Wyndham Robertson Library

Library : Film Research

 

Film Research

 


HOW TO FIND...

HISTORY & CRITICISM

Search By Subject

Our online catalog and databases use hot-linked subject headings that you can search by, then follow to find more on the same subject. A general subject term is often followed by terms that make your search more specific. Examples:

Useful Web Sites

Academic Film Archive of North America
Online archive and information on educational film

AFI Catalog Database
"Filmographic information for all American feature films produced from 1893-1972, as well as AFI AWARDS Outstanding Movies of the Year for 2000-06."

British Film Institute: Film and TV Information
Search the film database, find statistics or browse the film links gateway for other useful web sites.

Criterion Collection
Descriptions and criticism of classic films.

Documentaryfilms.net
Reviews, interviews and other resources.

Film Archives Worldwide
List of moving image archives and research centers from the Library of Congress

Glossary of Filmographic Terms
Created by the Federation Internationale des Archives du Film.

Filmsite
Online encyclopedia, best lists, director filmographies, milestones, timelines, reference lists and more.

Great Directors: a Critical Database
"Within each profile is a critical essay, filmography, bibliography and web resources for further research."

Internet Movie Database (IMDB)
Online database with plot summaries, cast and crew lists, reviews, statistics and more.

Library of Congress: Historical Motion Pictures Online
Edison's early motion pictures, animation, industrial films and more.

Literary & Dramatic Adaptations
Database of films based on books, plays, and more.

Media History Project
The history of film, television and other media: check out the timeline, extensive links, key words/concepts and more.

Pacific Film Archive Cinefiles
"Database of reviews, press kits, festival and showcase program notes, newspaper articles, and other documents. The collection contains documents from a broad range of sources covering world cinema, past and present."

Online Film Dictionary
Look up film terms in foreign languages.

Open Video Project
Shared digital images collections from the national Aechives, Internet Archives, universities and more.

Performing Arts Databases of AHDS
Digital arts resources of the British Arts and Humanities Data Service: includes both film archives and writings on film.

SilentEra.com
Lists, bios, articles, etc.

Toonopedia
An online encyclopedia covering all aspects of cartoons.

Related Topics: More Film Links

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INDUSTRY DATA

Box Office Guru
Box office data from 1989 to the present. Find opening and total gross for over 3400 titles, or browse box office weekends going back to 1997.

Cinemaspot: Box Office Charts
Links to charts from Nielsen, Variety, and other sources.

MPAA Film Industry Research
Research reports from the MPAA on the industry's economic impact, piracy, attendance figures, and more.

Variety - Charts and Data
Box office charts, production charts, top-grossing films, best lists and other data.

 

FILM NEWS

About.com: Movies
News, new releases, reviews, trailers, interviews, photos and more.

Guardian.co.uk: Film
Reviews, features, clips and blogs.

The New York Times: Movies
Reviews, features, recommendations, clips.

Yahoo! Movies
Showtimes, reviews, trailers and clips, My Movies profile builder and more.

NEWSPAPERS, MAGAZINES, ETC.

Related topics: More Film Links

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REVIEWS

DVD Beaver
DVD release reviews, comparisons and other information. Also posts side-by-side comparisons of DVD transfers, including frame grabs and bitrate charts.

Feminist Film Reviews, 1992-2002
Part of the University of Maryland's Women's Studies Database.

Metacritic
"Compiles reviews from respected critics and publications for film, video/dvd, books, music, television and games."

Movie Review Query Engine
Reviews from a wide range of sources, along with lists of new releases, most recently popular titles, etc.

New York Times Film Reviews
"Browse or search 15,000 New York Times movie reviews. Included are all films reviewed since 1960."

Rotten Tomatoes
Focuses on recent reviews; site is a little ad-heavy but still useful.

Roger Ebert's Reviews
"Advanced search" allows you to search by genre, actor, rating, release date and more.

Sight & Sound Magazine reviews
"Reviews, synopses and credits and features published in Sight & Sound since 1999." Note: not all are freely online, but our library has the journal available.

Variety
The industry source for entertainment news. For more full-text access also see our online databases.

NEWSPAPERS, MAGAZINES, ETC.

Related topics: History & Criticism

 

SUMMARIES

AFI Catalog Database
"Filmographic information for all American feature films produced from 1893-1972, as well as AFI AWARDS Outstanding Movies of the Year for 2000-06."

British Film Institute Film & TV Database
Search films, documentaries, filmographies, even festival listings.

Filmportal.DE
German films and filmmakers: synopses, biographies, production information and more.

Internet Movie Database (IMDB)
Online database with plot summaries, cast and crew lists, reviews, statistics and more.

