Filter By Subjects
Drama 16th century Drama 17th century Mass media Study and teaching Motion pictures Appreciation Motion pictures Production and direction Vocational guidance United States Popular culture History and criticism Sound Recording and reproducing Theater History 16th century Theater History 17th century Theater Production and directionFilter By Subjects
Drama 16th century Drama 17th century Mass media Study and teaching Motion pictures Appreciation Motion pictures Production and direction Vocational guidance United States Popular culture History and criticism Sound Recording and reproducing Theater History 16th century Theater History 17th century Theater Production and directionSummary: Garnering a reputation as an actor's director, Barry Levinson has built a career around character-driven films-which, despite their complex themes and quirky premises, often attract Hollywood's biggest stars. This program profiles the creative force behind Diner, The Natural, Good Morning Vietnam, and other projects, exploring his views on directing actors, creating the specific look of a film,...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2010
View online at AVOD
Summary: In spite of competition by other media, movies have remained a perennial favorite of American viewing audiences. But what is it like to make them? This program analyzes the film industry from a variety of technical, financial, legal, and business perspectives. Topics explored include marketing and merchandising, financial influences on content, special effects and Hollywood action movies, the...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2005
View online at AVOD
Summary: For his first feature, Australian-born Roger Donaldson tried to cast Jack Nicholson. The star was unavailable, but the fledgling director's attempt signified his commitment to the project and his passion for making movies. In this program, Donaldson revisits many of his behind-the-scenes experiences, focusing on The Bounty, Thirteen Days, The Recruit, and other blockbusters. He explains what...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2010
View online at AVOD
Summary: This program studies the art that underlies the craft of filmmaking-a painstaking process that culminates in the take, that shared moment of concentration when everything comes together. Twelfth Night director Tim Supple and his first assistant director, production designer, director of photography, costume designer, stunt coordinator, and others offer their insights into set design, the...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
View online at AVOD
Summary: Computers are changing everything, including filmmaking. This program illustrates the digital postproduction process through numerous editing examples taken from Twelfth Night. Key crew members-a film editor, sound designer, sound recording engineer, digital effects artist, and others-share their expertise with setting the film's pace and rhythm, constructing sequences with different types of...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
View online at AVOD
Summary: What is it like to work in one of the world's most exciting communications industries? Going behind the scenes on the set of the TV show Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman, this program provides an inside look at careers in television and film. Interviews with industry professionals provide a clear picture of the training, duties, and job opportunities offered by the positions of producer, assistant...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2005
View online at AVOD
Summary: Beginning with the release of The Jazz Singer in 1927, this program provides a detailed look inside that most distinctly American of film traditions, the musical comedy. Interviews with dancer Cyd Charisse, famous for her starring roles in MGM musicals, and Hermes Pan, renowned choreographer and collaborator with Fred Astaire, help to illuminate the advent and evolution of the genre. Excerpts...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2009
View online at AVOD
Summary: Fascinated with comic books as a boy, Chris Columbus set his sights on working for Marvel or DC-until he realized that making movies provided the same thrill, only more so. This program allows viewers to sit down with the director and hear his recollections of breaking into Hollywood, making hit films, and working with high-caliber talent. Columbus talks about his early screenwriting efforts...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2010
View online at AVOD
Summary: With the abyss of the Cultural Revolution far behind it, cinema in the People's Republic of China is as vital and complex as any in the world. This program examines the so-called Fifth and Sixth generations of Chinese filmmakers, exploring their thematic and stylistic differences and their varying approaches to domestic and international markets. It also looks at underground auteurs who use...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2009
View online at AVOD
Summary: Forbidden to depict sex, obscenity, or violence, Iranian filmmakers carefully choose their subjects and practice skillfully indirect, allegorical storytelling. Movies featuring children-filled with intimacy and social commentary that would be harder to realize using adults-have become common. This program examines the evolution and enduring individuality of Iran's film industry while...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2009
View online at AVOD
Summary: From the slice-of-life Stony Island to big-budget films like A Perfect Murder and The Fugitive, Andrew Davis's background in journalism has served him well. In this program, Davis describes his approach to researching material, finding the story he wants to tell, and staying true to that story at every stage of the filmmaking process. He provides insight into the dynamics of Hollywood...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2010
View online at AVOD
Summary: While northern India's 100-year-old film industry is best known for flamboyant dance sequences and romantic plot lines, its directors have begun to step outside established formulas and explore grittier subject matter. This program surveys the world of Bollywood filmmaking, examining the personalities as well as the commercial and thematic concerns that drive central Asia's answer to...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2009
View online at AVOD
Summary: While often dealing with pointedly Korean issues, South Korean movies and television shows have pushed beyond their domestic market and are now highly respected by audiences across Asia and the world. This program studies ways in which South Korean films have changed over the decades, profiling a new generation of Korean filmmakers and their industry's tightrope walk between a blockbuster...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2009
View online at AVOD
Summary: The Godfather trilogy, The Conversation, Apocalypse Now-the landscape of American cinema owes much of its shape to these films, which helped to reinvent the gangster, suspense, and war genres. This program features their maker, Francis Ford Coppola, in a candid and inspiring interview. Sharing pre-production and on-set experiences from his past-including Marlon Brando's playful transformation...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2010
View online at AVOD
Summary: How does it feel to have directed a widely acknowledged masterpiece in not one but two different film genres? Only a handful of movie impresarios know, and chief among them is William Friedkin-the man who thrilled and terrified audiences with The French Connection and The Exorcist. In this program, Friedkin discusses the making of those classics and other hallmarks of his distinguished career....
