Dear all,
On the 21, it is time for my ‘final PhD seminar’, where professor Kim Schrøder will act as discussant, and we will go through and discuss my thesis draft. If any of you are not familiar with the Swedish concept of ‘final seminars’ for PhD students, I can inform you that it is an extended text seminar, normally held about 4-6 months before a doctoral defense, where a close-to-finished thesis draft is discussed. There will normally be a short introduction to the thesis by the PhD student, and then a discussant will go through the whole text. In the end, there will be time for general discussion. The seminar will be between 2 and 3 hours long.
I have tried and have been unable to send the thesis draft to you via this email list, my guess is the file is too large to go through, so if any of you are interested in reading the draft before the seminar, please send an email to ims at lnu.se<mailto:ims at lnu.se>, and I will send the draft to you personally.
Abstract:
This thesis is an audience reception study of film music and animation film, centered around the ways that animated characters are constructed as psychological beings which children can understand and identify with – as if they were real humans. The analysis considers the narrative context of a character but is particularly focused on the musical and multimodal construction of a character, meaning particular attention is put on how character traits are communicated by the use of music, voice, colours, camera perspective, etc. This analysis of the construction of characters is then compared to actual child audiences’ expressions of their experiences and interpretations, obtained through observations and interviews, in order to highlight how children understand and relate to the material they are presented to.
Understanding and interpreting an animated film is conditioned by the structure of that film, but interpretation is also conditioned by the communicative situation and social position of the audience, as well as personal experiences, and as such no ‘absolute’ interpretation can be made, not even within a uniform group. This does not mean that we shouldn’t aim to understand how people process and relate to media, however, or to understand how children experience the animated films that are so immensely popular, overflowing our mainstream culture. By analysing the multimodal semiotic potential of three selected films, Frozen (2013), Up (2009) and Shrek the Third (2007), and comparing these analyses with children’s multimodal expressions (children often communicate through gestures or by humming or signing, necessitating multimodal interview transcriptions) of their understandings and opinions, it is the goal of this thesis to shed light on the ways that children relate to and use filmic form, particularly music, in negotiating the content, particularly characters, of the film, in a process where meaning is created in the active reception process of a child in a communicative situation
The seminar is, as mentioned, on the 21. Note that it starts 1 hour early at 9.00 CEST. As always, the seminar will be on zoom: https://lnu-se.zoom.us/j/940933326
I hope to see many of you there!
Best wishes,
Signe – on behalf of myself and of IMS
Signe Kjaer Jensen
PhD student in Comparative Literature
Centre for Intermedial and Multimodal Studies (IMS)
Linnæus University
Department of Film and Literature
351 95 Växjö
Sweden
https://lnu.se/personal/signe.kjaerjensen/
signe.kjaerjensen at lnu.se<mailto:signe.kjaerjensen at lnu.se>
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Dear all,
Welcome to next week’s IMS seminar, We will be visited by PhD student Li Ling Siew, who will present her project titled: An eye for an eye? Or Lost in Transmediation? A Multimodal Critical Discourse Analysis of Political Visual Arts of Civil Disobedience Movement in Hong Kong.
