My new book, *Television Style,* has just been released by Routledge. Examination copies are available for lecturers/professor. http://www.routledge.com/books/Television-Style-isbn9780415965125 Here's how Routledge's marketing folks describe it: Style matters. Television relies on style—setting, lighting, videography, > editing, and so on—to set moods, hail viewers, construct meanings, build > narratives, sell products, and shape information. Yet, to date, style has > been the most understudied aspect of the medium. In this book, Jeremy Butler > examines the meanings behind television’s stylstic conventions. > > *Television Style* dissects how style signifies and what significance it > has had in specific television contexts. Using hundreds of frame captures > from television programs, *Television Style* dares to look closely at > television. *Miami Vice*, *ER*, soap operas, sitcoms, and commercials, > among other prototypical television texts, are deconstructed in an attempt > to understand how style functions in television. *Television Style* also > assays the state of style during an era of media convergence and the > ostensible demise of network television. > > This book is a much needed introduction to television style, and essential > reading at a moment when the medium is undergoing radical transformation, > perhaps even a stylistic renaissance. > > Discover additional examples and resources, including a sample chapter, on > the companion website: http://www.tvstylebook.com . > *Reviews:* “Television Style cuts through the cultural and academic haze that still > clouds television, providing scholars and students with an incisive, > comprehensive, and much-needed study detailing the intricacies and nuances > of television as an artform.” > > –John T. Caldwell, Professor of Cinema and Media Studies, UCLA, author of > *Production Culture: Industrial Reflexivity and Critical Practice in Film > and Television* and *Televisuality: Style, Crisis, and Authority in > American Television*. > > “Once upon a time in Hollywood, creative people treated TV like the > annoying little brother who always wanted to play with the big kids. If you > were a TV director, good luck making the leap into the more respectable > medium. And, if you were a film director, why on earth would you deign to > work for that tiny screen? Well, things have changed, to say the least. > The old biases no longer apply, particularly when it comes to style, and > Jeremy Butler has provided an account of a medium that has never been as > dynamic as it is today. In the past decade, television style has evolved at > a dizzying rate, and Butler charts the changes with a clear-eyed energy > appropriate for a medium that, many agree, has left its elder sibling in the > dust.” > > –Ken Kwapis, film and television director, *The Office, The Larry Sanders > Show*, and *He’s Just Not That Into You*. > > “Television has grown more stylish in the last decade, and Butler’s book > explain how and why this has happened. This book places film theory and > criticism in dialogue with masterful research on television production to > illuminate these important changes. The rise of single-camera television > and the role of the TV director are finally given the credit they are due > for making TV today as exciting as cinema ever was.” > > –Ellen Seiter, Stephen K. Nenno Endowed Chair in Television Studies, USC, > author of *The Internet Playground: Childen’s Access, Entertainment and > Mis-education* and *Sold Separately: Children and Parents in Consumer > Culture*. > *Table of Contents:* Introduction The introduction establishes the importance of stylistic analysis and discusses the strengths and weaknesses of such an approach. It surveys some of the significant essays/books that have incorporated close analysis of moving-image texts—both in television and film. Available online: http://www.tvstylebook.com/sample-chapter/ Chapter 1: Television and Zero-Degree Style -- "zero-degree" television style and the soap opera. Chapter 2: Stylistic Crossover: From Film to Television -- the crossover of film noir from cinema to TV in *Miami Vice*. Chapter 3: The Persuasive Power of Style -- persuasive style and commercials. Chapter 4: Style in an Age of Uncertainty -- style in the age of convergence, the failure of *ER*'s online efforts. Chapter 5: Television and Televisuality -- "excessive" style in the single-camera sitcom. -- Jeremy Butler www.TVStyleBook.com Professor - TCF Dept. - U Alabama ---- Screen-L is sponsored by the Telecommunication & Film Dept., the University of Alabama: http://www.tcf.ua.edu