Elsie Locke 313, 1-2 pm, Wednesday 27 November
Erin Harrington
In this talk I briefly outline some work-in-progress looking into digital humanities approaches to film analysis, drawing specifically from Kevin Ferguson’s work in ‘digital surrealism’. This approach, which he has developed over the last 10 years, explores the capacities of ImageJ, an image processing program designed for scientific multidimensional images, to offer new ways of looking at film. I will outline how this tool might also offer fascinating insight into the analysis of serialised media such television series – in this case, the horror-comedy sitcom What We Do in the Shadows (FX, 2019-) – given the ‘summed’ images produced by the software are able to reveal subtle changes in the aesthetics of shows over years. Such changes reflect shifts in production practices as much as narrative arcs and generic conventions. They might also help enrich our understanding of the ideological components of a form such as the situation comedy, which is itself structured by statis and repetition. I will also speak briefly about some of the unusual challenges that come about when studying television media, including debates about the use of pirated material in screen studies in general.
The DHRN is a group of staff and students who share an interest in Digital Humanities research. The network meets monthly for seminars, workshops, and more informal discussions, with the aim of sharing ideas, skills and experience. The network also has a Teams space, which is used for discussion outside the monthly meetups, plus notices about upcoming events and opportunities. To join the DHRN, contact Chris Thomson or Kaspar Middendorf.