Research

The Moving Image Source Research Guide is a gateway to the best online resources related to film, television, and digital media.

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Databases

  • MPAA Market Statistics  
    This site lists MPAA ratings for all rated films, and also publishes useful year-by-year box office reports analyzing "office trends, admissions trends, and consumer attitudes." Users can also see domestic and international box office rankings, demographic studies, and statistics about piracy.
  • National Association of Theater Owners Statistics  
    A set of lists summarizing yearly American grosses, film attendance, and active film screens. The group also rates the popularity of various theater chains.
  • National Film Board of Canada  
    The National Film Board of Canada’s website has streaming video of more than 700 films, trailers, and clips for free viewing. The collection is easy to browse and includes animation, documentaries, narrative films, and experimental films, in French and English. The Playlists section consists of annotated viewing lists from invited film experts.
  • New Media Encyclopedia  
    A large database of new-media art and videotaped performance art, taken from the collections of various European institutions. In English, French, and German.
  • New York Times: Movies  
    A complete, searchable archive of New York Times film reviews. The search function links to an extensive database of profiles on individual films, filmmakers, and actors.
  • Old Corral: B Westerns  
    An extensive fan-created database of B westerns made during the heyday of the Hollywood studio system, between 1930 and 1960. Users can find information and photos on individual productions and on the stars of B westerns. Also included is historical information on the rise and fall of B picture/western production during this period.
  • PFA Cinefiles  
    The Pacific Film Archive conducts primary source research for the films it shows and has posted the results of that research. The database includes reviews, press kits, festival and showcase program notes, newspaper articles, and more, covering more than 30,000 films. Materials that are not copyright-protected are available (usually as .GIF or .JPG files) for download.
  • Ray Carney  
    The official website of Ray Carney, a leading critic and scholar on American independent film and art film. The website has three sections with selections from Carney's lectures, interviews, and writing: the John Cassavetes Pages, the Independent Film Pages, and Film and Other Arts Pages.
  • Scottish Screen Archives  
    While its primary purpose is to provide an online catalog of films in the Scottish Screen Archives collection, this website also offers over a thousand clips extracted from its holdings. In addition to these clips, each listing includes a detailed description. Users may browse the films and television programs in the archives' holdings by place, subject, biography, or decade.
  • Selectparks  
    A regularly updated compendium on the intersection of art and gaming, with an extensive bibliography and links section, archives, and downloads.
  • Shakespeare in Film and Television Database  
    This site, run by the British Universities Film and Video Council, is a database of all film and video adaptations of Shakespeare's work. Each entry features a very short synopsis and production information. Includes a "references and reviews" section, which features bibliographic references to the film listed.
  • The Alliance of Women Film Journalists  
    The Alliance of Women Film Journalists, Inc. (AWFJ) is an association of professional female movie critics, reporters, and feature writers working in print, broadcast, and online media. The AWFJ website keeps an active record of fiction feature and documentary films that are by and/or about women or focus on women’s issues. The online magazine features interviews, profiles, reviews, and essays.
  • The Criterion Collection  
    Since 1984, the Criterion Collection has been dedicated to gathering important classic and contemporary films from around the world and publishing them in editions that offer the highest technical quality and award-winning, original supplements. The website offers an “online cinematheque” with the possibility to buy or watch films online, film essays, interviews, reviews, top-ten lists, and festivals online.
  • The New Carl Theodor Dreyer Website  
    This website devoted to the Danish director Carl Theodor Dreyer features a biography, a filmography, a selection of short films and clips, scripts in Danish, and a database for the collection held by the Danish Film Institute (DFI).
  • UCLA Film & Television Archive Catalog  
    UCLA Film & Television Archive holds over 250,000 films and television programs produced from the 1890s to the present. The collection includes independent and studio-produced shorts and feature films, local and network TV programming, and 27 million feet of Hearst newsreels.
  • Variety Magazine  
    Box office statistics for every major release, industry news, and film and television reviews (both current and historical).
  • Video Art in Canada  
    A directory of films and artists, with video clips.
  • Warcraft Movies  
    Archive of machinima films made with the video game Warcraft, available for streaming or download to paid subscribers. Users can also submit their own films to the archive.