Mediascape, UCLA¡¯s journal of Cinema and Media
Studies, is pleased to announce its new call for
papers for our Spring 2011 issue revolving
around the theme of space in its many variations
which we have included below. We strongly
encourage you to submit your work, and please
forward it to anyone else you believe might be
interested in submitting. Please stay attentive
for the publication of our new issue, Local.Global, to be released soon!
CALL FOR PAPERS - SPRING 2011 ISSUE
UCLA's online journal for film, television, and
digital media, Mediascape, is now accepting
submissions for its next issue. This journal, a
place for articles pertaining to visual culture,
is peer-reviewed and published bi-annually.
For this issue, Mediascape is considering the
theme of space in cinema and media and visual
culture. The deadline for submissions is 31 January 2011.
-----------------
Features
Space is constructed within the cinematic text,
and the space of spectatorship is an
ever-changing beast. As the spaces and methods
of viewing media multiply, the issues
surrounding both the construction of space both
inside and outside of the text come to the
forefront. Features is seeking articles that
consider the themes and variations on the topic
of space within all areas of media studies.
Topics may include, but are not limited to:
* Production practices for new viewing
platforms, e.g., How are media creators
changing the scope of their work to be consumed
on multiple platforms? Are the new devices
governing stylistic choices made by the
producers? How are distribution methods changing?
* Media interpretation as dependent on
viewing environment, e.g., How does the viewing
platform and/or the viewing environment of
media affect the way that we perceive on-screen actions?
* How does the increasing proliferation of
screens in everyday life change both production practices and viewing habits?
* By creating new media specifically for new
mobile media platforms, how much quality is
being sacrificed? How are standards of quality being changed?
* How does the formal construction of a film
indicate the space in which it was meant to be
viewed? Is there an iPhone, IMAX or television aesthetic?
Feature submissions should offer a new and
unique perspective on film, television, and
digital media, and are encouraged to address
more than one area of moving image culture.
Please direct feature section questions,
proposals, and submissions to
(LGiggey /at/ ucla.edu)<mailto:(LGiggey /at/ ucla.edu)> by
January 31st, 2011. For the purposes of
confidentiality during the double blind peer
review, please include both your bio and your
personal contact information in the accompanying
email only, rather than in the word document.
Feature submissions should range from between 15
to 25 manuscript pages. Though articles should
be of a high level of scholarly rigor, the
journal will not be read exclusively by media
scholars. Writing should therefore be readable
enough to be enjoyed by those outside of the
field of media studies and indeed outside of the academy altogether.
Reviews
Reviews is seeking submissions which analyze
discourses that complicate the notion of space
in any medium. The object of review can be a
film, a TV program, a website, an architectural
design, a book, an artwork, an industry/trade
report, an advertisement, a tourist brochure, a
personal diary, a piece of hardware, a movie
review, an academic conference, a film festival,
a world expo, merchandise ¡ªanything. Because
the scope of space as a theme encompasses a
large spectrum of concepts, it is imperative to
distinguish between, and specify, the different
ways in which space may be theoretically
operative. Subjects that may arise include:
* Space and Film Theory- How has film
theoretical discourse evolved with respect to
its address of the narrative construction of
space? E.g. Can psychoanalytic theories of
spatial construction be applied to contemporary Hollywood cinema?
* Space and Philosophy- Do phenomenological
principles of embodiment occur immaterially or
in specific spaces? E.g. How have modernist
painting and sculpture reflected the
fragmentation of the body via the fragmentation of space?
* Space and Architecture- In architectural
discourse, the blueprint often stands as the
equivalent of the film script. How does the
translation from a spatial plan, such as the
blueprint, to the creation of the final product
occur? E.g. Does the space traveled through in
the film Inception (2010) correspond to the
architectural designs laid out within the film¡¯s plotlines?
* Space and Political Economy- What ways of
thinking have extended, superceded, or
contradicted Marxist political economic theory,
and how have these addressed the issue of
uneven development in global economy? E.g.
Consider the ways many transnational media
industries around the globe are both privately and nationally owned.
* Space and Security- To what extent are the
categories of public and private space blurry
or distinct? Specifically, how malleable are
these configurations, depending on cultures,
political conditions, urban design, and social
milieu? E.g. How do social interactions take
shape differently in modes of transportation
that are designed for public use ¨C such as
taxis, elevators, and airport lounges ¨C but are often experienced privately?
* Space and Geography- In what Hamid Naficy
calls an accented cinema, exile and nomadism
play significant roles in transforming the ways
migrant interact in their everyday spaces. How
are these narratives of transit represented,
and what types of sociopolitical and
socioeconomic challenges are encountered? E.g.
How have the designs of travel brochures
catered to and/or defined a specific category of "migrants"?
* Space and Nationalism- How do
"post-national" phenomenon, such as
cosmopolitanism, transnationalism, and
transculturation challenge the thesis of a
singularly imagined community? E.g. Are the
same types of nationalism described by Benedict
Anderson operative in popular MMORPGs through
cooperative groups such as "guilds?"
* Space and History- How are multiple
histories (memories, official narratives, media
reports, folk narratives, autobiographical
texts) embedded within single spaces, and do
the spaces reflect any contradictions in the
ways these histories are layered? E.g. What are
the politics of Hollywood action films and
contemporary video games staging narratives
that feature the use of exotic locales imbued with the weight of History?
