Synopses & Reviews
This collection looks at the postandndash;network television industryandrsquo;s heady experiments with new forms of interactive storytellingandmdash;or wired TVandmdash;that took place from 2005 to 2010 as the networks responded to the introduction of broadband into the majority of homes and the proliferation of popular, participatory Web 2.0 companies like Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter.
Contributors address a wide range of issues, from the networksandrsquo; sporadic efforts to engage fans using transmedia storytelling to the production inefficiencies that continue to dog network television to the impact of multimedia convergence and multinational, corporate conglomeration on entrepreneurial creativity. With essays from such top scholars as Henry Jenkins, John T. Caldwell, and Jonathan Gray and from new and exciting voices emerging in this field, Wired TV elucidates the myriad new digital threats and the equal number of digital opportunities that have become part and parcel of todayandrsquo;s post-network era. Readers will quickly recognize the familiar television franchises on which the contributors focusandmdash; including Lost, The Office, Entourage, Battlestar Gallactica, The L Word, and Heroesandmdash;in order to reveal their impact on an industry in transition.
While it is not easy for vast bureaucracies to change course, executives from key network divisions engaged in an unprecedented period of innovation and collaboration with four important groups: members of the Hollywood creative community who wanted to expand televisionandrsquo;s storytelling worlds and marketing capabilities by incorporating social media; members of the Silicon Valley tech community who were keen to rethink television distribution for the digital era; members of the Madison Avenue advertising community who were eager to rethink ad-supported content; and fans who were enthusiastic and willing to use social media story extensions to proselytize on behalf of a favorite network series.
In the aftermath of the lengthy Writers Guild of America strike of 2007/2008, the networks clamped down on such collaborations and began to reclaim control over their operations, locking themselves back into an aging system of interconnected bureaucracies, entrenched hierarchies, and traditional partners from the past. Whatandrsquo;s next for the future of the television industry? Stay tunedandmdash;or at least online.
Contributors: Vincent Brook, Will Brooker, John T. Caldwell, M. J. Clarke, Jonathan Gray, Henry Jenkins, Derek Johnson, Robert V. Kozinets, Denise Mann, Katynka Z. Martandiacute;nez, and Julie Levin Russo
Review
"A superb book that helps us think beyond the grand but sometimes ungrounded digital convergence and user revolution rhetoric. Particularly impressive are the ways that the book marshals historical evidence to fill important gaps in new media 'theory,' connects domestic activities with industrial practice, and shows how 'DIY' (do-it-yourself) vernacular film criticism and analysis (film blogging) is as important as DIY production activities (uploaded videos and 'mash-ups') in spurring participation in contemporary film culture."John T. Caldwell, author of Production Culture: Industrial Reflexivity and Critical Practice in Film and Television
Review
"Reinventing Cinema represents a significant accomplishment for the way it revisions recent film history, drawing into its account such key questions for the digital age as who actually controls the dissemination of images and who determines their meaning."J.P. Telotte, author of The Mouse Machine: Disney and Technology
Review
andquot;With contributions from prominent scholars, Wired TV offers rigorous and exacting essays that address the dramatic shift occurring in a business that produces, sells, and resells mass entertainment.andquot;
Review
andquot;
Wired TV offers rich, creative, and original thinking about televisionandrsquo;s digital era. It is essential reading for anyone following contemporary media industries.andquot;
Review
andquot;Media scholar Denise Mann has gathered engaging essays that discuss the ways that television programming has changed as a result of the Internet. Recommended.andquot;
Review
andquot;Tryon compellingly argues that digital distribution, while offering new avenues and venues for film and television, is contributing to a fragmented and individualized media cultureandhellip;an interesting and insightful read.andquot;
Review
andquot;Distribution finally gets its due in Tryon's rich exploration of contemporary digital media practices.
On-Demand Culture is an absolutely indispensable guide to the landscape of dramatic changes transforming our media culture.andquot;
Review
andquot;
On-Demand Culture provides a compelling exploration of new technologies and opportunities for accessing film and television and methods for assessing changes to business practices, distribution, and consumer viewership. It is an up-to-date and fully engaging exploration of the impact of digital delivery and new technologies upon producers and consumers as efforts continue to increase viewership, find new forms of entertainment, and gain access to more media in an expanding marketplace.andquot;
Review
andquot;
On-Demand Culture should be in demand for an instructor looking to add a highly readable and pertinent text that engages with new models of digital delivery and discourse in film industry and culture.andquot;
Review
andquot;
On-Demand Culture explores how technological advances and economic imperatives have brought films to our computers, living rooms, and cell phones. Tyronandrsquo;s analysis is a welcome addition to the field and well worth reading.
Review
andldquo;This is work of the first rank, on the bleeding edge of film historicist and theoretical studies as it enters the digital era and leaves film behind. It operates at the highest level of discourse, sharp and sympathetic, and elegantly written.andquot;
Review
andquot;An eloquent critical examination of a range of nostalgia films, Flickers of Film offers a complex historical analysis that shows nostalgia to have a range of meanings and roles within popular culture.andquot;
Review
andquot;Provides tremendously valuable insights by top scholars in television studies. The essays are grounded in strong, compelling research and collectively provide a rich snapshot of the tensions, anxieties, and especially failures of this particular moment in US televisionand#39;s development.andquot;
Synopsis
For over a century, movies have played an important role in our lives, entertaining us, often provoking conversation and debate. Now, with the rise of digital cinema, audiences often encounter movies outside the theater and even outside the home. Traditional distribution models are challenged by new media entrepreneurs and independent film makers, usergenerated video, film blogs, mashups, downloads, and other expanding networks.
