This title examines the remarkable life of Peter Jackson. Readers will learn about his family background, childhood, and education, his career as a movie producer and director, and his famous works. Color photos and informative sidebars accompany easy-to-read, compelling text. Features include a timeline, fast facts, list of famous works, and a critical evaluation activity.Checkerboard Library is an imprint of Abdo Publishing, a division of ABDO.

All businesses strive for excellence in today’s technology-based environment in which customers want solutions at the touch of a button. This highly regarded textbook provides in-depth coverage of the principles of operations and supply chain management and explains how to design, implement, and maintain processes for sustainable competitive advantage. This text offers a unique combination of theory and practice with a strategic, results-driven approach. Now in its fourth edition, Operations Management for Business Excellence has been updated to reflect major advances and future trends in supply chain management. A new chapter on advanced supply chain concepts covers novel logistics technology, information systems, customer proximity, sustainability, and the use of multiple sales channels. As a platform for discussion, the exploration of future trends includes self-driving vehicles, automation and robotics, and omnichannel retailing. Features include: A host of international case studies and examples to demonstrate how theory translates to practice, including Airbus, Hewlett Packard, Puma, and Toyota. A consistent structure to aid learning and retention: Each chapter begins with a detailed set of learning objectives and finishes with a chapter summary, a set of discussion questions and a list of key terms. Fully comprehensive with an emphasis on the practical, this textbook should be core reading for advanced undergraduate and postgraduate students of operations management and supply chain management. It would also appeal to executives who desire an understanding of how to achieve and maintain ‘excellence’ in business. Online resources include lecture slides, a glossary, test questions, downloadable figures, and a bonus chapter on project management.

Visual continuity in sequels poses a daunting challenge for filmmakers as they strive to maintain coherence while expanding upon established narratives and visual aesthetics. With cinema's evolution, audiences' expectations have grown more sophisticated, demanding seamless transitions and immersive experiences across film series. However, achieving this continuity requires a delicate balance between honoring the original work and introducing innovative elements to captivate viewers. Addressing this complication is the book, Studies on Cinematography and Narrative in Film: Sequels, Serials, and Trilogies, which emerges with a comprehensive approach. By delving into the interplay between cinematography and narrative structure, this book offers invaluable insights for filmmakers seeking to navigate the complexities of sequel production. Through meticulous analysis of prominent film series and theoretical frameworks, it provides a roadmap for achieving visual coherence while pushing creative boundaries.

Peter Jackson is one of the most acclaimed and influential contemporary film-makers. This is the first book to combine the examination of Jackson's career with an in-depth critical analysis of his films, thus providing readers with the most comprehensive study of the New Zealand film-maker's body of work. The first section of the book concentrates on Jackson's biography, surveying the evolution of his career from the director of cult slapstick movies such as Meet the Feebles (1989) and Braindead (1992) to an entrepreneur responsible for the foundation of companies such as Wingnut Films and Weta Workshop, and finally to producer and director of mega blockbuster projects such as The Lord of the Rings (2001-2003) and The Hobbit (2012-2013). The book further examines Jackson's work at the level of production, reception and textuality, along with key collaborative relationships and significant themes associated with Jackson's films. The examination of Peter Jackson's work and career ties into significant academic debates, including the relationship between national cinema and global Hollywood; the global dispersal of film production; the relationship between film authorship and industrial modes of production; the impact of the creative industries on the construction of national identity; and new developments in film technology.

With his richly detailed world of Middle Earth and the epic tales he told around it, J.R.R. Tolkien invented the modern fantasy novel. For readers and students getting to grips with this world for the first time, J.R.R. Tolkien: A Guide for the Perplexed is an essential guide to the author's life and work. The book helps readers explore: · Tolkien's life and times · Tolkien's mythical world · The languages of Middle Earth · The major works – The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings · Posthumously published writings – from The Silmarillion to the recently discovered The Fall of Gondolin With reference to adaptations of Tolkien's work including the Peter Jackson films, notes on Tolkien's sources and surveys of key scholarly and critical writings, this is an accessible and authoritative guide to one of the 20th century's greatest and most popular writers.

