Approaches to the detailed analysis of film and related questions about interpretation and value are once again being widely debated in film studies. Style and meaning is the first edited collection for many years to focus on these matters. All the essays centre on methods of close analysis and ground their discussion in the detail of individual films. With a common focus on the decisions made by film-makers, the writers explore different aspects of the relationship between textual detail and broader conceptual frameworks. The selection of texts has been made to reflect not only those areas of film history which have traditionally been explored through mise-en-scene criticism, but also areas such as the avant-garde and television drama which have not tended to receive such detailed investigation. In these ways, the book conducts a series of dialogues with issues in film study which are specifically provoked by close analysis.

John Gibbs is Senior Lecturer in Film and Television at the University of the Arts, London Douglas Pye is Senior Lecturer in Film in the Department of Film, Theatre and Television at the University of Reading