[ecrea] Television Drama in the Age of Media Convergence

*Final Call for submissions to /Northern Lights/, Volume 16 - Themed
Issue on:*

*Television Drama in the Age of Media Convergence*
*
*
*(please note deadline *1 April 2015)
TV drama seems to be in a state of permanent transformation. However,
the present transformation hits the core of TV drama as we knew it,
challenging the very concept of what TV drama used to be. Even if we
choose to maintain the concept of TV, questions abound: Does digital TV
increase choice and diversity, or does it just offer more recycled TV
drama programmes? Does it change the role and obligations of public
service broadcasting? To what extent are global TV drama formats
favoured and enjoyed by audiences? The recent transition to digital TV
and the impact of media convergence raise crucial aesthetic, cultural,
social and political questions.
Technologically, TV has experienced a digital revolution, paving the way
for seamless viewing via online distribution and streaming. Besides
streaming, companies such as HBO and Netflix have launched themselves as
commissioners and producers of original programming with yet-unknown
consequences for traditional TV channels and production companies.
Consequently, new models of production, distribution and consumption are
developing. The tendency towards convergence between cinema and TV drama
has accelerated. Directors usually associated with cinema such as Martin
Scorsese, Jane Campion and Steven Soederbergh have made joint ventures
with TV production companies, launching exclusive TV series with film
actors. Furthermore, the intersections between television and social
media, from debates on various websites to hashtags, live-tweeting and
second screen phenomena, constitute an area of clear importance.
During the same period, TV drama has been an object to globalisation on
a compelling scale, which manifests itself in different ways. This is
felt in increasing coproduction and co-financing, in international casts
and international exchanges of directors and script writers.
English/American is the language of advantage, in which all kinds of
cross-national productions are primarily performed. Is this state of
affairs challenged by Asian, South American, or non-English European
productions?
Alternative tendencies co-exist with globalisation and binge viewing.
Broadcast TV is no longer considered “the private life of a nation
state” (John Ellis 1982). Nevertheless, national broadcasters in many
nations, such as the Scandinavian countries and the UK, continue
producing TV drama, and the often-excellent ratings suggest that there
remains an audience for their productions. Although national TV drama
may primarily address a domestic audience, it is often made from a
cross-cultural perspective, addressing the extended family at home as
well as the more remote relatives in other countries. But how is this
achieved?
In this volume of /Northern Lights/, we will focus on the transformation
of TV drama in the age of media convergence and consider how we can
understand this transformation by reconfiguring our theoretical and
analytical approaches.

Topics of article proposals may include (but are not restricted to):

  * Production studies: What can researchers’ contact with the cultural
    industries provide vis-à-vis audience studies or text studies? In
    which ways do routines, rituals or production rules interfere with
    the production processes? Which roles can be attributed to the
    choice of places and spaces of production? Which roles do local,
    regional or national organisations play in the planning processes,
    and which part is played by aesthetics/timing/economy in
    international cooperation? How does television production change
    according to the new challenges and opportunities presented by TV
    series in a ‘post-television’ era?
  * Text studies and aesthetics: So-called quality drama characterised
    by high production values has been key to the recent interest in TV
    drama taken by TV researchers worldwide. But what exactly is quality
    drama? Is the concept of ‘production values’ valid in aesthetic
    analysis? Narrowing the perspective: What are the consequences of
    digital transformations and the new means of distribution? To what
    extent have the concepts of genre and narrative design changed
    alongside platforms and business models?
  * Distribution studies: Analyses of the changing economic and
    technological conditions of distribution. In the face of digital
    distribution to smartphones, tablets, and computers, to which degree
    can we still speak of ‘television’? New business models have emerged
    or are emerging, such as subscription video-on-demand (SVOD),
    transaction video-on-demand (TVOD), and ad-supported video-on-remand
    (AVOD). When it comes to streaming, there are also distinctions to
    be made, e.g. download-to-rent or download-to-own. What are the
    consequences of these new modes of distribution?
  * Audience studies: Reconsiderations of the aims and results of
    audience studies from a national/global perspective. Can dominant
    audience patterns be discerned vis-à-vis national TV drama
    productions, adaptations, and international remakes respectively?
    How are viewing patterns changed by factors such as second
    screening, streaming on demand, and the option of viewing wherever
    you are? What roles do fan cultures and online discussions play?

Send extended abstracts of 500-600 words to volume editors Professor
Gunhild Agger ((gunhild /at/ cgs.aau.dk) <mailto:(gunhild /at/ cgs.aau.dk)>) and
Associate Professor Mette Mortensen ((metmort /at/ hum.ku.dk)
<mailto:(metmort /at/ hum.ku.dk)>).
Deadline for abstract submission: 1 April 2015
Notification of authors: 15 April 2015
Final article submission: 1 September 2015
Publication: Spring 2016


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