CFP: The Velvet Light Trap

[Stewart Fyfe]

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 Stewart Fyfe
(shfyfe at wisc.edu), Shawn VanCour (s_vanc at yahoo.com) or
Jacquelyn Vinson (jdvinson at wisc.edu, 608-263-3997).
Submissions are due September 30, 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





		
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