Opening note

1pm-1.10pm   Creative Media Centre - Room No.: M4024

Richard Allen, Dean of the School of Creative Media, City University of Hong Kong

Roundtable 1: Creative industries, between East and West

1.10pm-3.15pm

Roundtable chaired by Camille Deprez (Academy of Film - Hong Kong Baptist University)

Philippe Bouquillion (Paris 13 University of Paris North)
The concepts of creative industries and economy, controversies and issues

The concepts of creative industries and economy have raised a series of controversies in France and Europe. The French government tried to fight against the deployment of these concepts that tend to replace that of cultural industries in particular within the European Union and UNESCO. Indeed, with the concepts of creative industries and economy, existing cultural policies are deeply challenged. A new model of cultural policy is proposed. Proponents of the concept of creative industries are calling for several changes and they particularly focus on the necessary transformation of artists and creators in auto-entrepreneurs. They also argue against policies based on massive subsidies to cultural industries and against the cultural exception. However, they suggest foster links between the cultural sector and the non-cultural sector, which is called to "culturalize". 

Besides public policy issues, these concepts raise questions on industrial transformations that are at work within sectors or companies being "culturalized". For example, how to transform the organization of production or the construction of the symbolic and economic value of products, in particular through design? Do Apple adopt some of the operating modes of the cultural industries?

François Jost (Paris 3 Sorbonne Nouvelle University)
How watching American TV series ? The Devil is in Details

Whereas it was possible to watch Dallas by focusing only on the plot in the 80’s, some American series today require another look. The viewer must pay attention to visual and sound details. The minimal unit of meaning has changed.

I wonder to what extent  this evolution which affects as well writing of series as reception accompanied changes in the ways of watching : from VCR , which allowed to dissociate the time of viewing from the time of broadcating to current uses of computers and tablets that modify the "granularity" of the minimum unit . Yesterday viewers could freeze frames, nowasdays they have the possibility of enlarging the screen, the necessity of observing the screen to play video games, to discuss what they saw on forums, etc. 

Marco Pellitteri (Japan Foundation Research Fellow at Kobe University)
Is the success of Japanese animation in Europe fading away? On the current weakness of anime in the European media systems

A massive presence of Japanese animation on television in several European countries lasted from 1978 to the late 1990s. However, since the early 2000s we can observe a triple change: (1) a shift in the negotiations between Japanese animation studios and European buyers; (2) a more critical attitude among Japanese sellers towards European markets; (3) a new management model among Japanese animation companies.

This has had a negative outcome in the presence of anime (and manga) in Europe. In the last fifteen years Japanese studios and publishers have increased the prices for anime or manga, and changed the contract conditions. This has led buyers to reduce the number of purchased series. Consequently, the presence of anime on television has dropped.

This trend is damaging the capital of popularity that had formed around Japanese media culture between 1975 and 2000 thanks to different negotiation policies by Japanese companies towards European (especially Italian and French) publishers and television networks. This paper discusses upon the ongoing loss of the vantage point of anime and manga in key European countries (namely Italy, France, Spain, Germany) and argues about the current entrepreneurial vision among Japanese company managers and marketers.

Patrice Poujol (School of Creative Media, City University of Hong Kong)
The political-economic transformations of China and its media sector post WTO: the emergence of Youku Tudou as a creative corporate soft power champion.

Since 2001, when China entered the World Trade Organisation (WTO), Chinese start-ups have multiplied and taken a central position in the local economy. Their representation worldwide has also been notable with such examples as Alibaba or Youku Tudou (YT). A lot of these start-ups have been tightly connected with the expansion of the Chinese media sector. During this recent political-economic transition, the media has been used as a soft power vehicle (ruanshili), both internationally and domestically. This makes it a key strategic sector for the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) to control and shape.

Through the case of YT, this paper poses a number of questions: Post WTO entry, how has China been managing its political-economic series of transformations to shape the current media context? In that context, how is the Chinese government controlling the evolution of its media system towards the creation of national brands and on-line creative champions such as YT? What does it tell us about the changing relationship of the Chinese government and its creative industries in regards to Intellectual Property (IP)? Is it a step forward to identify and nurture emerging local film talent?

