[Commlist] CfP: Set-going in global cinemas: history and current forms of a cultural practice

Set-going in global cinemas: history and current forms of a cultural 
practice

Call for papers

**Deadline: November 17, 2025**


When does the experience of watching a film truly begin? Could it start 
long before the movie theatre or the living room, but on a backstreet, a 
remote field, or a historical site where a local film shoot is taking 
place? These questions invite us to rethink spectatorship not as 
something that only happens in front of a screen, but as a lived, 
spatial, and participatory experience embedded in the making of the movies.


Set-going is a novel concept referring to the practice of visiting 
filming locations during the principal photography of a movie. This 
practice opens a rich and overlooked field of interaction between 
audiences and production cultures. Set-going is not merely a variant of 
fan studies or media tourism; it is a socially embedded experience 
transforming how spectatorship, spatial belonging, and film culture are 
understood. Unlike film tourism or film-induced tourism, which typically 
involves visits to sound stage studios or iconic shooting locations 
after a film gains popularity, set-going centres on the live presence of 
non-professionals during the filmmaking process itself, making it an 
immediate, participatory, and temporally bound engagement with cinema 
(Şavk et al., 2025).


Rooted in the New Cinema History (NCH) paradigm—which emphasises the 
social and cultural dimensions of cinema through research on audiences, 
exhibition practices, and the lived experience of film 
consumption—set-going extends this approach upstream into the production 
phase. NCH has redirected attention from film texts to the contexts in 
which films are distributed and viewed, as seen in studies of 
cinema-going habits, neighbourhood theatres, and audience memories (see 
Maltby, Biltereyst & Meers, 2011). Rather than focusing solely on how 
films are consumed, set-going shows that spectatorship begins before 
exhibition and is co-produced through on-site encounters among publics, 
places, and industry labour. Set-going thus offers a fresh perspective 
on how cinematic meaning and participation are shaped not only in the 
theatre but also on the set.


This perspective resonates with and seeks to extend several key strands 
of media and cinema scholarship. Studies of production cultures have 
shown how the backstage dynamics of filmmaking reveal broader industrial 
reflexivities and critical practices (Caldwell, 2008), while research in 
spatial media theory has foregrounded the significance of place in the 
experience and negotiation of media (Jansson & Falkheimer, 2006; 
Reijnders, 2011). The concept of set-going also builds on work in 
audience memory and cultural geography that emphasises spectatorship as 
an embodied, affective, and place-bound activity (Kuhn, 2002). At the 
same time, it offers a necessary counterpoint to discussions of fan 
cultures and participatory media (Jenkins, Ford & Green, 2013; Hills, 
2002) by focusing on forms of engagement that may be informal, 
improvised, or locally rooted rather than networked and transnational. 
By bridging these bodies of work, set-going enables a rethinking of how 
film cultures are lived, co-produced, and remembered across time and space.


Certain commonalities emerge across film industries and countries where 
set-going has developed as a component of cinema culture. Foremost among 
these is the practice of shooting on real locations rather than 
exclusively in sound stage studios. The partial or complete use of real 
settings is a key factor enabling local residents to become set-goers. 
Secondly, these cinema cultures tend to emphasise locality, making 
set-going a critical practice through which audiences engage with films 
at a community or regional level. When local identity holds significant 
cultural and economic value within a film culture, set-going gradually 
shifts from being tolerated to being a desired phenomenon. Thirdly, 
cinemas where set-going is prevalent often operate under lower-budget 
and more pragmatic production modes, rather than adhering strictly to 
high-end industrial standards. On-location shooting environments 
typically do not allow for, nor enforce, absolute control, thus making 
it difficult to prevent the presence of set-goers.

We invite proposals that explore the concept of set-going across 
different cinematic traditions, historical periods, and geographic 
contexts. Submissions from scholars working in areas such as cinema 
history, fan studies, film tourism, production cultures, media studies, 
urban history, and cultural geography are especially encouraged.


We welcome abstracts on topics including, but not limited to, the following:

  * Historical and contemporary case studies of set-going in various
    national and regional cinema contexts;
  * Theoretical engagements with set-going as a form of audience-making,
    participatory spectatorship, or informal labour;
  * Explorations of how set-going intersects with class, gender, place,
    memory, and the politics of access;
  * Theoretical and cultural connections between set-going, fan studies
    and film tourism;
  * Archival or oral history sources that offer insight into everyday
    interactions at film sets;
  * Set-going practices in the context of TV productions and platform
    series;
  * Set-going as an area of encounter and conflict between film
    professionals, the public and local authorities;
  * Transnational comparisons of production visibility and on-location
    shooting within the context of set-going practices;
  * Strategic use of set-going activities as part of marketing and
    publicity.

Please send your abstracts of 300-500 words along with short bios (max. 
100 words for each author) to (serkan.savk /at/ ieu.edu.tr) 
<mailto:(serkan.savk /at/ ieu.edu.tr)>  no later than November 17, 2025. These 
abstracts do not need to follow a rigid format, but are encouraged to 
include:

  * A short and precise description of your proposed subject;
  * Relevant methodological tools and resources are required for
    examining the subject;
  * Current state of the proposed research: Have you already begun
    working on this topic, or is it something you relate to after
    reading the call but have not yet started? (This information will
    not prejudice the evaluation of your abstract);
  * Tentative research plan (where necessary);
  * 2-3 key references.

Based on the number and content of proposals, this publication project 
will take the form of either a special issue of a reputable journal 
indexed by Scopus and/or Web of Science or an edited volume by a 
recognised academic or university publisher. Word count and citation 
format of the final manuscripts will be decided accordingly. Accepted 
papers will go through the peer-review process required by the 
journal/publisher. Please note that editorial acceptance does not 
guarantee publication.


Timeline

Abstract submission: November 17, 2025

Notification of acceptance: December 22, 2025

Full paper submission: July 6, 2026 (peer-review process starts)


Scholars who are interested in rethinking where and how cinema is 
experienced and how such encounters might be written into the broader 
story of film culture are warmly encouraged to respond. No payment from 
the authors will be required for this publication.


Editors

Serkan Şavk

Gulf University for Science and Technology

Izmir University of Economics

https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Serkan-Savk<https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Serkan-Savk>

Aydın Çam

Çukurova University

https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Aydin-Cam<https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Aydin-Cam>





Works cited

Caldwell, J. T. (2008). Production culture: Industrial reflexivity and 
critical practice in film and television. Duke University Press.

Hills, M. (2002). Fan cultures. Routledge.

Jansson, A., & Falkheimer, J. (Eds.). (2006). Geographies of 
communication: The spatial turn in media studies. Nordicom.

Jenkins, H., Ford, S., & Green, J. (2013). Spreadable media: Creating 
value and meaning in a networked culture. NYU Press.

Kuhn, A. (2002). An everyday magic: Cinema and cultural memory. I.B. Tauris.

Maltby, R., Biltereyst, D., & Meers, P. (Eds.). (2011). Explorations in 
new cinema history: Approaches and case studies. Wiley-Blackwell.

Reijnders, S. (2011). Places of the imagination: Media, tourism, 
culture. Ashgate.

Şavk, S., Çam, A., & Şanlıer, İ. (2025). Set-going chronicles: 
Rethinking Turkish cinema through the lens of new cinema 
history. Journal of Cinema and Media Studies, 64(2), 126–147.




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