Becoming Film Literate by Vincent LoBrutto

Though movies have remained our foremost cultural pastime for over 100 years, many of us still know very little about the tools used to create them. In this groundbreaking new book, Vincent LoBrutto provides an enjoyable and accessible education in the art of cinema: using 50 landmark films spanning the history of the medium, LoBrutto illustrates such important concepts as editing, production design, cinematography, sound, screen acting, narrative structure, and various genres, nationalities, and film eras. Each concept is illustrated by the selection of a film that epitomizes its use, so that readers will learn about film authorship in Citizen Kane, multiplot narrative in Nashville, widescreen filmmaking in Rebel without a Cause, and screen violence in The Wild Bunch. Explaining the various tricks of the moviemaking trade, Becoming Film Literate offers a crash course in cinema, one designed to give even the novice reader a solid introduction to this complex and multifaceted medium. Though movies have remained our foremost cultural pastime for over 100 years, many of us still know very little about the tools used to create them. In this groundbreaking new book, Vincent LoBrutto provides an enjoyable and accessible education in the art of cinema: using 50 landmark films spanning the history of the medium, LoBrutto illustrates such important concepts as editing, production design, cinematography, sound, screen acting, narrative structure, and various genres, nationalities, and film eras. Each concept is illustrated by the selection of a film that epitomizes its use, so that readers will learn about film authorship in Citizen Kane, multiplot narrative in Nashville, widescreen filmmaking in Rebel without a Cause, and screen violence in The Wild Bunch. Providing a unique opportunity to become acquainted with important movies and the elements of their greatness, Becoming Film Literate offers a crash course in cinema, one designed to give even the novice reader a solid introduction to this complex and multifaceted medium.

"Vincent LoBrutto, already distinguished as an oral historian and biographer, has now written a book that for students and professors alike should become a definitive guide to film appreciation. Becoming Film Literate, shrewdly structured as a series of thoughtful essays on favorite works, is at once a primer and a master class for anyone aspiring to become a film know-it-all." -- Patrick McGilligan, author of Alfred Hitchcock: A Life in Darkness and Light "By embracing a range of filmmakers from Dreyer to Brakhage, LoBrutto's survey contributes to the argument that creating canons is one of the most vital tasks in today's world cinephilia." -- Robert Koehler, film critic (Variety, CinemaScope magazine)

About the Author
Vincent LoBrutto is an instructor of editing, production design, and cinema studies at the School of Visual Arts in New York City. He is the author of Stanley Kubrick: A Biography, as well as such books as Selected Takes: Film Editors on Editing (Praeger, 1991), By Design: Interviews with Film Production Designers (Praeger, 1992), and The Encyclopedia of American Independent Filmmaking (Greenwood, 2002). A member of American Cinema Editors, LoBrutto is the assistant editor of CinemaEditor and a contributing author to American Cinematographer and Films in Review.

Reviews
To introduce students to the basic tools of cinema, LoBrutto (editing, production design and cinema studies, School of Visual Arts) uses 50 landmark films as illustrations of concepts such as production design, cinematography, sound, narrative structure and genres. Readers learn about film authorship, for example, in a discussion of Citizen Kane and multiplot narrative in a chapter on Nashville. LoBrutto includes a glossary and suggestions for further viewing or reading. * Reference & Research Book News/Art Book News Annual *
This book has merit as an introduction to the science and language of cinema. * PublishersWeekly.com *



Book Information
ISBN 9780275981440
Author Vincent LoBrutto
Format Hardback
Page Count 404
Imprint Praeger Publishers Inc
Publisher Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
Weight(grams) 765g