[Commlist] Call for Papers: Designs on Television conference

*Call for Papers*

**

*Designs on Television: Production Design and Television Aesthetics*

A University of Brighton/CREAM, University of Westminster conference

July 27^th and 28^th 2023, University of Brighton, BRIGHTON

**

*Organisers:*

Dr. Christopher Hogg – (C.Hogg /at/ westminster.ac.uk) 
<mailto:(C.Hogg /at/ westminster.ac.uk)>(University of Westminster)

Dr. Douglas McNaughton – (D.Mcnaughton /at/ brighton.ac.uk) 
<mailto:(D.Mcnaughton /at/ brighton.ac.uk)>(University of Brighton)

*Overview:*

Design is a key element of all sorts of television, but frequently 
neglected in academic studies. In 2003, Piers D. Britton and Simon J. 
Barker wrote ‘No serious, sustained examination of the role of scenic or 
costume design in the medium has been attempted’ (p.1). Almost 20 years 
later, Britton wrote ‘Scholarly analysis of almost any form of design 
for the screen… is still a relatively new phenomenon’ (2021: 10). This 
conference seeks to examine various aspects of television design, 
including set design, set dressing, redressing locations, connections 
between real space and onscreen place, relationships between set design 
and costume design, and the interpersonal relationships and 
institutional structures which inform design for television.

The organisers feel that input from professionals is vital to 
understanding how television design works, and therefore there will be 
at least one panel of industry practitioners to discuss their experience 
of television design. In addition, in collaboration with the University 
of Brighton Design Archives, which holds the papers of the pioneering 
television designer Natasha Kroll (1914-2004), among others, the 
organisers hope to stage an accompanying exhibition of documents, 
artefacts and costumes related to television design.

Early critical orthodoxies around television have assumed it is a medium 
lacking in any distinctive visual aesthetic. However, more recent work 
by scholars such as Steven Peacock, Brett Mills and Helen Wheatley has 
drawn attention to television's aesthetic. As Wheatley (2016) argues, 
television has always been visual and has always been spectacular. This 
conference therefore aims to draw attention to the visual and aesthetic 
qualities of television design.

*Paper proposals are welcomed on various topics that may include – but 
are not limited to – the following:*

**

Factual and fictional television design

Realism, naturalism and alternative approaches

Studio set design

Adapting real locations for television

Costume and makeup design

Designing character

Graphic design

Production design processes and institutional structures

Design and authorship

Careers in television design

Teams and interpersonal relationships in design

Connections between television and other media

Design, spectacle and visual pleasure

Set dressing and action props

Visual Effects

How television design supports performance and narrative

**

*Please send abstracts of no more than 500 words, a title for your 
paper, a 300 word biography (written in the third person) with ‘Designs 
on Television’ in the email subject line to both the organisers listed 
above.*We welcome papers from students studying towards a PhD as well as 
from established academics.

*__*

*_Deadline for submitting abstracts of papers: January 31^st 2023_*

Presentation of the papers will be limited to 20 minutes.

Travel and accommodation expenses are covered by the participants.



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