CFP: Marketing the Movies: Promotion, Advertising and Film Studies (UK) (8/15/06; 2/24/07)

full name / name of organization: 
Chris Meir
contact email: 

Marketing the Movies: Promotion, Advertising and Film
Studies
Humanities Research Centre, University of Warwick, UK
24 February 2007

Confirmed Speakers: Dr. Vinzenz Hediger (University of
Bochum), Dr. Sarah Street (University of Bristol) and
Dr. Dina Iordanova (St. Andrews University)

More so than many other kinds of art, films exist
primarily as commercial entities, with for-profit
enterprises producing and distributing the vast
majority of the works which are seen throughout the
world. Selling these products to audiences often
entails more money (and some would say, creativity)
than goes into the production of the films themselves.
Despite the prominence in film culture of movie
posters, theatrical trailers, and television
commercials for upcoming releases, relatively little
research has been done within film studies on film
marketing itself. Promotion has heretofore been used
mainly as a supplementary component of reception
studies, with materials such as studio guidebooks or
staged promotional events being typically presented as
constituting "useful evidence as to how the company
involved viewed the film at the time," to quote Colin
McArthur, or helping to explain the journalistic
reception of the films in question.

This event seeks to break from this pattern of using
the promotion of films in such ways and to shift the
critical focus to the materials and practices
themselves, to treat them as the object of study while
also reflecting on the ways in which they can, and
should, be used as research resources. How do they go
about getting people to see movies? How have they
functioned and changed throughout the history of the
medium? How do they work in differing national and
cultural contexts? What can they tell us about the
films they promote and/or the industry they are a part
of?

Proposals for papers are invited on any aspect of the
marketing and promotion of films. Suggested topics
include:

-- Analyses of promotional materials such as trailers,
commercials, posters, pressbooks, etc.

-- Historical perspectives on film promotion and
advertising.

-- Nationally specific film marketing practices.

-- Transnational marketing practices, i.e. European
films in America, American films in Europe, Bollywood
cinema in Britain, etc.

-- Institutions of film promotion, e.g. The UK Film
Council, Internet Movie Database, Film Festivals

-- Branding of film products through directors, stars,
nationality or literary authors.

Proposals should be no longer than 300 words and
should be submitted by 15 August 2006 by mail or email
to Christopher Meir, University of Warwick, Department
of Film and Television Studies, Coventry CV4 7AL,
c.t.meir_at_warwick.ac.uk.

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Received on Mon May 08 2006 - 08:42:33 EDT