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September 2008, Week 2

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From:
Movement Media Journal <[log in to unmask]>
Reply To:
Film and TV Studies Discussion List <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Tue, 9 Sep 2008 14:59:37 -0400
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Movement, a newly-launched media studies e-journal created by NYU grad
students 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]
<[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, and *Movement* 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

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