Bava

One can look up articles or books on specific films including American

Psycho, Day of the Dead, The Exorcist, and The Ring. 

While these links are for UC Berkeley access, the citations are still

helpful to other students studying horror films.

DARK THOUGHTS

Editors:

Stephen Jay Schneider ,

Ph.D. Candidate of philosophy

at Harvard & film student at

Tisch School

Daniel Shaw, professor of

film and philosophy at Lock

Haven University of

Pennsylvania.

DARK THOUGHTS

Why we like this resource:

Draws on different scholars’ contributions and

addresses some of the questions posed by the

syllabus. Essays include: “Horror, tragedy and pleasure: the general theory of

horrific appeal” (Noël Carroll) “The lived nightmare: trauma, anxiety, and the

ethical aesthetics of horror” “Murder as art/the art of murder: aestheticizing

violence in modern cinematic horror”

DARK THOUGHTS

Why we like this resource (cont.):

Gives a good introduction to what horror is and why

it is appealing as a genre ; lays a foundation on

which a student could then examine other cultural

products of horror cinema.

Accessible

DARK THOUGHTS

What we would like to see accomplished further in

this resource:

Focuses mainly on American/British horror cinema

while the second half of the syllabus has an

international scope. For the course this resource

would need to be augmented by another resource

that highlights international horror cinema.

A post by Catherine Grant on her Film Studies for Free.

Curated collection of links to conference proceedings,

roundtable

discussions, and scholarly articles from open-access

journals on the

philosophy of horror.

“Many of the below studies have been inspired by the extensive considerations of film horror by philosopher Noël Carroll or engage with the themes raised by his work.”

HALLOWEEN GUIDE TO THE

PHILOSOPHY OF HORROR

HALLOWEEN GUIDE TO THEPHILOSOPHY OF HORROR

Why we like this resource:

Based around the philosophy of horror, which

matches the aim on the syllabus of exploring what

horror is.

Includes essays on non-U.S. films, fitting with

international bent

of the second half of the course

Fin