Synopses & Reviews
For nearly two decades, Television: Critical Methods and Applications has served as the foremost guide to television studies. Designed for the television studies course in communication and media studies curricula, Television explains in depth how television programs and commercials are made and how they function as producers of meaning. Author Jeremy G. Butler shows the ways in which camera style, lighting, set design, editing, and sound combine to produce meanings that viewers take away from their television experience. He supplies students with a whole toolbox of implements to disassemble television and read between the lines, teaching them to incorporate critical thinking into their own television viewing. The fourth edition builds upon the pedagogy of previous editions to best accommodate current modes of understanding and teaching television.
Highlights of the fourth edition include:
- New chapter and part organization to reflect the current approach to teaching television with greatly expanded methods and theories chapters.
- An entirely new chapter on modes of production and their impact on what you see on the screen.
- Discussions integrated throughout on the latest developments in television 's on-going convergence with other media, such as material on transmedia storytelling and YouTube 's impact on video distribution.
- Over three hundred printed illustrations, including new and better quality frame grabs of recent television shows and commercials.
- A companion website featuring color frame grabs, a glossary, flash cards, and editing and sound exercises for students, as well as PowerPoint presentations, sample syllabi and other materials for instructors. Links to online videos that support examples in the text are also provided.
With its distinctive approach to examining television, Television is appropriate for courses in television studies, media criticism, and general critical studies.
Synopsis
Television is developed for the television criticism course in media studies and communication studies curricula, explaining how television programs and commercials are made, and how they function as producers of meaning. Author Jeremy Butler demonstrates the ways in which cinematography and videography, acting, lighting, set design, editing, and sound combine to produce meanings that viewers take away from their television experience. This popular text teaches students to read between the lines, encouraging them to incorporate critical thinking into their own television viewing.
Television provides essential critical and historical context, explaining how various critical methods have been applied to the medium, such as genre study, ideological criticism, and cultural studies. Hundreds of illustrations from familiar television programs introduce the reader to the varied ways in which television goes about telling stories, presenting news, and selling products..
Highlights of this fourth edition include:
- new organization to reflect current approach to teaching television
- discussions of technology integrated throughout
- a wide variety of examples, including recent television shows
- expanded discussion of cultural issues
- a companion website with links to video web sites to support examples in the text, color frame grabs, and materials for instructors
With its distinctive approach to examining television, this text is appropriate for courses in television studies, media criticism, and general critical studies.