Quicklook Books
2 total works
This is an astonishingly comprehensive short guide to the fascinating world of film. The film, or movie, industry has shaped our lives for over 100 years. This new art form sprang from the inventiveness and creativity of remarkable people, working on several continents and using a bewildering range of equipment and techniques. Few businesses can claim so many colourful characters: artistic, unscrupulous, businesslike, creative, brilliant or dependent on a lucky break- sometimes several of these at once. This book takes us on a wonderful journey from the exotic, pioneering days, through to the emergence of the star system, the growth of the big studios, the coming of sound and the golden era of the great cinema palaces. Films continued to be produced through terrible world wars. The business has faced repeated challenges as times have changed. Fortunes have been made and lost. The pace is brisk as we cover all of the main developments- the films, the stars, the directors and the business, through its many ups and downs. Movies come to terms with the television age, develop and experiment and constantly reinvent themselves.
They seem sure to be entertaining us and firing our imagination well into the future.
They seem sure to be entertaining us and firing our imagination well into the future.
Television was one of the most influential creations of the 20th Century and is still developing rapidly. It has helped to shape and spread cultures. News broadcasts bring graphic images into homes. Entertainment stars depend on the exposure that TV provides. It is one of the world's biggest advertising platforms. Grainy images have given way to High Definition, small black and white screens to huge colour ones and infrequent single channel offerings to the ability to watch hundreds of broadcasts from around the world. Quicklook at Television provides an astonishingly wide insight into TV and the people and industry that creates and supports it. We move from early pioneers to the explosion of activity after World War 2. A whole new art form was created and then transformed, in step with and sometimes leading changes in society as a whole. We look at the programmes and the stars that came- and often went, with bewildering speed. Fortunes were made as huge new businesses emerged. TV is a world wide phenomenon. It can be a cultural battlefield. Countries like the USA have been accused of too much dominance. TV's influence is undeniable and can be hard to control.
We follow the ebb and flow of the many trends that have fired the imagination of millions and sometimes alarmed governments. In the 21st Century TV is having to adapt yet again, in the face of the challenges and opportunities offered by the growth of the internet.
We follow the ebb and flow of the many trends that have fired the imagination of millions and sometimes alarmed governments. In the 21st Century TV is having to adapt yet again, in the face of the challenges and opportunities offered by the growth of the internet.