One of the clearest trends in contemporary Japanese film production is that many films form just a part of much larger media franchises, many of which begin with manga (comic book) sources.
Dr Rayna Denison: Manga Movies project
What philosophy of human nature drove Kubrick to construct the film? Krämer takes us into the film's detailed construction, so we can judge its contribution for ourselves.
Martin Barker, Aberystwyth University
FTM research interests in popular media and its creative and cultural contexts come together in its 'Make Me Laugh' project, which explores creativity in the British television comedy industry and is funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council.

Research in the school can be split into three distinct areas:

The Popular

We think that if things are popular they are important so we research popular film, television, music and other media; popular genres, cycles and trends; celebrities and stardom; and audiences for popular media in different national and historical contexts.

For example, Dr Rayna Denison's 'Manga Movies: Contemporary Japanese Cinema, Media Franchising and Transnational Adaptation' investigate the ways in which manga are used as source texts for popular Japanese film culture, beginning with an examination of media franchising and manga-to-live action-film adaptations in Japan. The project is funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council. To find out more about the Manga Movies project visit the website.

Cultural Contexts

We think it is vital to understand film, television and other media with their specific historical, national and socio-political contexts. Resultantly, recent research addresses issues such as gender and recessionary culture; revising the history of Britain's Ealing Studios; the representations of Islam in the media; and the critical reception of popular and cult media.

For example, Mr Peter Kramer's ‘Controversies: A Clockwork Orange (1971)' project makes use of the recently opened Stanley Kubrick Archive to examine the making, marketing and reception of the film against the backdrop of rapid cultural and socio-political change in the US and UK in the late 1960s and early 1970s. The fellowship was funded by the Leverhulme Trust and resulted in the book A Clockwork Orange (Palgrave, 2012).

Creativity

We are interested not only in media production, but the processes that go into producing them. Therefore much of our research addresses the practices of and relationship between creative practitioners, media technologies and the creative industries.

For example, Dr Brett Mills and Dr Sarah Ralph's ‘Make Me Laugh: Creativity in the British Television Comedy Industry' project explores the creative processes and practices of writers, producers, directors, commissioners, and other personnel in the British television comedy industry. The three year project is funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council. Visit the website