film writing
Using pressbooks as a source for film research and writing
While publicity materials such as pressbooks (also referred to as presskits) are useful tools in writing about films, finding a digital copy online might be a challenge, depending upon the movie written about and the popularity of press materials for the film in question. Some film archives will have a portion of their collections digitalized and easily accessible online like the William K. Everson Archive at NYU, while others may require an in-person visit, such as the film archives at UCLA. Long regarded as the most important marketing tool for a newly released movie, pressbooks are not only valuable as historical film memorabilia, but can be very useful for a number of research and writing projects. For example, a pressbook can be used as…
Using film scripts as research material for silent film reviews
The writer of silent film reviews can look to press releases and reviews appearing in Hollywood trade publications as original source material, but for a more in-depth film review containing details about the story and dialogue, a film script can fill in many of the holes when a copy of the actual film print is not readily available for viewing.In this case, the silent film being reviewed is “Idaho Red” (1929), which is also a lost film. Some information about “Idaho Red” does exist, but again it is in the form of general plot information easily available, such as through Lantern Media History or Newspapers.com. For a more in-depth film review, a university library collection containing film scripts is the best…