Dr Sheldon Hall BA, MA, PhD
Reader in Film and Television
Summary
I have been teaching film at Sheffield Hallam since 1997. Before that I was a freelance film journalist and lecturer based in the North East of England. My particular interests are in American and British film history. There have been a number of recurrent themes in my research to date: the history of the Hollywood film industry, particularly in the postwar era; widescreen technologies and aesthetics; the phenomenon of the ‘blockbuster’; the historical epic and the ‘heritage’ film; the British cinema and British film criticism; film distribution, exhibition and promotion as industrial practices; and the complex relationships between cinema as an industry and film as an aesthetic form. I am currently researching the historical relationship between television and the film industry through a study of the showing of feature films on British television.
About
Publications
Authored Books
- Hall, S (2014) Zulu: With Some Guts Behind It – The Making of the Epic Movie. Expanded and Revised 2nd Edition (1st Edition: 2005). Sheffield: Tomahawk Press.
- Hall, S and Neale, S (2010) Epics, Spectacles and Blockbusters: A Hollywood History. Detroit: Wayne State University Press.
Edited Books
- Belton, J, Hall, S and Neale, S, eds (2010) Widescreen Worldwide. New Barnet: John Libbey Publishing.
Chapters in Books
- Hall, S (2020) ‘Not the First: Myths of Jaws’, in IQ Hunter and M Melia (eds), The Jaws Book: New Perspectives on the Classic Summer Blockbuster. New York: Bloomsbury Academic.
- Hall, S (2020) ‘The Tramp, the Dictator and the Knight: United Artists and the Roadshowing of Prestige Pictures in the 1930s and 1940s’, in P Krämer, G Needham, Y Tzioumakis and T Balio (eds), United Artists (Routledge Hollywood Centenary). New York: Routledge.
- Hall, S (2019) ‘British Cinema and Authorship’, in J Hill (ed), A Companion to British and Irish Cinema (Wiley Blackwell Companions to National Cinemas). London: Wiley Blackwell.
- Hall, S (2017) ‘Good of Its Kind? British Film Journalism’, in IQ Hunter, L Porter and J Smith (eds), The Routledge Companion to British Cinema History. London: Routledge.
- Hall, S (2014) ‘Pass the Ammunition: a Short Etymology of “Blockbuster”‘, in ABR Elliott (ed), The Return of the Epic Film: Genre, Aesthetics and History in the 21st Century. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.
- Hall, S (2012) ‘Ozoners, Roadshows and Blitz Exhibitionism: Postwar Developments in Distribution and Exhibition’, in S Neale (ed), The Classical Hollywood Reader. London: Routledge.
- Hall, S (2010) ‘Alternative Versions in the Early Years of CinemaScope’, in J Belton, S Hall and S Neale (eds), Widescreen Worldwide [as above].
- Hall, S (2009) ‘The Wrong Sort of Cinema: Refashioning the Heritage Film Debate', in R Murphy (ed), The British Cinema Book 3rd Edition. Basingstoke: BFI/Palgrave Macmillan.
- Hall, S (2008) ‘Under Siege: The Double Rape of Straw Dogs’, in R Shail (ed), Seventies British Cinema. Basingstoke: BFI/Palgrave Macmillan.
- Hall, S (2004) ‘Carpenter’s Widescreen Style’, in I Conrich and D Woods (eds), The Cinema of John Carpenter: The Technique of Terror. London: Wallflower Press.
- Hall, S (2002) ‘Monkey Feathers: Defending Zulu’, in C Monk and A Sargeant (eds), British Historical Cinema. London: Routledge.
- Hall, S (2002) ‘Tall Revenue Features: The Genealogy of the Contemporary Blockbuster’, in S Neale (ed), Genre and Contemporary Hollywood. London: BFI Publishing.
- Hall, S (1996) ‘How the West Was Won: History, Spectacle and the American Mountains’, in I Cameron and D Pye (eds), The Movie Book of the Western. London: Studio Vista
Articles (selected)
- Hall, S (2017) ‘Going to the Gaumont: Programming and Audience Response at the Gaumont Sheffield, 1947-58’, Picture House 42.
- Hall, S (2014) ‘Nigel Green’ and ‘Geoffrey Unsworth’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.
