My Film Studies courses were some of my favourite classes during my liberal arts degree. Building on a love of movies that’s been with me since I was a kid, I love applying an analytical mindset to the medium. Cinematography techniques, editing terms and styles, the history of silent film, and the invention of the “Talkies.” This juicy knowledge allowed me to better understand the choices writers, directors, and actors make — all of which affect the final product. It turns out we have plenty of books about the history of cinema in our collection. I thought I would share the most intriguing ones for me in the hopes that you are inspired to learn about the avant-gardists and the innovators, the great craftspeople of the movies who have been creating amazing works of art for over a century now. Let us start with some of the best directors that have ever existed. I took out Andy Tuohy’s alphabetically organized, slender reference book A to Z Great Film Directors a year or two ago. I remember savouring the condensed morsels of information on each page. I was familiar with some of the collected auteurs, but more often I had heard their name without knowing much about them at all. As a trivia enthusiast, I was also hoping to find out some tidbits and little-known facts that might come up during Jeopardy. I had to return the book before finishing, stopping somewhere around Hitchcock or Iñárritu. I will get back to this one someday. I’m sure of it. The bright and colourful graphic illustrations of directors make each entry fun and keep you turning the pages.
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