Showing papers in "Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television in 2013"
TL;DR: Anthony and James G. Mansell (Eds) as discussed by the authors, Palgrave Macmillan-British Film Institute, 2011 ix+338 pp., filmography, index, £23.99,
Abstract: Scott Anthony and James G. Mansell (Eds) Hampshire–New York, Palgrave Macmillan–British Film Institute, 2011 ix+338 pp., filmography, index, £23.99, (paperback) Given the centrality of the GPO Film...
17 citations
12 citations
TL;DR: The fourth publication of the Film Festival Yearbook Project (FFY) as discussed by the authors explores the relationship between social activism and film festivals, focusing on the intersection of social justice and film festival research.
Abstract: This book is the fourth publication of the Film Festival Yearbook Project—an endeavour that aims to bring awareness and resources to the field of film festival research through an interdisciplinary exchange between academic researchers, film-makers and festival professionals. The focus of this volume explores the relationship between social activism and film festivals...
12 citations
TL;DR: In Their Footsteps (2011) was an Australian television history program in which individuals retraced the "footsteps" of ancestors who had served in war as mentioned in this paper and stressed the connections between present-day individuals and a larger national history through their ancestor's participation in Australian military engagements.
Abstract: In Their Footsteps (2011) was an Australian television history program in which individuals retraced the ‘footsteps’ of ancestors who had served in war. Like the British genealogical quest program Who Do You Think You Are? In Their Footsteps was premised on the idea that we can understand the past in experiential and emotional terms. It stressed the connections between present-day individuals and a larger national history through their ancestor’s participation in Australian military engagements. Australia’s interpretation of its national past has recently been the subject of heated, politicized debate, and this program appeared at a time when Australian historians were expressing concern at a resurgence in nationalist military commemoration. Some historians regarded this affective attachment to Australia’s military past with suspicion, arguing that these attachments were produced by a jingoistic political culture. Television histories, which operate in an affective register, are usually neglected in these...
11 citations
TL;DR: In this article, Colman and Martin-Jones discuss the relationship between cinema and Deleuze and World Cinemas, and discuss the role of the audience in the creation of the movies.
Abstract: Felicity Colman Oxford/New York, Berg, 2011 viii+280 pp., notes, glossary, bibliography, filmography and index, $29.95 (paper), $99.95 (hardback) Deleuze and World Cinemas David Martin-Jones Oxford...
11 citations
TL;DR: In May 2012, the Milton Keynes Citizen reported, under the headline ‘Future signs could point to iconic site's demise’ that The Point, in Milton Keynes, would be demolished if a suggested redevelopment was carried out as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: In May 2012, the Milton Keynes Citizen reported, under the headline ‘Future signs could Point to iconic site’s demise’ that The Point, in Milton Keynes, would be demolished if a suggested redevelop...
10 citations
9 citations
TL;DR: A leading editorial columnist for the Moving Picture World, Louis Reeves Harrison is an often-cited but rarely analyzed critic in American film historiography of the 1910s as discussed by the authors, which was both symptomatic of the MPW's investment in boosting the industry's cultural status, and his interests in interpreting film production as a process that synthesized dignified labor, aesthetic innovation, and commerce.
Abstract: A leading editorial columnist for the Moving Picture World, Louis Reeves Harrison is an often-cited but rarely analyzed critic in American film historiography of the 1910s. While industry outsiders such as poet Vachel Lindsay and experimental psychologist Hugo Munsterberg are frequently credited for articulating the earliest theories of film as a distinct art, trade press critics made important contributions to a contemporary understanding of film as an aesthetic and economic product. This article explores Harrison’s interest in film as a creative ‘craft,’ which was both symptomatic of the MPW’s investment in boosting the industry’s cultural status, and his interests in interpreting film production as a process that synthesized dignified labor, aesthetic innovation, and commerce. Harrison occupied a central position within a field of writing that responded to, and helped to shape, a burgeoning industry in transition. Examining Harrison’s writing for the MPW and his main treatise Screencraft (1916) reveals...
9 citations
TL;DR: The authors examined the ways in which Englishness was associated with horror long before the success of Hammer, the British studio that in the late 1950s and 1960s became synonymous with a particularly English version of Gothic cinema.
