The Fan Studies Network

The University of Northampton, United Kingdom
Saturday 30th May 2015

As the academic study of popular music has developed over the last thirty years, reaching both across disciplines and across the globe, our understanding of the economic, social, political and cultural significance of this most ubiquitous of forms has only become ever more sophisticated and dynamic. Whilst the discipline(s) has developed both scholars of international repute and a thriving postgraduate research body, the work produced by undergraduate students studying relevant courses has had little opportunity to be recognized outside their own institutions.

Following the highly successful Undergraduate Panel at the PopLife conference at the University of Northampton in 2014, students and staff recognized the need to offer a conference platform to the very best work in the field coming out of undergraduate courses in popular and commercial music. As such we would like to offer undergraduate students working in the field of Popular Music Studies the opportunity to submit proposals for the First International Popular Music Studies Undergraduate Conference to be held on the 30th May 2015. The aim of the conference is to promote the very best scholarship at undergraduate level and to encourage continued engagement with the field, and the introduction of new blood into the research community.

Submissions

There is no fixed theme for the conference as long as it relates to the study of popular music. Both conventional papers and practice-based research may choose to engage with the following themes:

Music making
Performing popular music
Audiences / fandom / subcultures
Patterns of consumption
Music media
The music industry / industries
Pop historiography
Writing about music
Technology and innovation
Popular music and the political realm
Proposals may be entirely novel pieces of work or may be presentations or extensions of current dissertation or project work.

Abstracts should be no longer than 300 words (for a 20 minute paper) and should be submitted with a short author biography to nathan.wiseman-trowse@northampton.ac.uk by 14th February 2015. Proposals for dedicated panels or for practice-based sessions will also be considered.

Call for Papers

“I’ll See You Again in 25 Years: The Return of Twin Peaks and Generations of Cult TV”

A two-day international conference.

School of Arts and Media, University of Salford, UK

21st- – 22nd May 2015

Confirmed keynote speakers:
• Professor David Lavery (Middle Tennessee State University, USA)
• Cristina Alvarez (Barcelona based independent video artist)
• Dr Adrian Martin (Monash University, Australia)

Proposals are invited for a two-day international conference on the return of the popular cult television series Twin Peaks. The conference presents a timely reconsideration of the critically acclaimed programme with the announcement of its return to television after a twenty five year hiatus. In the meantime, cultures of television production, circulation and viewer practices have changed dramatically; the US cable sector in this period becoming the primary site for a model of auteur-driven, big-budget offbeat serial drama that Twin Peaks served as prototype for, with this trend underpinning Showtime’s recommissioning of this series of broadcast network origin. But alongside such transformation, the cultural prominence of this landmark programme has endured, as the considerable enthusiasm among critics and fans for the series’ return demonstrates.

This conference seeks to address the issue of Twin Peaks’ significant influence and lasting appeal from a number of multi-disciplinary perspectives. We welcome proposals from scholars in the fields of cultural studies, television studies, film studies, visual arts, popular music studies, sound studies performance studies, digital and social media and related disciplines.

Proposals are invited on (but not limited to) the following topics:

Twin Peaks and fandom
Twin Peaks and generations of cult television
Music and sound design in Twin Peaks
Set design and visual style
The use and subversion of the crime and melodrama genres
Feminism and gender relations
Seriality in Twin Peaks and contemporary television
Camp performance styles in Twin Peaks
David Lynch and televisual auteurism
Twin Peaks and social media
Generations of quality television
Intertextuality between television, film and literature
Comic and melodramatic performance styles
Film and television convergence
Twin Peaks and the contemporary television industry

Deadline for abstracts: 31st January 2015

300 word abstracts plus a 100 word biography should be sent to the conference organisers:
Kirsty Fairclough K.Fairclough@salford.ac.uk
Michael Goddard M.Goddard@salford.ac.uk
Anthony Smith A.N.Smith@salford.ac.uk

As we open a new volume for 2015, The Comics Grid: Journal of Comics Scholarship would like to invite all authors to submit contributions to the journal.

