ACRL College & Research Libraries News

Association of College & Research Libraries

Internet resources for film and television

By Anthony J. Adam Anthony J. Adam is a reference librarian at Prairie View A&M University, Prairie View, Texas; e-mail: z115aa@tamvm1.tamu.edu

The proliferation of film and TV sites on the Internet reflects the high entertainment value of this resource. Many of the following sites should be popular with both academic and public users, especially the film review and television show homepages. However, a num- ber of professional organizations have devel- oped excellent sites which should be useful for serious researchers. This article includes only a small sample of the hundreds of current sites.

I focus on World Wide Web (WWW) sites primarily because they reflect the elegance and richness of the Internet as a public search tool, although I also include a few bulletin board (bbs)/mailing list sites for patrons with e-mail. As many of the following titles give little clue as to what the site holds, I have also briefly annotated each entry. In general, the studio sites are poor tools, with few coming attractions and almost nonexistent press information. Conversely, such academic sites as Cardiff and Screensite deserve special mention for their high quality and ease of use. Finally, a caveat: the majority of these sites require audiovisual software for full utilization; however, anyone who has tried to download even a one-minute film clip knows it normally isn’t worth the time and effort. It probably is not a good idea to have students tying up terminal time watching Jim Carrey highlights.

I’d like to thank Casey Hopkins of the Cabinet of Dr. Casey for his input!

Ed. note:A few abbreviations are used throughout the article. FAQ means frequently asked questions; GIF means graphic interface file.

General link sites

• CinemaSpace. Includes the journal CinemaSpace, plus information on film studies resources, and a lecture on “Cinema and Beyond.” Access: http://remarque.berkeley.edu: 8001/~xcohen.

• CineMedia Site. This Australian-based site contains 400+ links to other cinema sites. Access: http://www.gu.edu.au/gwis/cinemedia.

• Clamen’s Movie Information Collection. An access point for numerous other sites, including Hollyweb and CineMedia. Access: http://www.cs.emu.edu:8001/afs/cs.emu.edu/ user/clamen.

• Film.Com. Spotlights review of new films, openings, and video releases, and includes interviews, criticism, film festival information, and news. More up-to-date than studio sites. Access: http://www.film.com.

• Guide to Film and Video Resources on the Internet. The link to all other film sites on the Internet. Access: http://http2.sils.umich. edu/Public/fvl/film.html.

• Screensite: Film & TV Studies. This site offers almost everything anyone would want to know about the field, including educational resources (syllabi, textbook samplings), school information, job postings, archives, studio information, and links to almost every other site. The starting point for film/TV studies (along with Yahoo). Access: http://www.sa.ua.edu/ TCF/welcome.html.

• TV Net. Access to almost any network around the world, plus highlighted materials (e.g., the O. J. Simpson trial). This is an excellent starting point for TV programs. It claims 499 links to l6l shows. It also includes information on world television. Access: http:// www.tvnet.com.

• Yahoo. The central gathering point for all film and television related material, including all sites on this list. Access: http:// www.yahoo.com/Entertainment.

Organizations

• Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences. Information on the Academy itself; also a prime Oscar site, along with http:// guide.oscars.org. Access: http://www.ampas.org/ampas.

• FCC. Mostly gopher material, including speeches, the Daily Digest, fees, mass media materials; provides WAIS searcher. Access: http: //fee.gov.

• National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) Homepage. Includes news releases, convention information, and access to the NAB Library. Access: http://www.nab.org.

• National Association of Telecommunications Officers and Advisors. Cable franchise operators and how they deal with FCC regulations. Access: http://www.natoa. org.

• National Student Television Association Homepage. NaSTA is the parent organization for British student TV networks. The site includes links to Britain’s Channel 4, the BBC, Scandinavian student TV sites, and Polish Public Television. Access: http://www.cs.bham.ac. uk:80/~amw/NaSTA. Individual films and genres

• Alien Homepage. Unusual (and bloody) GIFs, FAQ lists, and Giger information for all three Alien films, plus rumors concerning Alien4. Access: http://dutial.twi.tudelft.nl/ ~alien/alien.html.

• Cabinet of Dr. Casey. A prime source for horror movie information, past and present, with links to other nonhorror sites; some audio and video. Access: http://www.ee.pdx.edu:80/ ~caseyh/horror.

• Brennon Rankin’s Cult Movie Site. Links to information on many new and old cult movies; see also the Cult Shop (http:// www.public.iastate.edu/~abormann) for new cult movies and stars. Access: http://wwwpub. utdallas.edu :/80/~brankin.

• Experimental Film and Video Gopher. Includes summaries of materials from the Prelinger Archives. Access: gopher://gopher. well, sf.ca.us/ll/art/experimental.film. and. video.