Reinventing Cinema examines film culture at the turn of this century, at the precise moment when digital media are altering our historical relationship with the movies. Spanning multiple disciplines, Chuck Tryon addresses the interaction between production, distribution, and reception of films, television, and other new and emerging media.Through close readings of trade publications, DVD extras, public lectures by new media leaders, movie blogs, and YouTube videos, Tryon navigates the shift to digital cinema and examines how it is altering film and popular culture.
Synopsis
Reinventing Cinema examines film culture at the turn of this century, at the precise moment when digital media are altering our historical relationship with the movies. Spanning multiple disciplines, Chuck Tryon addresses the interaction between production, distribution, and reception of films, television, and other new and emerging media. Through close readings of trade publications, DVD extras, public lectures by new media leaders, movie blogs, and YouTube videos, Tryon navigates the shift to digital cinema and examines how it is altering film and popular culture.
Synopsis
Wired TV looks at the postandndash;network television industryandrsquo;s experiments with new forms of interactive storytelling that took place from 2005 to2010 as broadband was introduced into the majority of homes and the use of Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter soared. Essays address such issues as the networksandrsquo; sporadic efforts to engage fans using transmedia storytelling, production inefficiencies, and the effect of corporate conglomeration on entrepreneurial creativity. The television franchises discussed include Lost, The Office, Entourage, and Battlestar Gallactica.
Synopsis
The movie industry is changing rapidly, due in part to the adoption of digital technologies. Distributors now send films to theaters electronically. Consumers can purchase or rent movies instantly online and then watch them on their high-definition televisions, their laptops, or even their cell phones. Meanwhile, social media technologies allow independent filmmakers to raise money and sell their movies directly to the public. All of these changes contribute to an andldquo;on-demand culture,andrdquo; a shift that is radically altering film culture and contributing to a much more personalized viewing experience.
Chuck Tryon offers a compelling introduction to a world in which movies have become digital files. He navigates the complexities of digital delivery to show how new modes of accessandmdash;online streaming services like YouTube or Netflix, digital downloads at iTunes, the popular Redbox DVD kiosks in grocery stores, and movie theaters offering digital projection of such 3-D movies as Avatarandmdash;are redefining how audiences obtain and consume motion picture entertainment. Tryon also tracks the reinvention of independent movies and film festivals by enterprising artists who have built their own fundraising and distribution models online.
Unique in its focus on the effects of digital technologies on movie distribution, On-Demand Culture offers a corrective to address the rapid changes in the film industry now that movies are available at the click of a button.
Synopsis
Whether paying tribute to silent films in
Hugo or celebrating arcade games in
Wreck-It-Ralph, Hollywood suddenly seems to be experiencing a wave of intense nostalgia for outmoded technologies.
Flickers of Film offers a nuanced look at the benefits and risks of this nostalgia, considering how it registers industry-wide uncertainty with the dominance of the digital, even as it ignores the people whose livelihoods have been most affected by the economic transformations of the digital era.and#160;
About the Author
JASON SPERB is a lecturer of film and media studies at Northwestern University inand#160;Evanston, Illinois. He is the author of Blossoms and Blood: Postmodern Media Culture and the Films of Paul Thomas Anderson and Disneyandrsquo;s Most Notorious Film: Race, Convergence, and the Hidden Histories of Disneyandrsquo;s andldquo;Song of the South.andrdquo;
Table of Contents
Acknolwedgments
Introduction: When Television and New Media Work Worlds Collide
Denise Mann
1. Authorship Up for Grabs: Decentralized Labor, Licensing, and the Management of Collaborative Creativity
Derek Johnson
2. In the Game: The Creative and Textual Constraints of Licensed Video Games
Jonathan Gray
3. Going Pro: Gendered Responses to the Incorporation of Fan Labor as User-Generated Content
Will Brooker
4. Labor of Love: Charting The L Word
Julie Levin Russoand#160;
5. The Labor Behind the Lost ARG: WGA's Tentative Foothold in the Digital Age
Denise Mann
6. Post-Network Reflexivity: Viral Marketing and Labor Management
John T. Caldwell
7. Fan Creep: Why Brands Suddenly Need andquot;Fansandquot;
Robert V. Kozinets
8. Outsourcing The Office
M. J. Clarke
9. Convergent Ethnicity and the Neo-Platoon Show: Recombining Difference in the Post-Network Era
Vincent Brook
10. Translating Telenovelas in a Neo-Network Era: Finding an Online Home for MyNetwork Soaps
Katynka Z. Martandiacute;nez
11. The Reign of the andquot;Mothershipandquot;: Transmedia's Past, Present, and Possible Futures
Henry Jenkins
Notes on Contributors
Index