You'll find your taste in films changing, and since you've alienated all your friends and family, you'll find yourself at art house theaters (though they may call themselves 'theatres'), watching movies by yourself, with all the other people there who too have alienated themselves from their friends and family. This book, while not meant for casual lazy day lap reading (it's a wobbly sort of book that sits better on a desk and is read best one chapter at a time over a longer time than most books), is a dense work that will leave you spotting more and more things in films, annoying your friends and family more and more as they watch films with you. You will be amazed at how much stuff there is to know about films, unless you've read this book already, then you know what I mean, right!? This book gives an overview of film in its entirety, covering things like the development of the film camera (at least, nontechnical aspects of it that non-engineers and optics people can understand), the film projector, as well as the film development process, pre-production, production, post-production, etc.

See my library for more info), you will be ready to handle the onslaught of new films, and be able to explain to your friends, hopefully in terms they understand, what redeeming qualities that film had (you MUST start using the word 'film' to describe what you once called a 'movie.' I mean, do you call them 'talkies' or 'colors'? Why still use 'movie', unless you're used to just watching La Jetee?) But after reading this book (in whatever recent edition you may procure) and the included Film Viewers Guide (also by Bordwell. Since then, a lot of great films have come out, and even if there's an eighth, ninth, or tenth edition, it will still be behind the times with respect to recent films.

What you may not have in common with me, though, is ownership of a book entitled 'Film Art: An Introduction.' My copy is the seventh edition.

Have you ever wanted a very concise introduction to film, as a whole? Well, congratulations, you and I have something in common.

Film art bordwell