Digital Icons: Studies in Russian, Eurasian and Central European New Media

(www.digitalicons.org) invites submissions for its special issue



Cinegames: Convergent Media and the Aesthetic Turn



Issue editors: Stephen M. Norris (Miami University, Ohio, USA) and Vlad Strukov (University of Leeds, UK)



Deadline for submission: 1 September 2011



It is unquestionable that over the past few years the relationship between

film and computer games has become increasingly complex. With advances in

filming and editing technologies the convergence of two visual media is

inevitable: cyber-narratives and cinematic narratives, both forms of

visual narration and representation, have increasingly become blurred.

Recent scholarship has highlighted the story-telling potential of computer

games. An increasing number of computer games now tell historical,

political and social stories that once were only in the purview of

filmmakers. Popular films now frequently employ first-person shooter game

techniques. Films have also served as the source of inspiration for

popular video games while games have often provided the scripts for

feature films. Thus, this special issue aims to explore the process of

hybridisation of film and computer gaming in Russia, Eurasia and Central

Europe, or what we can now call ‘cinegames’.



We are particularly interested in—but not limited by—the following

questions: What are the historical, political and cultural factors that

have created Cinegames in the region? How have video games transformed

film spectatorship? What is the political potential of socio-cultural

practices that involve both film and computer games? What is the new

temporal economy of films that are based on computer games? How do films

enrich the ludic experience of gamers? What is the role of fan activity in

establishing links between films and games? What is the impact of

film-game hybrids on the existing system of film genres? What is the

critical perception of such films in the counties in the region? What is

the role of such films and games in the processing of rebuilding national

entertainment industries in the post-totalitarian countries? How do

film-game products respond to global cultural trends and engage with

national cultural traditions? Is it possible to apply the theoretical

framework of transnational cinema to such films?



We invite submissions that explore the connection between film and

computer gaming in a number of ways, for example: a) questions of

promotion, marketing and consumption, i.e. exploring how film studios

utilise websites that include games for promotion of their products and/or

how video game companies work with filmmakers to market their products; b)

as an issue of representation, i.e. examining the aesthetic potential of

footage taken from computer games in such diverse films as Timur

Bekmambetov’s blockbuster Night Watch (2004) and Aleksei Popogrebskii’s

art house How I Ended This Summer (2010); c) as an issue of fandom and

mediated communication, i.e. considering the role of blogs, social media

and online games in constructing the imaginary environment; d) as cultural

and historical phenomena, i.e. examining how games and films help

commemorate the nation, such as the online project S.T.A.L.K.E.R. as well

as computer games based on World War II and recycled imagery from Soviet

war films; and e) as a theoretical issue looking at films such as

Aleksandr Sokurov’s Russian Ark (2003) that effectively functions as a

first person shooter in the interiors of the Hermitage.



Guidelines

Text-based academic entries in English, German or Russian, and/or

submissions in other genres, styles and form, reflecting the nature of the

medium, by scholars, politicians, artists and cultural practitioners are

welcome and will be considered for publication. For more information

please visit the journal’s website

http://www.digitalicons.org/forthcoming.html, or write to the editor

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Digital Icons: Studies in Russian, Eurasian and Central European New Media

(Digital Icons) is an online publication that appears twice per year. The

journal is a multi-media platform that explores new media as a variety of

information flows, varied communication systems, and networked

communities.



Contributions to Digital Icons cover a broad range of topics related to

the impact of digital and electronic technologies on politics, economics,

society, culture, and the arts in Russia, Eurasia, and Central Europe. The

journal publishes works that explore developments in information and

communications technologies and their impact on the governance, economy,

and cultural life of the region. Submissions focusing on Internet use and

new media forms among the various diasporas of the region are also

welcome.



Digital Icons publishes articles from scholars from a variety of academic

backgrounds, as well as artists’ contributions, interviews, comments,

reviews of books, digital films, animation, and computer games, and

relevant cultural and academic events, as well as any other forms of

discussion of new media in the region.