A detailed work of reference and scholarship, this one volume Encyclopedia includes discussions of all the fundamental issues in Tolkien scholarship written by the leading scholars in the field. Coverage not only presents the most recent scholarship on J.R.R. Tolkien, but also introduces and explores the author and scholar's life and work within their historical and cultural contexts. Tolkien's fiction and his sources of influence are examined along with his artistic and academic achievements - including his translations of medieval texts - teaching posts, linguistic works, and the languages he created. The 550 alphabetically arranged entries fall within the following categories of topics: adaptations art and illustrations characters in Tolkien's work critical history and scholarship influence of Tolkien languages biography literary sources literature creatures and peoples of Middle-earth objects in Tolkien's work places in Tolkien's work reception of Tolkien medieval scholars scholarship by Tolkien medieval literature stylistic elements themes in Tolkien's works theological/ philosophical concepts and philosophers Tolkien's contemporary history and culture works of literature

This book examines the relationship that exists between fantasy cinema and the medium of animation. Animation has played a key role in defining our collective expectations and experiences of fantasy cinema, just as fantasy storytelling has often served as inspiration for our most popular animated film and television. Bringing together contributions from world-renowned film and media scholars, Fantasy/Animation considers the various historical, theoretical, and cultural ramifications of the animated fantasy film. This collection provides a range of chapters on subjects including Disney, Pixar, and Studio Ghibli, filmmakers such as Ralph Bakshi and James Cameron, and on film and television franchises such as Dreamworks’ How To Train Your Dragon (2010–) and HBO’s Game of Thrones (2011–).

A complete introduction to analyzing and enjoying a wide variety of movies, for film students and movie lovers alike Thinking About Movies: Watching, Questioning, Enjoying, Fourth Edition is a thorough overview of movie analysis designed to enlighten both students and enthusiasts, and heighten their enjoyment of films. Readers will delve into the process of thinking about movies critically and analytically, and find how doing so can greatly enhance the pleasure of watching movies. Divided roughly into two parts, the book addresses film studies within the context of the dynamics of cinema, before moving on to a broader analysis of the relationship of films to the larger social, cultural, and industrial issues informing them. This updated fourth edition includes an entirely new section devoted to a complete analysis of the film adaptation of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, along with many in-depth discussions of important films such as Citizen Kane and Silence of the Lambs. The chapter on television integrates a major expansion distinguishing between television in the digital era of the convergence of the entertainment and technology industries in comparison to the era of broadcast analogue television. The final chapter places film within the current context of digital culture, globalization, and the powerful rise of China in film production and exhibition. The authors clearly present various methodologies for analyzing movies and illustrate them with detailed examples and images from a wide range of films from cult classics to big-budget, award-winning movies. This helps viewers see new things in movies and also better understand and explain why they like some better than others. Thinking About Movies: Watching, Questioning, Enjoying, Fourth Edition is ideal for film students immersed in the study of this important, contemporary medium and art form as well as students and readers who have never taken a class on cinema before.

This book examines the paradoxes, challenges, potential and problems of urban living. It understands cities as they are, rather than as they may be marketed or branded. All cities have much in common, yet the differences are important. They form the basis of both imaginative policy development and productive experiences of urban life. The phrase ‘city imaging’ is often used in public discourse, but rarely defined. It refers to the ways that particular cities are branded and marketed. It is based on the assumption that urban representations can be transformed to develop tourism and attract businesses and in-demand workers to one city in preference to another. However, such a strategy is imprecise. History, subjectivity, bias and prejudice are difficult to temper to the needs of either economic development or social justice. The taste, smell, sounds and architecture of a place all combine to construct the image of a city. For researchers, policy makers, activists and citizens, the challenge is to use or transform this image. The objective of this book is to help the reader define, understand and apply this process. After a war on terror, a credit crunch and a recession, cities still do matter. Even as the de-territorialization of the worldwide web enables the free flow of money, music and ideas across national borders, cities remain important. City Imaging: Regeneration, Renewal, Decay surveys the iconography of urbanity and explores what happens when branding is emphasized over living.

At the 2013 "Celebrating The Hobbit" conference at Valparaiso University--marking the 75th anniversary of the book's publication and the first installment of Peter Jackson's Hobbit movies--two plenary papers were presented: "Anchoring the Myth: The Impact of The Hobbit on Tolkien's Legendarium" by John D. Rateliff provided numerous examples of The Hobbit's influence on Tolkien's legendarium; and "Tolkien's French Connections" by Verlyn Flieger discussed French influences on the development of Bilbo Baggins and his adventures. In discussions with the plenary speakers and other presenters, it became apparent that a book focusing on how The Hobbit influenced the subsequent development of Tolkien's legendarium was sorely needed. This collection of 15 previously unpublished essays fills that need. With Rateliff's and Flieger's papers included, the book presents two chapters on the Evolution of the Dwarven Race, two chapters on Durin's Day examining the Dwarven lunar calendar, and 11 chapters on themes exploring various topics on influences and revisions between The Hobbit and Tolkien's legendarium.