Anyone who believes that film is a true art, whether student or serious viewer, will gain new insights into “the seventh art.”David Bordwell and Kristin Thompson are pioneers in the teaching of film. Their writing is clear and precise. The first edition of Film Art was published in 1979, and now film students and cinephiles have the Eighth Edition of this classic text. They clarify such misunderstood terms as mise-en-scene and explain how to distinguish between “story” and “plot.”
The order of the text has been honed over the years for optimal use. The authors start with the basics of production, distribution and exhibition of different types of film. They then move to an extensive examination of film form, drawing on The Wizard of Oz and Citizen Kane for illustrations, and the finer points of filmmaking. The core of the book is an examination of that all-encompassing thing, mise-en-scene, cinematography, editing, and sound, always with good examples. While the fictional feature film is emphasized, documentaries, experimental, and animated films are not slighted.
The text is capped with analyses of 10 films of various genres and nationalities and an appendix for students on how to write a critical analysis of a film.
A short, final section of the book, which covers “Film art and Film History,” a good preview for the equally fine companion volume, Film History: An Introduction.
The icing on the cake is the extremely useful extras – a DVD with examples and commentary, suggestions for further study (“Where to Go From Here”) at the end of each chapter, sidebars within each chapter (“A Closer Look”), recommended DVD supplements and a glossary.
The candles on the cake are a Web site for the text and the blog that Bordwell and Thompson maintain, Observations on film art and Film Art, which is always being updated with useful links and articles.
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