Experimental Video Research Articles

Televising Talent: Musicality, Meritocracy, and the Aesthetics of Exclusion

AbstractThroughout the history of television, American audiences have participated in a tradition of programs that follow a consistent structure: Amateur musicians and entertainers are offered an opportunity to display their talent on stage, competing for audience votes to win first prize and a chance at stardom. This article contributes to a growing literature on the significance of televised talent shows, demonstrating how their remarkable longevity and representational power stems from their configuration as a “format,” the set of guidelines that structure and constrain the content of each broadcast—an aesthetic process grounded in exclusion. Through their formatting, I argue, these programs reify the notion of “talent” at the heart of talent shows, transforming a multidimensional and context-contingent assemblage of musical abilities into a seemingly stable object able to be recognized, rated, and ranked. Musical auditions offer a microcosm of formatting's role as a means of training audiences’ attention. They normalize the practice of eliminating whatever (or whomever) is deemed unworthy—on these programs and in the wider world. Through analyzing examples from Ted Mack and the Original Amateur Hour (1948), The Gong Show (1978), and The Voice (2017), the article demonstrates how beneath the widely discussed content of contestant demographics, judge commentary, or audience voting results, the talent show format serves to obscure the contradictions upon which meritocracy's cruel optimism rests.

Ukrainian Textbooks on the History of Cinema and Television: Achievements and Nonsuccesses

Ukrainian Textbooks on the History of Cinema and Television: Achievements and Nonsuccesses

Re-bordering UK Feminist Video in the 1980s. Cross-border Exchanges and Reflexivity in a Digital and Archive-based Project

This article discusses the benefits and limitations of the use of digital humanities tools in the context of transnational research in women’s film and television history, with a particular attention to issues of positionality, cross-border circulation, and exchange. To do so, it details on the methodology and results of a research project reconstructing the transnational impact of the collaborations between women producers and practitioners and UK broadcasters in the context of the UN Decade of Women (1975-1985). The investigation, funded by FIAT/IFTA (International Federation of Television Archives), analyses a group of programmes from the BFI archives by producing data-visualisations such as maps and network analysis generated through the collection of geographical, biographical, and chronological information. The goal of the study is offering a deeper understanding of transnationalism in the context of local television productions, while avoiding risks of fragmentation and methodological nationalism. However, while digital tools and data visualisations helped the identification of recurring tropes and transnational collaborations, the process of data collection and the visual aids themselves made evident the persistence of problematic geographies of knowledge and representation, that would require a broader assessment through collaborative, cross-national investigations.

Archives, Mismatches, Hacks! Overcoming Archival Boundaries in Transnational Research

In this article, I use my experiences in writing about the transnational history of Cursive to point toward ways forward for researchers interested in investigating entangled European broadcasting histories. I will point to places where I found European interconnections in journals, committees, and festivals and consider what the availability of these published and unpublished sources has meant for my inquiries. I will also explain how I used a specific content-management software (Tropy) to ‘hack’ and go beyond the national boundaries encoded in the archival collections I used. Finally, I suggest that perhaps it is not audiovisual material broadcasting archives first and foremost need to make available in digital formats if we want to further boundary-crossing television history; instead, I believe that the possibility of sharing self-digitized printed material should be a particular focus in the future.

Frame Design in the Visual Culture of Modern Author’s Directing. Part 2. Projecting the Objective World in Films by Author-Directors

The purpose of the article is to determine the artistic and aesthetic toolkit for designing the objective world of the frame in the visual culture of the author's film by the director, artist, cameraman. Research methodology. An integrated approach was used in the development of the topic, in particular, methods of systematisation, comparison, verification, comparative, and textual analysis. The analytical method and the method of figurative and stylistic analysis in their unity were used to consider the art historical aspect of the problem. The scientific novelty of the research lies in the fact that the director's creativity is investigated in the context of the visual culture of frame design and for the first time it became the subject of a special study. The appropriateness of using the systematic method in studying the features of the author's plastic film language has been proven. A comprehensive analysis was carried out and the features of frame design in the author's film creativity were revealed. Conclusions. The materials presented in the study expand the arsenal of knowledge about the specifics of the visual culture of the author's directorial film language in various worldview models and enable their application in educational courses, the creation of educational and methodological literature on the theory and history of cinema and television, directing. Keywords: fine art, artist, audiovisual art, director, shot, design, image projection.