Abstract: This article is an examination of the ways in which Englishness was associated with horror long before the success of Hammer, the British studio that in the late 1950s and 1960s became synonymous with a particularly English version of Gothic cinema. During the 1930s and 1940s, many key horror stars were English or signified Englishness; and the article explores the ways in which this was due to a preoccupation with themes of psychological dominance and dependence during the period. In other words, the threat of psychological dominance and dependence that preoccupied horror films meant that the horror villain was often associated with the spectre of old-world despotism in relation to which the United States defined itself as a rejection. Furthermore, these psychological themes also demonstrate that, during this period, the horror film either included, or was intimately related to, the gangster film and spy thriller so that most horror stars played a range of horror villains, gangsters and spies. However, r...
8 citations
TL;DR: For the majority of its silent era, from its growth into a mass amusement in the 1900s until its transition to sound in 1929, it was widely accepted that Hollywood was, as its advocates insisted, a ‘...
Abstract: For the majority of its silent era—from its growth into a mass amusement in the 1900s until its transition to sound in 1929—it was widely accepted that Hollywood was, as its advocates insisted, a ‘...
8 citations
TL;DR: In his book on educational technology, Saettler argues that this rationale inspired visual instruction activists over a period of half a century, and relates this view to the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth-century practice of compiling so-called ‘concrete-abstract continuums’: listings of types of instructional tools, classified according to their respective levels of concreteness, and by the same token, suitability for classroom use.
Abstract: vs. Concrete One aspect of visual instruction rhetoric that was clearly borrowed from the educational reform movement was the argument that audio-visual media could help introduce concreteness into a learning environment that traditionally catered only to the transmission of dry, abstract ideas. Film, the slogan went, could ‘bring the [outside] world to the classroom’.26 Proponents were convinced that concreteness made education more effective because children, and modern pupils in particular, learnt faster through confrontation with actual, real-life situations. As Ottley summarised it in 1935: “It is of tremendous import, in all departments of teaching, that the film can picturize (materially) what the teacher can only visualize (mentally)” (xi).27 In his book on educational technology, Saettler argues that this rationale inspired visual instruction activists over a period of half a century (1990, 8, 167-68). In the publications of manufacturers, it was even adhered to until the early 1960s, when the battle for legitimacy of visual classroom aids had long been won. The main advantage of film over other photographic media, in this context, was taken to be the fact that it could also reproduce movement. For this reason, it was considered a closer approximation of reality, and therefore, a better teaching tool. Saettler relates this view to the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth-century practice of compiling so-called ‘concrete-abstract continuums’: listings of types of instructional tools, classified according to their respective levels of concreteness, and by the same token, suitability for classroom use. The top position in any such list was taken by ‘the real thing’: an actual specimen of the particular plant, animal or object that the lesson concerned. The importance of real-life samples as educational tools can in turn be related to the turn-of-the-century pedagogical fashion of so-called ‘object teaching’ (known in Dutch as zaakonderwijs, or in French, leçons de choses): a didactic method based on the scrutiny of actual, tangible substances rather than description by means of words, and aimed at obtaining ‘objective’, universal truths.28 Next in the hierarchy came all sorts of replicas of this ‘original’;
TL;DR: In this article, the authors explore the relationship between the two channels and the tensions and difficulties that arose by studying the way that the films purchased and produced by Channel 4 were broadcast on S4C as a case study.
Abstract: S4C, launched one day prior to Channel 4 on 1 November 1982, depended heavily in its formative years on its sister channel for content to fill the schedules around its 22 hours a week of original Welsh content broadcast at peak hours. Freed from any constraints by the ‘once around the transmitters’ agreement and a strong relationship between its two Chief Executives, the Welsh channel was given free rein to select and schedule Channel 4’s programmes as it wished and broadcast them free of charge. With no room for all of the Channel 4 programmes within the S4C schedules, some programmes would have to be omitted and the complexities of the relationship would be exposed by the difference in style between the programmes produced in English and in Welsh. This article will explore the relationship between the two channels and the tensions and difficulties that arose by studying the way that the films purchased and produced by Channel 4 were broadcast on S4C as a case study. The article will also consider how th...
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors argue that individual national differences have been eroded in favour of a generic, one-size-fits-all, transnational past, and argue that the series as a representation of a specifically national past, its multinational composition, its insistence on history as an accidental process, and its departure from earlier conventions in depicting the national past creates serious problems when trying to identify what Anthony D. Smith terms a ‘composite national mythology.
