Introduction
Introduction to Television
Search this guide as a starting point for your research into television.
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Use this guide as a starting point for your research into production design.
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Find information on the fundamentals of production design, where in the AFTRS library to find resources, and techniques for art directors and screen designers.
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Use the navigation panel on the left to find books, journals and online resources.
Books List
Creating Australian television drama : a screenwriting history by Call Number: 791.4575/60ISBN: 9781925984880Publication Date: 2020Television drama has been the dominant form of popular storytelling for more than sixty years, shaping the imaginations of millions of people. This book surveys the careers of the central creators of those stories for Australian television--the writers who learnt how to work in a new medium, adapting to its constraints and exploring its creative possibilities. Informed by interviews with many writers, it describes the establishment of Australian television drama production, observing the way writers grasped the creative and business opportunities that television presented. It examines the development of Australian versions of the major television genres--the sitcom, the police drama, the historical series, docudrama, and social drama-- presenting a 'canon' of significant Australian television drama productions that deserve to be remembered. It offers an account of the emergence of work by Indigenous writers for television and it argues for the consideration of television drama alongside histories of Australian film and stage drama.
Australian Radio Listeners and Television Viewers by Call Number: 384.540994/100ISBN: 9783030546397Publication Date: 2021-10-01This lively and accessible book charts how Australian audiences have engaged with radio and television since the 1920s. Ranging across both the commercial and public service broadcasting sectors, it recovers and explores the lived experiences of a wide cross-section of Australian listeners and viewers. Offering new perspectives on how audiences have responded to broadcast content, and how radio and television stations have been part of the lives of Australians, over the past one hundred years, this book invites us into the dynamic world created for children by the radio industry, traces the operations of radio and television clubs across Australia, and uncovers the workings of the Australian Broadcasting Commission's viewers' advisory committees. It also opens up the fan mail received by Australian broadcasting stations and personalities, delves into the complaints files of regulators, and teases out the role of participants and studio audiences in popular matchmaking programs.
Production Design by Call Number: 791.43025/55ISBN: 9781138185432Publication Date: 2020-05-25Production Design: Visual Design for Film and Televisionis a hands-on guide to the craft of production design and art direction. Author Peg McClellan gives an insider's view of the experiences and challenges of working as a Production Designer in film and television. The book covers three major areas, starting with an overview and the basics of job responsibilities, the artistic approach and the background which every Production Designer needs to be familiar with, and progressing to the mechanics of the role with a day-to-day breakdown of the job itself. McClellan takes you through script analysis, team collaborations, the hierarchy of a production, hiring a team, the business elements, locations, studio facilities, handling change and everything in between. With case studies, insights from successful Production Designers, and inspiration in the form of over 200 colour photos and illustrations from storyboards to sets, this is the ideal book for students seeking a career in production design, and professionals looking to further their design knowledge.
Becoming an Actor's Director by Call Number: eBookISBN: 9780429577291Publication Date: 2019-09-26The collaboration of director and actor is the cornerstone of narrative filmmaking. This book provides the director with a concrete step-by-step guide to preparation that connects the fundamentals of film-script analysis with the actor's process of preparation. This book starts with how to identify the overall scope of a project from the creative perspective of the director as it relates to guiding an actor, before providing a blueprint for preparation that includes script analysis, previsualization, and procedures for rehearsal and capture. This methodology allows the director to uncover the similarities and differences between actor and director in their preparation to facilitate the development of a collaborative dialogue. Featuring chapter-by-chapter exercises and assignments throughout, this book provides a method that enables the director to be present during every stage of production and seamlessly move from prep to filming, while guiding the actor to their best performances. Written in a clear and concise manner, it is ideal for students of directing, early career, and self-taught directors, as well as cinematographers, producers, or screenwriters looking to turn their hand to directing for the first time.
The TV Showrunner's Roadmap by Call Number: eBookISBN: 9781000545647Publication Date: 2022-03-28This all-new edition of the best-selling guide The TV Showrunner's Roadmap provides readers with the tools for creating, writing, and managing your own hit streaming series. Combining his 30+ years as a working screenwriter and professor, industry veteran Neil Landau expertly unpacks essential insights to the creation of a successful show and takes readers behind the scenes with exclusive and enlightening interviews with showrunners from some of TV's most lauded series, including Fargo, Better Call Saul, Watchmen, Insecure, Barry, Money Heist, Succession, Ozark, Schitt's Creek, Euphoria, PEN15, and many more. From conception to final rewrite, The TV Showrunner's Roadmap is an invaluable resource for anyone seeking to create a series that won't run out of steam after the first few episodes. This groundbreaking guide features an eResource with additional interviews and bonus materials. So grab your laptop, dig out that stalled spec script, and buckle up. Welcome to the fast lane.