Reviews must be original, and creativity (in
argumentation and/or style) is encouraged.
Reviews should be a minimum of 2,500 words,
although exceptions may be granted. The maximum
page limit is 20 pages, and the work must be
readable, structured, and visually appealing in
the online format. Please direct reviews section
questions, proposals, and submissions to Dennis
Lo and Jessica Fowler at
(mediascapereviews /at/ gmail.com)<mailto:(mediascapereviews /at/ gmail.com)>
by January 31st, 2011.
Columns
More than any other genres, science fiction and
fantasy explore unknown and inexplicable forces,
fantastic places, and improbable settings. For
this issue, Columns is seeking submissions with
regards to the use of "space" in the science
fiction and fantasy genres of film, television,
digital and new medias. Of particular interest
would be research in regards to spatiality and
the examination of the relationship between
diegetic space and outer space, and the ways in
which the understanding of each informs the
other. Papers should be short (800-1500 words,
in MLA format) on the role of space in the larger critical context.
Topics may include but are not limited to:
* The role of space as a means of
configuring identity in science fiction film and television.
* Spatiality/spaciality as a component of defining and undermining genre.
* Issues of temporality and memory expressed
through the construction of space in science fiction and/or fantasy.
* How do formal techniques, i.e. special
effects and sound, shape geographical imaginings and sense of space?
* Relationships between space, identity, and
difference that are produced and reproduced in various media forms.
* How are ideas of "the other" and
xenophobia expressed through space exploration and invasion?
Please submit columns and inquiries to Andrew
Young at (youngap /at/ ucla.edu)<mailto:(youngap /at/ ucla.edu)> by January 31st, 2011.
META
Cinema and media scholarship often leaves
unexamined questions about the practice of
scholarship itself: how we formulate analysis
and argument, why certain issues emerge to the
fore, what new forms and expressions of media
and cultural analysis enhance our understanding.
The META section presents students and scholars
of cinema and other media the opportunity to
publish work that exemplifies scholastic
self-awareness- papers and projects that
contemplate academic methods, critique their
implications and limitations, and propagate new
approaches to media scholarship.
Given the video game industry's relatively young
history, scholars and artists alike have had a
unique opportunity to comment and theorize on
the burgeoning field of game studies. META has
decided to concentrate on game studies, with a
particular focus on the multifaceted
implications of 'space' in gaming and how
popular scholarship has discussed it.¡¡
META welcomes video submissions (experimental
video is encouraged) as well as scholarly
articles that contain a visual component
(screenshots, videos, etc.). Topics may or may not involve:
* Spaces of gaming (arcades, home consoles,
handhelds, internet caf¨¦s, etc.)
* Machinima¡¡(films that are made from game engines, such as Red vs. Blue)
* Game design (understanding the design of games in a meta sense)
* Game controllers and interfaces
* Social gaming (casual gaming on Facebook, MMOGs, fantasy sports, etc.)
* Alternate Reality Games (ARGs)
* Agency in gaming (avatars, player-character relationships, etc.)
* The relationship of digital games and
non-digital games (board games, etc.)
* Video game archiving (Why is it important? How can it be done?)
* Video games as remediation (video games
remediating film, sports, etc.) or remediation
of games in other media (film, sports, etc.)
These are just a sampling of questions of
interest to META for the next issue and we
welcome you to present your own lines of inquiry
in an original paper or project.
If you have questions about META submissions, or
wish to submit a paper or project for
consideration, please contact James Fleury at
(fleury.james /at/ gmail.com)<mailto:(fleury.james /at/ gmail.com)>
with the subject header "Mediascape META" by January 31st, 2011.
General Guidelines:
All submissions should follow MLA Style
guidelines, employ endnote citations, and comply
with the following formatting requirements:
1. No cover page, with title instead centered
at the top of the first page of the article
2. Language of document set to English
3. Double spaced paragraphs in 12 point font
4. 1" Margins
5. Endnotes rather than footnotes
6. Images correctly sized outside of word
(sizing them in word slows web editing process)
and then placed within the word document's
layout where they should appear at publication
Because of the peer review and editorial
processes of the journal's different sections,
it may take as long as eight to twelve weeks for
decisions on submissions to reach the writers.
General email inquiries can be sent to
(Mediascape /at/ tft.ucla.edu)<mailto:(Mediascape /at/ tft.ucla.edu)>.
Mediascape Copyright Policy:
Articles appearing in Mediascape are accepted on
the basis that the material is the original,
uncopied work of the author or authors. The
ownership of manuscripts for publication in
Mediascape shall reside with the author(s),
though Mediascape reserves exclusive first
rights of publication. This means that
Mediascape alone may publish the article for the
first time, and the author(s) may not publish
the piece elsewhere for a period of 6 months following initial publication.
Following the 6 month first-rights period, the
author will retain full rights and ownership to
the material, and will be free to re-publish the
manuscript elsewhere, provided that full and
appropriate credit for first publication be
given to Mediascape. In exchange for retaining
author ownership rights post-publication,
Mediascape¡¡requires that authors not submit
their manuscripts simultaneously to other
journals/publishers while under consideration for publication in Medisascape.
------
Note on images:¡¡Mediascape uses images by
permission of the original creator(s), or under
the parameters and protections afforded
non-profit, educational use by the principles of Fair Use.