CLUSTERING ANALYSIS OF MULTIDIMENSIONAL POVERTY IN CENTRAL JAVA PROVINCE, INDONESIA

In Indonesia, poverty continues to be a major issue. According to Statistics Indonesia, there were 9.78% of the population living in poverty in 2020, with Java Island accounting for 50% of the nation’s total poor people. Furthermore, poverty reduction is the primary concern due to Central Java’s high poverty rate, which is still higher than the national average, so it has become a shared challenge. This study measured poverty by clusters based on a variety of deprivations that residents of 35 regencies or municipalities in Central Java Province experienced. Additionally, 16 poverty indicators based on the criteria and income of the poor and underprivileged from the Ministry of Social Affairs comprised the variables used in this study. Moreover, by selecting the optimal cluster, characteristic poverty was obtained employing fuzzy C-means (FCM) as cluster analysis. In addition, each municipality/regency that shares a similarity indicator with another municipality/regency was categorized into one cluster. The clusters were fundamental to understanding the determinants of poverty and poverty alleviation programs. According to the clustering results, there were four clusters considered the best cluster, and it demonstrated that the indicators most associated with poverty were non-food expenditure, drinking water adequacy, access to sanitation facilities, the open unemployment rate, and television ownership.

Зомбоящик съест ваши мозги на завтрак?

Introduction. The review is devoted to the publication of the book “Cyberhumanism. How communication technologies transform our society” by Nizhny Novgorod researcher A. N. Fortunatov – the Doctor of Philosophy, specialist in the field of communication studies, media philosophy and the history of television. Theoretical analysis. In the book by A. N. Fortunatov, methodological principles of communicative theory, media philosophy and humanism as a philosophical trend were combined. The result was the emergence of the term "cyberhumanism", which serves as a characteristic of the aggressive nature of communication technologies aimed, according to the author, at subordinating a person to digital means of communication and media. The author claims that the digital transformation of society is a natural phenomenon that arose as a result of the development of scientific and technological progress, however, the “callousness” of the digital sphere negatively affects the personality, that becomes only a reflection of the media. A. N. Fortunatov shows how digital media reality is constructed, where the subject and the object change places. A person ceases to be a subject in interaction with the media, since it is not he who influences them, but, on the contrary, the means of communication subordinate him to their will and the logic of existence. Conclusion. Such an ambiguous approach to the consideration of the phenomenon of media constitutes the research value of the book, which may be of interest to a wide range of readers dealing with the problems of digital society.

Nigerian Television Authority (NTA) and channels television coverage of the war against Boko haram terrorism in north-east Nigeria

Building on the motivation created by the September 11, 2001 terrorist attack on the World Trade Centre in the United States of America, terrorism has become a significant security and economic challenge globally. It has assumed worrisome scale and dimensions across the continents of the world despite the growing expertise of security intelligence and government leadership. From Asia, especially the Arabian nations, to Europe, America and Africa, terrorism has continued to dominate security discussions and planning among governments and, in particular, the United Nations. Its origin has been linked to both political and religious motivations and objectives. One of the earliest documentations on the origin of terrorism is seen in the works of Mark Burgess. He traces terrorism to the Thugees, an Indian religious cult that ritually strangle its victims (usually travellers chosen at random) as an offering to Kali, the Hindu goddess of terror and destruction. Between the 7th and mid-19th centuries, the Thugees were reputed to be responsible for as many as one million murders. That was perhaps the last example of religion-inspired terrorism until the phenomenon re-emerged a little over 20 years ago. David Rapport notes that “before the 19th century, religion provided the only acceptable justifications for terror” (p. 7). However, this study will adapt a working definition of terrorism as stated by The United Nations General Assembly. According to the UN, terrorism refers to: “…criminal acts intended or calculated to provoke a state of terror in the general public, a group of persons or particular persons for political purposes... whatever the considerations of a political, philosophical, ideological, racial, ethnic, religious or other nature that may be invoked to justify them” (p. 3). The United Nations, in the foregoing definition, places terrorism in a wide spectrum that captures anything that causes sustained acts capable of creating fear, death and destruction or disruption of human life cycle. People feel terror when they experience a threat to their lives, faith, ethnicity, property or livelihood. Primarily, the specifications in the definition underpin the core interests of terrorists. By terror and fear, they advance their political, ethnic, racial, religious causes, etc, on the public, or a targeted group of people. Television plays a very critical role in disseminating information in the most effective way. The audio-visual quality of transmission offered by the television gives it the edge above other means of mass communication. Since the invention of television in 1873 by a young telegraph operator, Joseph May of Ireland, the device has constantly undergone unprecedented transformation within its first one hundred years of invention and endeared itself to more users than predictable. Peter Olu, citing official figures from the International Telecommunication Union, noted that there were 600 million television sets, a higher figure than 565 million telephones in 1983 (p. 1). The attraction of the visual message the television transmits is powerful. It is very effective in modifying the social behaviours of viewers, a constant need by government, leaders and the business world.