Abstract: The HBO/BBC/Rai Italia co-production of the television series Rome depicts a turbulent period of Roman history in its transition from Republic to Empire, an era which produced a golden age of heroes (Caesar, Marc Antony, Cleopatra, Brutus) and offers a rich trove of ideas about the emergence of a nation which is integral to most European countries today. However, when it comes to analysing the series as a representation of a specifically national past, its multinational composition, its insistence on history as an accidental process, and its departure from earlier conventions in depicting the national past creates serious problems when trying to identify what Anthony D. Smith terms a ‘composite national mythology’. Rather than offering an easily identifiable mythology for any one nation, I argue that individual national differences have been eroded in favour of a generic, one-size-fits-all, transnational past.
TL;DR: Katharina Niemeyer et al. as discussed by the authors stated that reading the morning newspaper was the realist's morning prayer, and that it was the best way to start the day.
Abstract: Katharina Niemeyer Lausanne Editions Antipodes, 2011 342 pp., bibliography, 30.00 EUR (paper) Hegel once remarked that reading the morning newspaper was the realist’s morning prayer. Katharina Niem...
TL;DR: The power of the reform movement comprised of the many stations that had their airtime reduced or eliminated after the Federal Radio Commission (FRC), created as a temporary body by Congress to manage station allocation, implemented its General Order 40 in 1928, forcing many non-commercial stations off the airwaves and giving the most powerful licenses to the networks and their affiliates as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: The possibility and promise of a new democratic medium infused early radio broadcasting in the United States. A far cry from the predictable, commercially driven content produced by a handful of corporations today, historians remind us that amateurs originated the medium, and educators, newspapers, churches, and department stores adopted it in the early 1920s. Although ‘toll broadcasting’ began with AT&T’s WEAF station in 1922, networks did not emerge until the National Broadcasting Corporation (NBC) and the Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) were founded in 1926 and 1927, and were allowed to dominate the airwaves as a result of changes in federal policy. Susan Douglas and Tom Streeter suggest that the medium’s commercialization was ultimately inevitable. Bob McChesney, however, recognizes the power of the reform movement comprised of the many stations that had their airtime reduced or eliminated after the Federal Radio Commission (FRC), created as a temporary body by Congress to manage station allocation, implemented its General Order 40 in 1928, forcing many non-commercial stations off the airwaves and giving the most powerful licenses to the networks and their affiliates. This movement’s failure, he argues, was not pre-determined. While McChesney’s research focuses on stations WCFL, WLWL, and education advocates, he pays scant attention to another important player in this story—New York’s WEVD. WEVD has been studied under two different lenses. Nathan Godfried discusses WEVD primarily as the station of the Socialist Party, with an eye towards educational programming during the early days of radio. He argues that the station legitimized the commercial model through a discourse of ‘minority rights,’ and
TL;DR: The authors examined how The Phantom Empire (1935) combines the musical, western and science fiction genres in a twelve-part Poverty Row serial starring Gene Autry, and compared it with the major studio musical/sci-fi efforts Just Imagine (1930) and It's Great to Be Alive (1933) as a way of contrasting how the musical intersects with science-fiction between Poverty Row and the major studios.
Abstract: This essay examines how The Phantom Empire (1935) – a twelve-part Poverty Row serial starring Gene Autry – combines the musical, western and science fiction genres. While several attempts were made at amalgamating the musical with science-fiction in 1930s Hollywood, such efforts did not ultimately lead to a sustained sub-genre. Comparisons are drawn with the major studio musical/sci-fi efforts Just Imagine (1930) and It’s Great to Be Alive (1933) as a way of contrasting how the musical intersects with science-fiction between Poverty Row and the major studios, as well as how the additional genre of the western affects the dynamic between generic categories in The Phantom Empire. By examining how these films used particular generic elements within their narratives, how they were positioned for exhibitors and audiences at the time, and how film scholarship has subsequently understood the theoretical functions of various generic elements in these films, this essay attempts to find new perspectives on how the ...
TL;DR: The Pirate television, home-made (non-art school) scratch video made great media myths and fed the theorists' need to romanticize working-class production as mentioned in this paper, which represented an opportunity to take a radical position and get it across to as wide an audience as possible.
Abstract: TV represented an opportunity to take a radical position and get it across to as wide an audience as possible—and all this without having to train as an assistant editor with the BBC for 10 years first Pirate television, home-made (non-art school) scratch video made great media myths and fed the theorists’ need to romanticize working-class production 1
TL;DR: The authors examines the shift in British television programming from vertically integrated, in-house BBC producer-unit production to commissioned-out, independent, packageunit production typified by Channel 4.
