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More than any other set of films from the classical era, the Hollywood film noir is known for its lighting: the cast shadows, the blinking street signs, the eyes sparkling in the darkness. Each effect is rich in symbolism, evoking a world of danger and doppelgangers. But what happens if we set aside the symbolism? This book offers a new account of film noir lighting, grounded in a larger theory of Hollywood cinematography as emotionally engaging storytelling. Above all, noir lighting is dynamic, switching from darkness to brightness and back again as characters change, locations shift, and fates unfold. Richly illustrated, Film Noir and the Arts of Lighting features in-depth analyses of eleven classic movies: The Asphalt Jungle, Sorry, Wrong Number, Odds against Tomorrow, The Letter, I Wake Up Screaming, Phantom Lady, Strangers on a Train, Sweet Smell of Success, Gaslight, Secret beyond the Door, and Touch of Evil.

If you’ve picked up this book, it’s most likely that you have an interest in movies over-and-above the typical audience member. Perhaps a screenwriter, producer or director looking to improve your work, always searching for any insight that will result in better cinematic storytelling. If that’s the case, then good news: this is the book for you. It asks a deceptively straightforward question. Why do we make feature films?

Is it to entertain? To move and audience? To tell a powerful story? For fame and fortune?

You may have answered yes to each, but those answers don’t account for the practice overall. Most books about screenwriting and directing are primarily concerned with craft and technique, but how can you truly understand filmmaking – or make the best films - unless you know what purpose it really serves.

So what’s the secret? As the title of this book suggests, making feature films is fundamentally the practice of making a very specific type of argument. To see how this works, we will deep-dive into how filmmakers are trained and taught to think about filmmaking, and what traditions they knowingly or unknowingly follow. We will look at hundreds of films and some major case studies, including Toy Story 3, Schindler’s List, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Amour, and mother!,  to explore how and what films argue, and why knowing this can both unlock both a greater appreciation of the form, and improve the impact your films make. 
 

An interdisciplinary critical inquiry into the working dramaturgy of The Ravel Trilogy.

This book frames the playtexts of The Ravel Trilogy—Bolero (2014), Concerto (2016), and Solo (2018)—alongside a series of reflective essays and provocations on contemporary dramaturgy and musicology from academics and artists in drama, music, linguistics, and fine art. It contextualizes the themes and approaches of the trilogy and serves as a critical companion to a body of devised work, stimulating a debate about dramaturgy and composition and inviting discussion about post-dramatic theater's relationship to music.

This publication marks the culmination of the trilogy and its critical legacy, exploring the work through the dual lenses of postdramatic theater and research questions articulated and addressed by the practice-research undertaken by its co-creators. The dramaturgical context for The Ravel Trilogy and the reflective essays around it allow the editors to explore the relationship between theater and music, raising questions about practice-research and notions of creating playtexts from musical scores. In this volume, Michael Pinchbeck and Ollie Smith reflect on making and performing The Ravel Trilogy and the process of researching, devising, and presenting work inspired by music where score becomes script and dynamics become stage directions.