__International Journal of Film and Media Arts

URI permanente para esta coleção:https://hdl.handle.net/10437/15692

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Empowerment and ownership in intellectual disability gaming : review and reflections towards an able gaming perspective (2010-2020)
(Lusofona University, 2020) Sousa, Carla Patrícia Gonçalves e; CICANT - Centre for Research in Applied Communication, Culture, and New Technologies
As with other populations, the usage of games by people with Intellectual Disability (ID) has been increasingly approached by research. Notwithstanding, the role of games in the lives of people with disabilities tends to be studied through a categorical picture that emphasizes its therapeutic characteristics and neglects games as recreation and as a form of cultural expression. The present work aims to review the main research outcomes of the last 10 years in the field of gaming and ID. It presents an analysis of the main research objectives, and approaches to gaming adopted in the analysed studies, as a path to reflect on two specific concepts: empowerment and ownership. Therefore, a Systematic Literature Review (SLR) methodology, accompanied by statistical and content analysis procedures, was adopted to analyse a sample of 61 peer-reviewed research papers (2010-2020) in this field. The obtained results emphasize the passive role of individuals with ID in games research, with gaming mainly seen through therapeutic our game-based learning approaches. The presented reflection on inclusive research, through the parallelism between game studies and critical disability studies, also highlights that the access to games, as a cultural expression, for people with ID could foster the inclusion of these individuals in the public sphere, both in media and in the democratic civic structures. The produced insights intend to frame future approaches that situate the potential of games and their accessibility as strategies to decrease environmental barriers and hindrances that people with ID face in their specific contexts and foster inclusion.
Acousmatic foley : son-en-scène
(Lusofona University, 2022) Pinheiro, Sara; CICANT - Centre for Research in Applied Communication, Culture, and New Technologies
“Acousmatic Foley” is practice-based research on sound dramaturgy stemming from musique concrète and Foley Art. This article sets out a theory based on the concept of “son-en-scène”, which forms the sonic content of the mise-en-scène, as perceived (esthesic sound). The theory departs from the well-known features of a soundscape (R. M. Schafer, 1999) and the listening modes in film as asserted by Chion (1994), in order to arrive at three main concepts: sound-prop, sound-actor and sound-motif. Throughout their conceptualization, the study theorizes a sonic dramaturgy that focuses on the sounds themselves and their practical influence on film’s story-telling strategies. For that, it conveys an assessment of sound in film-history based on the “montage of attractions” and foley art, together with the principles of acousmatic listening. In line with Kulezic-Wilson’s proposal on an “integrated soundtrack”, this research concludes that film-sound should be to sound designers what a “sonorous object” is to musique concrète, albeit conveying all of sound’s fictional aspects.
Stage-directing the virtual reality experience : developing a theoretical framework for immersive literacy
(Lusofona University, 2021) Melki, Henri; CICANT - Centre for Research in Applied Communication, Culture, and New Technologies
Despite the incremental improvement and inclusion of immersive technologies in entertainment, training simulation, fine art, inclusive design, academia, and education; Virtual Reality (VR) still faces issues regarding its ability to compete with films and animation in visual storytelling without merging into the realm of video games. In 2015, Pixar’s Ed Catmull warned moviemakers that Virtual Reality is “not storytelling” and argued that the linear aspect of narratives poses an obstacle that cannot be overcome with VR. In contrast, Catmull argued that VR has immense application in games. However, VR creators have been pushing the boundaries and possibilities of delivering narratives in virtual spaces. In 2019, the VR experience “Gloomy Eyes” was presented at the Sundance festivals featuring a 30-minute story split between 3 episodes. The simulation is structured to provide its audience with some degrees of freedom while guiding them intuitively through the virtual space. In 2021, Blue Zoo also released a VR project titled “The Beast” featuring a cyclist powering up a snow-covered mountain. The short film was entirely created in Quill VR with the intention of being treated like a theatrical play rather than a film. While the creators of “The Beast” have explicitly mentioned the influence of theatre, “Gloomy Eyes” draws its visual language from similar theatrical roots. This paper argues that VR has been mistakenly compared to film and animation when it should be associated with theatre. The audience of both are not passive as they are during the screening of a film or animation. The space and the medium demands participation through their presence in the same space with the actors/characters. Theatre presents a promising candidate for extracting criteria that could be used to develop a visual language for VR. This research aims to formulate a framework for developing a VR visual language through comparison between character-driven narratives in VR such as “Gloomy Eyes” and “The Beast”. The comparative study establishes overlapping criteria and characteristics found in the structure, literacy, sound, and delivery format of narratives in a theatrical performance. These criteria are then outlined and discussed, drawing from affordance theory and discussions on aural and visual attention in theatre, to form a holistic view in approaching VR literacy.
