[ecrea] Call for Essays "Cinéma & Cie. International Film Studies Journal"

/Cinéma & Cie -- International Film Studies Journal/

Special Issue no. 19 -- Call for Essays

* *

This special issue of /Cinéma & Cie/ will deal with the audiovisual 
serial production within the European Union.

In the past years, television serial narratives have gone through some 
severe changes in the way they are organised from a narrative point of 
view, as well as in the way they are perceived and "used" by audiences. 
This new wave of serial production has been quite well analysed by 
scholars from different countries; several books and essays focused on 
different aspects of serial productions, from the narrative construction 
to audience reception. However, the main focus of these studies seems to 
always be on US productions. This issue of /Cinéma & Cie/ aims to draw 
attention to EU TV series, trying to answer the following question: does 
a European television market exist?

The European Community is nowadays working in the direction of a more 
inclusive society, a goal that implies the understanding of the social 
transformations in Europe through a variety of tools, not least the 
study of the circulation of audiovisual cultural products in Europe. 
Since technological advances in the field of audiovisual media are 
affecting the consumer and user behaviours, as well as the structure of 
production, it is quite relevant to focus on the role and influence of 
cultural products from a transnational perspective.

Several factors warrant the focus of this issue on television series 
produced in Europe.

First, serials have become one of the most successful formats among 
transnationally distributed media products, benefiting both producers 
and distributors. Second, these cultural products appeal to a wide range 
of consumers: they are a common factor across European markets 
(otherwise differing in many significant aspects) and are designed to be 
enjoyed through different devices (from conventional broadcast 
television to the Internet). These factors make audiovisual serialized 
formats suitable for investigating potential transformations/trends and 
the construction of the cultural imagery of media convergence in Europe. 
The digital production, distribution and consumption of contemporary 
television series permit a continuous reshaping of content; this 
modularity, flexibility and fast-paced adaptation offers the opportunity 
for serialized content to engage directly with European communities, and 
to better suit their needs and values.

In a media landscape characterised by an overabundance of entertainment 
offers, audiovisual serialized products and formats must deal with 
problems arising from information overload and the "attention economy".* 
*Today, Europe is facing an important paradigm switch: the prominent 
role taken by consumers and users in the media industry has put them in 
the first position in the value production chain. The scarcity of 
spectators' attention has become a crucial factor in the creation of the 
value connected to cultural products, as well as in the creation of 
products capable of exploiting all the possibilities of the newly 
converged media landscape. Finally, serialized audiovisual contents now 
represent a large percentage of media industry production, so that they 
might constitute an urgent opportunity for European audiovisual industries.

Essays on the following topics are welcome:

- State of the Art -- How is the situation of the scientific literature 
on this topic in EU countries? Are research and studies on the 
production of European TV dramas and series only popular within the 
context of national studies? How much of the scientific production on TV 
series is monopolized/dedicated to studies on US productions?

- Circulation of European TV dramas within the EU as well as outside of 
the EU

- Case studies: national productions of TV dramas and series mostly 
relevant (with regard to their production modes, narrative, themes, 
style...) to enlighten the features of the European TV market

- Domestic and American characteristics of EU TV dramas (formats, genres...)

- Does a European identity exist within the narrative construction of EU 
serials? Can European series contribute to the creation of a European 
identity, and how? Are there exemplary case studies with reference to 
this topic?

- European production modes: different productions for different 
channels (free, pay, broadcasting, narrowcasting). How relevant is the 
production of TV dramas in each national entertainment market?

- Serial formats for the WWW: do web series aim to go beyond the 
national borders to reach a wider audience, and how is that achieved?

- Consumption modes: do transnational modes of consumption exist? How 
much are they affected by the TV scheduling and programming pattern of 
each country? Does file sharing contribute or prevent this kind of 
circulation?

- Do cult series exist within the European context? Are these national 
or transnational phenomena?

- Does European quality TV exist? If so, does it coincide with TV drama 
productions or with other formats? Do common indicators for quality 
definition and evaluation exist?

- How do co-productions with the US or among different EU member states 
work? What are features of runaway productions (America in the EU)? How 
co-productions affect training of professionals and can contribute to 
the creation of a domestic production/market? What are the institutions 
involved in the training of professionals?

Submission details

Please send your abstract (300-500 words in English, French or Italian) 
and a short bio to (submissions.cinemaetcie /at/ gmail.com) 
<mailto:(submissions.cinemaetcie /at/ gmail.com)> by May 31.

All notifications of acceptance will be emailed no later than June 15.