Centre for Cultural and Creative Research (CCCR)

Projects




Channel 4 Television and British Film Culture


Date commenced: April 2010
Funded by Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC).
Principal investigator: Dr Justin Smith


The School of Creative Arts, Film and Media (SCAFM) at the University of Portsmouth has been awarded an Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) grant for a four-year project which examines the contribution of Channel 4 Television to British film culture.

For further details, please visit its respective news release.





The Commercial and Cultural Value of Film Stardom


Date commenced: October 2009 - May 2010
Funded by the Leverhulme Trust.
Principal investigator: Prof. Paul McDonald.


Hollywood film stardom is a commercial and cultural phenomenon. In a market where consumer choice is unstable, stars provide a means of off-setting risk. At the same time stars are high cost investments which can never guarantee success. Through public knowledge of their wealth, loves, lifestyles or scandalous indiscretions, stars become extraordinary figures. But what effect does that fame have on their credibility and legitimacy when stars take up political office or back humanitarian causes? Reflecting on these issues, this project asks what is the commercial and cultural value of stardom in contemporary Hollywood?





Protestant Identity and Peacemaking in Northern Ireland


Date commenced: 2008-09
Funded by the British Academy.
 Principal investigator: Dr. Graham Spencer.


This work was particularly concerned with examining the impact of Protestant churches in the post-conflict environment of Northern Ireland. As such, it provided important insight into changing (or not) religious identities as Northern Ireland moves from war to (tentative and fragile) peace. Using interviews with a broad range of Protestant churches, the project aimed to see how they conceive forgiveness and reconciliation. From these findings the project examined the potential for church work and cross-communal engagement on forgiveness and reconciliation and the social impact of the churches in relation to such debates. In conclusion, the project evaluated what kind of roles the Protestant churches play in relation to the shifting social and political environment and considered the churches’ relationship with peace-building in the process.





1970s British Cinema, Film and Video Art: Mainstream and Counter-Culture


Date commenced: October 2006 - October 2009
Funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council.
 Principal investigator: Prof. Sue Harper.


The aim of this three year research project is to establish whether the 1970s (as it has frequently been argued) was a tasteless and undistinguished interregnum between the vibrant 1960s and the entrepreneurial 1980s, or whether it made substantial innovations in the area of film which have not been recognised hitherto. The project addresses the constraints on directorial authorship in the 1970s, and also focuses on the way British films engaged with post-war youth culture while developing or refusing a new aesthetic approach. Experimental film is also examined in its own right as a distinctly British aspect of an international practice.

For more information, please visit the 1970s Project website.