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2010
View online at AVOD
Summary: A far cry from his origins in advertising, the feature films of Adrian Lyne are designed to impact viewers on a primal level. This program spotlights the director in an earnest discussion of his work, revealing what it was like to make Fatal Attraction, 9 1/2 weeks, Unfaithful, and other visually innovative, sexually charged movies. Lyne emphasizes his need for a solid story premise,...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2010
View online at AVOD
Summary: Uninterested in movies as a child, Barry Sonnenfeld aspired to a photography career. Fortunately for fans of Get Shorty, the Men in Black series, and early Coen Brothers films, Sonnenfeld's penchant for visual storytelling led him to NYU film school-and eventual renown as both a cinematographer and director. This program presents a conversation with the filmmaker highlighting his background,...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2010
View online at AVOD
Summary: In this program, Channel 4 commissioning editor John Richmond, producer Rachel Gesua, director Tim Supple, screenwriter Andrew Bannerman, and members of the cast and crew talk about the business of making a modest TV adaptation of Twelfth Night. Step by step, they walk viewers through scripting; budgeting for talent, crew, cameras, sound, sets, blue screen, lighting, and costuming; casting...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
View online at AVOD
Summary: From a scriptwriter's first flash of inspiration to a star-studded premiere, this program steps through the process of making feature films. Award-winning producers Philippa Braithwaite and Stephen Woolley, up-and-coming director Justin Kerrigan, actor/screenwriter Craig Ferguson, casting directors, foley artists, a film editor, and other industry professionals provide insights into the...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
View online at AVOD
Summary: I love making people laugh, says filmmaker Ivan Reitman, summing up the driving force behind his body of work. As the producer of National Lampoon's Animal House and director of numerous comedies in the 1980s and '90s, Reitman has amassed a wealth of filmmaking knowledge and shares elements of it in this program. He explains how many of his projects were developed, describing early concepts and...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2010
View online at AVOD
Summary: A respected cinematographer in the Netherlands, Jan de Bont shot several memorable Hollywood films before securing his first directing job, Speed. In this program, de Bont reveals his thoughts on making action movies, coping with budget limitations, working one's way up through the ranks, and more. Underscoring the challenges he faced while "starting all over again" in a foreign country, de...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2010
View online at AVOD
Summary: When Tim Supple directed the filming of Twelfth Night, he was a stickler for sticking to the words as the Bard penned them. Everything else, though, was up for grabs as he and screenwriter Andrew Bannerman shifted and intercut scenes and in general translated the play into the all-encompassing language of film. In this program, members of the cast and crew use snippets of the screenplay to...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
View online at AVOD
Summary: The people who made America laugh were in and out of my house, says actor-director Rob Reiner of his childhood milieu, linking it with his ongoing compulsion to entertain. This program features revealing commentary from the creator of Spinal Tap, The Princess Bride, When Harry Met Sally, and other cinematic gems. Explaining why his second directing job proved more intimidating than his first,...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2010
View online at AVOD
Summary: Rejecting Hollywood's traditions, young American filmmakers in the 1960s forged a new cinema that held sway for two decades. This program revisits that period through detailed interviews with directors Martin Scorsese (Taxi Driver, Raging Bull) and Lee Schatzberg (The Panic in Needle Park) and production designer Dean Tavoularis (The Godfather trilogy, Apocolypse Now) Scorcese talks at length...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2009