Abstract:
Civil disobedience movement or social movement is often perceived as a tool to bring about political and social change. Using the Hong Kong anti-extradition bill protest as a case study, I explore the discursive constructions of social movement in media discourse and how they are ideologically produced through semiotic resources in multimodal modes. This work-in-progress includes critical reading on multimodal corpora collected from news articles by various media agencies, and user responses (such as writings, anecdotes and visual artworks) on social media platforms curated by ordinary citizens showing solidarity for different political affiliations. The interpretations of the event as reflected in the corpora through various modal assemblages offer contrary realities to the “official” public announcements and condemnations by the Hong Kong government agencies. In particular, the creation and sharing of political visual arts such as posters, memes, cartoons, and satires capture the complex multimodal representations of contestations, identities and values in relation to the social movement, to which some are used as a repetitive prompt or an ideological tool to create more visual expressions for political propaganda. Political visual arts often enable audiences to consider or reflect on perspectives on the reality surrounding the causes they are protesting, such as the larger socio-political context that a real photograph cannot. I am more intrigued to investigate as to what could possibly go “wrong” during the continual process of mediation when the primary text (such as a video or photograph captured by reporters, protesters, or civilians at the site of the protest) which serves as a prompt for propaganda is being transferred from one mode to another. Using a case study that involves a young woman who suffered a severe eye injury during one of the demonstrations in Hong Kong, I intend to examine the discursive construction of multimodal semiotic modes which are ideologically loaded in constructing visual representations of the protest. The conflicting realities offered by various media sources prompt me to reflect on the values, truthfulness and truth claims in the representation of facts and actual events of the Hong Kong protest in dominant media discourse. How is the primary text being changed into a series of aesthetic art forms for political propaganda? What aspects and messages of the primary are being
Li Ling Siew is a PhD candidate at the Faculty of Languages and Linguistics, University of Malaya, Malaysia.
The seminar is, as always, on Wednesday, April 14, at 10.15 – 12.00 (CEST) on zoom: https://lnu-se.zoom.us/j/940933326
Best wishes,
Signe – on behalf of IMS
Signe Kjaer Jensen
PhD student in Comparative Literature
Centre for Intermedial and Multimodal Studies (IMS)
Linnæus University
Department of Film and Literature
351 95 Växjö
Sweden
https://lnu.se/personal/signe.kjaerjensen/
signe.kjaerjensen at lnu.se<mailto:signe.kjaerjensen at lnu.se>
IMS on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LNU.IMS
IMS public email list: https://lists.sunet.se/listinfo/publik.ims
Dear all,
I hope you are having, or are about to have, a lovely easter!
Next week on our IMS seminar, we will be visited by Jamie Sherry, who will give a presentation on “Closing visual codas: Infidelities, Diversions and Radical Practices in Adaptations”.
Abstract
This paper will partially question how the screenplay functions as a bridging tool in the ‘liminal’ phase between two media, and the ways in which this extra narrative layer conforms to postmodern storytelling techniques in which the extraneous details of production performance become critically important to the film viewer’s reception (in adaptations such as The Five Obstructions (2003) and Under the Skin (2013)). These arguments are informed by Christine Geraghty’s position that adaptations “differ from other fiction films because they emphasize rather than hide the performance that that is involved in putting a script on screen,” and that in doing so they “create a gap in which we can see the act of making fiction.” This will serve to highlight the industrial function of the adapted screenplay as adaptation performance, and consider broader notions of film practice that exert influence on the production of remediated film. This paper will argue that various practices undertaken during production form a meta-narrative of performance that infiltrate audiences’ reading of the film. This paper will also examine these multiple acts of distancing by evaluating the increasingly and accumulatively unfaithful adapted screenplays. The paper will cast its net wide to consider the functions of resolution and closures in film adaptations, considering cinematic, visual codas in place of literary resolutions. Film adaptations such as Sunrise (1927), Apocalypse Now (1979), Stalker (1979), Where the Wild Things Are (2009), We Need To Talk About Kevin (2011) and Under the Skin (2013) provide valuable discourses on the process of remediation, and the techniques used by cinema to provide resolution, closure, and continuation.
Biography
Jamie Sherry is Reader in English at De Montfort University, Leicester, UK, working within the Centre for Adaptations, and co-organising the Association of Adaptation Studies annual conference since 2007. He is co-editor for the Journal of Screenwriting and is a steering committee member for the Screenwriting Research Network. Jamie is also a practicing screenwriter and script-editor for UK film and media production companies, including Working Title, BBC Films and Screen Yorkshire. He has published research on the industrial and theoretical processes of adaptation through production and screenwriting and will publish the monograph Screenwriting Film Adaptations: The History, Practice and Theory of the Adapted Screenplay on Palgrave Macmillan in 2022.