Affective intensities and evolving horror forms : from found footage to virtual reality by Call Number: eBookISBN: 9781474456371Publication Date: 2020Horror cinema is a genre that is undergoing constant evolution, from the sub-genre of 'found footage,' to post-cinematic new media forms such as Youtube horror, horror video games and cinematic virtual reality horror. By investigating how these new forms alter the dynamics of spectatorship, this book charts how cinema's affective capacities have shifted in relation to these modifications in the forms of cinematic horror. It applies a rich theoretical synthesis of phenomenological and Deleuzian approaches to a number of case studies, including films like The Blair Witch Project, Paranormal Activity and Creep as well as video games such as Alien: Isolation and new media forms such as Youtube horror and virtual reality horror.
Complexity / Simplicity by Call Number: 791.45/40ISBN: 9781526148759Publication Date: 2022-05-10An exciting new strand in The Television Series, the 'Moments in Television' collections celebrate the power and artistry of television, whilst interrogating key critical concepts in television scholarship. Each 'Moments' book is organised around a provocative binary theme. Complexity / simplicity addresses the idea of complex TV, examining its potential, limitations and impact upon creative and interpretative practices. It also reassesses simplicity as an alternative criterion for evaluation. Complexity and simplicity persuasively illuminate the book's chosen programmes in new ways. The book explores an eclectic range of TV fictions, dramatic and comedic. Contributors from diverse perspectives come together to expand and enrich the kind of close analysis most commonly found in television aesthetics. Sustained, detailed programme analyses are sensitively framed within historical, technological, institutional, cultural, creative and art-historical contexts.
Netflix and the Re-Invention of Television by Call Number: 384.55065/1ISBN: 9783031392368Publication Date: 2023-09-10This book deals with the ways Netflix influenced the contemporary television landscape and built the infrastructures of streaming. It focusses on various ways Netflix reconceptualises television as part of the process of TV IV. As television continues to undergo a myriad of changes, Netflix has proven itself to be the dominant force in this development, simultaneously driving a number of these changes and challenging television's existing institutional structures. This comprehensive study explores the pre-history of Netflix, the role of binge-watching in its organisation and marketing, and Netflix's position as a transnational broadcaster. Netflix and the Re-invention of Television illuminates the importance of Netflix's role within the processes of TV IV. This Second Edition highlights the role Netflix plays in the so-called streaming wars and incorporates recent research in television studies. It also re-evaluates the companies' incorporation of issues of diversity in its focus on middlebrow television. The book also includes a new chapter on the transnational streaming franchise, networks of texts developed internal to platforms to build infrastructures of transnational streaming.
From Terrorism to Television by Call Number: 302.23095491/1ISBN: 9780367421953Publication Date: 2020-08-04This book unpacks the media dynamics within the socio-cultural, political, and economic context of Pakistan. It provides an in-depth, critical, and scholarly discussion of contemporary issues such as media, state, and democracy in Pakistan; freedom of expression in Pakistani journalism; Balochistan as a blind spot in mainstream newspapers; media control by state institutions; women and media discourses; TV talk shows and coverage of Kashmir; feminist narrative and media images of Malala Yousufzai and Mukhtaran Mai; jihad on screen; and Osama bin Laden's death on screen, to understand the relation between media and terrorism. The book covers diverse media types including TV, radio, newspapers, print media, films, documentary, stage performance, and social media. Detailed, interdisciplinary, analytical, and with original perspectives from journalists as well as academics, this volume will be useful to scholars and researchers of media studies, Pakistan studies, politics and international affairs, military and terrorism studies, journalism and communication studies, and South Asian studies. It will also interest general readers, policy makers, and those interested in global journalism, mass media, and freedom of expression.
The future of television: Your guide to creating TV in the new world by Pamela Douglas
Call Number: 791.450232/101
Publication Date: 2015
The book explores the evolution and future of television and examines how the boundaries between network, cable and the internet are blurring to create the modern television landscape. The book looks at how the internet and streaming services have revolutionized television and focuses on how writers, producers and directors can use the emerging possibilities to create original television now and in the coming decade.
