The Impact of Digitalization on Global Screen Industries NECS Pre-Conference, 2017 Sponsored by the NECS Screen Industries Work Group Organizers: Nolwenn Mingant, Petr Szczepanik, Paul McDonald Université Paris 7, Salle Pierre Albouy, Grands moulins, C building, 6th floor 13.30 -17.30hrs Wednesday 28 June 2017
13.30: Introduction 13.45-15.30: Panel I: Digital Distribution and Screen Media Industries, Change or Continuity? 15.30-16.00: Coffee break 16.00-17.30: Panel II: Digital Single Market, the Impact of the European Commission’ s Strategy on Business Models and Practices. *** Introduction: Nolwenn Mingant PANEL 1: DIGITAL DISTRIBUTION AND SCREEN MEDIA INDUSTRIES: CHANGE OR CONTINUITY? Chair: Paul McDonald (King's College London) Studio System 2.0: The Digital Major in the Age of Netflix Jaap Verheul (New York University, US) During the Golden Age of Hollywood (1920-1960), a handful of major studios regulated what was then known as ‘the studio system,’ in which these ‘majors’ effectively controlled all stages of the production, distribution, and exhibition process. The majors produced their own content, mostly by hiring creative personnel under long-term contracts, while the vertically integrated studio system allowed them to distribute and exhibit these films in their own theatre chains. If the Paramount Case dissolved the studio system in 1948, eliminating the majors’ monopoly on film exhibition, this presentation will examine the rise of the ‘digital major’ as exemplified by such online streaming services as Netflix and Amazon. Initially established for the distribution of film and television – and for their domesticated exhibition – these digital majors have begun to consolidate their growing monopoly on distribution and exhibition with a more active involvement in the production of content for the screen. This presentation thus argues that the digital majors contribute to the re-emergence of a studio system in a converged media landscape. References Crawford, S. (2013) Captive Audience: The Telecom Industry and Monopoly Power in the New Gilded Age. New Haven: Yale University Press.
Cunningham, S., and J. Silver (2013) Screen Distribution and the New King Kongs of the Online World. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. Curtin, M., J. Holt, and K. Sanson (ed.) (2014) Distribution Revolution: Conversations About the Digital Future of Film and Television. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press. Evans, E. and P. McDonald (2014) ‘Online Distribution of Film and Television in the UK: Behavior, Taste, and Value,’ in J. Holt and K. Sanson (eds) Connected Viewing: Selling, Streaming, and Sharing Media in the Digital Age. New York: Routledge, 158-79. McDonald, K. and D. Smith-Rowsey (eds) (2016) The Netflix Effect: Technology and Entertainment in the 21st Century. London: Bloomsbury. Jaap Verheul obtained his Ph.D. in Cinema Studies at New York University. His research focuses on the relationship between audio-visual policy, media industries, and the representation of regional, national, and European belonging on-screen. Jaap has written on the monolingualism of Flemish cinema, the coproduction of a European heritage brand, and the fluctuating stardom of James Bond.
Digital Disruption or Continuity: What is the Role for Online 'DVD Extras'? Philip Drake (Queen Margaret University, Edinburgh, UK) In an age of online streaming and declining sales of physical media, what role - if any - can material previously used as DVD extras and similar additional content play? Trailers, behind-the-scenes clips, interviews, scripts and other digital ‘assets’ no longer need to be relegated to the status of ‘extras’ but can be constructed as agents with the ability to enrol audiences into engagement, viewing and - for TVOD platforms - purchase. This presentation draws on an AHRC Nesta research project with an international VOD platform. It considers a socio-material perspective to the digital media industries. and the process through which economic and social value, and wider audience engagement, might be realised. The aim is to consider the role digital extras might play in re-materialising film as an artefact, but one experienced through social network connections both represented and constituted through platform data. In this way, it can be suggested that the process of engaging with and discovering such material might as important as considering the content itself. References Holt, J. and K. Sanson (eds) (2013) Connected Viewing: Selling, Streaming and Sharing Media in the Digital Age. New York: Routledge. Iordanova, D. and S. Cunningham (eds) (2012) Digital Disruption: Cinema Moves On-line. St Andrews: St. Andrews Film Studies. Jenkins, H., S. Ford and J. Green (2013) Spreadable Media: Creating Value and Meaning in a Networked Culture. New York: NYU Press. Sutton, D. (2009) ‘Cinema by Design: Hollywood as Network Neighbourhood’, in G. Julier and J. Moor (eds) Design and Creativity: Policy, Management and Practice. Oxford: Berg. Vonderau, P. (2013) ‘Beyond Piracy: Understanding Digital Markets,’ in J. Holt and K. Sanson (eds) Connected Viewing: Selling, Streaming, and Sharing Media in the Digital Age. New York: Routledge, 99123.
