Writing on the Edge

Paratexts in Narrative Cinema

by Johannes Mahlknecht

Book cover: Writing on the Edge

Extent: 179 pages

Publisher: Universitätsverlag Winter

Subjects: Music & Performing Arts

Series: Film and Television Studies

Series volume number: 3

Language: English

Hardback (Published)

(April 2016)

ISBN: 9783825364748

6.06 x 9.21 inches

Price: $55.00

In stock

Writing on the Edge analyzes texts that surround movies – so-called filmic paratexts. They include opening and closing credits, film posters, and tie-in products such as novelizations. More accessory than an actual part of the film they accompany, paratexts nevertheless serve as an essential framing device that generates expectations and guides audiences through their viewing experience. The book discusses the exchange between the extradiegetic nature of paratexts and the diegesis of the films proper – the space between the producers’ attempts to ‘advertise a product’ and the filmmakers’ attempts to ‘tell a story’. ‘Writing on the Edge’ investigates cinema’s manifold conventions developed to link these realms. In doing so, the book analyzes a wide range of credit sequences and promotional materials covering all periods of film history.

  • By (author) Johannes Mahlknecht