The seminar is, as always, on Wednesday, April 7, at 10.15 – 12.00 (CEST) on zoom: https://lnu-se.zoom.us/j/940933326
Best wishes,
Signe – on behalf of IMS
IMS on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LNU.IMS
IMS public email list: https://lists.sunet.se/listinfo/publik.ims
Signe Kjaer Jensen
PhD student in Comparative Literature
Centre for Intermedial and Multimodal Studies (IMS)
Linnæus University
Department of Film and Literature
351 95 Växjö
Sweden
https://lnu.se/personal/signe.kjaerjensen/
signe.kjaerjensen at lnu.se<mailto:signe.kjaerjensen at lnu.se>
Dear all,
Welcome to next week’s IMS seminar, where Gilbert Ambrazaitis will give a presentation on Audiovisual prominence perception.
The seminar will be a project presentation and not a text discussion, so reading-preparation is not necessary, but if anyone do wish to read up on multimodal prosodic prominence before the seminar, Gilbert has provided two brief texts: one article (5 pages) and one longer project abstract.
Abstract:
Prosodic prominence (= highlighting syllables or words in spoken language) is signaled through a combination of acoustic properties. This is well established. Likewise, there is plenty of evidence suggesting that prominent words are regularly accompanied by, and temporally aligned with, rapid movements by various part of the body (e.g., hands, the head, the eyebrows). Such gestures are often assumed to be part of the multimodal make-up of prominence production. However, the question whether and how such visible cues might contribute to prominence perception has not been addressed sufficiently in previous research yet.
In this talk I will review some existing evidence and present and discuss own preliminary results from audiovisual and audio-only prominence ratings of clips from Swedish television news readings, collected from 85 adult Swedish participants using a web-based interface
The seminar is, as always, on Wednesday, March 24, at 10.15 – 12.00 (CET) on zoom: https://lnu-se.zoom.us/j/940933326
Best wishes,
Signe – on behalf of IMS
IMS on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LNU.IMS
IMS public email list: https://lists.sunet.se/listinfo/publik.ims
Signe Kjaer Jensen
PhD student in Comparative Literature
Centre for Intermedial and Multimodal Studies (IMS)
Linnæus University
Department of Film and Literature
351 95 Växjö
Sweden
https://lnu.se/personal/signe.kjaerjensen/
signe.kjaerjensen at lnu.se<mailto:signe.kjaerjensen at lnu.se>
Dear all,
We won’t have an IMS seminar this week, but we have something even better! Nafiseh Mousavi will have her digital PhD defence on Migratory self-adaptation on Friday, 19 March!
Nafiseh’s defence of her thesis "The Art of Repeating Oneself. Migratory self-adaption: media choice, self-location and authorship" will take place as a public, digital event from 13.00 CET - ca. 16.00 CET.
Read more about the defence and how to get access here: https://lnu.se/en/meet-linnaeus-university/current/events/2021/public-defen…
You can also read Nafiseh's full thesis here: http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:lnu:diva-101334<https://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Furn.kb.se%2Fresolve%3Furn%3Durn…>
Abbreviated abstract:
This thesis studies the process and products of migratory self-adaptation: the practice of a migrant author recreating their own work in a new medium, and the baggage it brings with it. Migratory self-adaptation is developed and analyzed in this research through a comparative and processual analysis of two cases of adaptation: Persepolis, a French autobiographical graphic novel written and drawn by Marjane Satrapi, the Franco- Iranian artist and writer, later turned into an animation movie co-written and codirected by Satrapi herself; and The Patience Stone, a novel written in French by Atiq Rahimi, the Franco-Afghan author, which is adapted to a homonymous film in Dari- Persian, co-written and directed by the author.
With their intercultural position, migrant authors face particular challenges of positionality, visibility, inclusion, and survival. Various strategies have been developed to address these challenges and migratory self-adaptation, as is argued and demonstrated throughout this research, which brings several of these strategies together. The research argues that the authorship constructed through migratory self-adaptation is multi-directional, transmedial, and transcultural. This multi-dimensional authorship is analyzed through the extended case studies, which include contexts as well as texts and processes alongside the products.
