Film, Theater, and Performing Arts Databases
(see also
Music,
Media, Television, Communications & Publishing, and
General)
[Indexes]
[Online Books]
[Also of Interest]
- Indexes to Journals and Books:
- Film
& Television Literature Index (Ebsco)
 
- Comprehensive database covering the entire spectrum of
television & film in popular, scholarly, trade, technical,
and international publications. Subject coverage includes theory
& criticism, writing, production, cinematography, technical
aspects, preservation & restoration, news, and reviews.
Includes over 32,500 full text movie reviews from Variety dating back to
1914 and over 24,000 classic color and black & white images of celebrity and
entertainment photography, provided by the Motion Picture & Television Archives.
- LIUCat
on the Web:
- The online public access catalog of Long Island University's
six campuses. This can be searched from any computer. No password is needed.
- Online Encyclopedias and Books:
Film -
Theater & Performing Arts
- Dictionary
of Media Studies (Credo/xrefer)
- Provides a basic vocabulary of terms used in the media and entertainment industries.
- ebrary (ebrary)
- Currently
offers over 25,000 full-text books, sheet music titles, maps, reports, and other authoritative documents from more
than 180 leading academic, trade, and professional publishers. The collections are particularly strong in
business, economics, education, computers, technology, science, medicine, history,
language, literature, humanities, politics, and social sciences. Publishers include The McGraw-Hill Companies,
Random House, Penguin Classics, Taylor
& Francis, Yale University Press, John Wiley & Sons, Greenwood, and more.
- Note: to use ebrary, you must first download and install the
ebrary Reader on your computer (more information).
- St.
James Encyclopedia of Popular Culture (GVRL) (InfoTrac/Gale Group)
- Covers the culture of mass appeal - all the experiences in life shared by a
people in common as well as those things created for the majority to be easily understandable
and accessible (often disseminated by the mass media) to them. Includes: social life, music,
print, film, television, radio, sports, art, performance, food, fashion, holidays, hairstyles, and
more, emphasizing American popular culture in the second half of the 20th century. Each entry
analyzes the topic and its significance within the broader cultural context.
- Film:
- Chambers
Film Factfinder (Credo/xrefer)
- A collection of useful and often fascinating information on many aspects of film,
from the early days of silent cinema to the twenty-first century. Covers people, categories, genres, countries,
notable films, and reference, such as essential facts, figures, definitions, and lists.
- Columbia
Companion to American History on Film (GVRL) (InfoTrac/Gale Group)
- Historical analyses and interpretations of film texts that discuss how the movies have
portrayed the American past. Separate sections cover: historical eras - wars & other major
events - notable people - groups - institutions & movements - places - themes & topics -
and myths & heroes.
- Encyclopedic
Dictionary of Women in Early American Films: 1895-1930 (Credo/xrefer)
- Profiles many of the women who were crucial to the development of film as an
industry - and as an art form - during early days of cinema. Includes those working
behind the scenes as producers or publicists, behind the cameras as writers,
directors, or editors, and in front of the lens as flappers, vamps, or serial queens.
- International
Dictionary of Film and Filmmakers (GVRL) (InfoTrac/Gale Group)
- Detailed essays and commentary provide biographies, filmographies,
comprehensive credits, production information, major awards, and bibliographies for
legendary films, actors, actresses, directors, writers, and other production artists.
- Theatre and Performing Arts:
(For criticism of plays, see also: Literature)
- Cambridge
Guide to Theatre (Credo/xrefer)
- Information on the history and present practice of theatre in all parts of the world - both 'high'
art and 'low' popular entertainment - including the
dynamic interaction of performance traditions from all cultures in present-day theatre.
- Continuum
Companion to Twentieth Century Theatre (Credo/xrefer)
- Covers individual performers, playwrights, directors, designers, choreographers,
composers, theater companies, countries, trends, genres, along with practical topics such
as directing, acting, design, lighting, sound, and voice, as well as historical surveys on a
variety of subjects such as women in theater, black theater, gay theater, experimental
theater, and more.
- Dictionary
of Shakespeare, Peter Collin Publishing (Credo/xrefer)
- Covers the plays, poems, characters and background to Shakespeare's works, including
terms used in the theatre and stagecraft, as well as historical references and details on the Elizabethan
historical and social period.
- Harlem
Renaissance (GVRL) (InfoTrac/Gale Group)
- Presents the people, places and times that defined an era and documents
the launch of cultural development among African Americans in 1920s Harlem. Emphasizes
literature but also covers music, performing arts, visual arts, and nightlife. Includes
almanac and biographies sections with primary source documents
in sidebars throughout.
- Shakespeare's
Theatre: A Dictionary of His Stage Context (Credo/xrefer)
- Reviews current knowledge of the character and operation of theatres in
Shakespeare's time through discussions of relevant terms, names, and concepts
with explanations of their origins. Coverage includes props, dance, music, gesture,
fighting, make-up, blocking, costumes, choreography, interaction with audiences,
methods of characterization, and more, along with how the original staging of
Shakespeare's plays relates to modern productions.
- Thematic
Guide to Modern Drama (GVRL) (InfoTrac/Gale Group)
- Presents essays on thirty-three subjects that weave their way through plays
from the end of the 19th century to the present - with an emphasis on American dramatists
but including those from other parts of the world - and highlights the variety of thought
that exists in response to them. Each essay provides summaries and analyses of
three plays that display contrasting views of the theme.
- Also of Interest:
- MLA
International Bibliography (ProQuest/Chadwyck-Healey)
- Produced by the Modern Language Association, this covers modern
literatures from all over the world, literary theory & criticism, dramatic
arts (film, radio, television, and theatre), folklore (folk literature, music, art,
rituals, and belief systems), languages & linguistics (study, history,
theory, comparative, semantics, translation, etc.), teaching (of language,
literature, rhetoric and composition at college level), and the history of printing
& publishing. Contains more than 2 million records for journals articles
(from over 4,400 journals), books, book articles, published conference papers,
dissertations, curriculum guides, electronic materials, and more, in over 60
languages published from 1926 to the present, with some journals going as far
back as the 1880s. Includes the MLA Directory of Periodicals with
publication information about over 7,100 titles.
Database descriptions are adapted from each database's website.
NOVEL (New York Online Virtual
Electronic Library) is a statewide virtual library provided free to
the public by the New York State Library.
It is currently a pilot project funded through a Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA)
grant to the NY State Library by the Federal Institute of
Museum and Library Services (IMLS).
HTML by Robert Delaney
robert.delaney@liu.edu
|
