I need to do some research in Film Studies. Where do I start?

SEARCH KEYWORDS

To improve your results in HOLLIS, Academic Search Premier, JSTOR and other multidisciplinary resources, try adding some of the following terms:  

  • ‘film’, ‘cinema’, ‘motion pictures’, ‘movie’
  • Genre terms (documentary, film noir, silent film, horror)
  • Technical terms (lighting, cinematography, editing)
  • Geographic terms (United States, France, Hollywood, Nollywood)

KEY DATABASES

Film & Television Index Fulltext is the top database for scholarship in this field.

FIAF Index to Film Periodicals Database covers silent film particularly well, and includes some European journals not included in Film & Television Index Fulltext.

Film Index International finds production information (cast, crew, production company, etc.) and biographical information. Think of it as IMDB with quality control and without the ads.

FURTHER GUIDANCE

Reed Lowrie, the library liaison to Film, is available to support researchers via email or in-person consultation.

Film Research at Harvard offers helpful starting points for film research.

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