Uncovering literacy practices in the Game Total War : Shogun 2 with a contract-agency model
(Lusofona University, 2020) Neves, Pedro Pinto; Morgado, Leonel; Zagalo, Nelson; HEI-LAB - Human Environment Interaction Lab; CICANT - Centre for Research in Applied Communication, Culture, and New Technologies
This paper showcases how the Contract Agency Model can be used to uncover literacy practices in videogame’s own terms as a complement to existing, more ‘indirect’ games literacies, using as an example the videogame Total War: Shogun 2. The paper first situates the Contract Agency Model within approaches to videogames and within approaches to media literacy. The paper then identifies three interesting literacy practices in the videogame, which also exemplify the eight levels of abstraction of the Contract Agency Model. The paper concludes by discussing the model’s implications to media literacy and videogames, namely that videogames effect a second-order mutual signalling with their players – agency as a conversation of commitment to meaning – that is humanizing of those players, and that the model can uncover this as an implicit contract of bio-costs, as a ‘direct’ literacy of videogames, i.e. a literacy in videogames’ own terms.
Suspense mechanics in narrative video games
(Lusofona University, 2017) Sayol, Lluis; Colom Pons, Àngel; CICANT - Centre for Research in Applied Communication, Culture, and New Technologies
We put forward a suitable analytical model for studying suspense in video games. This model is based on the analysis of perspective, focalization and the figure of the implied player, which is fundamental to understand the relationship between game, player and emotional effects. We critically review the previous research on point of view in films and video games with the aim of achieving a better understanding of audiovisual narration. The resulting model is a proposal for, in the first place, systematising the relationship between the player -considered here as a theoretical concept: the implied player- and the game. Once this is done, it allows us to study suspense in video games from a narrative perspective and leads us to the conclusion that in video games suspense is not related to a waiting situation –like in films- but to the effort of overcoming difficulties that we know from a previous play.
Autofiction of the cognitariat : self-criticism of a bourgeois dog
(Lusofona University, 2023) Cuter, Elisa; CICANT - Centre for Research in Applied Communication, Culture, and New Technologies
Artists and intellectuals living in precarious conditions (or: belonging to the cognitariat), find themselves at the crossroad between precarity and privilege. Julian Radlmaier’s Selbstkritik eines bürgerlichen Hundes (Self-Criticism of a Bourgeois Dog GER, 2017) deals with this issue in a very explicit, self-reflexive way. Its protagonist is a filmmaker on the dole who is sent by the German workfare program to work seasonally as an apple picker. Once at the orchard, when the other workers attempt a revolt, he discovers that his attachment to his status as an artist impedes him to join their struggle. The autofictional form of the film, I demonstrate, reflects a subjectivation dynamic that turns into a spiral of perceived debt, guilt, and political paralysis. By internalizing a widespread anti-intellectual bias, the film offers a paradigmatic account of why it is difficult for members of the cognitariat to solidarize with other segments of the precariat or the working class: the difficulty depends largely on the internalization of neoliberal capitalism’s ambivalent consideration of immaterial, cognitive, and creative work.
