April 8, 2018

Having an ample supply of electronic research sources on hand is essential for the writer. While more sources can always be added, old ones deleted, or at least placed in a "rarely used" folder, it can be beneficial to organize them to include descriptions as a means of identifying what topics can be derived from for various articles or stories. This is where cataloguing comes in handy, and best of all, no fancy software is required to complete the job.

December 23, 2017

The average person conducting a fairly in-depth Google search on a well-known classic film like "Stagecoach" (1939) will come across a film directory or two that shows the searched film title in another language, like French or German. While this information might seem intriguing, maybe even useful in a game of film trivia, online foreign language film directories serve as a valuable tool for the film researcher.

November 26, 2017

One of the most common types of articles seen on the Internet today are photo stories. A photo story is a type of article that literally tells the main part of the story using photos, with only two or three short sentences per photo. Websites such as Scribol and Acid Cow are just a few examples that have photo stories dominating them. Usually media-rich (a photo story layout permits for multiple video-ads), the main value of a photo story is not just to entertain but also to educate.

September 9, 2017

While an online newspaper database can be a goldmine for film research, foreign newspaper archives can provide both research information and photo images not easily found elsewhere. Newspapers.com contain a few foreign newspapers from countries like the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada and Ireland - primarily English-language newspapers - but what it does not contain are newspapers from nations such as France, Spain or Germany.

June 4, 2017

Locating a silent film bearing the "lost" status can be a challenge to the researcher who is interested in finding out if a print of the film does in fact exist, whether it be in a film archive or a private collection. A film archive, like any other museum archive, constantly accessions and deaccessions objects in its collections. Trying to locate a lost silent film can be a challenege, since silent film loss is around 75% according to a study conducted by the Library of Congress.

May 13, 2017

One of the more interesting aspects of collecting vintage printed film memorabilia is the comparison of how they were made in the past to how they are presently made for movie theatres. Lobby cards, posters in all sizes from one-sheets to 24-sheets (billboard size) were intended for movie promotional use to place inside of movie theatre lobbies as well as the outside walls. In addition, foreign movie lobby cards and posters vary in size by country, such as England, Spain, Germany and France.

March 28, 2017

While publicity materials such as pressbooks (also referred to as presskits) are useful tools in writing about films, finding a digital copy online might be a challenge, depending upon the movie written about and the popularity of press materials for the film in question. Some film archives will have a portion of their collections digitalized and easily accessible online like the William K. Everson Archive at NYU, while others may require an in-person visit, such as the film archives at UCLA.

February 7, 2017

One unique writing form is the retelling of a folk tale or fairy tale with a modern twist. Stories like "Cinderella", "Puss in Boots", "Snow White", and "Hansel and Gretel" have all undergone the modernization treatment, appearing in both print and film format. The writer who is seeking to retell a folk or fairy tale might be presented with the problem of which story to pick (in this case sometimes a less-popular story is worth selecting), then the modernization part: what elements of the story should be brought up to date?

January 1, 2017

The writer of silent film reviews can look to press releases and reviews appearing in Hollywood trade publications as original source material, but for a more in-depth film review containing details about the story and dialogue, a film script can fill in many of the holes when a copy of the actual film print is not readily available for viewing.

November 20, 2016

While the average western story conjures up names like Zane Grey and Louis L'Amour, such works of fiction need not be confined to the realm of traditional westerns. Case in point: "Bonanza" television episodes "Hoss and the Leprechauns" written by Robert Barron, and "Sam Hill", written by David Dortort. The former title is self-explanatory, but the latter is about a friend of the Cartwrights named Sam Hill who also happens to be a mystic (portrayed by Claude Akins).