Film Studies | Laurier Library

Start here

Primary subject databases
Database	Description
Film and Media Studies @ EBSCOhost	Selected EBSCOhost databases for Film and Media Studies. View Full Description

Main databases

Secondary subject databases
Database	Description
AFI Catalog	Full-text filmographic information and plot summaries. View Full Description
Canadian Business & Current Affairs Database	Provides access to Canadian journals, magazines and news resources on all topics. View Full Description
Entertainment Industry Magazine Archive	Primary sources concerning the history of the film and entertainment industries. View Full Description
Film Studies @ ProQuest	Selected ProQuest databases for Film Studies. View Full Description

Also useful

Tertiary subject databases
Database	Description
American Film Scripts	Full-text scripts of significant feature films. View Full Description
Film literature index	Citations to articles on international film, television, and video films. View Full Description
Google Scholar (with Laurier content access)	Searches for articles and web resources from academic publishers and universities. View Full Description
JSTOR	Current and back issues of journals in arts and sciences. View Full Description
Wilson databases (all)	Search the three H. W. Wilson databases we subscribe to on the EBSCOhost platform. View Full Description

Course guides

Course guides organized by course number and course title
Course #	Title
FS	Student Research Guide for Film Studies
FS240	Film History to 1950

Finding criticism

Start with Film and Media Studies @ EBSCOhost
Note you can limit your search to scholarly sources
Also check the Primo Catalogue for books about your film or director

Finding reviews

Find the release date of your film using IMDB or the American Film Institute Catalog
choose a database, from the list below, that includes your date

Main online resources for reviews

Film and Media Studies @ EBSCOhost: For reviews, limit search to Document Type: "Entertainment Review." Includes full-text reviews from Variety, back to 1920.
Entertainment Industry Magazine Archive 1880-2000: For reviews, limit search to Document Type: "Review."
Canadian Periodical Index (CPI.Q) 1988 to present: Reviews Canadian and other films. Select Document Type: “Movie review.“ For reviews back to 1948, see "Movie reviews" in the print volumes of Canadian Periodical Index.
American Film Institute Catalog 1893 to present: Search for the film title, note the release date, and see the source citations at the end of the film record.
New York Times 1851 to three years ago: Search for reviews, profiles, advertisements, and movie listings. For reviews, limit search to month and year of release.
Movie Review Query Engine: Freely available database. Select “Critic reviews.“ Includes New York Times, Chicago Sun-Times (Ebert).

Main print resources for reviews

Film Review Index volumes 1-2.: Volume one covers 1882 to 1949; volume two covers 1950 to 1985. Print location: Z 5784 M9F513
Selected Film Criticism.: Includes full text from sources such as Photoplay and The Film Spectator. Print location: PN 1995 S426

Reviews vs Criticism

Reviews vs. Criticism
Criteria	Film Reviews	Film Criticism
Audience	general public	scholars and students
Authors	journalists or general public articles may be unsigned affiliation not usually given	academics and film scholars affiliation usually given
Accountability	may be reviewed by an editor	usually peer reviewed or refereed
Content	gives the opinion of the writer usually short and focused on a single film often includes recommendations	compares the film with others by the director, within the genre, etc. puts the film into a larger context: historical, social, political, theoretical
Documentation	may have no references to other sources, and no bibliographies or footnotes	always contains references to other sources, given in a bibliography or footnotes
Publications	magazines, newspapers	academic journals, books
When published	when film is released	months or years after release
Examples	Crowther, Bosley. "Screen: Sordid View of French Life: Breathless' in Debut." New York Times 8 February 1961. ProQuest Historical Newspapers: The New York Times. Web. 12 Sept. 2012.	Hayes, Kevin. "The Newspaper and the Novel in À bout de souffle." Studies in French Cinema 1.3 (2001): 249-251. Film and Television Literature Index. Web. 12 Sept. 2012.

Selected Dictionaries: Definitions

Dictionary of Film Studies. Oxford University Press. 2012.
Cinema Studies: the Key Concepts. Routledge. 2006.
Critical Dictionary of Film and Television theory. Routledge. 2005.
Routledge companion to film history. Routledge. 2011.
Film Analysis Guide. Yale University. 2002.

Books: Primo Catalogue

Use the Primo Catalogue to find books.

a) Identify books by searching these selected Subject Headings

Documentary films
Experimental films
Feature films
Feminism and motion pictures
Feminist motion pictures
Film adaptations
Film criticism
Film genres
Film noir
Motion picture industry
Motion picture music
Motion pictures
Motion pictures, Canada
Motion pictures, history
Motion pictures, political aspects
Motion pictures, production and direction
Motion pictures, reviews
Motion pictures, social aspects
Silent films
Silent film music
Video recording

b) Or look for specific names or titles:

Hitchcock, Alfred
Hamlet (Motion picture)

Useful starting point:

Film and Television: A Guide to the Reference Literature, by Mark Emmons. Print Location: PN 1994.E47

Other Resources

Where are the books?
- Check Floor Plans
For collections of online texts, see
- Electronic Books
For film scripts, see: American Film Scripts, early 20th century to present
To identify books not available locally, see
- WorldCat, a collection of more than 50,000 library catalogues worldwide
Get Materials from Other Libraries
More resources, including public library catalogues

Videos

American Film Scripts: Full text scripts of significant feature films.
California Digital Newspaper Collection: Selection of California newspapers from 1846 to the present.
CineFiles: The Pacific Film Archive's film document image database. Includes reviews, program notes, newspaper articles, etc. for selected films.
Directory of International Film and Video Festivals: Descriptions of collections including some film clips.
Early Modernity on Film: Bibliography of articles and books.
FilmSound.org: Includes articles and annotated links to film sound resources.
Focus on Film: From the U.K.'s National Archives. Includes clips from historical films.
Internet Archive: Includes digitizations of old film magazines such as Moving Picture World and Photoplay.
Margaret Herrick Library Digital Collections: Includes correspondence, photographs, periodicals and sheet music.
Media History Digital Library: Classic media periodicals, including trade papers and fan magazines, in the public domain. Search using Lantern
Moving Image Archive: Selected, digitized titles from the Prelinger Archives: a collection of "ephemeral" (advertising, educational, industrial, and amateur) films.
Moving Image Source: Criticism and Theory: Pulls together quality sources for film and television.
National Film Preservation Foundation (U.S.): Lists preserved films and their locations, along with selected film clips.
News archives online: Includes full text of New York Times, London Times, Globe and Mail, etc.
ULCA Library Digital Collections: Includes material for film history.