- Hall, S (2014) ‘African Adventures: Film Finances Ltd and Actor-Producers on Safari’, Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television 34:4.
- Hall, S (2014) ‘Zulu at 50’, The Independent on Sunday, 19 January.
- Hall, S (2013) ‘Changing Times’, BBC History Magazine, October.
- Hall, S (2013) ‘Jerry Pickman: “The Picture Worked.” Reminiscences of a Hollywood publicist’, InMedia 3, http://inmedia.revues.org/524.
- Hall, S (2012) ‘Carry on, Cowboy: Roast Beef Westerns’, Iluminace: The Journal of Film History, Theory, and Aesthetics 25:3.
- Hall, S (2011) ‘Blockbusters’, Oxford Bibliographies Online, http://www.obo.com.
- Hall, S (2005) ‘The Hills Are Alive in East Anglia: The Sound of Music Comes to Norwich’, Picture House 30.
- Hall, S (2004) ‘Dial M for Murder’, Film History 16:2.
- Hall, S (2004) ‘Rodslovlje modernog blockustera’, Hrvatski filmski Ljetopis 40 [Croatian translation of Tall Revenue Features].
- Hall, S (2002) ‘Selling religion: how to market a Biblical epic’, Film History 14:2.
Specialist areas of interest
American, British and international film history
Film criticism, textual analysis and aesthetics
Widescreen cinema
Film distribution and exhibition
Films on television
Teaching
Social Sciences and Arts
I am currently writing a monograph, Armchair Cinema: Feature Films on British Television, and developing an online database of films shown on British television from 1936 to 2016.
Subject Area
Stage & Screen
Courses
BA Film Studies; BA Screenwriting & Film
Modules
In 2020-21: Cinema and Genre, Film Consumption, Hollywood Cinema, Professional Film Writing.
Research
Work in progress: monograph, 'Armchair Cinema: Feature Films on British Television'; TVFilms, an online database of feature films shown on British television since 1937; edited collection, 'Film Critics and British Film Culture: New Shots in the Dark'.
Collaborators and Sponsors
I have been working with the British Film Institute on developing the TVFilms database and will be co-editing 'Film Critics and British Film Culture: New Shots in the Dark' with Robert Shail (Leeds Beckett University).
Publications
Journal articles
Hall, S. (2018). Going to the Gaumont. Picture House, (42), 50-67. http://cinema-theatre.org.uk/publishing/picture-house/
Hall, S. (2014). African adventures : Film Finances Ltd and actor-producers on safari. Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television, 34 (4), 546-567. http://doi.org/10.1080/01439685.2014.952101
Hall, S. (2013). Jerry Pickman: “The Picture Worked.” Reminiscences of a Hollywood publicist. InMedia, 2013 (3). http://inmedia.revues.org/606
Hall, S. (2012). Carry On, Cowboy: roast beef Westerns. Iluminace: Journal of Film History, Theory, and Aesthetics, 24 (3), 102. http://www.iluminace.cz/index.php/en/about-iluminace
Hall, S. (2004). Dial M for murder. Film History: An International Journal, 16 (3), 243-255. http://doi.org/10.2979/FIL.2004.16.3.243
Hall, S. (2002). Selling religion: How to market a Biblical epic. Film History: An International Journal, 14 (2), 170-185. http://doi.org/10.2979/FIL.2002.14.2.170
Hall, S. (n.d.). Figures in Focus. A study of returns from the Focus Cinemas Sevenoaks, 1977-79. Picture House.
Conference papers
Hall, S. (2014). Sex, spies and Shirley Temple : feature films on British television. In Film History seminars, Institute of Historical Research, 23 October 2014. http://www.history.ac.uk/events/browse/17024
Hall, S. (2014). African adventures : Film Finances Ltd. and actor-producers on safari. In Film and History seminar series, Centre for World Cinemas, 13 March 2014. http://www.leeds.ac.uk/arts/events/event/2170/african_adventures_film_finances_and_actor-producers_on_safari
Hall, S. (2012). Channel Four and the rediscovery of old movies on television. In Channel Four and UK Film Culture, BFI Southbank, 1 November 2012 - 2 November 2012. http://www.c4film.co.uk/conference-2012/schedule
Hall, S. (2011). Pass the ammunition : a short etymology of "Blockbuster". In Rethinking Epic, University of Lincoln, 1 July 2011.