Philip Drake is Director of the Centre for Communication, Cultural and Media Studies at Queen Margaret University, Edinburgh and Professor in Film, Media and Communications. From 2013-17 he was Professor and Head of the Department of Media at Edge Hill University. He has recently published journal articles on ‘belligerent broadcasting’ (2016) and television performance (2016), as well as co-edited the collection Hollywood and the Law (BFI, 2015). He is a member of the Editorial Board of the Media Industries Project (MIP) and is completing research projects on independent film distribution and video-on demand, funded by an AHRC Nesta ACE Digital R&D for the Arts grant, and on film talent development in North West England funded by Creative England/British Film Institute. Digital Distribution and Classical Exhibition: ‘Event Cinema’ as a Case Study of Continuity and Change Su-Anne Yeo (Goldsmith, University of London, UK) Digital distribution may have given rise to video-on-demand and new players such as Netflix and. Amazon. But combined with processes of digital projection, it has also facilitated the emergence of ‘event cinema,’ the live broadcasting into cinemas of non-filmic content such as opera, theatre, and ballet – even sport. This presentation argues that the ‘event cinema’ sector is dominated by existing corporate entities and established brands, even as it seeks to target new markets such as older audiences, and shape new behaviours such as the purchase of premium tickets—often far in advance—for spectacular performances that are experienced ‘live.’ References Bakhshi, H. and D. Throsby (2012) Digital Broadcast of Theatre: Learning from the Pilot Season - NT Live. London: NESTA. Hancock, D. (2013) ‘Event Cinema in European Cinemas.’ IHS Screen Digest Cinema Intelligence Service. Online at: http://www.eventcinemaassociation.org/assets/eca-0000-asset-doc-screen-digest-report2013.pdf Hoad, P. (2013) ‘How Film and Musical Theatre Formed a Lucrative Bond,’ The Guardian 29 January. Online at: https://www.theguardian.com/film/2013/jan/29/film-musical-theatre-lucrative-bond Towse, R. and C. Handka (eds) (2013) Handbook on the Digital Creative Economy. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishing. Tryon, C. (2013) On-Demand Culture: Digital Delivery and the Future of Movies. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press. Su-Anne Yeo recently completed a PhD in Media and Communications at Goldsmiths, University of London. She is currently developing a monograph entitled Alternative Screen Cultures in Asia Pacific for Amsterdam University Press. Her chapter ‘Translating the Margins: New Asian Cinema, Independent Cinema, and Public Culture at the Hong Kong Asian Film Festival,’ in the collection Chinese Film Festivals: Sites of Translation, has just been published by Palgrave Macmillan. At NECS 2017 she is presenting the paper ‘Event Cinema’ as Sensory Experience.’ On ‘Platforms’
Patrick Vonderau (Stockholm University, Sweden) The notion of the ‘platform’ implies a techno-economic view on Internet services linked to the distribution of entertainment and other cultural content. In a computational sense, a platform is something to build applications on. At the same time, a platform using the web is also a business, and therefore is also to be conceptualized in terms of business models and pricing structures. This paper suggests a critical view on platform terminology and the growing field of ‘platform studies.’ References Apperley, T. and J. Parikka (2015) ‘Platform Studies’ Epistemic Threshold,’ Games and Culture, 1-21. Bogost, I. and N. Montfort (2009) ‘Platform Studies: Frequently Questioned Answers,’ Proceedings of the Digital Arts and Culture Conference, University of California, Irvine. Online at: http://pdf.textfiles.com/academics/bogost_montfort_dac_2009.pdf Gillespie, T. (2010) ‘The Politics of “Platforms”,’ New Media and Society 12(3), 347-64. Helmond, A (2015) ‘The Platformization of the Web: Making Web Data Platform Ready,’ Social Media + Society, July-December, 1-11. Van Dijck, J. (2013) The Culture of Connectivity: A Critical History of Social Media. New York: Oxford University Press. Patrick Vonderau is Professor in Cinema Studies at the Department for Media Studies at Stockholm University. His most recent book publications include Films That Sell: Moving Images and Advertising (2016, with N. de Klerk and B. Florin), Behind the Screen: Inside European Production Cultures (2013, with P. Szczepanik), Moving Data: The iPhone and the Future of Media (2013, with P. Snickars), and The YouTube Reader (2009, with P. Snickars). He is a co-editor of Montage AV and a co-founder of NECS, the European Network for Cinema and Media Studies.
