Look for resources by either searching Summon, the library's online discovery tools or QCAT, the Library's catalogue to find books, journals, 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 it to the video collection by selecting the videos/dvds/streaming limit.
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 the library catalogue 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. Think of the words that best describe your topic and then connect them with the boolean operators AND OR NOT. Use the results to find relevant titles and identify assigned subject headings for your topic in order to find similar books.
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
General Topics:
Academy awards (Motion pictures)
Animation (Cinematography)
Cinematographer
Motion picture actors and actresses
Motion pictures--Censorship
Motion pictures--Canada
Motion pictures, American
Race in motion pictures
Violence 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".
(masculinity or men or male) and (films or "motion pictures")
