By Fredrik Gustafsson
The Film Studies Department at the University of St Andrews prides itself on its engagement with the frontline of cinema studies, with interests and specialisms in film-philosophy, film and ethics, film and transnationalism, and on and offline Film Studies publishing, among others. Following its other successful web initiatives (including, the Deleuze Cinema and Cinema St. Andrews projects) it was, of course, only a matter of time before the Department started its own open access cinema journal, to create a forum for the examination of relatively underexplored and emergent topics in film studies. So, here it is: we call it Frames.
In this, its inaugural issue, Frames is exploring the question: ‘Have Film and Moving Image Studies been Re-Born Digital?’. This topic emerged following our annual St Andrews’ Study Day in March 2011, on Open Access Film Studies, an event organised by the Film Studies department and its PhD students. We asked the keynote speaker that day, Catherine Grant, of the University of Sussex, and curator of the open access campaigning website Film Studies For Free, to be our launch-issue guest editor.
Through her dedicated work Frames is privileged to have received contributions from distinguished scholars and critics from all over the world. It has been a conscious effort from the beginning to get a wide variety of pieces to represent as many aspects of this exciting field as possible. Contributions to the P.O.V. section were encouraged to take varied and innovative forms, and these sit in our journal alongside the peer-reviewed research papers of the Feature Articles section. There are also a large number of highly innovative entries in video formats, including in one of the peer-reviewed essays. Hopefully the issue will prove to be both enlightening and thought provoking.
Acknowledgements:
Making Frames come alive has been a collaborative effort. I am writing on behalf of the editorial board, which also includes Andrew Dorman and Matthew Holtmeier, as well as our book editor Sarah Soliman. But there are many others who have been very important in the process of setting up the journal: Professor Dina Iordanova (Dean of Graduate Studies) and Professor Robert Burgoyne (Head of the Department and Centre for Film Studies) for providing moral (and financial) support. Dr. Alex Marlow-Mann and Dr. Tom Rice for their valuable liaison work between the PhD candidates and the department, and for their helpful advice, and the distinguished members of our editorial-advisory board. And of course our guest editor Dr. Catherine Grant. I have been working closely with her for these last couple of months and it has been a pure delight.
Frames Cinema Journal
