Filmography

A filmography is a list of films related by some criteria. For example, an actor's career filmography is the list of films they have appeared in; a director's comedy filmography is the list of comedy films directed by a particular director.

Filmographies are not limited to associations with particular people. For example, the Handbook of American Film Genres (1988, ISBN 0-313-24715-3) includes "19 substantive essays on major American film genres", each accompanied by a "valuable selected filmography."[1] In 1998, the University of Washington sponsored a university-wide "All Powers Project" which assembled a filmography of films related to the Cold War Red Scare, which consisted of "motion pictures that played a role in fueling the Red Scare, in propagandizing the threat of Communism and in a few rare and rather veiled cases, in standing up to the charges of the House Committee on Un-American Activities."[2]

Another example is the filmography published by a library director at Brigham Young University–Idaho of over 500 films "that in some significant or memorable way include a library or librarian", a filmography assembled to better understand Hollywood's stereotypes of librarians.[3] The Georgia Department of Economic Development, whose responsibilities include promoting film production in the U.S. state of Georgia, maintains a filmography of such films.[4]

Etymology

[edit]

The term, which has been in use since at least 1957,[5] is modeled on and analogous to "bibliography", a list of books. As lists, filmographies are distinct from the cinematic arts of "videography" and "cinematography", which refer to the processes themselves, and which are analogous to "photography" instead.[original research?][citation needed]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "Film Reference Sources: A Selective Guide". UC Berkeley Library. Retrieved 2011-02-24.
  2. ^ "The Red Scare: A Filmography". University of Washington Libraries. Archived from the original on 2011-07-20. Retrieved 2011-02-24.
  3. ^ Martin H. Raish. "Librarians in the Movies — An Annotated Filmography". Brigham Young University–Idaho. Archived from the original on 2020-08-12. Retrieved 2011-02-24.
  4. ^ "Georgia Filmography". Georgia Department of Economic Development. Archived from the original on 2011-02-23. Retrieved 2011-02-24.
  5. ^ "Filmography". Merriam-Webster. Retrieved 2011-02-24.

Further reading

[edit]
[edit]