The television handbook by Jeremy Orlebar
Call Number: 791.45023/32 (4th ed.)
Publication Date: 2011
The television handbook is a critical introduction to the practice and theory of television. The book examines the state of television today, explains how television is made and how production is organised, and discusses how critical thinking about programmes and genres can illuminate their meanings. This book also explores how developments in technology and changing structure of the television industry will lead the medium in new directions.
A history of television in 100 programmes by Phil Norman
Call Number: 791.4509/7
Publication Date: 2015
This book examines the history of television through 100 ground-breaking programs from a wide variety of genres that have helped shape and define the television industry.
The HBO effect by Dean J. DeFino,
Call Number: 384.55523/1
Publication Date: 2014
The HBO Effect discusses the influence of HBO on contemporary film and television. The book examines HBO's unique history and impact on television and popular culture and discusses how the channel's productions have transformed modern television.
Reality TV: An insider's guide to TV's hottest market by Troy DeVolld
Call Number: 791.456/G24 /22
Publication Date: 2011
This book provides readers with an insiders look at creating successful reality TV programs. This book demystifies the world of writing and producing reality television in a fun, accessible way that's as entertaining to reality fans as it is informative to students and established creatives looking to cross into one of the most explosive genres in television.
Television and new media: Must-click TV by Jennifer Gillan
Call Number: 791.45/38
Publication Date: 2011
Television and New Media introduces students to the ways that new media technologies have transformed contemporary television production, distribution, and reception practices. Drawing upon recent examples including "Lost", "24", and "Heroes", this book closely examines the ways that television programming has changed with the influx of new media - transforming nearly every TV series into a franchise, whose on-air, online, and on-mobile elements are created simultaneously and held together through transmedia storytelling.
I like to watch: Arguing my way through the TV revolution by Emily Nussbaum
Call Number: 791.45/39
Publication Date: 2019
This collection features several essays by American TV critic Emily Nussbaum that highlight her passion for television and explore how television shows play a role in the wider social-cultural environment. The essays address a wide range of topics from the depiction of women to the impact of power and privilege and highlights the complex issues involved in judging a program based not only on the merits of the program but the actions of the creator.
Create your own TV series for the internet by Ross Brown
Call Number: 808.225/56 (2nd ed.)
Publication Date: 2014
This book is an all-in-one guide to creating a successful short-form TV series for the Internet. The book guides the aspiring videomaker from an initial series idea through writing, production, and uploading and marketing a polished pilot and successive episodes of their own original Internet TV series.
Stealing the show: How women are revolutionizing television by Joy Press
Call Number: 791.45082/4
Publication Date: 2018
In recent years, the television landscape has seen the glorious rise of women to key positions of power within the industry, from writers to producers to directors. This book explores how strategic advocating for women in writers' rooms, in producing discussions, and behind the camera as directors led to an inspiring new era for television drama as women gained a more central role in the creation of television programs.
TV outside the box: Trailblazing in the new golden age of television by Neil Landau
Call Number: 384.55/24
Publication Date: 2016
This book explores the new and exploding universe of on-demand networks: Netflix, Amazon, Hulu, Vimeo, and examines how these networks are shaping the future of television. The book examined how TV content creators are taking advantage of the new digital entertainment age and features conversations with game-changing content creators, industry mavericks, and leading cultural influencers.
Difficult Women on Television Drama by Call Number: 302.2345/200ISBN: 9781003031598Publication Date: 2021-02-15Difficult Women on Television Drama analyses select case studies from international TV dramas to examine the unresolved feminist issues they raise or address: equal labor force participation, the demand for sexual pleasure and freedom, opposition to sexual and domestic violence, and the need for intersectional approaches. Drawing on examples from The Killing, Orange is the New Black, Big Little Lies, Wentworth, Outlander, Westworld, Being Mary Jane, Queen Sugar, Vida, and other television dramas with a focus on complex female characters, this book illustrates how female creative control in key production roles (direct authorship) together with industrial imperatives and a conducive cultural context (indirect authorship) are necessary to produce feminist texts. Placed within the larger context of a rise in feminist activism and political participation by women; the growing embrace of a feminist identity; and the ascendance of post-feminism, this book reconsiders the unfinished nature of feminist struggle(s) and suggests the need for a broader sweep of economic change. This book is a must-read for scholars of media and communication studies; television and film studies; cultural studies; American studies; sociology of gender and sexualities; women and gender studies; and international film, media and cinema studies.
