Humphrey Jennings and British Documentary Film: A Re-assessment

Humphrey Jennings and British Documentary Film: A Re-assessment PDF Author: Philip C. Logan
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 131711938X
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 400

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Book Description
Humphrey Jennings ranks amongst the greatest film makers of twentieth century Britain. Although a relatively unknown figure to the wider public, his war-time documentaries are regarded by many (including Lord Puttnam, Lindsay Anderson and Mike Leigh) as amongst the finest films of their time. Groundbreaking both in terms of their technique and their interest in, and respect for, the everyday experiences of ordinary people, these films are much more than mere government propaganda. Instead, Jennings work offers an unparalleled window into the British home-front, and the hopes, fears and expectations of a nation fighting for its survival. Yet until now, Jennings has remained a shadowy figure; with his life and work lacking the sustained scholarly investigation and reassessment they deserve. As such film and social historians will welcome this new book which provides an up-to-date and thorough exploration of the relationships between Jennings life, ideas and films. Arguing that Jennings's film output can be viewed as part of a coherent intellectual exercise rather than just one aspect of the artistic interests of a wide ranging intellectual, Philip Logan, paints a much fuller and more convincing picture of the man than has previously been possible. He shows for the first time exactly how Jennings's artistic expression was influenced by the fundamental intellectual, social and cultural changes that shook British society during the first decades of the twentieth century. Combining biography, social history and international artistic thought, the book offers a fascinating insight into Jennings, his work, the wider British documentary film movement and the interaction between art and propaganda. Bringing together assessments of his tragically short life and his films this book is essential reading for anyone with an interest in British cinema or the social history of Britain in the 1930s and 40s.

Humphrey Jennings and British Documentary Film: A Re-assessment

Humphrey Jennings and British Documentary Film: A Re-assessment PDF Author: Philip C. Logan
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 131711938X
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 400

Get Book Here

Book Description
Humphrey Jennings ranks amongst the greatest film makers of twentieth century Britain. Although a relatively unknown figure to the wider public, his war-time documentaries are regarded by many (including Lord Puttnam, Lindsay Anderson and Mike Leigh) as amongst the finest films of their time. Groundbreaking both in terms of their technique and their interest in, and respect for, the everyday experiences of ordinary people, these films are much more than mere government propaganda. Instead, Jennings work offers an unparalleled window into the British home-front, and the hopes, fears and expectations of a nation fighting for its survival. Yet until now, Jennings has remained a shadowy figure; with his life and work lacking the sustained scholarly investigation and reassessment they deserve. As such film and social historians will welcome this new book which provides an up-to-date and thorough exploration of the relationships between Jennings life, ideas and films. Arguing that Jennings's film output can be viewed as part of a coherent intellectual exercise rather than just one aspect of the artistic interests of a wide ranging intellectual, Philip Logan, paints a much fuller and more convincing picture of the man than has previously been possible. He shows for the first time exactly how Jennings's artistic expression was influenced by the fundamental intellectual, social and cultural changes that shook British society during the first decades of the twentieth century. Combining biography, social history and international artistic thought, the book offers a fascinating insight into Jennings, his work, the wider British documentary film movement and the interaction between art and propaganda. Bringing together assessments of his tragically short life and his films this book is essential reading for anyone with an interest in British cinema or the social history of Britain in the 1930s and 40s.

A New History of British Documentary

A New History of British Documentary PDF Author: J. Chapman
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 0230392873
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 531

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Book Description
A New History of British Documentary is the first comprehensive overview of documentary production in Britain from early film to the present day. It covers both the film and television industries and demonstrates how documentary practice has adapted to changing institutional and ideological contexts.

Meet Me at the Fair: A World's Fair Reader

Meet Me at the Fair: A World's Fair Reader PDF Author: Celia Pearce
Publisher: Lulu.com
ISBN: 1312115874
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 560

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Book Description
Together with the Olympics, world's fairs are one of the few regular international events of sufficient scale to showcase a spectrum of sights, wonders, learning opportunities, technological advances, and new (or renewed) urban districts, and to present them all to a mass audience. Meet Me at the Fair: A World's Fair Reader breaks new ground in scholarship on world's fairs by incorporating a number of short new texts that investigate world's fairs in their multiple aspects: political, urban/architectural, anthropological/ sociological, technological, commercial, popular, and representational. Contributors come from eight different countries and represent affiliations in academia, museums and libraries, professional and architectural firms, non-profit organizations, and government regulatory agencies. In taking the measure of both the material artifacts and the larger cultural production of world's fairs, the volume presents its own phantasmagoria of disciplinary perspectives, historical periods, geographical locales, media, and messages, mirroring the microcosmic form of the world's fair itself.

A Philosophical History of Documentary, 1895–1959

A Philosophical History of Documentary, 1895–1959 PDF Author: Dan Geva
Publisher: Springer Nature
ISBN: 3030794660
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 393

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Book Description
This book presents a chronology of thirty definitions attributed to the word, term, phrase, and concept of “documentary” between the years 1895 and 1959. The book dedicates one chapter to each of the thirty definitions, scrutinizing their idiosyncratic language games from close range while focusing on their historical roots and concealed philosophical sources of inspiration. Dan Geva's principal argument is twofold: first, that each definition is an original ethical premise of documentary; and second, that only the structured assemblage of the entire set of definitions successfully depicts the true ethical nature of documentary insofar as we agree to consider its philosophical history as a reflective object of thought in a perpetual state of being-self-defined: an ethics sui generis.