(...)
The study adopts an interdisciplinary approach in theory and methodology and develops a transmedial understanding of migrant authorship and a multi-layered understanding of adaptation. In doing so, it joins the disciplines of intermediality and adaptation studies with literature and cinema of migration and also integrates theories of authorship, translation, border, and memory. By discussing various faces of adaptation in the migratory situation and the interconnection between different cultural mechanisms, this research addresses some of the fundamental questions regarding authoring in migration, including but not restricted to translational communication, cultural difference, dynamics of inclusion and exclusion, and survival.
Best wishes and see you on Friday!
/Signe – on behalf of IMS
IMS on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LNU.IMS
IMS public email list: https://lists.sunet.se/listinfo/publik.ims
Signe Kjaer Jensen
PhD student in Comparative Literature
Centre for Intermedial and Multimodal Studies (IMS)
Linnæus University
Department of Film and Literature
351 95 Växjö
Sweden
https://lnu.se/personal/signe.kjaerjensen/
signe.kjaerjensen at lnu.se<mailto:signe.kjaerjensen at lnu.se>
Dear all,
Welcome to next week’s IMS seminar, where we will have a visit from Ari Nykvist, from the department of media and journalism, who will present on ”Transmedia journalism for better storytelling in the digital age”.
If Ari Nykvist sends an abstract for the seminar, I will post it to the webpage here: https://lnu.se/en/meet-linnaeus-university/current/events/2021/ims-seminar-…
The seminar is, as always, on Wednesday, March 3, at 10.15 – 12.00 (CET) on zoom: https://lnu-se.zoom.us/j/940933326
Best wishes,
Signe – on behalf of IMS
IMS on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LNU.IMS
IMS public email list: https://lists.sunet.se/listinfo/publik.ims
Signe Kjaer Jensen
PhD student in Comparative Literature
Centre for Intermedial and Multimodal Studies (IMS)
Linnæus University
Department of Film and Literature
351 95 Växjö
Sweden
https://lnu.se/personal/signe.kjaerjensen/
signe.kjaerjensen at lnu.se<mailto:signe.kjaerjensen at lnu.se>
Dear all,
Welcome to next week’s IMS seminar, where Dagmar Brunow will present her article draft, “Towards an archival study of screenplay versions: the role of screenwriting research for adaptation studies”. To receive the article draft, please contact Dagmar Brunow directly on dagmar.brunow at lnu.se<mailto:dagmar.brunow at lnu.se>
Abstract:
Archival holdings help us to better understand the collaborative process involved in screenplay development. This article mobilizes archival findings around the screenwriting process in order to contribute to recent debates within adaptation studies (Hutcheon, Bryant, Elliott, Elleström, Bruhn/Gjelsvik/Frisvold Hanssen, Stam, Rossholm). Setting out to bridge the gap between screenwriting studies and adaptation studies, this article argues that the study of screenplay versions, drafts and letters foregrounds the often overlooked artistic process involved in developing film adaptations. This article presents the case of the film adaption of Åsa Hanna, based on the novel of the Swedish writer, journalist, suffragette, eco-critic and peace activist Elin Wägner (1882-1949) and the screenplay versions by Barbro Alving (1909-1987). It studies different script versions and ephemera at the manuscript collection at the Swedish Film Institute (Stockholm) as well as Wägner’s notebooks, drafts and letters at KvinnSam (Göteborg). The aim of this article is twofold: first, to contribute to adaptation studies by highlighting the role of the screenplay and the process of screenwriting in the process of transmediation. Second, to stress the importance of the industrial context of film production and distribution for adaptation studies.
Claus Tieber, University of Vienna is discussant.