Abstract: This article examines the shift in British television programming from vertically integrated, in-house BBC producer-unit production to commissioned-out, independent, package-unit production typified by Channel 4. This shift is characteristic of much British TV production but has rarely been experienced within the same series and by largely the same production team. The article analyses that shift as it impinged on two specific series, both film magazine programmes that I was personally involved in producing. The first, Moving Pictures (BBC2, 1990–1996), moved from in-house to independent production between its first and second series, though I remained as Series Editor. The second, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (Channel 4, 1998), was made by the same independent production company and several of the same programme-makers (I was Executive Producer) but for Channel 4 rather than the BBC. Whilst much has been written about the economic and employment consequences of independent production, there has been little attemp...
TL;DR: Following the end of World War II, the United States rose to prominent international status as its foreign policy coalesced around Cold War politics that focused not only upon external enemies but also upon internal enemies as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: Following the end of World War II, the United States rose to prominent international status as its foreign policy coalesced around Cold War politics that focused not only upon external enemies abro...
TL;DR: The cover of Time magazine in 1950, Darryl F. Zanuck was described as a one-man studio as discussed by the authors, with an intuitive sense of what the public wanted, Zanuck reigned supreme from 1935-1956 as chief of...
Abstract: Gracing the cover of Time magazine in 1950, Darryl F. Zanuck was described as a one-man studio. With an intuitive sense of what the public wanted, Zanuck reigned supreme from 1935-1956 as chief of ...
TL;DR: It may be that the war has forced some of us British producers to be too insular in our outlook as discussed by the authors, and we have failed to realise that Europe can provide an ideal location centre, not for completing parts.
Abstract: It may be that the war has forced some of us British producers to be too insular in our outlook. We have failed to realise that Europe can provide an ideal location centre, not for completing parts...
TL;DR: Canjels as mentioned in this paper discusses distribution of Silent Film Serials: local practices, changing forms, cultural transformation, and changing forms of silent film serials, 2011 xxii+261 pp., illus., index, bibliography, appendix, $125.00 (har...
Abstract: Distributing Silent Film Serials: local practices, changing forms, cultural transformation RUDMER CANJELS New York, Routledge, 2011 xxii+261 pp., illus., index, bibliography, appendix, $125.00 (har...
TL;DR: The Cinema of Aleksander Sokurov as mentioned in this paper is an essential asset, and it will most likely enthuse scholars into further explorations, and the editors also added a filmography that frames information on the production crew, festival screenings and awards.
Abstract: film reviews, starting with an article by Oleg Kovalov on the reception and impact of The Lonely Voice of Man (1978/1987), during the director’s studentship at the VGIK Film Institute. Maya Turovskaya expresses her ideas on Sokurov’s indebtedness to Soviet director Mikhail Romm, and the third article by Petr Bagrov deals with the musical score of Sonata for Viola. Dmitri Shostakovich (1981). The final section of the book offers three essays on ‘The Oeuvre’, sketching general tendencies and evolutions in Sokurov’s work, including an insightful and poetic text by Soviet cinema expert Sergei Dobrotvorsky. The ‘Russian Responses’ are not only disclosing new information for non-Russian speaking readers, they also enrich our understanding by nuancing and/or affirming the knowledge shared in the other parts of the book. The editors also added a filmography that frames information on the production crew, festival screenings and awards. The bibliography is selective, mentioning key texts and interviews in English as well as in Russian. In sum, The Cinema of Aleksander Sokurov is an essential asset, and it will most likely enthuse scholars into further explorations.
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TL;DR: Visions of Japanese Modernity: articulations of cinema, nation and spectatorship, 1895-1925 AARON GEROW Berkeley and Los Angeles, University of California Press, 2010 323 pp., illus., bibliography...
Abstract: Visions of Japanese Modernity: articulations of cinema, nation and spectatorship, 1895–1925 AARON GEROW Berkeley and Los Angeles, University of California Press, 2010 323 pp., illus., bibliography ...
TL;DR: Evangelista as mentioned in this paper presents a highly insightful account of the complex and fascinating representativeness of the representative representation of the human body and its relationships with the physical world.
Abstract: Matthew Evangelista Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2011 xiv+289 pp., illus., bibliography and index, $94.00 (cloth) This highly insightful account of the complex and fascinating representat...