Screen Audiences

The impact of a national mental health arts and film festival on stigma and recovery

by Lee Knifton

Exploring Italian Micro Web TVs: how high-Tech bricoleur redefine audiences?

by Valentina Bazzarin

Co-authored with Emiliano Trerè
published in ESSACHESS – Journal for Communication Studies, 4, 7, 2011, pp 35-37

Résumé : Le processus de numérisation et de diffusion de l'information par internet montre un paysage médiatique en... more Résumé : Le processus de numérisation et de diffusion de l'information par internet montre un paysage médiatique en pleine mutation radicale. Les canaux de communication par le web se multiplient ainsi que les dispositifs d'accès, tandis que l’expertise nécessaire pour les produire devient moins importante. Dans ce nouvel environnement multi-canal, la diversification et l'hybridation des médias sont en train de révolutionner la télévision. Pendant cinquante ans la façon dont la télévision était regardée et produite n'a pas beaucoup changé. Aujourd'hui, ce qui change est surtout la nouvelle imbrication entre les rôles de producteur et de public car les utilisateurs sont en mesure de télécharger leur contenu indépendamment des intermédiaires traditionnels, et de créer leurs propres plates- formes Web TV d'une manière peu coûteuse. Claude Lévi Strauss, en 1962, a développé le concept du bricoleur en l’opposant à la notion d’ingénieur. Selon l'auteur, le bricoleur est capable d'utiliser tous les outils disponibles stockés à partir des anciennes expériences pour mener à terme un projet, même si ces outils n’étaient pas destinés à l'objectif spécifique. Drusian et Riva (2010) ont appliqué ce concept dans le contexte numérique, en décrivant les caractéristiques d'un nouvel acteur de la communication : le bricoleur high-tech. Dans cet article, en nous appuyant sur le concept du bricoleur high-tech, nous allons étudier deux expériences différentes de Web TV en Italie: CrossingTv, une micro WebTV créé à Bologne en 2008, et FEMI, la fédération italienne des Micros web TV créée en 2008. Les deux initiatives exigent le bricoleur, mais elles diffèrent en ce qui concerne le but et les résultats. Grâce à l'exploration de ces deux études de cas, l'article montre quelles sont les différences entre la Web TV et la télévision traditionnelle, plus précisément, comment ces nouvelles plates-formes TV brouillent la distinction entre les producteurs et les consommateurs des médias. Nos résultats mettent en évidence un changement de paradigme dans la façon dont la télévision est produite: le contenu est généré de façon collaborative à travers des feedbacks récursifs entre les producteurs et le public. Nous concluons en exposant certaines des orientations futures pour l'étude de ce moyen d'expression.

Abstract: The media landscape is undergoing radical changes, especially related to the process of digitalization and information circulation through the internet, which increases the number of web channels and the opportunity to access them using multiple devices, and decreases the expertise needed to produce them. In this new digital, multi-channel environment, radical innovation, diversification and media hybridization are revolutionizing television. For over fifty years the way that television is watched and produced has not changed significantly. Today the roles of producers and audiences have blurred because users are able to upload their contents independent of traditional intermediaries, and to create their own Web TV platforms in an inexpensive way. Claude Lévi Strauss in 1962 developed the concept of the bricoleur opposed to the concept of ingénieur. According to the author, the bricoleur is able to use any available tools stocked from previous experience in order to complete a project, even if these tools were not intended for the specific goal. Drusian and Riva (2010) have applied this concept to the digital context describing the features of a new communication actor: the bricoleur high-tech. In this paper, drawing on the concept of the high-tech bricoleur, we will investigate two different Italian Web Television projects, CrossingTv, a micro WebTV created in Bologna in 2006, and FEMI, the Italian federation of Micro web TVs created in 2008. These initiatives both require the bricoleur, but they differ with regard to aim and results. Through the exploration of these two case studies, this paper shows in which ways these Web TV experiences differ from traditional television, specifically, how these new TV platforms clouds the distinction between media producers and media consumers. Our findings highlight a paradigm shift in how television is produced: content is generated collaboratively through recursive feedback between producers and audiences. We conclude by outlining some future directions for the study of this medium.

Character, Audience Agency and Transmedia Drama

by Elizabeth (Liz) Evans

published in 'Media, Culture and Society' March 2008 30(2)

Boxed Out: Visually Impaired Audiences, Audio Description and the Cultural Value of the Television Image

by Elizabeth (Liz) Evans

co-authored with Roberta Pearson. Published in 'Participations' November 2009 6(2)

Television is vital to the interpersonal relationships of visually impaired audiences, despite their being unable to... more Television is vital to the interpersonal relationships of visually impaired audiences, despite their being unable to see the images clearly. However, their ability to fully engage with television’s social role hinges on their ability to gather meaning from the text, something that becomes increasingly difficult when only the aural signifiers of television are accessible. This article explores the role of audio description services, which provide an additional soundtrack detailing visual information, and the way in which they facilitate interpretation and subsequently discussion of television texts for the visually impaired. In doing so it will interrogate arguments that present a singular model of television aesthetics. Instead it will present the need for a more nuanced approach, one that understands the specificity of individual genres or programmes and the fact that the relationship between sound and image may not be the same for all television content. Key words: Television, audiences, image, sound, disability, audio description.

"Fact and Fiction: The Iraq War Film in Absences"

by Gabrielle Murray

Published in Screening the Past, Issue 29, 2010

The American film industry’s response to the events of 9/11 and the invasion of Iraq heralds a transition in its... more The American film industry’s response to the events of 9/11 and the invasion of Iraq heralds a transition in its previous reaction to the country at war. During the Vietnam conflict, the industry was slow to tackle the complex issue of representing an increasingly unpopular war. However, the Iraq War has quickly found expression in both fiction and non-fiction form. While documentaries such as Standard Operating Procedure (USA 2008) have met with some success, the majority of non-fiction and fiction films have failed at the box office. In the Valley of Elah (USA, 2007) and Stop-Loss (USA 2008), which deal explicitly with the dehumanizing effect of the Iraq war on American soldiers, are two such examples. This paper argues that a closer examination of the recognised audiences for both fiction and non-fiction films might better enable us to ascertain the validity of the critical perception of an ‘absent audience’ for the Iraq war film, and how audiences might differ from those of the Vietnam period. In taking up the discussion of the adverse or “vanishing” viewer, this article suggests that, in the midst of combat when soldiers die everyday and there seems to be no end-in-sight, audiences are still inclined to reject realist aesthetics in favour of more spectacular or fantastic generic offerings.