American Dreams – Israeli Formats: How Israeli TV Became a U.S. Success Story
Sharon Shahaf
Flow, Volume 15, Issue 10, April 9, 2012
Shahaf interrogates the recent success of Israeli TV drama formats sold to U.S. studios by looking at discourses around the history and unique constraints of the Israeli industry, the cultural connections between Israeli and U.S. audiences, and the perceived Jewish connection between Hollywood and Tel Aviv. Shahaf also calls for an expanded understanding of TV formats that includes less formulaic or predictable programs like dramas and encourages a de-westernization of Television Studies.
What if Interactivity is the New Passivity?
Jonathan Sterne
Flow, Volume 15, Issue 10, April 9, 2012
Sterne asks what if interactivity in “new media” serves the same interests that passivity did for older media. This is especially salient when considering the many ways media companies try to monetize the activities of their audiences and users.
Film, Nostalgia, and the Digital Divide
Wheeler Winston Dixon
Flow, Volume 15, Issue 12, May 19, 2012
Dixon examines the transition from film to digital formats, arguing there will eventually no longer be a choice between the two as 35mm and 16mm film stops getting produced and exhibitors are forced to convert to digital projectors and use Key Delivery Message (KDM) encrypted files. This is a result of studio control, Dixon suggests, and inevitably leads to the loss of a specific film viewing experience that digital formats cannot recreate.
Creative Suburbia: Rethinking Urban Cultural Policy – The Australian Case
Terry Flew
International Journal of Cultural Studies, Volume 15, Issue 3, May 2012
Contrary to some research on creative city hubs, which suggest cultural features in the inner city are the primary driver of creative labor migration, Flew’s study of creative workers in Brisbane and Melbourne suggests a number of creative laborers are happy with living and working in suburban areas divorced from the cultural center of cities. His findings suggest a reevaluation of urban cultural policy and the development of inner urban creative industry amenities.
The Sub-Creative Economy of the Suburbs in Question
Nicholas A. Phelps
International Journal of Cultural Studies, Volume 15, Issue 3, May 2012
Phelps argues that simple distinctions between the creative economies of cities and suburbs are increasingly untenable while highlighting the inventive or creative character of suburban economies historically and today. He asks future academic and policy research to address suburban contributions to the creative industries.
Mobile Gaming: Industry Challenges and Policy Implications
Claudio Feijoo, José-Luis Gómez-Barroso, Juan-Miguel Aguado, & Sergio Ramos
Telecommunications Policy, Volume 36, Issue 3, April 2012
Games for mobile platforms are some of the most successful mobile applications and showcase the increasing range of platforms for the media and entertainment industries. Feijoo et al. explore the future of mobile gaming, including the centrality of games to mobile technologies, the challenges to this outcome, and recommendations for policy options that could assist this development.
The Unfinished History of Usage Rights for Spectrum
Martin Cave & William Webb
Telecommunications Policy, Volume 36, Issue 4, May 2012
Cave and Martin offer suggestions for future spectrum management, suggesting regulators should adapt regulation to the prospect of widespread sharing by expanding usage rights for public and private spectrum users. The two scholars also give a number of examples of how these expanded usage rights might look.
Understanding the Net Neutrality Debate: Listening to Stakeholders
Alexander Ly, Bertrum H. MacDonald, & Sandra Toze
First Monday, Volume 17, Issue 5, May 7, 2012
Ly et al. review the literature on net neutrality in combination with interview evidence gleaned from four individuals representing different viewpoints of major stakeholders in Canada to suggest stakeholders have far less polarized opinions than normally depicted. The scholars contend that future debates on net neutrality should avoid politics and focus on the core components of the issues.
The Media as a Policy Instrument in Influencing the Business Model of Professional Soccer: Evidence from Italy
Paolo Di Betta & Carlo Amenta
Journal of Media Economics, Volume 25, Issue 2, 2012
This article compares two institutional designs to selling broadcasting rights to Italian soccer (football) matches, one where soccer clubs individually sold broadcasting rights and a new design where laws imposed pooling and joint-selling those rights through the league. This article explores the intervention of state policy in media and sport economics.
Alan Freed Still Casts a Long Shadow: The Persistence of Payola and the Ambiguous Value of Music
Charles Fairchild
Media Culture & Society, Volume 34, Issue 3, April 2012
Despite the incredible changes and disruptions to the music industry in the last decade, Fairchild illustrates how payola, the exchange of money or promotional consideration for radio airplay, persists and thrives in a music market that is scrambling for stability and control.
Cultural Mediation and the Making of the Mainstream in Postsocialist China
Ruoyun Bai
Media Culture & Society, Volume 34, Issue 4, May 2012
Using a cultural mediation framework, Bai explores Chinese writers participating in the development of anticorruption dramas. Bai suggests Chinese media professionals act as cultural brokers to mediate between divergent needs and demands, generating more ideological openness and polysemy while also reinscribing a state ideology via a neoliberal lens.
An Interview with Geoff Marslett of Swerve Pictures
Editors
Velvet Light Trap, Number 69, Spring 2012
Geoff Marslett discusses his role as a director and producer in Swerve Pictures, including his use of technology, the production process, the developments in computer animation, and the future of animation and film.
An Interview with Bob Sabiston of Flat Black Films
Editors
Velvet Light Trap, Number 69, Spring 2012
Sabiston talks about his work with animation in the film and video game industries, the relationship between the two industries, and the development of Rotoshop, a rotoscoping program used for Waking Life and A Scanner Darkly that helps animators draw over live-action shots to create life-like, fluid animations.
Romancing the Internet: An Interview with Thomas Streeter
Hye Jin Lee
Journal of Communication Inquiry, Volume 36, Issue 2, April 2012
Streeter speaks to Lee about narratives of media heroes, like Steve Jobs, digital labor debates, and the SOPA/PIPA bills. Many of these ideas are explained in his book The Net Effect: Romanticism, Capitalism, and the Internet.
From Advertisement to Entertainment: Early Hollywood Film Trailers
Keith J. Hamel
Quarterly Review of Film and Video, Volume 29, Issue 3, April 2012
Hamel examines the history of the cinematic trailer, going back to the silent era to discuss early methods of film advertising. Hamel suggests advertising became a site of struggle between production, distribution, and exhibition, tracing the evolution of marketing from the poster to the still frame to the use of actual scenes to promote upcoming films.
A Round-Table on the International Dimensions of News Corp in the Light of the UK Phone Hacking Scandal
Des Freedman; Rodney Benson; Rodrigo Gómez García; Vibodh Parthasarathi; Joseph M. Chan; Peter A. Thompson
Global Media and Communication, Volume 8, Issue 1, April 2012
A series of scholars investigate the relationship between News Corp. and domestic media systems in Latin America, Italy, New Zealand, China, India and the U.S. These short papers explain how News Corp. operates differently in different regions, sometimes using joint ventures and sometimes relying on its own brand while also dealing with regulation and market competition.