Est' li istoriya u televideniya?

Television as a sociocultural phenomenon still does not have its own, scientifically substantiated history. The systematization of the periods of development of television as a technology does not take into account the most important social effects that TV has had on billions of people. However, there are already several “television" generations in society who cannot imagine their life without a screen, and modern screen culture, embodied in smartphones and gadgets, has its roots in the history of television. The need to make sense of television history is only growing.

The streaming industry and the platform economy: An analysis

As television is embracing a new set of internet-related technologies, the medium is transitioning from broadcasting to streaming. With it, a new mode of distribution has emerged: the streaming platform. This research makes a three-pronged effort to assess their impact on the TV industry: it analyses the way platforms monetize content; it distinguishes types of streaming platforms based on a set of criteria that includes supply-chain arrangements and the way they structure commercial transactions among different sets of participants, and it considers the ownership of streaming services. This article contributes to media and communication studies by combining the platform literature with global value chain (GVC) theory in order to foster our understanding of streaming platforms. It contextualizes streaming platforms in the history of television and analyses how they are transforming the medium.

Думи на водещия броя

Issue 57 of the Rhetoric and Communications journal follows the traditions of publishing analyses of studies in thematic areas, in particular in rhetoric, semiotics and in new failures of communication in the 21st Century. Again, following good traditions, the journal provides a platform for both prominent and young scientists. The authors are 11, nine of them – authors of scholarly articles. A book presentation is also included. Three of the articles are in English. The nine articles are written by 10 authors, two of whom are representatives of academic institutions of Azerbaijan and one is from the University of Bucharest. The authors from Bulgaria are representatives of Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski”, the National Academy for Theatre and Film Arts “Krastyo Sarafov” (NATFA), the University of National and World Economy, the University of Ruse “Angel Kanchev”, Shumen University “Bishop Konstantin Preslavski”. These are the proofs of the conclusion that the journal presents established scholars and researchers from different academic communities and established research units in Bulgaria. The thematic focus allows the formation of three sections. The first section “Rhetoric and Semiotics” includes two articles. Authors Azad Mammadov and Maryam Isgandarli from Azerbaijan focus in their research on the rhetorical and linguistic features of USA President Donald Trump's communication through a selection of key speeches at important forums. Miroslav Dachev announces the results of semiotic and visual analysis based on selected images from different monasteries on Theotokos iconography with an emphasis on intentional states and joy. The text is a contribution to an insufficiently researched area that implies an interdisciplinary approach and in-depth theoretical knowledge. The section “Public communication” includes three texts. Ivet Tileva presents a text that explores a topic of social sensitivity and significance, namely organ donation. The analysis is about selected institutional documents and previous studies on the topic and the aim is to establish both the communicative and economic dimensions of the issues. Maya Vasileva announces methodological and pedagogical results related to the training of students on current topics, namely communication management of facts and data, in particular on communication units and carbon footprint. Atanaska Milotinova presents the results of a study of media publications and institutional documents related to the fight for voting rights of American suffragettes and draws conclusions about the changes in public communication as a result of this activity and new techniques in public communication. The fourth section “Virtual Communication” includes four publications that present a wide range of studies. The use of Facebook during the election campaign for local elections in 2020 in Bucharest through the prism of gender elements in virtual communication was analyzed in depth in theoretical and visual terms by Elena-Irina I. Ghinet. Hristina Sokolova presents results on the communicative and sociocultural characteristics of the notion of success among digital consumers in Bulgaria, which presents opportunities for future research in this area. Diana Nikolova studies the communicative and linguistic features of computer jargon through a comparative analysis between two languages in selection and a rich corpus of data. Desislava Tomova remains in the field of virtual communication as the focus is on online platforms for financing art, or the so-called Crowdfunding. Simeon Vasilev presents the book “Toreador. Kevork Kevorkian. The Will of You Win” with a volume of almost 700 pages of the author prof. Dr. Margarita Pesheva. Тhe book is dedicated to a TV presenter and a whole era of television history in Bulgaria.

