AFECCAV Conference
(Association Française des Enseignants et Chercheurs en Cinéma et Audiovisuel)
( French Association of Teachers and Researchers in Cinema and Television)
http://www.afeccav.org
University of Paris-Est-Marne-La-Vallée, 9 – 11 July 2012
http://www.univ-mlv.fr
Scientific Committee : Martin Barnier, Philippe Bourdier, Thierry Bozon, Marie-France Chambat, Jean-Michel Durafour, David Faroult, Kira Kitsopanidou, Fabien Lelarge, Giusy Pisano, Geneviève Sellier, Sylvie Thouard.
Scientific Conference
From source materials to databases: Is everything archive?
It is an acknowledged fact that archive-based research thoroughly altered the historiography and understanding of the cinema (especially of early cinema) and of audiovisual technology. The fact that archives are also a source of signs and clues leading to a history of forms seen from an aesthetic point of view has not been fully explored, nor their reception. However we increasingly resort to documents that are nothing more than gigantic archive databases: this intense interest in finding an archive wherever it is hidden (Archive Fever), the almost compulsive search on Internet for a picture, a fan’s blog, an unpublished document, an old film found on Youtube, is henceforth a practice that reaches beyond the strict boundaries between amateur and specialist, student and scholar. On one hand the very practice of analysing films, a television series or any sound or visual document relies more and more on ‘external’ elements: different versions of the screenplay, critical comments, posters, stills, etc. On the other hand playing with found footage has become one of the most frequent forms of creation. The aim of this conference is to explore these new intergenerational practices which are often neglected, especially in France. To throw light on the above we will mainly examine:
Reception studies before and after the Internet; how can the numerous traces left on the Internet by film buffs, music lovers and fans be used?
The role of archives in the aesthetic analysis of films and sound recordings.
Film criticism and theory used as archives.
The archives and the historian: what influence has the (re)discovery of film corpus, sound and visual documents had on our knowledge of the history of cinema and television? Where does the work of the historian start and finish? Where does aesthetic analysis begin and what is its foundation?
Archives and artistic creation.
The construction of personal identities by the users of Facebook, Twitter. Is the distinction between official and personal archives still a dividing line or is it obsolete? How does the transformation from a personal to a public or semi-public document take place once on the net?
Internet and the archive. When does a document become an archive? Has Internet undermined the importance of archives? Have the traditional means been “overtaken” by the new forms of archives?
Have national and international storage facilities modified their offer, their conservation and restoration practices?
One basic question will feed the plenary sessions: how to handle and confront the spreading out of archives nowadays increased by Internet? How to make sense and use them without limiting interpretation? Do the archives create the researcher?
Topic proposals (250 words + biography in 4 lines) to be sent to Dejan.Ristic@univ-mlv.fr before 20th December 2011. The papers can be in French or English.
