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In the early days, Monaco's How to Read a Film used to be my bible. So you're well-positioned there. Bordwell/Thompson's Film Art is a must, as is, imho, the alternative, more phenomenological approach, Louis D. Giannetti's Understanding Movies, another classic textbook in its umpteenth printing. I would also recommend Bordwell's Narration in the Fiction Film, another classic, first published 1985, but as topical as ever. If you're interested in screenplay theory and dramatic structure, you could do a lot worse than check out Robert McKee: Story, which is also quite a fun read. There are tons of introductory textbooks on film studies, film theory, film history, so my best advice is: just get started somewhere and keep going! And save Deleuze for later ... Happy reading & best, Henry > Excuse me, I'm not on the elevated level of some of the eminent members here. But a question please. I am an avid filmgoer as are the other members of my family, and have seen a great many of the classics old and new (I live near to a cinema museum). I have been trying to delve a bit deeper into the art of film, so started off with film studies, a kind of film theory made simple that wasn't that bad. Then my daughter bought my volume 1 of Deleuze's book which offered me a few gems here and there but was bit too much to take in at this stage of the game. I bought Reading the film by James Monaco, which I am enjoying immensely, very much my level. I bought Encyclopaedia by Katz expecting it to be a Monaco-style book bought on a blow-by-blow basis but it turns out to be focused on individual actors rather than the mechanics or theory of filmmaking. So could anybody point me in the right direction please? What I would like at this stage would be a film-by-film account of films: type of shots, point of view omnisicience, narrative structure, genre, school. That sort of thing > > We went to see Another Year with friends recently, one of whom worked as a cameraman for a while. Afterwards, he was talking in the café about how you could see the director came from the world of television, then he started to go into recurring items in the film that gave it structure, and lots more besides. I would love to be able to have the tools to do that. As with reading, I tend to get completely carried away with the story and think about it only over the next few days. Anyway, if any of you have any ideas about furthering my filmic education I would be very grateful, bearing in mind I am not an academic but am far from being a nitwit. > > Anton > -- Film-Philosophy After hitting 'reply' please always delete the text of the message you are replying to To leave, send the message: leave film-philosophy to: [log in to unmask] Or visit: http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/film-philosophy.html For technical help email: [log in to unmask], not the list -- Film-Philosophy journal: http://www.film-philosophy.com/ Film-Philosophy Conference (6-8 July 2011): http://www.film-philosophy.com/conference/ Contact: [log in to unmask] --