Music as an Element of the Screen Language of the Director. Part 2. Ennio Morricone's compositional practices in screen directing models

The purpose of the article is to determine the peculiarities of the use of music in the screen plane through the study of artistic director-composer tandems. Research methodology. In the development of the topic, the methods of scientific analysis, comparison, and generalisation were comprehensively applied. Analytical and systematic methods in their unity were involved to consider the art-historical aspect of the problem. The scientific novelty of the research lies in the fact that the director's creativity is investigated in the context of composer practices of creating music for audiovisual art; the appropriateness of using the systematic method in studying the features of composers' creativity in the context of audiovisual art and production has been proven. Conclusions. The materials presented in the article expand the arsenal of knowledge regarding the specifics of the co-creation of the director and composer in the screen arts and enable their application in educational courses, the creation of educational and methodological literature on the theory and history of music, film and television, directing, composition.
 Keywords: musical art, composer's practices, screen arts, directing creativity, musical image, symphonic music, composer's technologies.

Breaking the chains of television: Streaming and the ‘Netflix effect’ in Turkey

Scarcity is the defining characteristic of television's history in Turkey due to the late arrival of a multi-channel structure, and the experience of television in Turkey is shaped by the extensive involvement of the government and the high level of social control over broadcasting. The dissatisfaction during the pre-streaming era among the audiences in Turkey started to intensify by early 2010s because of the formulaic and similar stories with no diversity, strict regulation and censorship, and the tediousness of long, slow-paced series and extended ad breaks. The arrival of streaming services in 2016–17 was initially disruptive of the strictly regulated market due to the lack of necessary laws for regulating online streaming. Streaming continues to be a significant alternative for producers/creators and audiences in Turkey, with increased political and cultural diversity in local stories and the emergence of diverse genres and formats with different aesthetic tendencies.

Creating a “Feminist Nation”

Drawing on archival records, oral histories, and the 1970s underground press, this article retraces the history of International Videoletters, a feminist video exchange network that operated from 1975 to 1977. Though primarily based in the United States, the network expressed global aspirations to transform the televisual landscape, a goal it shared with other activist video collectives of the era. However, in contrast to many male-led guerrilla television groups, International Videoletters prioritized its independence from broadcast television, structuring its network instead as an autonomous, women-run media system. I argue that by emphasizing the relationship between video producers and viewers through nonhierarchical organizational structures, independent distribution systems, and dynamic feedback sessions, International Videoletters fostered a feminist counterpublic committed to transforming media representation of women. Through analysis of the network’s operations and output, this article asserts the centrality of grassroots feminist media initiatives like International Videoletters to the history of guerrilla television, where they have largely been overlooked.

Music as an Element of Director’s Screen Language. Part 1. Sergio Leone and Ennio Morricone: Creating a Musical Image as Basis for Creative Tandem

The purpose of the article is to determine the peculiarities of using music in the screen plane through the study of artistic tandems of director-composer. Research methodology. The methods of scientific analysis, comparison, and generalisation were comprehensively applied in the development of the topic. Analytical and systematic methods in their unity were used to consider the art historical aspect of the problem. The scientific novelty of the research is that the director's creativity is studied in the context of composers’ practices of creating music for audio-visual art; the appropriateness of using a systematic method in studying the peculiarities of composers' creativity in the context of audio-visual art and production has been proven. Conclusions. The materials presented in the article expand the arsenal of knowledge regarding the specifics of co-creation of a director and a composer in the screen arts and enable their application in educational courses, creation of educational and methodological literature on the theory and history of music, film and television, directing, and composition.
 Key words: musical art, composer, screen art, directing creativity, musical image, creative tandem, musical instruments.

Frame Design in Visual Culture of Contemporary Filmmaking.

