[ecrea] Call for Papers - Child Actors/Child Stars: Juvenile Performance on Screen

> CALL FOR PAPERS
>
>
>
> Child Actors/Child Stars: Juvenile Performance on Screen
>
> A conference co-hosted by the Centre for 
> Research in Media and Cultural Studies, 
> University of Sunderland, and the School of 
> Media, Film and Music, University of Sussex.
>
>
>
> To be held at the David Puttnam Media Centre, University of Sunderland
>
> 8-9 September, 2011
>
>
>
> This conference seeks to build on recent 
> scholarly interest in screen performance by 
> focusing on the contribution of child actors to 
> the history of international film and 
> television. From the popular child stars of 
> Hollywood to the child actors working in popular 
> television and the non-professional children 
> ubiquitous throughout ?world cinema,? the child 
> performer is a prominent figure across a diverse 
> range of media. However, the child actor is 
> rarely considered in discussions of screen 
> performance or of the representation of 
> childhood: this conference will be the first of 
> its kind to be focused exclusively on the work 
> of children in and for film and television. We 
> welcome papers that discuss particular child 
> stars and performers and/or particular 
> performances by children, as well as papers that 
> consider more general historical and theoretical 
> questions related to the child actor?s presence 
> on the screen and their position in film and 
> television cultures and industries.
>
> Confirmed Keynote Speaker: Dr. Karen Lury 
> (University of Glasgow), author of The Child in 
> Film: Tears, Fears and Fairytales (2010).
>
> Confirmed Special Guest: Jon Whiteley, the 
> former child actor, will talk about his film 
> career and his experiences making Hunted 
> (Charles Crichton, 1952), The Little Kidnappers 
> (Philip Leacock, 1953), Moonfleet (Fritz Lang, 
> 1955) and The Spanish Gardener (Philip Leacock, 1956).
>
> (Further Speakers/Special Guests to be announced)
>
> The conference will comprise both traditional 
> panels (consisting of papers of 20-25 minutes) 
> and workshops (consisting of 10 minute long 
> position papers that outline a key 
> idea/theme/argument or offer close analysis of a 
> moment of child performance in film). Please 
> clearly mark your submission ?panel? or 
> ?workshop?. We hope the conference will both 
> represent existing scholarship and inspire and 
> encourage further work, and so we welcome 
> contributions that are speculative and 
> experimental.  We are interested in papers on 
> the following topics but would also welcome proposals on other areas as well:
>
> ·         the training and schooling of child 
> actors; the craft and labour of the child actor; notions of agency and control;
>
> ·         different traditions of child acting 
> and how child acting operates within different 
> national/historical/cultural contexts and on the 
> small (tv) as opposed to big screen (cinema);
>
> ·         the critical reception of children?s 
> performances/the child as actor.
>
> ·         the relationship between child acting 
> and child stardom (e.g. the contribution that 
> performance makes to the formation/articulation 
> of child star identity; the notion of the child 
> star as performer); the child actor?s transition to child star;
>
> ·         the transition from child to 
> adolescent (or adult) performer; adolescent 
> performances in film and/or television;
>
> ·         how child performance operates within the context of genre;
>
> ·         the child?s voice as an aspect of 
> performance; voice/body relations in child performance;
>
> ·         the dynamics involved when children perform with adult actors/stars;
>
> ·         the work of the child actor in 
> children?s vs. non-children?s cinema/television;
>
> ·         children performing with animals;
>
> ·         ensemble child acting;
>
> ·         the performative spaces in which children find scope to act;
>
> ·         child acting during the silent vs. sound era;
>
> ·         the notion of the child as performer in the animated film;
>
> ·         collaborations between child actors 
> and particular directors or stars;
>
> ·         professional vs. non-professional child acting.
>
>
>
> It is hoped that selected papers from the 
> conference will be published in the form of an 
> edited book collection. Please send initial 
> expressions of interest, with a brief 
> description of your proposed topic, to our 
> conference email address: 
> <mailto:(childactorsconference /at/ sunderland.ac.uk)>(childactorsconference /at/ sunderland.ac.uk) 
> by 15 March 2011. The deadline for full 
> abstracts (no more than 250 words) is 15 April 
> 2011 (email address as above). Pre-constituted 
> panels of 3 speakers are welcome. Acceptance 
> notices will be issued by 6 May 2011. Registration details to follow.
>
>
>
> Any general enquiries should be addressed to the 
> conference co-organisers: Susan Smith 
> (<mailto:(drsusan.smith /at/ sunderland.ac.uk)>(drsusan.smith /at/ sunderland.ac.uk)) 
> and Michael Lawrence 
> (<mailto:(michael.lawrence /at/ sussex.ac.uk)>(michael.lawrence /at/ sussex.ac.uk)).