Try using the Advanced Search interface in a database (LibrarySearch, ProQuest, Business Source Premier, etc.)
Enter search terms on separate lines e.g., enter title of film on the top line, director's last name below, so as to articulate your search request. (e.g., "Lord of the rings" AND Jackson)
AND (narrows your search e.g., Paramount and distribution)
OR (widens your search e.g., film or movies or cinema, MGM or Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, “box office” or box-office)
Quotations marks (search for specific phrases, e.g., "Star Wars", "PRODUCER NAME", "studio system")
Asterisk * (search any version of the root word, e.g., financ* = financing, finances, finance, financiers', financial)
Sort your results (relevance, date)
Sort by Date: It may be useful to arrange the results chronologically (oldest first) in order to follow the entire production process of a particular film, from gossip about potential stars to reviews and box-office grosses.
FILTERS - Narrow your search results using filters on left sidebar
Show Only: Online, Full text (available in that database, but there may be links to access through other providers)
Source Type (e.g., Newspapers, Trade Magazines, Scholarly Journals)
Publication Title (e.g., New York Times, Financial Times,Variety, Hollywood Reporter, Journal of Cinema and Media Studies, The Velvet Light Trap)
Document Type (e.g., Article, Feature, Front Page/Cover Story, Literature Review, Case Study, Interview. For reception, take a look at Review for critics and Commentary / Correspondence / Letter to the Editor for reactions from the publication's readers. Try excluding certain document types like Advertisement or Classified)
Includes both academic journal articles as well as articles from selected news magazines and industry publications. The only source for full-text PDF versions of Harvard Business Review articles.
(ProQuest) A great starting place for business research, this database covers business conditions, trends, management techniques, corporate strategies, and industry-specific topics worldwide. Includes: scholarly and trade journal articles, dissertations, market reports, industry reports, business cases and global and trade news.
Interdisciplinary Research Databases
Accessed through UofT Libraries, these platforms contain various collections and some include different formats (books, articles, popular or trade magazines, etc.)
ProQuest is a platform containing over 200 databases. ProQuest contains publications (i.e., newspapers, magazines, industry / trade publications, scholarly journals and book titles) in different subjects areas including film. Remember you might find content in a non-film related resource from your time period (i.e., newspapers, business / trade / tech magazines)
Multidisciplinary full text database that allows you to search for articles from scholars across the humanities, social sciences, and sciences. It also gives you access to a major collection of ebooks, primary sources, and images.
Newspaper Articles
Searching for newspapers articles in UofT LibrarySearch can be done in a few ways: use the newspaper article search bar, submit a search and select the "Search newspaper articles" filter on the results page, or explore the databases below.
An excellent source of up-to-date news, business and legal information. News stories date back to the late 1970s. U.S. and international sources are available for most content areas. Contains AP Photostream, Reutgers could be good source for film festivals and discovering who attended festival events.
Peer-Reviewed. 1979+ Scholarship in the theoretical humanities with an emphasis on the critical study of film, literature, the visual arts, and related audiovisual media.
Sponsored by the unions, guilds and associations of Section 21 Film And Television Health And Safety Advisory Committee Of The Ontario Ministry Of Labour Training And Skills Development.
Ontario Creates participates in research that supports the development and growth of the cultural media industries. In addition to Ontario Creates-commissioned initiatives, research project funding is provided to industry trade organizations and other stakeholders.
A not-for-profit non-partisan industry consortium with members from all parts of the province’s screen-based industry, including unions, guilds, producers, studios, equipment suppliers, and financial and legal services companies. We advocate on behalf of the industry to all levels of government and promote Ontario as a leading production jurisdiction.
“The goal of the study were twofold: [1.] to review and describe the financing ecosystems that support companies in these jurisdictions, including identification and description of the private and public financing mechanisms that companies have access to; [2.]to extract lessons that can be learned and potential innovations that could be applied or considered for the Canadian context to ensure a continued competitive financing landscape of Canadian companies.”