The purpose of the article is to define the artistic and aesthetic toolkit of frame design in the visual culture of auteur film directing. Research methodology. In developing the topic, an integrated approach was applied, in particular, the methods of systematisation, comparison, verification, comparative and textual analysis were used. The analytical method and the method of figurative and stylistic analysis in their unity were aimed to consider the art historical aspect of the problem. The scientific novelty of the research is that the director's creativity is studied in the context of the visual culture of frame design and for the first time became the subject of a special study. The appropriateness of using the systematic method in studying the features of the author's plastic film language has been proven. A comprehensive analysis has been conducted and the features of frame design in the author's film work have been revealed. Conclusions. The materials presented in the study expand the arsenal of knowledge about the specifics of the visual culture of the author's film language in various worldview models and enable their application in educational courses, the creation of educational and methodological literature on the theory and history of cinema and television, directing. Key words: visual culture, author's cinematography, director, frame, design, screen art, composition, colour.

Gaming I, II, and III: Arcades, Video Game Systems, and Modern Game Streaming Services

This paper aims to create a shorthand for video game history – from video games’ infancy to the current subscription model that is dominating gaming. In this essay, I will apply the practices of historical media scholarship that have helped parse out television history (e.g., TV I, TV II, TV III, and TV IV) and film history (e.g., Cinema 1, 2, and 3.0) to define the various shifts in video game history. Gaming I represents the arcade and home system boom up until the 1983 video game Crash, Gaming II describes the post-Crash console period, and finally, Gaming III materializes due to the arrival of modern video game subscriptions. Rather than constructing an exhaustive account of video game history, this essay means to generate more studies on what video game history can mean in the context of the established academic studies on visual media.

Adaptation as Process: A Genetic Edition of Andrew Davies’ Middlemarch (BBC/WGBH, 1994)

Abstract This article reports on an interdisciplinary project to produce the first genetic edition of a television adaptation, drawing on the papers of screenwriter Andrew Davies who adapted George Eliot’s Middlemarch for the BBC in 1994. Combining methodologies from digital humanities, television history, and archival theory and practice, the digital resource places Xtensible Mark-up Language versions of Eliot’s novel and Davies’ scripts at the centre of an intertextual framework which enables close cross-referencing. Supported by primary sources derived from thorough production history research, the genetic edition opens up a potentially productive approach to adaptation which foregrounds the creative practice of the screenwriter at the heart of the collaborative process of producing television adaptations of classic novels. Following an outline of the case history, the project and the resource, the article then illustrates some preliminary findings based on new editorial commentary. It concludes that this genetic edition will not only be of interest to Eliot scholars, television historians, and adaptations studies, but might have potential beyond the academy in the development of resources for education and heritage sites.

The History of Television and Its Impact on Saudi Society

This study analyzes the impact of television on conservative Saudi society and gives a comprehensive view of the history of Saudi television. It is clear from studying the history of Saudi television that religious extremism was the only obstacle to the development of Saudi television. Although extremist Islamic groups control Saudi television, the Saudi government has been able to overcome them in recent years.

Director’s Techniques of Recreating Circus Culture on the Screen and in the Arena

The purpose of the research is to expand scientific ideas about the significance of the culture of circus and film directing in the system of humanitarian knowledge. Research methodology. The researcher applied an interdisciplinary approach based on the use of the following general scientific methods: induction, deduction, identification, complex art analysis, and synthesis to define the culture of directing as a universal variety of artistic-aesthetic and creative-production activity. These methods made it possible to work out the factual basis of the reproduction of circus productions on the screen and in the arena. The methods of systematization and generalization were used to argue for the originality of circus directing in the context of audiovisual art. The typological approach was applied to examine common artistic principles in the creative search for circus and cinema art directors. The scientific novelty of the research lies in defining the culture of the directing profession as a universal type of artistic activity; identifying and an in-depth analysis of the factors influencing the artistic and aesthetic potential of adapting a circus performance on the screen; revealing specific canons for building film and television films based on circus creativity; clarifying the mutual influence of circus and screen arts in the development of directing culture; expanding scientific knowledge about the place and role of screen and circus directing in the system of humanitarian expertise at the present stage of social development; defining directing as a universal multi-vector type of artistic and aesthetic, creative and production, moral and ethical, educational activity. Conclusions. The researcher substantiates that the creativity of film and television directors develops and expands knowledge about circus art, and gives impetus to the development of creativity of directors and circus performers in the screen space. The materials of the scientific article enrich the arsenal of knowledge regarding the specifics of the production and distribution of circus performances by means of screen arts in society and can be applied in educational courses, the creation of educational and methodological literature on the history and practice of the circus, the theory and history of cinema and television, directing, producing.