A New History of Documentary Film

A New History of Documentary Film PDF Author: Betsy A. McLane
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
ISBN: 1501385143
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 470

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Book Description
A New History of Documentary Film includes new research that offers a fresh way to understand how the field began and grew. Retaining the original edition's core structure, there is added emphasis of the interplay among various approaches to documentaries and the people who made them. This edition also clearly explains the ways that interactions among the shifting forces of economics, technology, and artistry shape the form. New to this edition: - An additional chapter that brings the story of English language documentary to the present day - Increased coverage of women and people of color in documentary production - Streaming - Animated documentaries - List of documentary filmmakers, organized chronologically by the years of their activity in the field

Hybrid Documentary and Beyond

Hybrid Documentary and Beyond PDF Author: Rachel Landers
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
ISBN: 1003801633
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 227

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Book Description
Hybrid Documentary and Beyond explores the theories, production techniques, ethics, and impact of hybrid documentaries. Often described as simply a blend of fact and fiction, the author challenges this definition of hybrid documentary through an interrogative examination of not only why and how they are made, but also of their real-world impact upon subjects, filmmakers and audiences. Combining theoretical analysis withe real-world case studies and interviews with luminaries in the field she effectively demonstrates that hybrid documentaries can be creatively liberating for all involved and why their appeal and impact are growing globally. Offering a fresh and bold perspective on hybrid documentary filmmaking that goes far beyond the existing canon on the subject, this book will be an essential resource for practitioners, scholars and students working in the areas of media arts and production, film studies and documentary.

Mass-Observation and Visual Culture

Mass-Observation and Visual Culture PDF Author: LucyD. Curzon
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1351559001
Category : Art
Languages : en
Pages : 195

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Book Description
Mass-Observation and Visual Culture: Depicting Everyday Lives in Britain critically analyses the role that visual culture played in the early development of Mass-Observation, the innovative British anthropological research group founded in 1937. The group?s production and use of painting, collage, photography, and other media illustrates not only the broad scope of Mass-Observation?s efforts to document everyday life, but also, more specifically, the centrality of visual elements to its efforts at understanding national identity in the 1930s. Although much interest has previously focused on Mass-Observation?s use of written reports and opinion surveys, as well as diaries that were kept by hundreds of volunteer observers, this book is the first full-length study of the group?s engagement with visual culture. Exploring the paintings of Graham Bell and William Coldstream; the photographs of Humphrey Spender; the paintings, collages, and photographs of Julian Trevelyan; and Humphrey Spender?s photographs and widely recognized ?Mass-Observation film?, Spare Time, among other sources, Mass-Observation and Visual Culture: Depicting Everyday Lives in Britain positions these works as key sources of information with regard to illuminating the complex character of British identity during the Depression era.

Historical Dictionary of British Cinema

Historical Dictionary of British Cinema PDF Author: Alan Burton
Publisher: Scarecrow Press
ISBN: 0810880261
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 586

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Book Description
British cinema has been around from the very birth of motion pictures, from black-and-white to color, from talkies to sound, and now 3D, it has been making a major contribution to world cinema. Many of its actors and directors have stayed at home but others ventured abroad, like Charlie Chaplin and Alfred Hitchcock. Today it is still going strong, the only real competition to Hollywood, turning out films which appeal not only to Brits, just think of Bridget Jones, while busily adding to franchises like James Bond and Harry Potter. So this Historical Dictionary of British Cinema has a lot of ground to cover. This it does with over 300 dictionary entries informing us about significant actors, producers and directors, outstanding films and serials, organizations and studios, different films genres from comedy to horror, and memorable films, among other things. Two appendixes provide lists of award-winners. Meanwhile, the chronology covers over a century of history. These parts provide the details, countless details, while the introduction offers the big story. And the extensive bibliography points toward other sources of information.

Voices of Guinness

Voices of Guinness PDF Author: Tim Strangleman
Publisher:
ISBN: 0190645091
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 241

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Book Description
Introduction: the imagined garden -- The machine in the garden -- Creating industrial citizens -- The garden in the machine -- Remembering the work of the long boom -- Change at work -- The ghost in the machine -- The ruined garden -- Conclusion: reimagining work

Shakespeare and British World War Two Film

Shakespeare and British World War Two Film PDF Author: Garrett A. Sullivan, Jr
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1108905331
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 217

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Book Description
During World War Two, many British writers and thinkers turned to Shakespeare in order to articulate the values for which their nation was fighting. Yet the cinema presented moviegoers with a more multifaceted Shakespeare, one who signalled division as well as unity. Shakespeare and British World War Two Film models a synchronic approach to adaptation that, by situating the Shakespeare movie within histories of film and society, avoids the familiar impasse in which the playwright's works are the beginning, middle and end of critical study. Through close analysis of works by Laurence Olivier, Leslie Howard, Humphrey Jennings, and the partners Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger, among others, this study demonstrates how Shakespeare served as a powerful imaginative resource for filmmakers seeking to think through some of the most pressing issues and problems that beset wartime British society.