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FILM 300: Hollywood: the Dream Factory

Finding Books

Look for resources by searching Omni, the library's online discovery tools to find books, journals, articles, videos and other materials owned by the Library.  You may search by keywords, author, title or subject headings. 
 
For works by a particular person (director, actor, etc.), use an author search, e.g. hitchcock alfred

To search for a movie, search the film title as either a title or keyword search and limit your search to Resource Type: Video/Film in Advanced Search. For example: 
 
 
To find books on a film topic, either try a subject or keyword search.

Subject Headings vs Keyword Searching

Subject headings allow you to search for resources on a particular author or topic and are often more productive than keyword searches. 

Keyword searches work best if you have multiple concepts or topics and need only a few books. 

For a comprehensive subject search, search with subject headings as well as keywords.

Searching Omni

Start with a keyword search, but expect to revise it. 

Keyword Searching TIPS
 

Search Technique  

What It Does

quotation marks

Searches for exact phrase

Truncation *

Searches for all forms of a word

Boolean operators (AND, OR, NOT)

Lets you broaden or narrow your search

 

Subject Searching
 
Most film-related books are given the subject heading motion pictures or motion picture [noun]. Certain subject headings use film in the subject field - usually for genre terms. Some books (mostly French) have the word cinema in the subject field. 
 
If you are looking for criticism or the technique of motion picture reviewing, use film criticism
 
If you are interested in movies made in a particular country, e.g. Italian cinema, use "motion pictures" and the name of the country, e.g. motion pictures italy 
 
If you are interested in a particular type of movie (genre), try using "films" in your search, e.g. fantasy films, silent films, western films
 
If you are interested in the technical aspects of making movies and their projection onto the screen, use cinematography.
 
Here are additional examples of subject headings that show you the breadth of film research. 
 
Film:
 
Casablanca (Motion picture)
Citizen Kane (Motion picture)
Gone with the Wind (Motion picture)
 
Person (director, actor, film critic, etc.) or Corporate Body:
 
Hitchcock, Alfred
Metro Goldwyn Mayer
Selznick David O
 
Criticism of the Person's Work:
 
Hitchcock, Alfred, 1899-1980 Criticism and interpretation
Scorsese Martin Criticism and interpretation
   
Genre:
 
Film noir
Historical films
Western films
 
Bibliographies on Film, National Cinema, an Individual, Film Genre or Topic:
 
Hitchcock, Alfred, 1899-1980 Bibliography
Motion pictures Canada Bibliography
Women in motion pictures Bibliography
   
Other Topics:
 
Academy awards (Motion pictures)
Animation (Cinematography)
Cinematographer
Masculinity in motion pictures
Motion picture actors and actresses
Motion pictures--Censorship
Motion pictures--Canada
Motion pictures, American
Race in motion pictures
Violence in motion pictures
Women in motion pictures
 
Keyword Searching
 
Use a keyword search if you have multiple concepts or topics. Remember that the subject heading for film in general is "motion pictures" but genres might use the term "films".  For example here is a search using various keywords and boolean operators: AND ; OR
 
(masculinity OR men OR male) AND (films OR "motion pictures")  
 
 
Since Omni includes content from the various research databases to which QUL subscribes, you may want to filter your results to Availability or Resource type (e.g. books, book chapters, articles....
 
Advanced Searching
 
Another approach would be to click on Advanced Search. This search provides for more precise searching.
 
Using the drop-down options within the Advanced Search screen you can limit your search to specific fields and/or a combination of fields (Author, Title, Subject, Call number). Resource type will limit your search to a specific format or material type, such as Book & eBooks.
 
 
 
 

Subject Headings

Animated films
Cold war in motion pictures
Documentary films
Feminism and motion pictures
Film adaptions
Film criticism United States History
Foreign films
Foreign language films
Horror films
Motion picture audiences History
Motion picture producers and directors
Motion picture studios
motion pictures Production and direction
Motion pictures Social aspects
Rear Window (Motion picture)
Screenwriters
Sex role in motion pictures
Women in motion pictures
World war, 1939-1945 Motion pictures and the war

Browsing the Library Shelves

Browsing the library shelves is another strategy for locating information on a topic. Most books related to Film  and Media Studies are located in the call number range PN1990 - PN1999 on the 4th floor of Stauffer Library.
 
Use the following call numbers as a guide.
 
PN1990  Broadcasting
PN1991  Radio broadcasts
PN1992  Television broadcasts
PN1993  Motion pictures in general, by
               country
PN1994  Motion pictures, Laws....
PN1995  Motion pictures- specific themes,
               topics and genres
PN1996  Screenwriting
PN1997  Screenplays
PN1998  Biographies about directors,
               producers, etc.
PN2287, PN2308, PN2329  Actors, etc
TR          Photography, cinematography
Z5784     Bibliographies on film studies