RELATED TOPICS

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BOOKS

Use our online catalog to search by title, author, subject or key word. Some examples of subject headings for film are:

Request buttonTo request items from Roanoke College or from the library Annex, click "Request this Item" and fill out your name/ID bar code number. Requests made before 10:30 a.m. are available the same weekday after 1:00 p.m.; requests made after 10:30 a.m. are available next weekday after 1:00 p.m.

BROWSE

You can also browse the shelves. The following call numbers contain the majority of film-related materials:

  • PN 1990-1992 - Broadcasting (including television)
    PN 1993-1999 - Motion Pictures

BOOKS FROM OTHER LIBRARIES

If you need materials from outside of the Hollins/Roanoke College system, we can help!

  • Search: WorldCat allows you to search libraries worldwide. (Note: books with an "HU" symbol are held in our library.)
  • Search Google Books.
  • Order: the Interlibrary Loan department will help you order books and articles found via Worldcat, Google Books or elsewhere; use their online form. Remember to start early! Interlibrary loan procedures can take 1-3 weeks before you get your book.

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REFERENCE SOURCES

Reference books are great for quick fact-finding, or for beginning a larger research project.

CALL NUMBERS

  • PN 1993 - PN 1999 (film and television)
  • Z 5782 - Z 5784 M9 (film research guides: indexes, bibliographies etc.)

Indexes and bibliographies provide references to useful books, journal and newspaper articles; they are often organized by subject and can make your research a lot easier. BUT you may find a book or article that is not held within our library, so start your research early.

EXAMPLES

  • The American Film Institute Desk Reference - PN1994 .A599 2002
  • American Silent Film Comedies : an Illustrated Encyclopedia - PN1995.9.C55 M53 1995
  • Encyclopedia of Chinese Film - PN1993.5.C4 Z53 1998
  • Encyclopedia of Early Cinema - PN1993.45 .E53 2005
  • Encyclopedia of the Documentary Film - PN1995.9.D6 E53 2006
  • Encyclopedia of Film Themes, Settings and Series - PN1997.8 .A76 2001
  • Encyclopaedia of the Musical Film - PN1995.9.M86 G7 1981
  • Film Noir Guide : 745 Films of the Classic Era, 1940-1959 - PN1995.9.F54 K43 2003
  • Historical dictionary of African American cinema - PN1995.9.N4 B433 2007
  • Reel Women: an International Directory of Contemporary Feature Films about Women - PN 1995.9 W6 S62 2007

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ELECTRONIC DATABASES: JOURNALS, NEWSPAPERS AND MORE

The following databases contain recent reviews and articles on film topics:

Academic Search Complete
Large database containing over 40 film journals; recent articles are full-text, while earlier may be citation only.

America: History & Life
Search for articles on the motion picture history of North America. Some full text, most articles are abstracts only. For world history, see "Historical Abstracts."

American Film Scripts Online
Over 1,000 scripts in full text, along with extra information and commentary.

Art Index: Current and Retrospective
This database covers scholarly journals in all visual and performing arts; select full text starting in 1997; indexing from 1929.

Communication and Mass Media Complete
This database contains scholarly journals in communications research. Recent articles are full-text.

Dissertations Online
2.7 million searchable citations to dissertations and theses from around the world from 1861 to the present day; 1.2 million full text dissertations. A great database for difficult topics!

FirstSearch
AH Search finds citations for articles on Arts and Humanities topics in the leading scholarly journals from 1980 onward. Select ArticleFirst for a broader search of contents pages of journals in all subject areas.

Google Scholar
Broad coverage of scholarly material on all subjects. Not all full text, but you can find some interesting material not found elsewhere.

Historical Abstracts
Search for articles on world motion picture history. Some full text, most articles are abstracts only.
For history of North America, see "America: History & Life."

JSTOR
JSTOR offers a wide range of journals, all in full text; use for film studies (13 titles included) or general research.

MLA (Modern Language Association)
MLA provides access to information from journals on literature, literary theory and criticism and dramatic theory. Coverage starts in 1963 with indexing, more recent articles are full-text.

Project Muse
Project Muse offers full-text coverage of academic journals in the humanities and social sciences, including select titles in film and performing arts.

Reader's Guide to Periodical Literature - Retrospective
Search for articles from popular magazines from 1890-1982. RG contains citations from over 3 million articles from 375 leading magazines.

Don't forget the newspapers!

America's Historical Newspapers
With U.S. newspaper coverage up to 1922, this database covers the early history of film.

Google News Archive

This Google News search uses historical newspaper and magazine archives. Some articles are free to all (BBC, Time Magazine) while others ask for payment (Washington Post and other titles via Proquest) DO NOT PAY: we can get these articles for you via inter-library loan.

Lexis-Nexis
Newspaper coverage in full text, including The New York Times, Variety, AP, and CNN.
Coverage varies: some titles go back to 1980.

