Television: Critical Methods and Applications, 4th Edition

By Jeremy G. Butler

Book Overview

For nearly two decades, Television: Critical Methods and Applications has served as the foremost guide to television studies. Designed for the television studies course in communication and media studies curricula, Television explains in depth how television programs and commercials are made and how they function as producers of meaning. Author Jeremy G. Butler shows the ways in which camera style, lighting, set design, editing, and sound combine to produce meanings that viewers take away from their television experience. He supplies students with a whole toolbox of implements to disassemble television and read between the lines, teaching them to incorporate critical thinking into their own television viewing. The fourth edition builds upon the pedagogy of previous editions to best accommodate current modes of understanding and teaching television. Highlights of the fourth edition include: New chapter and part organization to reflect the current approach to teaching television--with greatly expanded methods and theories chapters. An entirely new chapter on modes of production and their impact on what you see on the screen. Discussions integrated throughout on the latest developments in television's on-going convergence with other media, such as material on transmedia storytelling and YouTube's impact on video distribution. Over three hundred printed illustrations, including new and better quality frame grabs of recent television shows and commercials. A companion website featuring color frame grabs, a glossary, flash cards, and editing and sound exercises for students, as well as PowerPoint presentations, sample syllabi and other materials for instructors. Links to online videos that support examples in the text are also provided. With its distinctive approach to examining television, Television is appropriate for courses in television studies, media criticism, and general critical studies.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0415883288
• ISBN13: 9780415883283
• Release Date: November 2011
• Publisher: Routledge
• Length: 512 Pages
• Weight: 2.13 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.8" x 1.0" x 6.8"

Customer Reviews

Interesting Text Book

I was required to buy "Television: Critical Methods and Applications" for my Film and Television class, and it is by far the most interesting text book i've read so far in my college career. It addresses advanced concepts in language that is easy to follow and understand.

Author Comments

Television: Critical Methods and Applications encourages readers to think critically about TV.Videography, editing, acting, set design, lighting and sound are analyzed and explained in terms of how they are used to tell stories, present news, and sell products to TV viewers.This student-friendly text provides critical and historical contexts, discussing how critical methods have been applied to the medium and highlighting the evolution of television style through the decades.Television is illustrated with hundreds of frame grabs from TV programs. Its companion Website presents color versions of these black-and-white figures and augments them with video clips, sample student papers, syllabi, and other material.Reviews of the first edition:"This is, quite simply, the best book out there for teaching introductory TV courses. The text is well-conceived and engaging, and Butler does a superb job of illustrating the formal and aesthetic structures of television in a clear and readable manner."--Tara McPherson (USC School of Cinema-TV)"An ideal text for courses introducing television to undergraduates."--David Bordwell (U Wisconsin; Author, Film Art)"The best textbook on television available today."--Ellen Seiter (UCSD)