A Short History of Film (Fourth Edition)

A Choice Significant University Press Title for Undergraduates

This updated and expanded edition of A Short History of Film provides an accessible overview of the major movements, directors, studios, and genres from the 1880s to the present. Succinct yet comprehensive, this edition provides new information on contemporary horror, comic book, and franchise films; issues surrounding women and minority filmmakers; the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on movies worldwide; the shift from film to digital production; the rising use of artificial intelligence in cinema; and the impact of streaming on the industry.

Beginning with the precursors of moving pictures, Wheeler Winston Dixon and Gwendolyn Audrey Foster lead a fast-paced tour through the invention of the kinetoscope, the introduction of sound and color between the two world wars, and ultimately the computer-generated imagery of the present day. They detail significant periods in world cinema, including the creation of early major industries in Europe, the dominance of the Hollywood studio system in the 1930s and 1940s, and the French New Wave of the 1960s. They also highlight independent efforts in developing nations and the corresponding more personal independent film movement that briefly flourished in the United States.