[Commlist] CFP: Technology and Film Labour: Crafting the Look of the Film

*Technology and Film Labour: Crafting the Look of the Film *

/Investigating the impacts of technological change on below the line 
film labour./

The Centre for Creative Technologies, University of Galway
May 22nd and 23rd 2025

Recent technological developments such as the widespread adoption of 
virtual production processes and the use of generative AI have had a 
transformative effect on film production workflows and below the line 
film craft. The relationships between production departments as well as 
the roles and functions of cinematography, production design, sound 
design costume, location and visual effects have all been affected by 
technological change.

At the same time, such transformations in production practices are 
nothing new, with historical precedents including the impact on film 
craft of the transition to sound, the impact of colour on costume and 
set design and the emergence of lightweight camera technology. Whilst 
each of these shifts has altered the skill sets and daily work practices 
of film practitioners, such changes have been equally subsumed into 
enduring conventions around story and stylistic norms. This conference 
seeks to understand the latest wave of technological transformations in 
relation to these histories of below the line film craft and production 
norms.

Emerging scholarship in areas such as production studies, along with the 
archival turn in film scholarship, have seen the development in recent 
years of new critical discourses aimed at making visible the inclusions 
and exclusions in scholarly and popular understandings of creative 
labour. Drawing on such developments, this conference aims to track the 
historical relationships between technological change and below the line 
labour and to explore critical strategies for restoring the visibility 
of film craft in the production of meaning around individual films. We 
invite proposals on an array of topics from industry studies, to 
production history, to individual practice, to textual analysis, focused 
on the work of below the line crew. We particularly welcome papers that 
bring to light the intersection of technology and structures of gender, 
sexuality, race and class that have determined the (in)visibility of 
specific forms of labour or individual practitioners.

In that light, we are interested in papers on topics including, but not 
limited to:

  * Histories of film craft
  * Collaborative practices and creative partnerships, particularly of
    non-directing crew
  * Virtual production processes and workflows
  * Generative AI and previs/post production practices
  * Technology and low-budget/marginal film practice
  * Histories and practices of female and POC crew
  * Practices that challenge Hollywood’s hierarchical organizational
    structures
  * The affect of digital technologies on colour, framing, camera
    movement, etc.
  * Digital platforming and the look of film

*Proposals*
We welcome proposals for 20 minute papers from individuals or as 
pre-constituted panels. Please send a 300 word abstract and a short bio 
(100 words) to (centrecreativetechnologies /at/ universityofgalway.ie) 
<mailto:(centrecreativetechnologies /at/ universityofgalway.ie)>, subject 
“Technology and Film Labour.” Deadline for submissions is Friday October 
18th 2024.

Contact Information:

Conn Holohan (University of Galway), (conn.holohan /at/ universityofgalway.ie) 
<mailto:(conn.holohan /at/ universityofgalway.ie)>

Aaron Hunter (Trinity College Dublin), (hunteraa /at/ tcd.ie) 
<mailto:(hunteraa /at/ tcd.ie)>

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