Hall, S. (2010). Streamlining the roadshow : the distribution and exhibition of "Gone with the Wind". In Film History Seminars, Institute of Historical Research, 28 January 2010. http://www.history.ac.uk/events/browse/6192
Book chapters
Hall, S. (2020). Not the first: myths of jaws. In Hunter, I.Q., & Melia, M. (Eds.) The jaws book: new perspectives on the classic summer blockbuster. Bloomsbury academic: https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/the-jaws-book-9781501347528/
Hall, S. (2020). The tramp, the dictator and the knight: United Artists and the roadshowing of prestige pictures in the 1930s and 1940s. In Kramer, P., Needham, G., Tzioumakis, Y., & Balio, T. (Eds.) United Artists. (pp. 75-93). Abingdon: Routledge: https://www.routledge.com/United-Artists/Kramer-Needham-Tzioumakis-Balio/p/book/9780367179007
Hall, S. (2017). Good of its kind? British film journalism. In Hunter, I.Q., Porter, L., & Smith, J. (Eds.) The Routledge History of British Cinema. (pp. 271-281). London: Routledge: http://doi.org/10.4324/9781315392189
Hall, S. (2015). Monkey feathers: Defending zulu (1964). In British Historical Cinema. (pp. 110-128). http://doi.org/10.4324/9781315011424-14
Hall, S. (2014). The wrong sort of cinema : refashioning the heritage film debate. In Murphy, R. (Ed.) British Cinema. (pp. 46-56). London: Routledge
Hall, S. (2014). Green, Nigel McGown (1924–1972). In Curthoys, M. (Ed.) Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Online ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press: doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/94147
Hall, S. (2014). Pass the ammunition : a short etymology of “Blockbuster". In Elliott, A.B.R. (Ed.) The Return of the Epic Film. (pp. 147-166). Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press: http://doi.org/10.3366/edinburgh/9780748684021.003.0009
Hall, S. (2012). Ozoners, roadshows and blitz exhibitionism: postwar developments in distribution and exhibition. In Neale, S. (Ed.) The classical Hollywood reader. (pp. 343-354). London and New York: Routledge
Hall, S. (2010). Alternative versions in the early years of CinemaScope. In Belton, J., Hall, S., & Neale, S. (Eds.) Widescreen worldwide. (pp. 113-131). New Barnet, Herts: John Libbey Publishing
Hall, S. (2009). The wrong sort of cinema : refashioning the heritage film debate. In Murphy, R. (Ed.) The British cinema book, 3rd ed. (pp. 46-56). Basingstoke: BFI/Palgrave Macmillan
Hall, S. (2008). Under siege : the double rape of Straw Dogs. In Shail, R. (Ed.) Seventies British cinema. (pp. 129-138). Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan
Hall, S. (n.d.). Unsworth, Geoffrey Gilyard (1914-1978). In Goldman, L. (Ed.) Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Online ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press: http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/93321
Books
Hall, S. (2014). Zulu : with some guts behind it (expanded and revised 50th anniversary edition). Tomahawk Press.
Hall, S., & Neale, S. (2010). Epics, spectacles and blockbusters : a Hollywood history. Detroit, Michigan: Wayne State University Press.
Belton, J., Hall, S., & Neale, S. (2010). Widescreen worldwide. New Barnet: John Libbey Publishing.
Belton, J., Hall, S., & Neale, S. (2010). Widescreen worldwide. New Barnet: John Libbey Publishing.
Theses / Dissertations
Dixon, E.E. (2017). Done to death? Re-evaluating narrative construction in slasher sequels. (Doctoral thesis). Supervised by Hall, S., & O'Brien, S.
Other publications
Hall, S. (2011). Blockbusters. New York: Oxford University Press: http://aboutobo.com/cinema-and-media-studies/
Other activities
I am copy editor for and a regular contributor to 'Cinema Retro' magazine. I am a member of the British Association of Film, Television and Screen Studies (BAFTSS).
Postgraduate supervision
I am currently supervising doctoral research projects on the ethics of digital film restoration and on horror and folklore on 1970s British television.