Portuguese soap operas : a genre at the crossroads
(Lusofona University, 2019) Damásio, Manuel José; Costa, Jorge Paixão da; ECATI - School of Communication, Architecture, Arts and Information Technologies; CICANT - Centre for Research in Applied Communication, Culture, and New Technologies
In the context of ever greater circulation of televisual content of all genres and formats, this paper focuses on the intersections between the global and the local to understand how a specific genre – soap opera – was localised in a specific cultural and geographical setting giving origin to a production model that gained local prominence and nowadays faces a number of new challenges. Our general argument draws on the empirical findings of original research on the molding of this specific televisual genre and format called “telenovela”, and the specific production mode associated with it, and reflects on its historical emergence and the contingencies of such a process. Our goal is to identify the variables that allowed this genre to gain local dominance and later achieve international circulation. Following the results of quantitative and qualitative research, we argue that the structure of the local production and distribution settings and the dominant ideology of the associated production culture promoted the emergence of an original local production culture and sustains it until today.
Drawing the unspeakable understanding ’the other’ through narrative empathy in animated documentary
(Lusofona University, 2016) Nåls, Jan Erik; CICANT - Centre for Research in Applied Communication, Culture, and New Technologies
How to represent the suffering of distant others? An international exchange program between Africa and Europe was set up in 2006 to tackle this issue with the help of documentary filmmaking. A result was A Kosovo Fairytale (2009), a case study of how animated documentary can provide insights in how to represent ‘the other’. Theories of narrative empathy inform the understanding of the process as well as the final film. This paper examines animated documentary from three distinct perspectives: as a pedagogical tool to enhance cultural understanding, as a process of narrative empathy, and as a coherent text which makes use of narrative strategies endemic to animated documentary in order to create emotional engagement. Conclusions suggest that animated documentary can be a novel way of representing the other, especially if narrative empathy is present throughout a production process, and that the process involves participatory elements where the subjects contribute to the narrative.
Stereoscopic therapy : fun or remedy?
(Lusofona University, 2016) Raposo, Sara; FCAATI - Faculty of Communication, Architecture, Arts and IT
Once the material of playful gatherings, stereoscopic photographs of cities, the moon, landscapes and fashion scenes are now cherished collectors’ items that keep on inspiring new generations of enthusiasts. Nevertheless, for a stereoblind observer, a stereoscopic photograph will merely be two similar images placed side by side. The perspective created by stereoscopic fusion can only be experienced by those who have binocular vision, or stereopsis. There are several causes of a lack of stereopsis. They include eye disorders such as strabismus with double vision. Interestingly, stereoscopy can be used as a therapy for that condition. This paper approaches this kind of therapy through the exploration of North American collections of stereoscopic charts that were used for diagnosis and training purposes until recently.
Video essays : curating and transforming film education through artistic research
(Lusofona University, 2020) Sendra, Estrella; CICANT - Centre for Research in Applied Communication, Culture, and New Technologies
This article seeks to foster reflection on film pedagogy and research, encouraging academics to engage in artistic research and teaching methods. It specifically focuses on the video essay as a teaching and learning method, one that requires the willingness to take risks, but also, that can lead to a transformative experience in a still hierarchical educational system. The increasing openness to video essays in film journals shows an awareness of the way in which artistic research may contribute to decolonise academia. The practice of video essays leads to an inclusive, collaborative and polyphonic research environment, which dismantles the idea of a film canon. It contests the privileged position of the written ‘text’, when this is just understood as the written word. It also contributes to blurring the distance between the status of students and that of researchers. It invites them to assimilate work practices, curating and filmmaking, which sometimes happen simultaneously, curating through filmmaking. This article shares the example of the design of the video essay as a creative assessment method for two film modules in the MA Global Cinemas and the BA Creative Arts at SOAS, University of London. It stresses the importance of connecting research, practice and teaching, that is, the recursive study of film through film. It suggests that through making video essays class members become co-curators of the course, where learning is a multi-directional and collaborative experience.
