“While researching Reporting Elections, we found that TV viewers are likely to see more policy coverage in countries with public service broadcasters. But even then, the overwhelming conclusion from looking at dozens of studies examining the nature of election coverage is that ‘who is going to win’? is a more compelling question than ‘what will they actually do when they win’?” – The Conversation
Category: media
How Is Hollywood Still Getting Paris So Very, Very Wrong?
It’s as if writers from the U.S. can’t see the city as anything but a backdrop for old clichés, narratives long grown stale. “Many of the misconceptions about the city swirling around in the US imagination are not really misconceptions at all – it’s just they are 100 years out of date.” – BBC
Why British Police Shows Are Better Than Those Produced In The US
Basically, take away the guns – and you get a lot more interesting content. But there’s more: “The tonal contrast with American police series reflects a very different law-enforcement reality. Specifically, in the British shows, closed-circuit television surveillance is everywhere, and handguns are nowhere to be found.” – The Atlantic
If Cinemas Survive The Pandemic, A Glut Of Blockbusters Await Fans
Assuming we get a functioning vaccine and that some cinemas survive the pandemic, and that audiences ever trust again the idea of being stuck in a room with hundreds of other people for two or three hours, there’s going to be a lot to see. “Perhaps fans can look forward to a geeky bonanza, where a new tentpole arrives in multiplexes every other week. Or perhaps some of these films will end up moving to the small screen instead.” – The Guardian (UK)
The Man Reshaping Gothic Classics For 21st Century Netflix Watchers
After all of the brouhaha – love, hate, reexamining, reevaluation, and a lot more – for Netflix’s series of The Haunting of Hill House, here comes an adaptation of Henry James’s The Turn of the Screw, called The Haunting of Bly Manor for the streaming service. That’s down to Mike Flanagan. And the challenges are similar: “Both series are fundamentally incompatible with the literary works on which they’re based.” – Slate
So, How’s It Going With The Attempt To Restart Film And TV Production In The U.K.?
Like the virus in the rest of the country, the perhaps too-soon begun production restart is not going well. “As the threat of new COVID-19 restrictions looms large, the industry is rushing to crank out film and TV productions this fall, in what could be the last gasp for production in 2020.” – Variety
As Movie Theatre Chains Struggle, Indie Screens Are Flourishing In The UK
“There’s no getting away from the fact that overall it’s a difficult time,” said Jason Wood, creative director for film and culture at HOME in Manchester. “We feel huge sympathy for people losing their jobs. But it’s an exciting time for independent cinema. It’s really important to recognise there is an industry beyond the mainstream blockbuster film culture.” – The Guardian
Supreme Court Will Hear Case That Could Reshape The TV Industry
The case nominally focuses on the FCC’s attempt to lift a ban on any company owning both a newspaper and TV station in a single market, but it will impact broadcast regulation broadly. After all, the Supreme Court’s choice to take up the case comes as the FCC prepares to make its own decision on the worth of other rules that have lasted decades, including a prohibition on any merger between or among the Big Four broadcast networks, ABC, CBS, Fox and NBC. – The Hollywood Reporter
What’s The Right Classic Movie For The Fall Of 2020? ‘A Face In The Crowd’
Jake Tapper: “The 1957 film … tells the story of Larry ‘Lonesome’ Rhodes (Andy Griffith), a charismatic, populist entertainer with a dark side, who uses the new medium of television to rise to the pinnacle of American power. … As Trump’s first term comes to a close, A Face in the Crowd is worth revisiting — less for what it reveals about the president than for what it says about the rest of us.” – The Atlantic
New Netflix Project: ‘Made By Africa, Watched By the World’
“Mixing new, original content with older African classics that have not previously been streamed elsewhere, this initiative … creates a path for stories that specifically address different slices of the African experience to see the light of day and reach a wider audience. Considering that there’s a growing feeling among Africans that inaccurate representation on screen is a given, that’s a good thing for everyone.” – The Guardian