The seminar is, as always, on Wednesday, Feb. 17, at 10.15 – 12.00 (CET) on zoom: https://lnu-se.zoom.us/j/940933326
Best wishes,
Signe – on behalf of IMS
IMS on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LNU.IMS
IMS public email list: https://lists.sunet.se/listinfo/publik.ims
Signe Kjaer Jensen
PhD student in Comparative Literature
Centre for Intermedial and Multimodal Studies (IMS)
Linnæus University
Department of Film and Literature
351 95 Växjö
Sweden
https://lnu.se/personal/signe.kjaerjensen/
signe.kjaerjensen at lnu.se<mailto:signe.kjaerjensen at lnu.se>
Dear all,
Attached you'll find an invitation to the conference "'Trust Me!' Truthfulness and Truth Claims across Media" taking place online 9-12 March. Please feel free to forward the invitation to others that might be interested.
The programme for the conference is now online on the conference homepage. Registration is open until March 1.
Best wishes,
Beate Schirrmacher on behalf of the organising committee
IMS on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LNU.IMS
IMS public email list: https://lists.sunet.se/listinfo/publik.ims
Beate Schirrmacher
Lektor/Senior Lecturer
Linnéuniversitetet /Linnaeus University
Institutionen för film och litteratur/ Department of Film and Literature
391 82 Kalmar / 351 95 Växjö
0772-28 80 00 Växel
0470-70 88 41 Direkt
0733-395299 Mobil
beate.schirrmacher at lnu.se
Dear all,
Welcome to next week’s IMS seminar. We are so fortunate to be visited by Eleni Timplalexi, Department of Communication & Media Studies, University of Athens, who will give a very timely presentation on "The transmedial journey of theatre performance going massively online during the COVID-19 pandemic: towards new intermedial forms of expression".
Abstract:
During the COVID-19 pandemic, theatre companies started massively providing online (filmed) versions of their productions. The consumption of theatre as “online content” raises questions about the ontology of performance. However, this transmedial journey may prove to be more than stressful and give rise to the creation and reception of hybrid intermedial forms of expression in such times of crisis.
You can read more about Eleni Timplalexi here<https://uoa.academia.edu/ElenaTimplalexi>, and if you wish to prepare by reading some of Timplalexi’s work, you can also find Timplalexi’s article: Timplalexi, E. (2020). Theatre and Performance Go Massively Online During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Implications and Side Effects. Homo Virtualis, 3 (2), 43-54. doi:https://doi.org/10.12681/homvir.25448.
The seminar is, as always, on Wednesday, Feb. 10, at 10.15 – 12.00 (CET) on zoom: https://lnu-se.zoom.us/j/940933326
Best wishes,
Signe – on behalf of IMS
IMS on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LNU.IMS
IMS public email list: https://lists.sunet.se/listinfo/publik.ims
Signe Kjaer Jensen
PhD student in Comparative Literature
Centre for Intermedial and Multimodal Studies (IMS)
Linnæus University
Department of Film and Literature
351 95 Växjö
Sweden
https://lnu.se/personal/signe.kjaerjensen/
signe.kjaerjensen at lnu.se<mailto:signe.kjaerjensen at lnu.se>
Dear all,
The IMS seminar on Wednesday was supposed to be a chance to present and discuss ongoing research applications in the IMS environment, but since nobody has submitted any research applications for discussion, the seminar has been cancelled. Our next seminar will be on Feb 10, where we are visited by Eleni Timplalexi, Department of Communication & Media Studies, University of Athens, who will give a presentation on "The transmedial journey of theatre performance going massively online during the COVID-19 pandemic: towards new intermedial forms of expression".
Until then,
Best wishes,
Signe – on behalf of IMS
Signe Kjaer Jensen
PhD student in Comparative Literature
Centre for Intermedial and Multimodal Studies (IMS)
Linnæus University
Department of Film and Literature
351 95 Växjö
Sweden
https://lnu.se/personal/signe.kjaerjensen/
signe.kjaerjensen at lnu.se<mailto:signe.kjaerjensen at lnu.se>
IMS on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LNU.IMS
IMS public email list: https://lists.sunet.se/listinfo/publik.ims