PANEL 2: DIGITAL SINGLE MARKET: THE IMPACT OF THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION’S STRATEGY ON BUSINESS MODELS AND PRACTICES Chair: Petr Szczepanik (Charles University, Czech Republic) Rethinking Market Boundaries in Digital Distribution Ramon Lobato (RMIT University, Australia) This paper seeks to raise some questions concerning the spatial categories we use to speak about media distribution. The digitisation and platformisation of audiovisual industries, far from creating a flat global space, has in fact exacerbated some deep-seated tensions which now resurface with a vengeance in current debates about geoblocking, digital borders, and the European Digital Single Market. At the same time, convergence has blurred the distinctions between media categories such that the matter of 'market boundaries' has once again become a serious concern for regulators. Using the example of Netflix, this paper will offer some thoughts on market boundaries, territorial borders, and the relationship between the two.
References Christophers, B. (2006) ‘The Territorial Fix: Price, Power and Profit in the Geographies of Markets,’ Progress in Human Geography 38 (6), 754-770. Lobato, R. and J. Meese (eds.) (2016) Geoblocking and Global Video Culture. Amsterdam: Institute of Network Cultures. Couldry, N. and A. McCarthy (eds.) (2004) MediaSpace: Place, Scale and Culture in a Media Age. London: Routledge. Morley, David, and K. Robins (1995) Spaces of Identity: Global Media, Electronic Landscapes, and Cultural Boundaries. London: Routledge. Ramon Lobato is Senior Research Fellow at RMIT University. His research focuses on the international dynamics of media distribution, copyright, and piracy. He has published four books including Shadow Economies of Cinema (BFI 2012), The Informal Media Economy (Polity 2015, with Julian Thomas), and the edited collection Geoblocking and Global Video Culture (Institute of Network Cultures 2016, with James Meese). As part of an Australian Research Council fellowship, Ramon is currently studying the cultural geography of video streaming services. The European Digital Video Market and the Role of Agent Aggregators Stefano Baschiera (Queen’s University Belfast), Francesco Di Chiara (eCampus University) and Valentina Re (Link Campus University) Five years after the entry of Netflix into the UK market VOD, and especially SVOD, services continue to represent a challenge to the traditional organization and business models of European Screen industries. On the one hand, the VOD and SVOD sector promotes a pervasive ‘on demand culture’ (Tryon 2013) characterized by a widespread promise of new forms of immediate, personalized, ubiquitous access to films and television shows. On the other hand, however, they lead to the appearance of new intermediaries in a process of ‘re-intermediation’ which clashes with the early hopes for a disintermediated media landscape. The purpose of our paper is to engage with the concept of aggregation as re-intermediation, looking in particular at the role played by business-to-business services, acting as intermediators between local rights holders and global on-demand platforms; what Patrick Vonderau defines as ‘agent aggregators’ (2015). The activity of these players is as much invisible (for final consumers) as important, especially in the economically and legally fragmented European context, and in light of the European Digital Single Market strategy. Our contribution will analyse the ways in which agent aggregators - particularly the service known as Under the Milky Way - operate and contribute to shaping the ‘politics of distribution’ (Lobato 2009) in the contemporary European market. References Lobato, R. (2009) ‘The Politics of Digital Distribution: Exclusionary Structures in Online Cinema,’ Studies in Australasian Cinema 3(2), 167-178. Tryon, C. (2013) On Demand Culture: Digital Delivery and the Future of Movies. New Brunswick NJ: Rutgers University Press. Vonderau, P. (2015) ‘The Politics of Content Aggregation,’ Television and New Media 16(8), 717-733
