Film Studies: So you want to research a film or filmmaker ...

This database is very similar to the Internet Movie Database (described below). It is an excellent source for historical data about feature films. Two very handy features of their movie databases are the inclusion of four-star rating system and also when a film is to be shown on television in the coming month, it is noted with an icon linked to the air date and channel. The site also includes an interface for searching for people involved with production on a given movie including actors, directors, writer, costume designer, etc. Editor's choice

This interesting site not only gives a film's British classification but also its running time, distributor, director, and cast information. There are also notes included describing whether there had been cuts made and "decision commentary".

DocuSeek is a search site for independent documentary, social issue, and educational videos available in the U.S. and Canada. DocuSeek allows you to simultaneously search eight leading film distributors' complete collections of over 3,200 titles of high quality documentary and instructional videos.

This blog contains current movie news as well as the past reviews by legendary film critic Roger Ebert. The site also contains up to date movie reviews by many other critics.

Educational Media Reviews Online (EMRO) is a database of video, DVD, audio CD and CD-ROM reviews of materials from major educational and documentary distributors and independent filmmakers. The reviews are written by librarians and teaching faculty in institutions across the United States and Canada. The reviews are aimed at an educational audience, primarily academic librarians. There are some reviews of K-12 titles in the database, but they are not the main focus. Reviews are included in OCLC's Worldcat.org database

Facets Multi-Media's mission is to preserve, present and distribute independent, world and classic film, and to educate adults and children in the art and legacy of film. Their website is loaded with all kinds of goodies including director top ten lists, films news, a blog, and information about film appreciation classes they host. They also have an enormous video catalog that’s handy for identifying whether a motion picture is in release or no longer available

A database of critical essays by film scholars on over 200 internationally-recognized film directors. Each essay is accompanied by a filmography, a bibliography, and a list of web resources.

This is a master source for conducting film research. It contains production data, awards, user reviews, plot summaries, and whether it is commercially available onvideo or DVD. The database can be searched for titles, personal names, plots, quotes, and character names. Here are some numbers: over 200,000 films and tv shows cited, information on over 400,000 actors and actresses and 40,000 directors. Editor's choice

Metacritic compiles reviews from respected critics and publications for film, video/dvd, books, music, television and games. Their unique Metascores show the crtical consensus at a glance by taking a weighted average of critic grades.

A database of links to over 250,000 online reviews from over 280 websites. A sample search on "Gangs of New York" yielded 137 individual reviews, though the vast majority are from little known sources such as Ross Anthony's Hollywood Report Card and DVD Talk.

This is the best free movie review database currently available. It contains over 140,000 articles of over 20,000 titles. The articles span the history of cinema, for instance, a search on "The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari" (1920) yielded 13 articles. Editor's choice

Keyword search this database from the Motion Picture Association of America. Database comntains titles since 1968.

Over 7 million readers each month use Rotten Tomatoes globally as a dependable, objective resource for coverage of movies and DVDs. With more than 250,000 titles and 850,000 review links in its database, Rotten Tomatoes offers a fun and informative way to discover the critical reaction on movies neatly summarized via the Tomatometer.

This is an amazing website by and for film buffs. Among the best features are a thorough guide to film directors and a crazy giant list of “The 1000 Greatest Films” that the editors compile by crunching rankings by “1,825 critics, filmmakers, reviewers, scholars and other likely film types.”

This is another authority site, notable because it is aimed more specifically at academic users. Some of the links are annotated.

“Learning space dedicated to the art and analyses of film sound design.” This site includes many full-text articles and a trove of useful information on the film sound industry. Editor’s

A master list of links to moving image collections worldwide.

The is an outstanding academic site developed and maintained by the University of Alabama - Telecommunication and Film department. The mission of the site is to facilitate the serious study of film and television, unlike the majority of film websites that are targeted primarily to fans rather than scholars. Among its many interesting features are a page of course syllabi, classes worldwide, film program descriptions, open teaching position listings, film textbook reviews, and much more. It is a treasure trove of information and could easily draw one into hours of browsing. Editor's choice

Amazon provides the largest catalog of commercially-available videos on earth which includes used copies sold by third-party vendors , videos in non-US formats, and placeholder records of films that have yet to be released. It also includes the usual features that Amazon users are familiar with such as production and release data and user ratings. Amazon is also a good source for finding soundtracks and movie posters. Editor's choice

DVD Beaver is an excellent source for keeping up with new DVD releases and their quest is to find the best digital versions available regardless of region coding. Their focus is almost entirely on theatrically-released feature films. Editor's choice

Movies Unlimited is a vendor of over 40,000 film and television programs on video and DVD. If you are trying to find whether a feature film or old TV show is on video, this is a very good place to start. Editor's choice

The University of California at Berkeley maintains an extensive, searchable database of film distributors. These are sources for both theatrical and documentary films on a variety of subjects. Some of these vendors offer a wide selection and some focus on a specific field. Browsing their collections may be helpful if you are interested in incorporating film into your course. Resources are also available in Media Services to assist faculty in the identification and location of media. Librarians can suggest suitable titles for particular subject needs. (x3257)