Games can play us : the power of disempowerment in "emotional engineering"
(Lusofona University, 2017) Filipe, Eva R.; CICANT - Centre for Research in Applied Communication, Culture, and New Technologies
With the paradox of interactive emotion as astarting point, this study will try to understandwhat is the cause for this limitation of videogames’ emotional power, identifying some requirementsfor it to be overcome. Through thissingling out, the concept of disempowerment isdrafted as a model for theoretical inquiry, criticalcounterpoint and set of practices that standopposed to the forces that go through, defineand are themselves firmed on the diverse layersof the interactive experience. Beyond tryingto grasp the emotional potential yet to realizeand how the rupture with the established andexpected practices may unlock it, the proposalof the disempowerment model will overflow theinside of the game experience. From its constructionwithin a game to its use on discourseabout video games, its importance on broaderand interwoven dynamics will be highlighted. Allalong the way, a critical proposal will gain shape,which will seek to, cyclically, magnify videogame’s power as a medium of experiences andthe power of the medium as a cultural object. Keywords: Video games; agency; interactivity; immersion; subversion; emotional engineering; disempowerment.
Narratives of enfoldment : multi-linear and parafictional storytelling in media art
(Lusofona University, 2022) Halwani, Fuad; CICANT - Centre for Research in Applied Communication, Culture, and New Technologies
Narratives have been witnessing a state of enfoldment within the virtual world(s) since the proliferation of transmedia story worlds and new media art works. The aesthetics of enfoldment are discussed by Laura U. Marks within different trends in media art. She follows a genealogy of media art that has its roots in premodern Islamic concepts. Enfoldment is therefore situated as the broad framework of this paper’s discussion. Since the prevalence of the concept of transmedia storytelling, coined by Henry Jenkins in 2007, different franchises (be it in entertainment and others) have adopted certain narrative tropes to create a transmedia presence or universe. One of these tropes is the usage of multi-linear storytelling. Multi-linearity is one of the forms narrative storytelling that liberates a story from its temporal structure, making the consumption of narrative open to the end user. Parafiction, on the other hand, denotes instances when the lines between fact and fiction become blurry creating contemporary artworks where story worlds are essential for the dissemination of the works themselves. According to Lambert-beaty (2009) “the slew of recent writings trying to describe or explain this condition ranges from philosophical explorations of ‘the ethics of the lie’, to moralist warnings about our entry into ‘the post-truth era’” (Lambert-beatty, 2009). The following article aims at dissemi nating past scholarship on multi-linear and parafictional storytelling in trans and new media art in an attempt at shaping the the oretical framework of my doctoral thesis project; a podcast series intended for online dissemination that features conversations between a fictional character and non-fictional historical figures.
La colorimetría cinematográfica aplicada a los nuevos formatos periodísticos televisivos : el caso del programa español lo de Évole
(Lusofona University, 2022) Barrientos Báez, Almudena; Caldevilla-Domínguez, David; Blanco-Pérez, Manuel; CICANT (FCT) - Centro de Investigação em Comunicação Aplicada, Cultura e Novas Tecnologias
With the irruption of multi-screens that the Netflix era has brought about, a good part of the old visual formulas, especially television and reporter ones, have become outdated. This is especially observable in television formats strongly linked to reporter journalism, such as Spaniards around the world, Street travelers and others. In recent years, a trend of adaptation of cinematographic codes to television products has already been perceived, but the Covid-19 pandemic and the ban on theatrical exhibition in cinemas around the world has precipitated a change in the model of consumption. This article presents an investigation on a nuclear element: the cinematographic colorimetry used in journalistic television programs, specifically, one of the most watched journalistic programs on Spanish television: Lo de Évole.
