Reference Sources
Use these reference books to provide an overview of your topic, define terms, and list recommended readings. If connecting from home, make sure your computer is configured for off-campus access.
- AFI Catalog This link opens in a new window
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The online AFI (American Film Institute) Catalog draws its content from printed volumes that document every American feature film from 1893 to 1974. Also includes some short films from the first era of filmmaking, 1893–1910. Provides detailed filmographic information, including music credits, release dates, plot descriptions, and bibliographies. See also the AFI web version of the catalog. - American National Biography Online This link opens in a new window
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Biographies of more than 19,000 men and women who have influenced American history. - Bloomsbury International Encyclopedia of Surrealism This link opens in a new window
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Comprehensive overview of 20th century surrealist movements, including coverage of painting, literature, film, photography, music, theatre, architecture, fashion and design. - Cambridge Companions Online This link opens in a new window
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Includes Companions to Literature and Classics, Companions to Music, and Companions to Philosophy, Religion, and Culture.
- Contemporary Theatre, Film, and Television
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Online bio-bibliographical resource with information on the credits, awards, and ongoing work of contemporary figures in the performing arts. Part of Gale Ebooks. - Encyclopédie du film d'histoireFrench language 4-volume encyclopedia covering the depiction of history on film.
- FIAF Treasures from the Film Archives This link opens in a new window
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Contains unique information about silent-era film holdings in international film archives. It was conceived as a tool to aid the work of preservation, research and film exchange between archives, and provides filmographic and holdings information on over 60,000 works. Included are silent shorts and features, fiction and non-fiction, from 110 of the world's major film archives. See also FIAF International Index to Film Periodicals. - Film Index International This link opens in a new window
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Provides in-depth indexing of international films from the silent period to the present, with selected biographical information, searchable plot summaries, and full cast and crew lists. Based on the Summary of Film and Television database maintained by the British Film Institute. - Gale E-Books (formerly Gale Virtual Reference Library) This link opens in a new window
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Online encyclopedias, dictionaries, and specialized reference sources, primarily in the social sciences and humanities.
- International Dictionary of Films and Filmmakers
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Online via Gale Ebooks. Search by film title or name of director, actor, or designer. Print editions (including earlier ones with different coverage) are available in the Arts Library. - International Encyclopedia of Media Studies
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Encyclopedia arranged across 7 thematic volumes that explore media studies through history, production, content, audiences, effects, and futures. - Motion Picture Copyright Descriptions CollectionForms, abstracts, plot summaries, dialogue and continuity scripts, press kits, publicity and other material, submitted for the purpose of enabling descriptive cataloging for motion pictures registered with the United States Copyright Office under classes L and M from 1912-1977, and under class PA thereafter.
- New Historical Dictionary of the American Film Industry
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Contains entries and bibliographies on a range of topics, including early motion picture companies. Limited to one concurrent user.
- Oxford Bibliographies Online: Cinema and Media Studies This link opens in a new window
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Annotated bibliographies for topics in the field of Cinema and Media Studies. Combines encyclopedia-style introductions with expert recommendations of the most important reference works, books, journals, and primary sources on the topic. - Oxford Dictionary of National Biography This link opens in a new window
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An illustrated collection of 60,000 biographies of men and women who shaped all aspects of Britain's history, up to the present.
- Oxford Handbooks Online This link opens in a new window
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Oxford Handbooks, now a part of Oxford Academic, provide review articles which summarize and analyze current research and trends in a given discipline. UCLA subscribes to most Oxford Handbooks Online, excluding a few individual titles. - Pop Culture Universe: Icons, Idols, Ideas This link opens in a new window
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Overview articles on American and world popular culture, past and present, are arranged by decade, beginning with 1900, and accompanied by supporting reference articles and media and documents.
- Routledge Encyclopedia of Films
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"[C}omprises 200 essays by leading film scholars analysing the most important, influential, innovative and interesting films of all time." - Routledge Encyclopedia of Film Theory
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Contains entries on a range of concepts, including auteur theory, feminist film theory, and Mise en scene. Limited to three concurrent users.
- Routledge Handbooks Online This link opens in a new window
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Handbooks covering a wide range of humanities, social sciences, psychology and some science topics, published by Routledge, Ashgate and other imprints. Some CRC Press handbooks can also be accessed via this particular site. - SAGE Research Methods This link opens in a new window
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Books, reference works, and instructional videos about qualitative and quantitative methodologies in the sciences and social sciences. Includes Research Tools (online tools for planning research and choosing methods), Cases (examples of real research), Video (research process, data science, and methods) and Datasets (sample data chosen specifically to support practice with various statistical analysis methods). Includes Diversifying and Decolonizing Research, and Sage Research Methods Video: Quantitative and Mixed Methods.
- Schirmer Encyclopedia of Film
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Online via Gale Ebooks. The print volumes of this set are also available at the Arts Library. Good for coverage of national cinemas and major genres. - Women Film Pioneers ProjectFeatures information on silent-era producers, directors, co-directors, scenario writers, scenario editors, camera operators, title writers, editors, costume designers, and exhibitors. From Columbia University.
- Audiovisual Lexicon for Media AnalysisProject from the University of Michigan: "a growing library of three-minute streaming videos, each of which features a different expert recruited from cinema and media studies faculty across the world explaining a specific critical media studies term and illustrating how it can be applied to analyze selected film, television, and media examples."
- Cinema Studies: The Key Concepts
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Now in its sixth edition, this essential guide for students provides accessible definitions of a comprehensive range of genres, movements, world cinemas, theories and production terms. - Dictionary of Cultural and Critical Theory
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Online guide to modern ideas in the interdisciplinary fields of cultural and critical theory. Includes bibliographies for most entries. - Johns Hopkins Guide to Literary Theory & Criticism
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Contains entries on individual critics and theorists, critical and theoretical schools and movements, and the critical and theoretical innovations of specific countries and historical periods. - New Historical Dictionary of the American Film Industry
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- Oxford Reference This link opens in a new window
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Spans 25 different subject areas, bringing together 2 million digitized entries across Oxford University Press’s Dictionaries, Companions and Encyclopedias. UC subscription allows limited simultaneous users, so if you can't connect try again later.
- ScreenlexOnline pronunciation guide for media studies. A good tool for prepping verbal presentations in the field.
- Yale Film AnalysisWebsite from Yale with dictionary of vocabulary for film studies and the techniques of cinema.
The UCLA Library owns many reference books of interest to film and television researchers. While some are available online, many more are still accessed primarily in print on the library shelves. Below are some examples.
- International Film, Radio, and Television Journals This bibliography gives histories, name changes, and major editorial details about selected media-focused magazines and journals.
- Silent Film Performers: An Annotated Bibliography of Published, Unpublished, and Archival Sources for Over 350 Actors and Actresses Contains information on clipping files, correspondence, and other print archival holdings in U.S. repositories.
- International Encyclopedia of Communication Twelve-volume encyclopedia with entries on a wide range of media topics, including anime, Bollywood, computer games, design, global media, and more.
- FIAF Treasures from the Film Archives This link opens in a new window
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