CFP: VLT on DVDs

[Aaron Gerow]

CALL FOR PAPERS


The Velvet Light Trap

A Critical Journal of Film & Television

Issue Number 56, Fall 2005

Issue Theme: DVDs

Less than a decade after their entry into the market, the impact of 
DVDs has already become visible in media production strategies, legal 
and economic policy, marketing and distribution, exhibition 
environments, and audience reception habits. Decisions on style and 
content during shooting of film and television programs increasingly 
take into consideration possibilities for cross-media consumption. 
Recent years have also seen increased visibility of short forms such as 
making-of documentaries and other ?bonus features.?   Direct to 
consumer sales have created lucrative markets for otherwise marginal 
films and television programs and have affected habits of consumption.  
The home viewing environment, finally, opens possibilities for 
interfaces with other end-user entertainment technologies.

The Velvet Light Trap invites papers exploring issues surrounding DVD 
technology as part of audiovisual culture and practice.  In addition to 
papers focusing on technology, we seek papers that examine DVDs in 
relation to questions of aesthetics, narrative construction, genre, 
production, promotion/distribution, exhibition, and 
reception--including issues of economic consumption and cultural 
use--from local, national, or global perspectives.

Possible topics may include, but are not limited to:

?  History of technology/emergence of DVD format, with respect to 
economic, legal, technological, or cultural issues: What noteworthy 
technological precursors influenced the format?  What industry concerns 
have shaped the development and marketing of DVDs? What legal battles 
and cultural discourses have surrounded the technology?s emergence?  
How have anticipated uses and struggles over use affected its 
development?

? How is DVD technology designed to interface with other elements of 
the expanding ?home theater? environment (HDTV, MP3 players, home 
stereos, etc)?

?  Role(s) of region-specific technology: how is this technology being 
used to define markets for distribution; what are the possible effects 
on production style?  What impact might new region-free systems have on 
the economics of distribution, production decisions, and global flow of 
cultural products?

?  Copyright protection: what debates have emerged around DVD 
technology in terms of intellectual property and legal issues such as 
piracy and fair use?

? Short forms and "bonus features" (making-of documentaries, "easter 
eggs," etc): what new formats, aesthetic parameters, or even genres 
have emerged with the rise of DVDs?  Do these short forms offer new 
professional and creative possibilities for production staff?

?  Cross-media production: what synergistic advantages are being 
exploited in releases of the same story concept in different versions 
on different media platforms (films, games, home video)?  How are 
notions of the closed text being challenged by such modes of 
cross-media production?

?  Effects on experimental filmmaking: what has the reaction to new 
technology been among "experimental" filmmakers (so-called 
independents, art films, guerilla, or underground filmmakers)?  Does it 
open up new possibilities for otherwise marginal filmmakers, or has it 
worked to further marginalize these groups?

?  Effects on alternative exhibition venues: have DVDs offered low-cost 
alternatives for community cinemas?  What, if any, contribution are 
they making to grass-roots political movements?

?  Changing exhibition environments: How are films being marketed for 
home viewing?  Are DVD sales being used to offset production costs for 
otherwise marginal films?  What changes in aesthetics or narrational 
style are resulting from efforts to accommodate home viewing 
environments (e.g. sound designs made to work on both multiplex and 
home entertainment systems)?

? Straight-to-DVD movies and programs: has the phenomenon of using VHS 
technology for straight-to-video productions carried over into DVD 
releases?  Will it help to create new local genres and offer directors 
opportunities for career advancement / alternative career paths?  What 
kind of production modes are emerging for straight-to-DVD releases?

?  Changes in habits of consumption motivated by shift from former 
2-tier (VHS) pricing system favoring rentals to emphasis on direct 
sales to consumers (USA): what new strategies in rental industries have 
resulted?  Is this shift in emphasis encouraging a new culture of 
collecting?

?  TV on DVD: how do DVD sales figures affect which programs are 
canceled, continued, revived, or make the jump to the big screen? Are 
expanded sales through direct-to-consumer marketing fueling the rise of 
'boutique' labels that give certain programs added prestige value over 
others?

?  Reception: has emphasis on direct-to-consumer sales of television 
programs opened up new audiences?  Has it changed the face of fan 
cultures, helping, for example to solidify or expand a fan base for 
?cult series? such as Buffy, Star Trek, or Freaks and Geeks?  Has it 
further entrenched the popularity of other, more mainstream shows such 
as Friends? Is there a new type of film and TV criticism emerging with 
criteria for extras and technical level of DVD releases?

?  Ontology of the 'original': how is the release of alternative 
versions and director's cuts challenging notions of the 'real' or 
'original' work?  What effect does digitally 'cleaning up' images or 
converting old soundtracks for newer home entertainment systems 
(stereo, surround sound, etc) have on understandings of old 'classics'?

?  Changing face of the archive: what films are being preserved; which 
films are not?  How is this changing the traditional canon or notion of 
the "classics"?  What economic and technological issues inform problems 
of archiving with DVDs?

?  Pedagogy: how are DVDs being used for instructional purposes?  Are 
they changing teaching styles or enabling new possibilities for 
instruction?


Papers should be approximately 7500 words long (roughly 20-25 pages 
double-spaced), plus bibliography and endnotes, in MLA format. Please 
submit three copies of the paper, plus a one-page abstract with each 
copy, in a format suitable to be sent to a reader anonymously. Papers 
should be accompanied by a cover page which includes the author?s name 
and contact information. Papers not formatted in MLA style and 
carefully proofread will not be considered for publication.  
Submissions for the Fall 2005 issue will be reviewed by the Wisconsin 
Editorial Office. All submissions published in the Velvet Light Trap 
are first approved by the journal's Editorial Advisory Board through a 
process of blind review.

For more information, contact Eija Niskanen (emniskanen at wisc.edu, 
608-456-5998), Shawn VanCour (s_vanc at yahoo.com), or Jacquelyn Vinson 
(jdvinson at wisc.edu, 608-263-3997). Submissions are due September 9, 
2004, and should be sent to:

The Velvet Light Trap
University of Wisconsin-Madison
Department of Communication Arts
821 University Avenue
Madison, Wisconsin, USA 53706-1497



The Velvet Light Trap is a journal for academic scholarship on film and 
television collectively edited by graduate students at the University 
of Wisconsin at Madison and The University of Texas at Austin, with the 
support of media scholars at those institutions and throughout the 
country. Each issue provokes debate about critical, theoretical, and 
historical topics relating to a particular theme. The journal is 
indexed and/or abstracted in Communication Abstracts, Film Literature 
Index, International Index to Film Periodicals, Sociological Abstracts, 
America: History and Life, and Historical Abstracts. Velvet Light Trap 
homepage: http://www.utexas.edu/utpress/journals/jvlt.html