The American Film Institute Desk Reference
The American Film Institute Desk Reference: The Complete Guide to Everything You Need to Know About the Movies
Melinda Corey and George Ochoa, Editors-in-Chief
Published by Dorling Kindersley, 2002. Copyright held by The Stonesong Press and The American Film Institute.
This is a slick, colorful, hardbound book measuring 7.5" by 9.5" and running 608 pages including preface, introduction, "how to use this book," the meat of the book, the list of sources, the index, and the photo credits.
With photo illustrations on every page, the book covers basic facts on all aspects of the film industry. The book is divided into sections covering Movie History (in decades back to 1900 and a section for 1830-1899); Movie Basics (with such things as Studios; Features and Other Films; Film, Camera, and Projector; and How Much Are They Paid); Movie Crafts (Producing, Directing, Acting, Writing, Editing, Sound, etc.); People In Film (Actors, Directors, Screenwriters, Familiar Faces, Costume Designers, Stunt People, etc.); and Films (various important critics' and scholars' lists and award winners). Interspersed among these sections are readable essays by celebrities.
The book is designed to please the film buff more than the scholar, but it has a wealth of information that can make it satisfying to both as a very basic reference. With numerous full-page film stills, the book is designed for fun browsing as much as information-seeking.
My two complaints about the book are with its American bias and its superficiality. Granted, it is the desk reference of the American Film Institute, so American film should be expected to be the center of attention, but the book presents itself as a reference on the subject of movies, not the subject of American movies, which is what it is actually about. The book's superficiality is only partially a consequence of its breadth and limited size. It also seems geared toward an audience of film consumers rather than film students. Thus, there is little to no discussion of matters of technique in the sections on directing and cinematography, but plenty of anecdotes and things like separated blocks of text showing us "who says what" on a film set.
It's a fun book, and can probably be used to find some useful information, but for serious students of film more narrowly focused reference books or a film encyclopedia will probably be more satisfying and useful.
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