We welcome submissions from graduate students, scholars, artists, teachers, curators, researchers, publishers and librarians from any academic, disciplinary or artistic background interested in the study and/or practice of comics or other related cultural expressions. Submissions can cover any thematic field and approach as long as they fulfil The Comics Grid’s editorial guidelines, available here: http://www.comicsgrid.com/about/submissions

For 2015 we have also identified 15 priority general thematic areas we encourage authors to consider:

Online comics, digital comics and comics in non-print platforms
Comics and print culture; comics and history of the book; comics and caricature
Comics and cultural value
Comics and libraries, archives; comics preservation; comics and the digital humanities
Data research on comics; data science and comics
Comics and international development; comics and human rights
Comics in languages other than English
Comics and translation
Comics as educational resources
Long-form and short-form non-fiction comics and comics journalism
Comics and science or scholarly communication
Comics fan networks on line and off line; amateur comics as fan fiction
Academic engagement with comics in comics or other visual forms
Women in comics; comics scholarship and feminism, gender studies
Comics and multimodality and transmedia; comics as immersive documents

The Comics Grid publishes one issue per year, with rapid publication as soon as articles are ready. Submissions can be sent throughout the year, however editorial deadlines are:

March 31st
October 31st

http://www.comicsgrid.com/announcement

Distributors, Discs and Disciples: Exploring the Home Media Renaissance

23rd May 2015, University of Worcester

Rationale:

Distribution is often been seen as the “invisible link” in the media industry, in terms of facilitating how films, television shows and other texts reach audiences. The rise of digital platforms, such as online rental services and bit torrents, recently changed this view and digital distribution is the focus of several recent publications. However, there has not been a mass shift towards purely digital media, and physical media releases are still sought out by fans and consumers. Special editions and box-sets for DVDs and Blu-Rays are frequently hyped up on social media, and from many countries around the world. Past formats also make for collectible items, such as VHS, Laserdisc, and HD-DVD. Terminology related to physical media hugely affects perceptions of exhibition and consumption, such as ‘box-sets’, ‘binge-watching’, and ‘marathon’.

Distributors have been recognised as the ones making all this possible. Media distribution labels often promote their own actions; or their actions are reported on by critics and journalists; or fans and consumers directly respond to their releases and related activities. Such activity takes place within a variety of contexts – from film festivals to conventions and Q&A sessions; from social media, to dedicated websites and themed public attractions. This also occurs in relation to a variety of media texts – from newer releases to older titles; from films previously unavailable, to those regularly watched and celebrated by many.

The result of the raising of the profile of distributors has been a Home Media Renaissance. This exists not only as an alternative to online digital media exhibition options, but as one that occurs alongside them. In addition to the recent academic study of legitimate and illegitimate methods of online downloading and streaming, the simultaneous desire to own physical media is prevalent.

The aim of this symposium is to discuss and debate how and why distributors are becoming so prolific in an increasingly digital age. Is this activity a reaction to shifts towards downloading and streaming? Are consumers increasingly attracted to these forms of media, or are distributors desperate to maintain their interest? Can it last?

Case studies and observations of particular titles are encouraged – whether they are films, television shows, or other media – and concern a particular genre, national context, authorship figure, or other categorisation. This can take the shape of a 20 minute paper, or a shorter presentation – for example, as part of a panel of lightning talks or speed-geeking.

Other potential topics could cover, but are not limited to:

Distribution Labels
Home Media Formats
Exhibition Methods
Consumption Habits
Fandom (e.g. social media, blogs, communities and groups, etc)
Marketing and Promotion
Creativity and Production within Distribution and Marketing
Critical Reception and Other Reactions
Awards and Recognition

All topics proposed will also be eligible for inclusion within an edited collection. The subject of the symposium has already gained early interest from some publishers.

Proposals should be sent via email to jlwroot@googlemail.com. Proposals should be no more than 200 words, with a brief biographical statement (100 words) attached. The deadline for these is 30th January 2015. Decisions of acceptance will be sent out by the end of February/early March. There will be the opportunity to extend the length of the symposium, and potentially host it at a different location, depending on the number of proposals.

Dr Jonathan Wroot
Sessional Lecturer, Film Studies,
Institute of Humanities and Creative Arts,
University of Worcester.
PhD awarded by UEA
Email: jlwroot@googlemail.com