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Film Research: The Basics

Film Research: The Basics. Gary Handman ghandman@library.berkeley.edu 3-8666. Film Research: The Basics. Gary Handman ghandman@library.berkeley.edu 3-8666. The point of all this. Describes organization of library information Point out some unique aspects of film as a research topic

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Film Research: The Basics

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  1. Film Research: The Basics Gary Handman ghandman@library.berkeley.edu 3-8666

  2. Film Research: The Basics Gary Handman ghandman@library.berkeley.edu 3-8666

  3. The point of all this... • Describes organization of library information • Point out some unique aspects of film as a research topic • Discuss how to select article databases (and determine what’s in them) • Discuss how to develop search strategies

  4. Writing About Film… Scholarly/ In-depth Current Pop and fan Historical Industry

  5. Sources for Film & Scholarship and Research • Pop periodicals & Newspapers: Reviews • Scholarly and professional journals • Reviews • Critical analysis/scholarly writing • Books • From schlocky to scholarly • Biography, genre writing, individual films, individual directors • Web Sites (more about this later…) • Other online databases

  6. Reviews? Critical Writing? What’s the diff? • Reviews: • Assessment of aesthetic and content merits of a film • Found in popular periodicals, film periodicals, and (less often) in more scholarly journals • In pop periodicals: Current and Historical (older) • Usually cover current releases, more pop theatrical releases • Tend to be relatively short and relatively superficial (with some exceptions and depending on the publication and who’s doing the writing) • Interesting sources of info about audience reception and “current think”

  7. Reviews? Critical Writing? What’s the Diff? • Critical analysis: • Discuss films in: • broader historical, cultural, political, artistic context and/or • Focus on a specific aspect of a film, film genre, or filmmaker • Found in books and scholarly or film-related journals • Tend to be longer, more substantive than reviews (with some exceptions and depending on the publication and who’s doing the writing) • Often include notes, bibliographies, other scholarly apparatus

  8. …But how do you locate this stuff? Robert DeNiro Taxi Driver

  9. The Information Universe Library Catalog(s) Journal/Newspaper Indexes (article databases)

  10. OskiCat: UCB Library holdings only • MELVYL (CDL cat): All 9 UC Campuses Library Catalog(s) • An inventory of what the library owns • Search by Author, Title, Subject • Whole books and print and electronic journals, NOT what’s inside of those publications

  11. Call # Get da Book in da Stax Look it Up in OskiCat or MELVYL by Author, Title, or Subject: Doherty, Thomas Patrick. Teenagers and teenpics: the juvenilization of American movies in the 1950s Philadelphia : Temple University Press, 2002. UCB Main PN1993.5.U6 D53 2002

  12. Articles/Reviews (how do you find this stuff?) Article databases (aka Indexes) • Library subscribes to hundreds of them in all disciplines • Can’t find what’s in them by using Google • Often look/feel/behave differently from each other (proprietary products from diff commercial vendors) • Need to come in from berkeley.edu account or use Proxy Server (more later)

  13. Try it out!

  14. Two possibilities: • Links you to full-text in ANOTHER article database • Or • Flips you over to MELVYL so you can locate a physical copy of the journal at UCB or elsewhere.

  15. Choosing an Articles database (index) • Look at the listings of article databases available via the library www.lib.berkeley.edu: includes listings by SUBJECT, NAME, etc. • General Databases are often good places to start (particularly for newsy/topical issues) • Listings of subject-specific electronic resources

  16. Gary’s Desert Island Index/Article Database List No Now Playing

  17. GH Desert Island Index/Article Database List • EBSCO dbs: Academic Search Complete and others • MLA Bibliography • FIAF Index • International Index to the Performing Arts (IIPA) No Now Playing

  18. The Information Universe (Now) Online is Cool • But Remember: Not everything is online!!!!!: • Article Databases: Generally only go back 10-20 yrs online (some exceptions – e.g. Historical Newspapers) • Not every publication is indexed • Fairly small (but rapidly growing) subset of the books and journal universe is currently available in full-text

  19. The Information Universe • Remember Also: • Not every topic has lots written about it, either in books or journal lit. • --Research on very current topics • --Research on radically specific topics • --Research on topics off the beaten academic track or off the pop culture radar

  20. How to Begin? Before you click: THINK • Formulate a concise, concrete statement of the research problem • Formulate your search in terms of • keywords and key phrases: The impact of televisionadvertising and television violence on school performanceandpre-adolesecentsocial interaction.

  21. Commercials Ads …etc. Children Youth Adolescents …etc. Academic achievement Grades …etc. Socialization, relationships, peer interaction…etc. Media TV…etc How to Begin? Before you click: THINK • Think of synonyms for key words/phrases The impact of televisionadvertising and television violence on school performanceandpre-adolesecentsocial interaction.

  22. The Information Universe • What to do if nothing is turning up: • Tweak your topic: Broaden it / select a different angle • Rethink your search strategy (new keywords, new concepts, etc.) • Bail out completely and choose another topic

  23. A few cautionary words about research on the Net The Net Google Rocks! Google Scholar google.scholar.com LibraryLand

  24. http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/MRC/ • FilmBibMenu.html • a growing listing of bibliographies on various film topics and individual films compiled by MRC (includes bibs for genres, filmmakers, national cinemas, and individual film).

  25. Connecting from off-campus PROXY Server!

  26. Inland Empire Dir, David Lynch, 2006 …being driven over the edge by your research? Call me: Gary Handman 643-8566 ghandman@library.berkeley.edu

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