MCLC: Sound and Music in Chinese Cinemas--cfp

[Denton, Kirk]

MCLC LIST
From: matthew johnson (JOHNSONM at grinnell.edu)
Subject: Sound and Music in Chinese Cinemas--cfp
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CALL FOR PAPERS, 4/21/2012

Special Issue of the Journal of Chinese Cinemas: Sound and Music in
Chinese Cinemas

Sound has recently emerged as a vibrant field of inquiry in film studies.
It provides an important starting point for the development of new
analytic frameworks, including models of reception, historiographic
perspectives, and theoretical and practical understandings of cinematic
technology and representation. In the area of Chinese cinema,  research on
the intersections of film and music by scholars such as Andrew Jones, Sue
Touhy, and Zhang Zhen has already made a firm case for the importance of
understanding cinema as an inter-textual, multi-sensory medium, while also
demonstrating how historical changes in sound technology have profoundly
shaped the cinematic experience. In reviving the field of opera studies,
Judith Zeitlin and others have opened up new perspectives on Chinese
cinema's imbrication in traditions of performance and changing idioms of
live musical drama; such perspectives move beyond previous studies that
have focused primarily on opera¹s communication of political and national
ideologies. This growing body of research attests to the importance of
music in mapping film¹s relationship with other cultural forms, and
suggests future directions for the study of sound technology¹s role in the
development of Chinese cinema.

This special issue of the Journal of Chinese Cinemas will bring together
new sound-related topics and emerging scholarship.  The editors, Jean Ma
and Matthew Johnson, would like to invite abstract submissions of 250-300
words for articles related to the special issue theme of "Sound and Music
in Chinese Cinemas."  Comparative, cross-regional, and interdisciplinary
approaches are welcome. Our goal is to gather a diverse range of scholarly
and practitioner views which will provide a coherent "map" of this theme
by including perspectives drawn from studies of cultural texts,
performance, technology, history, and various points along the
production/exhibition/reception continuum.

The abstract should include:

* Your name, email address, institution, and mailing address.
* A description of an innovative approach to the study of sound and music
in Chinese cinemas.  Possible topics may include (but are certainly not
limited to): cross-medial and inter-medial investigations of film sound
and music; the introduction of popular music and performance forms (e.g.
vaudeville, cabaret jazz, opera) to a cinematic context; histories of
cinematic sound technology; sound and genre; sound authorship and
auteurship; interdisciplinary theoretical approaches to sound and music;
historical studies of colonial and global (e.g. Cold War) geopolitics,
economies, and "flows," and the interplay between these forces and
sound-related cinematic spectacle and practices.

Deadline for abstract submissions: 30 June 2012
Acceptance notice: 31 July 2012
Deadline for paper (6000-8000 words) submission: 31 October 2012
Anticipated publication date: Summer 2013

Abstract submissions (as MSWord documents by email attachment) to both:
* Jean Ma (Stanford University): jeanma at stanford.edu
* Matthew Johnson (Grinnell College): johnsonm at grinnell.edu

Contact for journal information:
* Song Hwee Lim (Editor, Journal of Chinese Cinemas): S.H.Lim at exeter.ac.uk

Website for paper format:
* See Notes for Contributors (.pdf file) at www.intellectbooks.co.uk