A comprehensive overview of how to study film, this updated third edition provides concise and provocative summaries for approaching the language of film analysis, ways of thinking about film history, and approaches and methods for studying cinema, from national cinemas to genre to stardom and beyond.

The new edition tracks the changes in film production and exhibition by situating the study of film within contemporary digital media cultures and structures, such as social media and streaming platforms. Without forsaking its emphasis on the study of film, the third edition updates its examples and provides fresh insight into today's image culture.

Film Studies: The Basics provides beginning students in film studies, as well as lifelong film buffs, with the tools to pursue film analysis, film history, and further inquiries into the medium.

Amy Villarejo was the Frederic J. Whiton Professor of Humanities at Cornell University and is currently Professor in the Department of Film, TV, and Digital Media in the School of Theater, Film & Television at UCLA. She is the author of Lesbian Rule: Cultural Criticism and the Value of Desire (2003) and Ethereal Queer: Television, Historicity, Desire (2014), as well as articles on film and television in scores of journals and anthologies.