Film / Video / Television / Broadcasting / Media Studies / Journalism

From the stunning visual effects of the "Spider-Man "films to the loveable characters in "Stuart Little a"nd "Open Seaso"n, Sony Pictures Imageworks has raised the bar in the art and science of digital filmmaking. Marking the 15th anniversary of the only production studio that offers both award winning visual effects work and full-scale digital animation, "IMAGEWORKS: Where Imagination Meets Technology "gives a compelling look behind the scenes of the company responsible for such landmark films as "Beowulf, Polar Express, The Aviat... read more

Michael Haneke is one of the most important directors working in Europe today, with films such as "Funny Games" (1997), "Code Unknown" (2000), and "Hidden" (2005) interrogating modern ethical dilemmas with forensic clarity and merciless insight. Haneke's films frequently implicate both the protagonists and the audience in the making of their misfortunes, yet even in the barren nihilism of "The Seventh Continent" (1989) and "Time of the Wolf" (2003) a dark strain of optimism emerges, releasing each from its terrible and inescapable ... read more

Still from the films. First published 2002.

This book is a celebration of how far the New Zealand film industry has come in the last 30 years of making home-grown movies. This has been a time when film has leapt ahead as an industry and gained recognition from the home audience - and from international audiences too. It is illustrated throughout with posters from around the world for the films we love.

Images of Dignity is the first major study of the films of Barry Barclay, one of the most important film makers in New Zealand cinema history, and a major indigenous film maker world-wide. It analyses all Barclay's film and television work, including the groundbreaking Tangata Whenua television series and the feature films The Neglected Miracle, Ngati, Te Rua, The Feathers of Peace and The Kaipara Affair, establishing him as a figure who has made a radical contribution to New Zealand's understanding of both Maori community and the ... read more

This is a movie-themed travel book featuring the locations of major motion pictures filmed in New Zealand, illustrated by Ian's own photographs along with movie stills and posters. While this is not an exhaustive listing of every location of every movie, Ian has concentrated on the popular and critically successful movies made in this country since the seventies. The book features interviews with directors (Peter Jackson, Andrew Adamson, Roger Donaldson, Jane Campion, Gaylene Preston) and movie stars who came to New Zealand to film... read more

Much of the visual impact of New Zealand films can be attributed directly to the cinematographer, the creative individual primarily responsible for the look of a film. The cinematographer is both an artist and a craftsman, combining a fine aesthetic sensibility and visual eye with a deep technical understanding of the properties of light, lenses, film stocks and processing. Their contribution to the visual representation of the nation is as significant as that of other visual artists such as painters and photographers. Drawing heav... read more

A comprehensive update of this widely-used guide to producing videos for both professionals and amateurs, now written for an international readership. Producing Videos has been called the 'bible' of video making. It offers a comprehensive and user-friendly guide to all aspects of video production-from the first chapter on using a camera (if it doesn't go in easily, don't force it) to the final chapter on distribution (don't forget to check the quality of the dubs). All the elements of video production are covered: * camera... read more

An engaging guide to the skills needed to analyse images of all kinds, and a lucid introduction to the emerging field of visual culture. From the body to the ever-present lens, the world is increasingly preoccupied with the visual. What exactly is 'the visual' and how can we interpret the multitude of images that bombard us every day? Reading the Visual takes as its starting point a tacit familiarity with the visual, and shows how we see even ordinary objects through the frameworks and filters of culture and personal experien... read more

"The Story of Film" is the most accessible and compelling history of the medium yet published. Film critic, producer and presenter, Mark Cousins shows how film-makers are influenced both by the historical events of their times, and by each other. He demonstrates, for example, how Douglas Sirk's Hollywood melodramas of the 1950s influenced Rainer Werner Fassbinder's despairing visions of 1970s Germany; and how George Lucas'"Star Wars" epics grew out of Akira Kurosawa's "The Hidden Fortress.""The Story of Film"is divided into three m... read more

Now 20 years old, Jim Henson's classic fantasy film The Dark Crystal - featuring the breathtaking concept design of renowned artist Brian Froud - is an incredible work of the imagination. This mystical adventure has such a cult following that when the film was recently re-released on video and DVD, it quickly sold a million copies. Just as remarkable is the cult status of The World of the Dark Crystal, Froud's book on the film. Originally published in 1982, this definitive and beautifully illustrated volume is being reissued in a c... read more

See other edition. Welcome to the movies you must see before you die

Film noir "Sin City" is a fetishistically faithful big-screen rendering by director Robert Rodriguez of award-winning writer/artist Frank Miller's hardboiled graphic novel saga, using digitally created settings to perfectly evoke Miller's art. The movie is set in the grim and gritty world of Basin (aka 'Sin') City, an urban jungle populated by predators and low-lifes, where everyone's on the wrong side of the law, even the cops. This breathtaking exploration of an iconic film includes Rodriguez's screenplay, comics panels and produ... read more

Women writers have redefined the world as we see it. Many historic pieces in this collection feel unsettlingly relevant today; other more recent articles have pushed the limits. With writers ranging from Angela Carter to Zelda Fitzgerald, Djuna Barnes to Naomi Wolf, this is a fascinating book. First published 2005.

Full of fierce intrigue and disastrous miscalculations, "Alpha Dogs" introduces the small and extraordinary group of men who invented modern politics and made 'spin' global. David Sawyer dreamed of a career as a film-maker; Scott Miller, the son of a shoe salesman, was a brilliant copywriter. Unlikely partners, together they became a political powerhouse. Directing democratic revolutions from the Philippines to Chile, steering a dozen presidents and prime ministers into office, and instilling the campaign ethic in corporate giants ... read more

There have never been so many ways of producing news and news-like content. From podcasts, to YouTube, blogs and the phenomenal popularity of social media, seismic shifts are underway in global media. News 2.0 bridges the gap between theory and practice to present an integrated approach to journalism that redefines the profession. Key ideas in journalism theory, political economy and media studies are used to explore the changing cultures of journalism in an historical context. Hirst explains the fragmentation of the mass audience ... read more

Public relations is an incredibly dynamic and rapidly expanding field which offers a huge variety of career opportunities. Whether you're developing the public image of an organization, dealing with the media, or managing issues for small companies, you need string communications skills and a sound understanding of public relations processes. Fully revised and updated for the digital age, this comprehensive volume offers an authoritative introduction to the theory and professional practice of public relations. With contributions fr... read more

A blistering critique of how corporate and governmnet PR invisisbly influences every news story we see and hear in Australia. Contents: Preface1. Invisible PR 2. Food fights 3. Pushing drugs4. Killing them softly 5. Battle tanks 6. When corporations want to cuddle 7. Toxic PR8. Governing with spin 9. It takes two to tango10. Spinbusters ReferencesIndex First published August 2007.

It's Saturday night, there's nothing on television, you decide to rent a DVD from the local video shop. The problem is, you can't find anything good which leaves you faced with choosing the mediocre or the truly awful. The truth is, Hollywood churns out more bad than good, but don't just resign yourself to it, embrace it! Don't get out a bad movie, get out the worst movie. Don't go for poor, when you can go for appalling. Why not make a real night of shite of it? NIGHT O SHITE isn't about the worst movies ever made, it's about the ... read more

An easy to read reference guide to the business and management side of producing animation. Wondering what a render wrangler does, exactly? Intrigued by slugging? If you've ever dreamed of working in the animation industry, this is your ideal guide. Animation is big business. Many of the top grossing movies of the past ten years are fully animated films. But there's more to animation than Shrek there's also TV, video games, advertising, online, and a whole range of interactive products. Whatever the media, producers need to b... read more