Screen Media offers screen enthusiasts the analytical and theoretical vocabulary required to articulate responses to film and television. The authors emphasise the importance of 'thinking on both sides of the screen'. They show how to develop the skills to understand and analyse how and why a screen text was shot, scored, and edited in a particular way, and then to consider what impact those production choices might have on the audience. They set production techniques and approaches to screen analysis in historical context. The authors demystify technological developments and explain the implications of increasing convergence of film and television technologies. They also discuss aesthetics, narrative, realism, genre, celebrity, cult media and global screen culture. Throughout they highlight the links between screen theory and creative practice.

Table of Contents

AcknowledgmentsIntroduction: Thinking on both sides of the screen1 By design: Art direction and mise en sc ne construction2 Cinematography: Writing in light and movement3 The invisible magic of sound4 At the edge of the cut: Editing from continuity to montage5 Plotting and planning: Storytelling and reviewing techniques6 Screen narratives7 Reality and realism: Seeing is believing8 Genre: Something new based on something familiar'9 Star struck: Fandom and the discourse of celebrity10 Skating the edge: Cult media and the (inter)active audience11 The crowded screen: Transcultural influences and new directions in visual cultureGlossaryBibliographyFilm creditsGame creditsTelevision credits