The relation between gamers audiences and gaming industry workforce
(Lusofona University, 2020) Barroso, Ivan; ECATI - School of Communication, Architecture, Arts and Information Technologies; CICANT - Centre for Research in Applied Communication, Culture, and New Technologies
Relationships between gaming audiences and the industry workforce have been a significant factor for decades, becoming an economic driver for high-profile studios, which has led to an increase in budget size and a tightening of deadlines. The definition of creative media products under capitalism as “research, product planning and design, packaging, publicity and promotion, pricing policy, and sales and distribution” (Ryan, 1991, p.186) resonates perfectly with contemporary marketing strategies The inherent complexity of marketing strategy in this view accounts for heightened risks, which make the creation of original products from scratch a difficult proposition. This, in turn, can account for a certain aversion to risk, which makes sequels and serialization a preferred option, whereby games become mere products, and audience mere consumers. The aim of this article is to trace the process through which the games industry’s core audience became defined, as it relates to how certain game titles became established in the market, and how this affected working conditions for game developers. The scope of this article is big-budget game titles, and how these related to the establishment of certain pervasive, potentially harmful audience expectations in the games industry.
Rust, mold and cracks : post-dualist approaches on spaces and images
(Lusofona University, 2023) Gervilla, Lucas Rossi; CICANT - Centre for Research in Applied Communication, Culture, and New Technologies
Using the piece of video art “Rust, Mold, and Cracks”, created by the author, this paper addresses questions related to space, ruins, and different temporalities. Calling upon the authors Georg Simmel and Milton Santos, the text proposes an approach to ruins that goes further than dualist concepts such as abandoned/not abandoned, or modern/outdated. It also discusses the role of Nature in this scenario. In light of this situation, space and time are under mutable reorganisation, as pointed out by David Harvey. Different arrangements between them shall produce diverse modernities. Considering images as objects resulting from this spatiotemporal modification, this article comments on their accumulation.
Autoethnographic animation and the metabolism of trauma
(Lusofona University, 2021) Young, Susan; CICANT - Centre for Research in Applied Communication, Culture, and New Technologies
This paper provides an overview of my practice-based doctoral research: Bearing Witness: Autoethnographic Animation and the Metabolism of Trauma, which uses a multimethod approach (cognitive focus, thematic analysis of qualitative data and artistic practice), to investigate autoethnographic animation’s capacity to moderate psychological trauma. Traumatic events such as child abuse, domestic violence and military conflict often present a major health challenge for survivors, with many experiencing significantly impaired function due to symptoms such as nightmares, emotional dysregulation, negative cognitions and dissociative states. The symptoms most commonly reported are intrusive memories-sensory-perceptual impressions that involuntarily intrude into consciousness, causing distress and a sense of reexperiencing the trauma. A number of cognitive studies have measured how these intrusions may be moderated through models that either interfere with imagery, simulate trauma, or change its narrative. My research uses interviews, thematic analysis and artistic practice to investigate whether animation may similarly moderate intrusions through processes that utilise the medium’s visuospatial capacities and its potential for rescripting, or changing, the trauma narrative. The desire to use personal experience as data motivated my interest in autoethnography as a methodology for qualitative inquiry. Autoethnography is a reflexive approach that explores autobiographical stories and connects these to wider socio-cultural-political issues through writing, performance and other media. In this research I am using autoethnography to both address my lived experience of trauma and to moderate its symptoms through my animation practice. Keywords: Psychological trauma, mental imagery, autoethnographic animation, artistic research, mixed methods
The aesthetics and perception of documentary film : a mixed methods approach and Its implications for artistic research
(Lusofona University, 2020) Iseli, Christian; Dux, Stefan; Loertscher, Miriam Laura; CICANT - Centre for Research in Applied Communication, Culture, and New Technologies
The ongoing research project Gadgets, Phones and Drones at the Zurich University of the Arts investigates how innovations in camera technology have affected the visual aesthetics of documentary films since the 1990s. With specially produced variants of short films, historical paradigm shifts are being subjected to contemporary comparative analyses. Major aspects of the aesthetic change, as for instance the tendency towards a shallow depth of field, are linked to the concept of authenticity or perceived realism. The project’s use of interdisciplinary research is oriented towards artistic research, or more precisely, towards a practice-based approach and is combined with empirical audience experiments. The dialogue between qualitative and quantitative research, also known as mixed methods, has enabled surprising new insights. However, the comparability of quantitative methods risks narrowing down the aesthetic potential of the filmic products that are used to conduct the research. In order to maintain a discriminating discourse within the practice-based approach, it is therefore advantageous to extend the study’s framework beyond a quantitative and comparative research set-up and provide specific fields for artistic investigations.