SEARCH TIP: Need full text? Make sure you check the JournalFinder; an article cited in one database may be available in full text in another.

If you'd like some help in selecting the right database for your search, just ask a librarian for help.

SEARCH BY TITLE

To find out whether the library has a journal in paper or electronic form, use the JournalFinder. Your search results will tell you whether we have a title, in which database it can be found, and which years are covered. For example, "Cineaste" is available both in print in the library, and in several databases:

Cineaste (New York, N.Y.) (0009-7004)
from 02/01/1990 to present in Ebsco Masterfile Premier & Academic Search Complete
from 01/01/1995 to present in Factiva
from 01/01/1997 to present in Wilson Art Index Full Text

ARTICLES FROM OTHER LIBRARIES

Our Interlibrary Loan department will help you order books and articles you need from other libraries: use their online form. Remember to start early! Interlibrary loan procedures can take 1-3 weeks before you get your materials.

Related topics: free online journals

JOURNALS, MAGAZINES AND NEWSPAPERS (PAPER)

Click here for a list of film-related magazines and journals, held at the library in print version.

You'll find the most recent issues in the Lewis Reading Room on the first floor; the rest are downstairs.
Some titles are kept in microfiche format. All are shelved alphabetically.

EXAMPLES OF CURRENT JOURNAL AND MAGAZINE TITLES:

American Cinematographer
Film comment
Film criticism
Screen
Sight & Sound
RELATED TOPICS:

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ARTICLE INDEXES

Indexes help you search older magazines and newspapers for film reviews and articles. These are the most important print indexes for film research:

SHELVED ALPHABETICALLY

  • Art Index (includes film, 1929-1984)
  • Biography Index (1946-2006)
  • Film Literature Index (1973-1997)
  • International Index to Film Periodicals
    (1972-1986)
  • New York Times Index (1851-present)
    N.Y.T. Obituary Index (1858-1978)
  • Reader's Guide to Periodical Literature
    (1900 - present) Pre-1977, look under "moving picture plays", 1977 - "motion pictures".

SHELVED IN REFERENCE

  • The Critical Index; a Bibliography of Articles on Film in English
    (1946-1973) Z5784.M9 G47
  • Film Review Annual (1987-2000)
    PN 1995.F 465
  • Motion Picture Directors: a Bibliography of Articles
    (1900-1972) Z5784.M9 S34
  • N.Y.T. Film Reviews (1913-1968)
    PN 1995.N 4

Our Interlibrary Loan department will help you order books and articles you need from other libraries; use their online form. Remember to start early! Interlibrary loan procedures can take 1-3 weeks before you get your materials.

RELATED TOPICS:

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SCREENPLAYS

Use our online catalog to search for screenplays by title, author, or key word. You can also browse the shelf; most screenplays are shelved at call number PN 1997 on the library's second floor. (map)

American Film Scripts Online
This database contains more than 1000 full-length scripts, starting with "The Great Train Robbery (1903) and ending with The Departed (2006); it also contains unproduced scripts by a variety of authors including James Agee, Norman Krasna, Paul Schrader, James Dickey, Dorothy Parker and others. Search by author, title, subject, character and more.

SimplyScripts
Find screenplays free online, from a variety of sources.

SCREENPLAYS FROM OTHER LIBRARIES

If you need materials from outside of the Hollins/Roanoke College system, we can help!

The WorldCat database allows you to search libraries worldwide. (Note: books with an "HU" symbol are held in our library.)

Our Interlibrary Loan department will help you order books and articles you need from other libraries; use their online form. Remember to start early! Interlibrary loan procedures can take 1-3 weeks before you get your book.

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MORE FILM LINKS

FREE ONLINE JOURNALS

Bright Lights (1996 - current)
Cashiers du Cinemart (1994 - 2006)
Cinema Scope (2004 - current)
Images (1996 - 2005)
FilmJourney (2003 - current)
Midnighteye: the Latest and Best in Japanese
Cinema (2001 - 2011)

 Not coming to a theatre near you
(2001 - current)
Rouge (2003 - 2009)
Scope (1999 - current)
Screening The Past (1997 - current)
Senses of Cinema (2000 - current)
Strictly Film School (2000 - current)

page last updated: 051712

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ABOUT THE FILM COLLECTION

The DVD collection is shelved on the library's first floor.(map)

VHS, laserdisc and other formats must be requested from the first floor circulation desk.

Hollins students, faculty and staff may also borrow films from the collection at Roanoke College.

 

 

Last update 05/17/2012

ASK A LIBRARIAN

Maryke BarberMaryke Barber, Librarian for the Film Department
Wyndham Robertson Library
2nd floor, Room 201
Phone: (540) 362-6328
mbarber@hollins.edu
IM: barbermaryke

If you cannot reach me, contact our Reference Department.