Jie Zhu (School of Creative Media, City University of Hong Kong)
The impact of French cinema on Chinese films aesthetics and production

My research is mainly about the impact of French cinema on Chinese films especially co-production between China and France. I've already finished one chapter, which refers to a case study of a young Chinese director's film " Underground fragrance". In this co-production film, the director let appear great influence from French cinema at both a theoretical and a practical level. The case studies demonstrate a brand-new trend in creative film industry and co-production mechanisms.

My further research will cover another two or three generations of Chinese directors(including those from Taiwan), center around some themes( love, attitude towards motherland, liberty...etc.) and analyze similarities and differences when those directors receive different influences from France. 

Roundtable 2: Technological innovations, immersion and new narrative forms

3.30pm-5.30pm
 

Roundtable chaired by Damien Charrieras (School of Creative Media - City University of Hong Kong)

Sébastien Denis (University of Picardy Jules Verne)
Artistic and Non-Commercial Transmedia. 

Transmedia is commonly analysed through the commercial perspective of transmedia storytelling. French transmedia projects are already often quite remote from the fully commercial franchise system as it exists in the US. 

But we will try to show that transmedia can also be thought as a paradigm that allows artists to work with new tools in the world of contemporary art in order to create new universes outside of classic media production.

Shannon Walsh (School of Creative Media - City University of Hong Kong)
New narrative approaches and the ‘real’ using 360 VR

Non-fiction narrative strategies using 360 VR presents a whole new paradigm to understand capturing the ‘real’.  This kind of filmmaking offers new ways to think about not on how we engage with subjects, but also the ways in which story develops.

360 VR is not just as new kind of apparatus with which to film, but instead, must be understood as evolving out of a relationship to the image and to the ‘real’ that filmmakers have been grappling with since the beginning of the medium. In what ways does VR push a new understanding of the relationships between camera, subject and author? How is subjectivity and authorship maintained? Is camera placement the same as directing? If so, camera placement becomes a core part of the practice of VR 360 filmmaking, and its choice a fundamental one. Finally, what does VR offer to expand and rethink modes such as cinema vérité into the present moment?

Rejane Hamus-Vallée (University of Évry Val d’Esonne, Paris)
The cinema trades facing technological innovation: the case of visual effects supervisors.

Through the specific example of visual effects supervisors, we will study what technological innovations (and changes that accompany them) provoke on cinema trades and therefore, on the films on which these professionals work. Old profession, the supervisor is now changing, both adapting to the globalization of the profession, the exponential use of visual effects (in all kind of films and programs), and permanent technological changes.

Robert Ellis-Geiger (School of Creative Media - City University of Hong Kong)
The Future of Cinema Sound

The world of cinema sound is on the verge of a revolutionary change with emerging spatial 3D sound formats such as IOSONO, Auro-3D and Dolby Atmos that have begun to be installed in cinemas globally from late 2011. There is evidence suggesting that the impact to a moviegoers experience is greater than that of cinema 3D projection of images itself.

Dr. Robert Ellis-Geiger will discuss and compare the emerging 3D cinematic sound formats and highlight their potential impact on cinematic sound and music production.

Hector Rodriguez (School of Creative Media - City University of Hong Kong)
Computation and Cinematic Analysis

Computational technologies afford new methods for the precise analysis of cinematic artworks, opening up research agendas at the intersection of science and the humanities. This presentation defends the value of introducing mathematical concepts and techniques into the standard repertoire of moving image analysis methodologies. Such methods can be used, for instance, for the purposes of segmenting films into distinct sequences, identifying rhythmic patterns within individual films or across a corpus of films, and making comparisons and contrasts between diverse cinematic styles. In this presentation, I will draw on ideas from information theory, specifically concepts related to information entropy, as an example of the application of scientific ideas in cinema studies. More specifically, I will introduce the concept of an entropic profile. This concept enables the cinematic researcher to give a precise description of the stylistic differences between dominant narrative cinema and certain experimental films, and to compare and contrast the artistic styles of different filmmakers and traditions.  In conclusion, I propose that mathematical literacy should be introduced as a fundamental component of the cinema studies curriculum.

Conclusive remarks

Kristian Feigelson (Paris 3 Sorbonne Nouvelle University)
Co-producing Asia

Enquiries

Damien Charrieras dcharrie@cityu.edu.hk