A01=Pansy Duncan
Author_Pansy Duncan
Category=ATFA
early cinema
Early film technology
eco-materialism
Eco-materialist approaches to cinema
eq_art-fashion-photography
eq_bestseller
eq_isMigrated=1
eq_isMigrated=2
eq_nobargain
eq_non-fiction
Film aesthetics
film history
film stock
film-philosophy
Gelatin
History of film stock
silver and celluloid
The raw materials of early cinema
Product details
- ISBN 9781399548250
- Dimensions: 138 x 216mm
- Publication Date: 31 Oct 2025
- Publisher: Edinburgh University Press
- Publication City/Country: GB
- Product Form: Paperback
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The Natural History of Film Form argues that, more than simply ingredients in film stock, gelatin, silver and celluloid helped shape early film aesthetics. Drawing on fan and industry periodicals, as well as the testimony of pioneering filmmakers and film manufacturers, the book reveals that the politico-material properties of these geo- and bio-physical materials influenced a range of aesthetic regimes from the turn-of-the century trick film, to developments in popular science cinema, to early studio-era fantasies of the silver screen. In the process, the book offers a fresh perspective on the interplay between nature and culture in film history.
Pansy Duncan is a senior lecturer in the Media Studies programme at Massey University, Auckland, where she writes on the politics of film and media aesthetics in both contemporary and historical contexts. She is also the author of The Emotional Life of Postmodern Film (2016) and the co-author, with Missy Molloy and Claire Henry, of Screening the Posthuman (2023).