AYAH - Sign : collaborative digital art with the grenfell communities
(Lusofona University, 2021) Gingrich, Oliver Mag; Choudhrey, Sara; CICANT - Centre for Research in Applied Communication, Culture, and New Technologies
Coinciding with the one-year anniversary of the Grenfell tragedy, local artistic practitioners Oliver M. Gingrich, of media art platform ART IN FLUX, and artist researcher Sara Choudhrey, curated a series of workshops and events as part of the project AYAH – Sign. Significantly, the project places collaboration at all stages of its conception, implementation, and its outcome. Members of the local community and the wider general public were invited to explore new forms of artistic practice with a focus on Islamic pattern-making. These practice-based community-focused activities contributed towards a collaborative digital artwork, publicly displayed as a site-specific installation opposite the Grenfell Tower site. The participatory activity and artwork were designed to bring the community together in a time of need, to provide mutual support through joint creative engagement. Social connectedness, i.e. the experience of belonging, and relatedness between people (Van Bel et al 2009), is becoming an increasingly important concept in the discussion of social benefits of media including participatory art practices (Bennington et al. 2016). This paper reflects on the potential for art to bring communities together, to contribute to wellbeing and social-connectedness and providing a more inclusive experience for a range of community members. The project was conceived within the context of deeper research into participatory art and its potential to contribute to mental wellbeing, providing social cohesion for communities and acting as a creative support strategy in times of need. Collaborative art practices, such as AYAH - Sign, not only inspires further creativity among local residents through collaborative engagement, but also encourages community members to reconnect both physically and emotionally with one another. Keywords: Collaborative Community Practice, Digital Art, Islamic Digital Art, New Media Art, Social Connectedness, Arts and wellbeing,
British stereo photographers in Spain : Frank M. Good
(Lusofona University, 2016) Fernández Rivero, Juan Antonio; CICANT - Centre for Research in Applied Communication, Culture, and New Technologies
Unlike French stereo photographers, who flooded the market with Spanish views, the most important British publishers and photographers rarely made Spanish views. Quite possibly this was precisely because of the rapid market penetration of the French, such as Gaudin, Ferrier and others, and in spite of the leading British photographic houses, such as Frith or George W. Wilson, also wanting to include Spanish views in their catalogues. The photographer Frank Good would be the only British photographic editor to make a collection of some importance of Spanish stereoscopic views during the first decades of the history of photography, visiting and photographing the cities of San Sebastian, Zaragoza, Barcelona, Tarragona, Valencia, Seville and Cordoba. About one hundred views, of which more than half are of Cordoba and Seville, do not include, strangely, cities such as Madrid, Toledo and Granada.
Multi-task cinema, or a “whatever style”
(Lusofona University, 2017) Viveiros, Paulo; ECATI - School of Communication, Architecture, Arts and Information Technologies; CICANT - Centre for Research in Applied Communication, Culture, and New Technologies
This text seeks to reflect upon the impact that new imaging technologies — from video introduction to computers dependency — have had on more recent generations of cinema, and its effect on film language. The context of the analysis is North American cinema and the Hollywood industry in particular which, as a large production system, absorbs and transforms technological novelty in order to enlarge the scope of its action (in line with the idea of general audiences and the phenomenon of globalization which loses its cultural specificities). From the cinematographic point of view, the immediate consequences of such impact are felt in film language rooted in classical narrative, with particular focus on action and science fiction films; and, from a cultural standpoint, how they precociously manifest themselves in school movies done by a generation with a visual culture also marked by music videos and YouTube cultures.

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