CfP Digital Icons: Cinegames: Convergent Media & the Aesthetic Turn

[Ellen Rutten]

*Digital Icons: Studies in Russian, Eurasian and Central European New Media
*(www.digitalicons.org) invites submissions for its special issue



*Cinegames: Convergent Media and the Aesthetic Turn*



Issue editors: Stephen M. Norris (Miami University, Ohio, USA) and Vlad
Strukov (University of Leeds, UK)



*Deadline for submission: 1 September 2011 *



It is unquestionable that over the past few years the relationship between
film and computer games has become increasingly complex. With advances in
filming and editing technologies the convergence of two visual media is
inevitable: cyber-narratives and cinematic narratives, both forms of visual
narration and representation, have increasingly become blurred. Recent
scholarship has highlighted the story-telling potential of computer games.
An increasing number of computer games now tell historical, political and
social stories that once were only in the purview of filmmakers. Popular
films now frequently employ first-person shooter game techniques. Films have
also served as the source of inspiration for popular video games while games
have often provided the scripts for feature films. Thus, this special issue
aims to explore the process of hybridisation of film and computer gaming in
Russia, Eurasia and Central Europe, or what we can now call ‘cinegames’.



We are particularly interested in—but not limited by—the following
questions: What are the historical, political and cultural factors that have
created Cinegames in the region? How have video games transformed film
spectatorship? What is the political potential of socio-cultural practices
that involve both film and computer games? What is the new temporal economy
of films that are based on computer games? How do films enrich the ludic
experience of gamers? What is the role of fan activity in establishing links
between films and games? What is the impact of film-game hybrids on the
existing system of film genres? What is the critical perception of such
films in the counties in the region? What is the role of such films and
games in the processing of rebuilding national entertainment industries in
the post-totalitarian countries? How do film-game products respond to global
cultural trends and engage with national cultural traditions? Is it possible
to apply the theoretical framework of transnational cinema to such films?



We invite submissions that explore the connection between film and computer
gaming in a number of ways, for example: a) questions of promotion,
marketing and consumption, i.e. exploring how film studios utilise websites
that include games for promotion of their products and/or how video game
companies work with filmmakers to market their products; b) as an issue of
representation, i.e. examining the aesthetic potential of footage taken from
computer games in such diverse films as Timur Bekmambetov’s blockbuster
Night Watch (2004) and Aleksei Popogrebskii’s art house How I Ended This
Summer (2010); c) as an issue of fandom and mediated communication, i.e.
considering the role of blogs, social media and online games in constructing
the imaginary environment; d) as cultural and historical phenomena, i.e.
examining how games and films help commemorate the nation, such as the
online project S.T.A.L.K.E.R. as well as computer games based on World War
II and recycled imagery from Soviet war films; and e) as a theoretical issue
looking at films such as Aleksandr Sokurov’s Russian Ark (2003) that
effectively functions as a first person shooter in the interiors of the
Hermitage.



*Guidelines*

*Text-based academic entries in English, German or Russian, and/or
submissions in other genres, styles and form, reflecting the nature of the
medium, by scholars, politicians, artists and cultural practitioners are
welcome and will be considered for publication. For more information please
visit the journal’s website http://www.digitalicons.org/forthcoming.html, or
write to the editor editor at digitalicons.org.*

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