• The Gathering: Highlander WWW Site. Features the movies Highlander I & II, TV series information, FAQs, and episode guide; lots of text, but no audiovisual. Access: http:// www.seachange.com/highlander.

• Hong Kong Movies Homepage. Everything you’d want to know about Hong Kong (e.g., John Woo) films. Access: http://www. mdstud.chalmers.se/hkmovie.

• James Bond Homepage. Excellent information on all Bond movies, actors, and plots, including some audio. Access: http://www.dur. ac.uk/~dcs3pjb/jb/jbhome.html.

• Rocky Horror Picture Show (RHPS) Web. RHPS scripts, parodies, FAQs, and lots of audio and video. Access: http://weber.u. Washington.edu/~hades/pages/rhps.html.

• Star Trek (Mr. Video Productions). Handy information on films and TV series; great GIFs; many links to other sites. Access: http:// www.ftms.com/vidiot.

• Star Wars Multimedia WWW Page. Focuses on Star Wars films (including the upcoming A New Hope), some script information, and audiovisual; includes material on the Star Wars TV series. Access: http://bantha.pc.cc. emu.edu: 1138/SW-HOME.html.

• The VAMPYRES Film List. Synopses and biographical information on almost every vampire film, series, and cartoon ever made. Access: http://ubu.hahnemann.edu/Misc/vamp- mov.html.

Film directors

• Alfred Hitchcock’s WWW. A good example of what a personality site should be. It lists all the films, performances, and cameos, and information on ice blondes and favorite actors. Access: http://nextdch.mty.itesm.mx/- plopezg/kaplan/hitchcock.html.

• Le Monde du Tarantino.Devotional to Quentin Tarantino; see also Quentin Tarantino Central at http://trill.pc.cc.cmu.edu/~jkoga/qt_ gallery.html. Access: http://www.ios.com/~ jbonne/qt/.

• Stanley Kubrick Homepage. Primarily a collection of reviews and video bites from Cardiff and Voyager. Access: http://www.lehigh. edu/~pjl2/kubrick.html.

• Taylorology Gopher. E-journal devoted to the 1920s murder of Hollywood director William Desmond Taylor. Access: gopher://pi.la. asu.edu/1HD%3AGopherServer%s3.

Film reviews

• Cardiff Movie Database Browser (a.k.a. Internet Movie Database). Perform title, actor, genre, production company, etc., searches on 40,000-plus movies, past and present. Users can add information as needed. Includes some TV information and links to other sites. Access: http://www.msstate.edu/movies.

• Foresight Entertainments Centre. A quick link to new movies. Access: http:// www.foresight.co.uk/ents.

• Hollyweb. A good source for film reviews garnered from many publications. Access: http://www.ingress.com/user/spease/hw/ hollyweb.html.

• Hollywood Online. Reviews, clips, and interviews. Access: http://hollywood.com.

• Professor Neon’s TV & Movie Mania. A good site for audio and video clips from numerous movies, including bombs and foreign films. Access: http://www.vortex.com/ ProfNeon.html.

• Pathfinder Reviews Page (Time- Warner). Movie reviews from Time and Entertainment Weekly, plus related articles and links to other sites. Access: http://pathfinder. com/pathfinder/ reviews/reviews.html.

• Video: The Video and Movie Reviews Database. User-posted reviews of movies primarily released since 1987. Access: gopher:// isumvs.iastate.edu/1%7EDB .video.

Film studios

• Disney/Buena Vista (a.k.a. Buena Vista Movieplex). Features film clips, press information from new and recent releases, interviews, and stills. Though small, it is the best of the studio sites. Access: http://www. disney.com.

• MGM/UA: The Lion’s Den. Coming attractions, current films, and projects. Primarily audiovisual. Access: http://www.digiplanet. com/mgm.

• Paramount/Viacom. Features only Star Trek: Voyager information; hear Kate Mulgrew, see episode clips, read Captain’s Log. Access: http://paramount.com or http://voyager. paramount.com.

Television networks

• BBC. Daily program schedules, job postings, online BBC magazines, and background information. Access: http://www.bbcnc.org.uk.

• Bravo! Weekly program guide for Bravo!, the 24-hour Canadian Arts and Entertainment channel. Access: http://www.bravo.ca/ bravo.html.

• CBS Television Home Page. Information on The Late Show with David Letterman, The Late Late Show, CBS Sports, and CBS News. Access: http://www.cbs.com.

• C-SPAN. Primarily ordering information for transcripts. Access: gopher://c-span.org.

• ESPN SportsZone. Features articles, photos, and program updates for ESPN, ESPN2, and ESPN Radio. Very popular with students. Access: http://espnet.sportszone.com/studios.