Puzzling Stories by Call Number: 808.23/348ISBN: 9781800735910Publication Date: 2022-08-12Many films and novels defy our ability to make sense of the plot. While puzzling storytelling, strange incongruities, inviting enigmas and persistent ambiguities have been central to the effects of many literary and cinematic traditions, a great deal of contemporary films and television series bring such qualities to the mainstream--but wherein lies the attractiveness of perplexing works of fiction? This collected volume offers the first comprehensive, multidisciplinary, and trans-medial approach to the question of cognitive challenge in narrative art, bringing together psychological, philosophical, formal-historical, and empirical perspectives from leading scholars across these fields.
TV showrunner's roadmap: 21 navigational routes for screenwriters to create and sustain a hit TV series by Neil LandauCall Number: 808.225/59
Publication Date: 2014
The TV Showrunner’s Roadmap provides useful information for creating, writing, and managing television shows to ensure they are successful and entertaining. The book takes you behind the scenes insights into the creation of hit television shows and contains exclusive interviews with showrunners from some of TV’s most lauded series.
Showrunners : the art of running a TV show: The official companion to the documentary by Tara BennettCall Number: 791.45023/40
Publication Date: 2014
This official companion book to the documentary Showrunners provides an insider's guide to creating, writing, and running a scripted television series in the words of some of the biggest talents of the industry. The book includes interviews with a variety of celebrated and popular showrunners including Joss Whedon (Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Firefly, Dollhouse) Damon Lindelof (Lost) Ronald D. Moore (Battlestar Galactica) Bill Prady (The Big Bang Theory) and David Shore (House).
Writing Diverse Characters for Fiction, TV or Film by Lucy V. Hay
Call Number: 808.23/331
Publication Date: 2018
Film and television writing is catching up with the diversity of the world we live in. Hay's excellent guide to characterisation gives writers the tools to create three dimensional, authentic characters who exist outside the categories that protagonists (and antagonists) have typically inhabited. Whether writing about different classes, races, religions, sexualities, abilities or genders, this book will help you get it right.
The art of character: Creating memorable characters for fiction, film, and tv by David Corbett
Call Number: 808.3/55
Publication Date: 2013
This book provides a valuable insight into creating memorable and realistic characters for film and television. The book addresses the importance of creating memorable dialogue and provides insight into how to create powerful characters that draw the audience into the story.
Creating Australian television drama: A screenwriting history by Susan Lever
Call Number: 791.4575/60
Publication Date: 2020
This book describes the establishment of Australian television drama production, observing the way writers grasped the creative and business opportunities that television presented. It examines the development of Australian versions of the major television genres- the sitcom, the police drama, the historical series, docudrama, and social drama. It offers an account of the emergence of work by Indigenous writers for television and it argues for the consideration of television drama alongside histories of Australian film and stage drama.
Writing for television: Series, serials and soaps by Yvonne Grace
Call Number: 808.225/58
Publication Date: 2014
This book is a practical guide on writing for television from the point of view of a television drama producer. The book investigates how to structure a storyline, how to write good treatments and outlines, and how to write for a variety of audiences. The book also includes interviews with several successful television writers working today and has pointers on how to make good contacts with the people within the industry.
Write to tv: Out of your head and onto the screen by Martie Cook
Call Number: 808.225/28 [2nd ed.]
Publication Date: 2014
This book features information on how to create smart, original stories and scripts for a variety of television formats and genres, including comedy, drama, pilots, animation, made-for-TV movies, late night, and reality television. The book also features interviews with studio and network executives, agents, and managers on what they're looking for in new writers and includes practical tips to successfully write for television.
Running the Show by Call Number: 791.450232/105ISBN: 9781493075294Publication Date: 2023-09-01Running the Show takes you inside building a show from the ground up and what a showrunner's life looks like in Hollywood.
