Movement, a newly-launched NYU-affiliated media studies e-journal is currently seeking
submissions for its premiere issue:
Movement 1.1: The Future of Cinema
What the "future of cinema" will entail has been an issue hotly debated by filmmakers,
critics and scholars alike throughout (and within the various inceptions of) film history.
The Soviet montage theorists bemoaned the death of cinema as a visual medium when
sound threatened to change it irrevocably; and twenty-five years later, movie producers
saw the popularization of television as an equal if not greater threat. Likewise,
filmmakers, critics, and scholars today (both optimistically and pessimistically) see new
media outlets and technologies like Internet distribution and digital media as the last
great wave that will finally obliterate the classical theatrical cinematic experience as we
know it. Conversely, film theorist/historians like Thomas Elsasser argue that to call upon
a "death of cinema" mistakenly presupposes cinema as a static, pure, and unchanging
concept, when history shows that it has been anything but. As cinema has undergone
continuous changes in technology as well as adaptations to modern spectatorial practices
and new forms of visual media, it has never ceased to modify itself accordingly.
As a journal dedicated towards preparing tomorrow's media scholars for the future of
cinema studies, Movement decries blind speculation regarding the future trajectory of
cinema as experience, technology, or object of study (i.e., we are not here to
dogmatically debate cinema's death or rebirth). Instead, the premiere issue of this
journal seeks papers that aim to interrogate cinema as a concept with respect to changes
and advancements in visual media technology and consumption. In tandem, Movement
asks what the role of cinema studies is and should be with respect to such new
technologies and alternative spectatorial outlets.
Papers may address any of the following questions:
What makes other visual media (digital video, Internet/home exhibition, computer-based
art, image and text-based websites) "cinematic," and how far, if at all, do theories and
formal approaches to cinema apply to these other forms of visual media?
What have been the changing definitions of cinema in film history/film studies history,
and how does this context inform any advanced, contemporary definitions of cinema?
Is the theatrical film experience necessary to experience "cinema"?
How do DVD special features, distribution of deleted material, "directors' cuts," or the
more recent "democratic" utility of reedited "mash-up" film clips on YouTube (and other
sites) challenge the idea of the theatrical film as an authoritative homogenous text? Are
these practices in any way revolutionary, or do they have historic predecessors and/or
equivalents?
Experiencing various types of visual media simultaneously through multiple screens,
frames, or windows all within the computer screen can be argued as a unique type of
viewing practice different than viewing via home video or the attention-enveloping movie
screen. Does the concept of multiple, simultaneous screens challenge traditional ideas of
receiving visual information, and what implications does this have regarding
advancements in media literacy?
What are the implications of the transition from analog to digital?
These questions can be treated as mere starting points. Submitted papers need not
solely be limited to addressing these specific questions—any proposals related to the
subject at large on topics not specifically addressed here are encouraged as well.
Please send 300-400 word abstracts addressed to Landon Palmer at
[log in to unmask] by September 22. You will be contacted by September 27
as to whether or not your paper has been chosen for publication.
Movement also welcomes abstracts submitted on any topic that that the writer may feel
is compatible with the focus of the journal, as it may inspire the subject of an upcoming
issue.
http://movementjournal.com/
Movement mission statement:
Media, as history has shown, has never been a static concept. And as the form and
definition of various media continue to change, "media studies" changes as well.
Movement, simply put, is a journal dedicated towards looking to the future in studies of
the moving image. Movement aims not only to conceptualize the future of "media," but
also to examine how studies in visual media can be adapted to the ever-changing agents,
consumers, and distributors of such media.
Movement was created by graduate students, and is intended as a voice for scholars of
all ages to commentate, analyze, and speculate on the future of media. As audio-visual
media becomes more complex and pervasive, understanding such media becomes more
essential to perceiving the world around us. Movement welcomes papers that aim to
develop a progressive understanding of contemporary visual media. This also means
rethinking the past, andMovement encourages submissions that aim to expand or
challenge established studies in order to develop a more complete understanding of the
future of visual media.
-
Bryce Renninger, Violet Lucca, & Landon Palmer
Movement Editors
*
*
Film-Philosophy salon
After hitting 'reply' please always delete the text of the message you are replying to.
To leave, send the message: leave film-philosophy to: [log in to unmask]
Or visit: http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/film-philosophy.html
For help email: [log in to unmask], not the salon.
*
Film-Philosophy online: http://www.film-philosophy.com
Contact: [log in to unmask]
**
|