Stefano Baschiera is Lecturer in Film Studies at Queen’s University Belfast. His work on European cinema, material culture, and film industries has been published in a variety of edited collections and in journals the include Film International, Bianco e Nero, New Review of Film and Television Studies, and NECSUS: European Journal of Media Studies. Francesco Di Chiara is Associate Professor in Film Studies at eCampus University (Novedrate, Italy). His research interests include the European film industry, Italian film co-productions and Italian genre cinema. Di Chiara is the author of I tre volti della paura. Il cinema horror italiano 1957-1965 (2009); Generi e industria cinematografica in Italia. Il caso Titanus (1949-1964) (2013) and Peplum. Il cinema italiano alle prese col mondo antico (2016). Valentina Re is Associate Professor at Link Campus University of Rome. In 2005, she obtained a Ph.D. in Film Studies at the University of Bologna. From 2009 to 2014 she was Assistant Professor at Ca’ Foscari University of Venice. Amongst her publications are the books, L’innesto. Realtà e finzioni da Matrix a 1Q84 (2014, coauthored with A. Cinquegrani), Cominciare dalla fine. Studi su Genette e il cinema (2012), Play the movie. Il DVD e le nuove forme dell’esperienza audiovisiva (2010, coedited with L. Quaresima). Geo-blocking as the Protection of Author´s Rights and Cultural Diversity, or, as an Outdated Business Model? Pavel Zahrádka (Palacký University, Czech Republic) This presentation confronts the different perspectives of stakeholders in geo-blocking practices that prevent online customers from accessing audiovisual works. The work is based on interviews with Czech authors, producers, distributors and consumers and on the reconstruction of arguments presented in position papers delivered by stakeholders to the European Commission. It is the goal of the paper to deliver some ethical reflections on conflicts over geo-blocking using the method of reflective equilibrium, and on the basis of considered judgements. References Macek, J. and P. Zahrádka (2016), ‘Online Piracy and the Transformation of the Audiences’ Practices: Case of the Czech Republic,’ in D. H. Hick and R. Schmücker (eds.) The Aesthetics and Ethics of Copying. London: Bloomsbury Publishing, 335-358. Zahrádka P. and P. Szczepanik (2016), Přeshraniční dostupnost audiovizuálních online obsahů chráněných autorským zákonem: Kontextuální analýza [Cross-border Accessibility of Copyright-protected Online Content: A Contextual Analysis]. Prague: Czech Cinematography Fund [a research report]. Zahrádka P. (2016), ‘Etika kopírování kulturních obsahů: Kvalitativní studie internetového pirátství v České republice [The Ethics of Copying of Cultural Content: A Qualitative Study of Internet Piracy in the Czech Republic],’ Iluminace 3/28, 5-27. Zahrádka, P. (2017), ‘Ontologie díla v autorském zákoně České republiky [The Ontology of Authored Works in the Czech Copyright Act],’ Filosofický časopis 2017 [in print].
Pavel Zahrádka is Assistant Professor at the Department of Theater and Film Studies, Palacky University in Olomouc. He is a Principal Investigator for project Ethics of Copying, ZIF, Bielefeld, and is a Research Analyst for the Czech State Cinematography Fund, Prague. Funding Online Distribution of World Cinema Ana Vinuela (Paris-Diderot University, France) The ‘Aide au Cinema du Monde’ (ACM) Distribution scheme challenges the historical commitment of French film policy towards preserving the theatrical window at the heart of a film release strategy. This challenge is made by requiring any film receives at least one online release outside of France so that it may qualify for a grant subsidizing distribution costs of ACM funded co-productions. Drawing on interviews with policymakers and sales agents, and on an analysis of policy texts, I will examine the first results of this new policy tool and how it converges with the European Commission objective of building an economy based on big data as part of the Digital Single Market strategy. References Cardon, D. (2015) À quoi rêvent les algorithmes. Nos vies à l’heure des big data. Paris: Le Seuil. Dennison, S. and Song Hwee Lim, S. (eds) (2005) Remapping World Cinemas: Identity, Culture and Politics on Film. London, Wallflower Press. European Commission (2015) Circulation of European Films: The Distribution Sector Perspective. Luxembourg: Publications Office of the European Union. Lobato, R. (2012) Shadow Economies of Cinema. Mapping Informal Film Distribution. London: British Film Institute. Ana Vinuela is Associate Professor of Film Studies at Paris-Diderot University, where she teaches film and television socio-economics and the creative and financial challenges of producing. She holds a Ph.D in Communication Sciences from the Complutense University of Madrid. Her current research is concerned with the dialogue between French and world cinema, film and television industries and film policies.