The TV Showrunner's Roadmap by Call Number: 808.225/66 [2nd ed.]ISBN: 9780367484637Publication Date: 2022-02-01This all-new edition of the best-selling guide The TV Showrunner's Roadmap provides readers with the tools for creating, writing, and managing your own hit streaming series. Combining his 30+ years as a working screenwriter and professor, industry veteran Neil Landau expertly unpacks essential insights to the creation of a successful show and takes readers behind the scenes with exclusive and enlightening interviews with showrunners from some of TV's most lauded series, including Fargo, Better Call Saul, Watchmen, Insecure, Barry, Money Heist, Succession, Ozark, Schitt's Creek, Euphoria, PEN15, and many more. From conception to final rewrite, The TV Showrunner's Roadmap is an invaluable resource for anyone seeking to create a series that won't run out of steam after the first few episodes. This groundbreaking guide features an eResource with additional interviews and bonus materials. So grab your laptop, dig out that stalled spec script, and buckle up. Welcome to the fast lane.
Becoming an Actor's Director by Call Number: 791.430233/307ISBN: 9780367191870Publication Date: 2019-10-21The collaboration of director and actor is the cornerstone of narrative filmmaking. This book provides the director with a concrete step-by-step guide to preparation that connects the fundamentals of film-script analysis with the actor's process of preparation. This book starts with how to identify the overall scope of a project from the creative perspective of the director as it relates to guiding an actor, before providing a blueprint for preparation that includes script analysis, previsualization, and procedures for rehearsal and capture. This methodology allows the director to uncover the similarities and differences between actor and director in their preparation to facilitate the development of a collaborative dialogue. Featuring chapter-by-chapter exercises and assignments throughout, this book provides a method that enables the director to be present during every stage of production and seamlessly move from prep to filming, while guiding the actor to their best performances. Written in a clear and concise manner, it is ideal for students of directing, early career, and self-taught directors, as well as cinematographers, producers, or screenwriters looking to turn their hand to directing for the first time.
Media production: A practical guide to radio and TV by Amanda Willett
Call Number: 791.45023/41
Publication Date: 2013
This book is an introductory guide to radio, TV and film production techniques. Illuminating the step by step process from conception to delivery, from the initial brainstorms, through planning, research and editing, this book creates a guided structure to help students learn about media production.
Producing for TV and new media by Cathrine Kellison
Call Number: 791.450232/93 (3rd ed.)
Publication Date: 2013
This book is a valuable guide for new and aspiring producers and contains useful information on the multi-dimensional role of a television producer in the 21st century. The book includes interviews with industry professionals and offers practical insights into cutting edge developments in television and new media production.
Storyselling: How to develop, market and pitch film & TV projects by Heather Hale
Publication Date: 2019
This book investigates how to pitch ideas for film and television projects. The book contains useful information on how to develop, market and pitch ideas in order to sell the idea to television and film executives.
Art of the cut: Conversations with film and TV editors by Steve Hullfish
Call Number: 778.535/75
Publication Date: 2017
Art of the Cut examines the art and technique of contemporary film and television editing. It includes interviews and discussions with 50 of the top editors from around the globe and provides a broad spectrum of opinions that illustrate both similarities and differences in techniques and artistic approaches to editing film and television. Interviewees include Margaret Sixel (Mad Max: Fury Road), Tom Cross (Whiplash, La La Land) and Kelley Dixon (Breaking Bad, The Walking Dead).
The practical guide to documentary editing: Techniques for TV & film by Sam Billinge
Call Number: 778.5235/14
Publication Date: 2017
This book sets out the techniques, the systems and the craft required to edit compelling professional documentary television and film. The book works through the post-production process and explores project organization, assembling rushes, sequence editing, story structure, music and sound design, and the relationship between the editor and the director.
Music supervision: The complete guide to selecting music for movies, TV, games & new media by Ramsay Adams, David Hnatiuk & David WeissCall Number: 781.54/1
Publication Date: 2005
One of just a few books available on the topic of music supervision specifically ('matching' music to TV, live events, film, video games, ring tones, and a host of other media). This book guides you through real-world scenarios and legal landmines, explores sound design, and profiles key players.
Music editing for film and television: The art and the process by Steven Saltzman
Call Number: 780.149/1
Publication Date: 2015
Through an overview of the music editing process, this book will equip you with practical skills to solve musical problems encountered during editing. An abundance of interviews with industry professionals provide a range of perspectives on music editing for film. The book addresses an array of project types, from a low-budget documentary, to a Hollywood blockbuster, to an indie feature film.
Television production by Jim Owens
Call Number: 791.450232/74 (15th ed.)
Publication Date: 2012
This book provides a practical guide to professional TV and video production techniques and explores the major features of television production including cinematography, sound design, lighting, editing and production design. The book includes straightforward descriptions and explanations of the equipment used, and describes the best ways to use it.
