Five Tips from Filmmakers: An Online Instructional Module for Documentary Film Research

Information about the overall documentary filmmaking process is available; however, there is a lack of literature and educational resources about how to conduct subject research and data collection. As documentary filmmaking becomes an increasingly democratic endeavor due to technology, and information distribution and education use increases, there is a corresponding need for quality resources to support this essential step. In this study, a content-rich, technology-enhanced, online instructional module that was designed and developed in another study to guide and assist beginner documentary filmmakers with subject research and data collection, was implemented and evaluated by the target audience. This module featured five filmmaking tips summarizing professional documentary filmmakers’ wisdom and expertise with subject research and data collection. Motivational and instructional models served as frameworks to inform and guide the study’s learning design process. The quantitative and qualitative findings, field notes and observations provided data triangulation. After analysis and interpretation were completed, the results significantly confirmed the module had a positive, educational impact on the target audience and accomplished its purpose. This module addressed the lack of resources and utilized consultation of experts in content design and development to improve the creativity and production of beginner documentary filmmakers. This project successfully merged learning sciences theory and instructional design with humanities and arts research. It will contribute to the literature of documentary film research studies, the fields of instructional design and education, and the humanities. It has significant potential to influence and impact the broad possibilities of innovative, interdisciplinary research design and collaboration.

Solid State NMR Spectroscopy a Valuable Technique for Structural Insights of Advanced Thin Film Materials: A Review

Solid-state NMR has proven to be a versatile technique for studying the chemical structure, 3D structure and dynamics of all sorts of chemical compounds. In nanotechnology and particularly in thin films, the study of chemical modification, molecular packing, end chain motion, distance determination and solvent-matrix interactions is essential for controlling the final product properties and applications. Despite its atomic-level research capabilities and recent technical advancements, solid-state NMR is still lacking behind other spectroscopic techniques in the field of thin films due to the underestimation of NMR capabilities, availability, great variety of nuclei and pulse sequences, lack of sensitivity for quadrupole nuclei and time-consuming experiments. This article will comprehensively and critically review the work done by solid-state NMR on different types of thin films and the most advanced NMR strategies, which are beyond conventional, and the hardware design used to overcome the technical issues in thin-film research.

Drama production and audiences as ‘affective superaddressee’ in an illiberal democracy

There is a long history of television and film research that highlights the essential roles audiences play in everyday production decisions. Based largely on Western media industries, these studies’ investigations of producer–audience relationships have revolved predominantly around the market concerns of liberal media models. So how do producer–audience relationships work when it comes to illiberal contexts of media production? Using Singapore as a case study, this article argues that existing approaches to producer–audience relations largely based on liberal media industries like Hollywood are insufficient for thinking through audience power in everyday media production in illiberal contexts. Drawing on insights from affect theory, I examine the materials gathered during an immersive ethnography of the writing process of a Singaporean television drama and propose conceptualizing audiences as an ‘affective superaddressee’, as a productive way to think about the work that situational audiences do in everyday media production in illiberal contexts.

Thin Film Funding and Research Output of India and China: A Comparative Study

The present study analyzes the funded and non-funded Indian and Chinese thin-film research output published from 2001 to 2019. The study reveals the different aspects of thin-film literature in top most five funding agencies in countries like India and China. China contributed the highest research publications with 41,809 records by the support of 30,523 funding agencies papers with 50, 8318 citation contributions. The countries funded papers were 73.01% and Un-Funded Papers were only 32.51%. India has contributed a total number of research publications in the field of a thin film with 16,308 by the support of 8,724 funding agencies papers with 1, 03,577 citation contributions, India has total funded papers of only 45.36% and Un-Funded total Papers of 54.64, India has 857 journals published and 646 journals supported by the funding agency., China has 1138 journals published supported by 995 funding agencies.

Effect of the Sputtering Power on the Structure, Morphology and Magnetic Properties of Fe Films

In this paper, the radio frequency (RF) magnetron sputtering (MS) method was utilized to fabricate multiple sets of the iron film samples under different sputtering powers. With the help of X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), atomic force microscopy (AFM) and vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM), how the sputtering power affected the structure, morphology and magnetic properties of the iron film was studied. XRD results showed that all Fe films have a polycrystalline bcc structure and (110) preferred orientation. According to the Bragg equation calculation, the larger the sputtering power, the larger the average grain size, which is consistent with the results of AFM particle size analysis. The main reason is that the sputtering power affects the grain growth mode. As the sputtering power increases, it gradually changes from a small island-like growth to a thick columnar growth. However, from the surface morphology and height profile, we saw that the iron film deposited under 230 W had the most uniform grain size distribution and the grain size was relatively small. This is why thin films deposited under this condition have the best soft magnetic properties. The saturation magnetization (Ms) reaches 1566 emu/cm3, coercivity (Hc) is 112 Oe, and squareness ratio (Mr/Ms) is 0.40. Therefore, iron film prepared under 230 W has good comprehensive properties (highest Ms, lower Hc and Mr/Ms) that provide an experimental basis for further thin film research work.

Negotiating boundaries in a hybrid climate: The story of a trans-disciplinary documentary film research

How can one apply trans-disciplinary methods to a practice-based research? The article addresses this question through a self-reflexive piece on a transdisciplinary documentary film presented as a Ph.D. research. The research focuses on the summer holiday practices of veiled women in Turkey to explore the triangular relationship between bodies, spaces and practices. The author argues that a trans-disciplinary research requires a multimethodological approach and demonstrates how documentary film analysis, fieldwork, participant observation, interviews, ethnographic filmmaking and documentary film practice can be applied together methodologically. Additionally, the article explores how artistic methods and narratives are used by the researcher to visually represent veiled women. Concepts such as negotiating through boundaries, third space and hybridity constitutes the recurring themes of the article.

“Coming Soon?”: Cinematic Sociology and the Cultural Turn

Throughout the 20th century, cinema has played, and, to some extent, continues to play a key role in shaping the social imagination and anthropology of modern human. Nevertheless, as a review of English scholarly literature shows, cinema, unlike art and music, remains a marginal subject of analysis for sociologists. The article attempts to consider the state of sociological reflection on cinema in the context of the cultural turn in sociology in both the international and national contexts. By reconstructing the history of the interaction between sociology, film studies, and cultural studies, the author not only proves the scar-city of interest among sociologists in the analysis of cinema, but also discusses the ways by which socio-logical perspectives were involved in film research at the turn of the 20th–21st centuries, and the potential of the latter for the study of social imagination. A survey of communities of Soviet sci-fi cinema fans demonstrates one possible way of developing of the sociologically oriented program of cinema studies.

Television Sound Operators

The working practices of below the line television operators is an area of television studies that continues to be under-researched. Despite notable recent efforts, this lack of academic engagement is perhaps at its most pronounced in regards to the sub group of television operators who record, mix, and edit the soundtrack of British television. However, hands on methodologies continue to gain traction in the area of film and television research and, in doing so, create new opportunities to engage with below the line practices and bring into focus the hidden work of production personnel. This article, aims to explore these new methodologies and assess how they can bring new affordances to researchers engaging with communities who’s practices are often seen as routine and unremarkable. Focusing specifically on the work of television sound operators this article hopes to add to the growing body of work that sheds light on the practices of sound operators and the skills, codes, and identities that shape their work. By doing so through using hands on methods, it hopes to show the benefits of such approaches to wider television and film research.