*** University of Southampton CIFR Research Seminar Series, Semester 2, 2016-17 ***
Dear Colleagues, Students and Friends,
Sorry for cross-posting.
You are cordially invited to the following talk of the CENTRE FOR INTERNATIONAL FILM RESEARCH (CIFR)’s Research Seminar Series at the University of Southampton in Semester 2, featuring our own postgraduate Elliott Nikdel who has successfully completed his PhD studies in Film recently. All welcome!
SPEAKER: Elliott Nikdel (University of Southampton)
DATE: 14 March 2017, Tuesday
TIME: 4pm - 5:45pm
VENUE: Lecture Theatre B, Building 65, Avenue Campus, University of Southampton
PAPER TITLE:
‘What’s on MUBI Tonight?’: Curating the Online Film Experience
ABSTRACT:
For over a decade, the advent of online film distribution has inspired a utopian vision of change and disruption. Rooted in the principles of digital democracy, this vision supports the common notion that online distribution widens consumer choice and broadens access to a variety of audio-visual content. In essence, this is seen to deliver a powerful form of consumer empowerment, one which deeply transcends the limitations of physical media channels and which loosens the shackles of linear content delivery. However, despite the widening of choice and the supposed empowerment of consumers, the growth of on-demand culture has seen a concurrent rise in the presence and value of digital content curation. At the forefront of driving this revival is the on-demand platform MUBI, a company that offers a markedly different approach to the standard practice of digital content delivery. Indeed, whilst the likes of Netflix and Amazon trade on notions of choice, autonomy and empowerment, MUBI actively restricts consumer choice by offering a more curated and linear model of exhibition. This paper explores the recent resurgence of content curation through a detailed study of the on-demand player MUBI. Taking into account the central role that curation plays in delivering the MUBI ‘experience’, this paper considers how the practice and philosophy of MUBI informs some of the broader debates around choice and empowerment in a digital landscape of on-demand content. What emerges is a more complex portrait of the digital terrain, one in which the practice of on-demand delivery is less disruptive than many suggest and more consistent with the practices and traditions which have long defined physical channels of linear content delivery.
SPEAKER’S BIO:
Elliott Nikdel recently completed an AHRC-funded PhD at the University of Southampton. His thesis, entitled ‘Online Distribution and the Relocation of Specialised Film’, explores the burgeoning landscape of on-demand content and considers issues of access and democratisation through a lens of historical continuity, rather than the dominant narrative of change and disruption. This commitment to exploring the complex relationship between past and present practices is further evidenced in his work across the broader field of distribution and exhibition. His essay, ‘Re-centering the Cinematic Experience in a Multi-platform, Digital Age’ was published in a special edition of Networking Knowledge and his work on cult fandom and the recent growth of experiential cinema can be found in the forthcoming collection, Cult Media: Re-packaged, Re-released and Restored (Palgrave Macmillan).
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ANNOUNCEMENT:
Due to unforeseen circumstances, Anne Hogan (Southampton)’s talk entitled ‘Filming Mothers: A Critique of the Representation of Mothering in Two European Films: Y aura-t-il de la Neige a Noel (D. Sandrine Veysset, 1996) and Ratcatcher (D. Lynne Ramsay, 1999)’ originally scheduled for 21 March has been cancelled. Sorry for any inconvenience caused.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
***
Run by the Film department at the University of Southampton, the Centre for International Film Research (CIFR) is a research centre that provides an interdisciplinary forum for research into film. The CIFR showcases the university’s research excellence while engaging wider communities through public events, visiting speakers and research initiatives.
For more information about CIFR’s research seminar series:
http://www.southampton.ac.uk/film/news/seminars/latest.page
For more information about CIFR members’ research:
http://www.southampton.ac.uk/film/research/index.page
Best,
Ruby
--
Dr Ruby Cheung
Lecturer in Film Studies
University of Southampton
Southampton
SO17 1BJ
UK
Latest Publication: New Hong Kong Cinema: Transitions to Becoming Chinese in 21st-Century East Asia<http://www.berghahnbooks.com/title.php?rowtag=CheungNew>
--------------------------------------------------------
MeCCSA mailing list
--------------------------------------------------------
To manage your subscription or unsubscribe from the MECCSA list, please visit:
https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/webadmin?SUBED1=MECCSA&A=1
-------------------------------------------------------
MeCCSA is the subject association for the field of media, communication and cultural studies in UK Higher Education.
This mailing list is a free service and is not restricted to members. It is an unmoderated list and content reflect the views of those who post to the list and not of MeCCSA as an organisation.
MeCCSA recommends that the list be used only for posting of information (for example about events, publications, conferences, lectures) of interest to members or to promote discussion of current issues of wide general interest in the field. Posts to the MeCCSA mailing list are public, indexed by Google, and can be accessed from the JISCMail website (http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/meccsa.html).
Any messages posted to the list are subject to the JISCMail acceptable use policy, which states that users should avoid engaging in unreasonable behaviour, or disrupting the general flow of discussion on a list.
For further information, please visit: http://www.meccsa.org.uk/
--------------------------------------------------------
|