• Fox Broadcasting Systems. Links to homepages and sites for Fox programs, including Married . . . With Children and Mighty Morphin Power Rangers. Lots of news! Access: http://www.eden.com/users/my-html/fox.html.

• MCA/Universal Cyberwalk. Features audiovisual clips and information from both the Universal Channel (.Law & Order, Dream On, New York Undercover) and Universal Pictures’ new releases. Access: http://www.mca.com.

• PBS. Monthly program listings, news, and job postings with links to other PBS program homepages (e.g., Reading Rainbow). Access: http://www.pbs.org.

• Sci-Fi Channel. This site has primarily time and date show postings. Access: http:// www.scifi.com.

• United Paramount Network. Link to the new network (Platypus Man, Pig Sty, et al.). Access: http://www.ftms.com/vidiot/ upn.html.

• Warner Brothers Network. Unofficial link to the new network with the dancing frog logo. Access: http://www.cs.brandeis.edu/ ~aaron/wb/wb.html.

Television news

• Vanderbilt Television News Archive.

Since August 5, 1968, the TV News Archive has recorded, abstracted, and indexed national TV newscasts. A prime source for all broadcast news. Access: http://tvnews.vanderbilt.edu.

Television shows

• Beavis and Butthead. Includes episode guide, GIFs, audio, and links to other BnB sites. Access: http://beavis.cba.uiuc.edu.

• British Comedy Pages. Information on Britcoms, film series (e.g., “Carry On . . . and biographies. Access: http://beavis.cba.uiuc.edu.

• Definitive UK Sitcom List. An annotated list of every British sitcom, updated monthly. Access: gopher://info.mcc.ac.uk:70/l1/miscellany/sitcom.

• Gay and Lesbian Television. Definitive list of all gay/lesbian characters on U.S. and U.K. television. Access: telnet: wyatt@ccu. umanitoba.ca.

• Index of ftp/pub/tv. Quick access to information on Babylon-5, Lois and Clark, Adventures of Brisco County, SeaQuest, and other recent shows. Access: http://www.hyperion.com/ftp/pub/tv.

• John’s Mystery Science Theater 3000 WWW Page. An episode guide with audio, GIFs, and links to other sites. Access: http:// www.engin.umich.edu/~jgotts/mst3k.html.

• Monty Python Sketch Scripts. Classic routines from films, live performances, and some TV. Access: gopher://gopher.ocf. berkeley.edu/11/library/Monty_Python.

• Science Fiction TV Shows Upcoming Episodes. This site only lists episode titles, but is a good source for previews. Access: http:// www.hyperion.com/ftp/pub/tv/sftv-sched.

• Sitcom Page. Links to currently running and/or recent U.S. sitcoms. Access: http:// pmwww.cs.vu.nl:80/service/sitcoms.

• Tardis Television Database. Annotated episode guides to hundreds of international television shows, past and present; a good starting point for episode hunts. Access: http://www.tardis.ed.ac.uk/~dave/ guides/index, html.

• The Tonight Show with Jay Leno Homepage. Features Jay and his guests, with samples from his funny headline collection. Access: http://www.nbctonightshow.com.

• X-Files. Includes FAQs, newsgroup information, episode guides, and some audiovisual. Access: http://www.rutgers.edu/x- files.html.

• Xuxa Homepage. Highlights Brazilian-based international performer Xuxa. Access: http://:rt66.com/cj/xuxa .html. Other material

• Cinema Seattle. International film festivals may list their schedules and programs here. Access: http://www.film.com/film/filmfests.

• HollyNet. Electronic marketplace for entertainment-related information, image databases, and online services. Access: http:// cwis.use.edu/dept/etc/hollynet.

• Movie Cliches List. Hilarious list of standard plot devices, etc., that demonstrates how little things change. Access: http://www.well. com/www/vertigo/cliches.html.

• TV Censorship Archive. Brief annotated citations to various cases of TV censorship (e.g., the Roseanne lesbian kiss). Access: http://fileroom.aaup.uic.edu/FileRoom/documents/Mbroadcastmedia.html.

Discussion groups

• CINEMA-L: Popular/general discussion. Access: listserv@american.edu.

• FILM-L: Popular/general discussion. listserv%vmtecmex.bitnet@vm1.nodak.edu.

• SCREEN-L: Academic discussion. listserv@ualvm.ua.edu.

Specific bulletin boards are devoted to many topics including: alt.arts.tv.soaps; alt.movies.silent; alt.sex.movies; alt.tv. simpsons; clari.news.movies (industry news); rec.art.movies, re views.

These bulletin boards are devoted to the work of specific directors: alt.fan.quentintarantino; alt.fan.woody-allen; alt.movies.kubrick; alt.movies.scorsese; alt.movies.spielberg.