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Roderik Smits

Roderik Smits
  • Nombre:   RODERIK SMITS
  • Doctorado en:   Teatro, Cine y Televisión
  • Departamento UC3M:  Comunicación
  • E-mail (uc3m): rsmits@hum.uc3m.es

Project:

Online platforms and film circulation is a research project that examines the role of Netflix, Amazon, MUBI and other video-on-demand services in an era of content abundance. It draws on in-depth analysis of films that circulate beyond the mainstream to analyse their availability and visibility on online platforms in Spain and Germany. 

Given the rapid development of the online market, there is a need for greater insight into distribution and exhibition processes that influence circulation patterns and audience outcomes. Such insight is important to understand how VOD platforms are reshaping the ways that films circulate in national markets so as to develop theoretical discussions about the evolving nature of access, mechanisms of circulation power and shifting programming practices.

The film industry also benefits from a better understanding of strategies developed by online platforms. Generating commercial value for films beyond the mainstream is often identified as a key challenge for industry practitioners.

CV

Mi investigación se centra en la naturaleza cambiante de la industria cinematográfica y se posiciona en la intersección de los estudios cinematográficos y los estudios de la industria de los medios. Proporciona un foco de atención sobre la distribución y exhibición de películas como áreas de investigación en rápido desarrollo en el contexto de la revolución digital. Estoy particularmente interesado en el papel de los guardianes que ejercen control sobre el proceso de habilitar y deshabilitar el acceso a las películas en los mercados internacionales.

Mi libro Gatekeeping in the Evolving Business of Independent Film Distribution se publicó con Palgrave Macmillan en 2019. Mi trabajo también se ha publicado en revistas académicas como Poetics, Studies in European Cinema, Cultural Trends, Arts and the Market y Journal of British Cinema y Televisión.

He sido investigador de varios proyectos de investigación importantes en los últimos ocho años:

Beyond the Multiplex: Audiences for Specialised Film in English Regions, funded by AHRC (UK). 

Screen Agencies as Cultural Intermediaries: Negotiating and Shaping Cultural Policy for the Film and TV Industries within Selected Small Nations, funded by AHRC (UK).

Mediating Cultural Encounters Through European Screens (MeCETES), funded by HERA (Europe). 

Public profiles of the researcher:

Scientific Production

Scientific publications

Books:

Meir, C. and Smits, R. (Eds.) (under contract, expected in 2023). European Cinema in the Streaming Era: Policy, Platforms, and Production. Palgrave European Film and Media Studies book series. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. (peer-reviewed, 100,000 words).

Journal Articles:

Smits, R. (2022, forthcoming). Disruption in Times of COVID-19? The Hybrid Film Festival Format. Cultural Trends. (peer-reviewed, open access, 8,000 words). 

Smits, R. (2022, forthcoming). Circulation Patterns, Abundance and Scarcity: Film Availability in the Online Era. Media Industries. (peer-reviewed, open access, 7,000 words). 

Smits, R. (2022). Film Festivals and Market Intelligence: From Audience Surveys to Data Analytics?  NECSUS, 1. (open access, 3,000 words). https://necsus-ejms.org/film-festivals-and-market-intelligence-from-audience-surveys-to-data-analytics/

Book chapters:

Smits, R. (expected in 2023). Adjusting to the Streaming Revolution: Cinema Exhibitors and Virtual Cinema Platforms. In: Meir, C. and Smits, R. (Eds.). European Cinema in the Streaming Era: Policy, Platforms, and Production. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.

Smits, R. and Meir, C. (expected in 2023). Streaming European Cinema. In: Meir, C. and Smits, R. (Eds.). European Cinema in the Streaming Era: Policy, Platforms, and Production. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.

Reports:

Smits, R. (2021). 'European Film Festivals in Transition? Film Festival Formats in Times of COVID'. Industry report for Thessaloniki Film Festival, 48 pages, November 2021. DOI: 10.13140/RG.2.2.10260.42885.

 

Communication and dissemination activities

Conference presentations:

Smits, R. (2022). “Adjusting to the Streaming Revolution: Cinema Exhibitors and Virtual Cinema Platforms”. To be delivered at the ECREA conference (Aarhus, Denmark), 17 October 2022.

Smits, R. (2022). The Turn Towards Data Intelligence: Creative and Commercial Decision-making in the Film Industry. To be delivered at the Media Mutations conference (Bologna, Italy), 6 October 2022.

Smits, R. (2021). “European Film Festivals in Transition? Film Festival Formats in Times of COVID”. Delivered at Thessaloniki Film Festival (Greece), 8 November 2021. (invited)

Smits, R. (2021). “European Film Festivals in Transition: Reshaping the Traditional Festival Format”. Besides the Screen conference, University of Nottingham Ningbo (China), 10-12 June 2021. Online presentation available here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NwJVHYc2mIg&ab_channel=BesidestheScreen

Smits, R. (2021). “Circulating Latin American Films: A case study of Spanish Sales Agent Latido Films”. Delivered at a research seminar for the Television-Cinema: Memory, Representation and Industry (Tecmerin) research group at the University Carlos III de Madrid (Madrid, Spain), 28 April 2021. (invited)

Smits, R. (2021). “Analysing the Contours of Online Availability: Circulation Patterns for Specialised Films on VOD platforms”. Delivered for the Society for Cinema and Media Studies (SCMS) conference (United States), Virtual edition, 21 March 2021.

Smits, R. (2021). “European Film Festivals in times of COVID-19”. Paper delivered for the Film Festival Research Seminar on Global Cinema and Local Platforms (organised by Diane Burgess and Kirsten Stevens), Virtual edition, 25 February 2021. (invited)

Smits, R. (2021). “Online Platforms and Diversifying Film Culture”. Paper delivered at a research seminar for the Audiovisual Diversity Group at the University Carlos III de Madrid (Madrid, Spain), 22 January 2021. (invited)

Project website: 

https://www.onlinefilmcirculation.com/

Reviewer for international academic journals:

Reviewing for journals:  

- Studies in European Cinema

- Television & New Media

- NECSUS (European Journal of Media Studies)

Book endorsements written for:

- Baschiera, S. and Fisher, A. (Eds.). World Cinema on Demand: Global Film Cultures in the Era of Online Distribution. Bloomsbury, 2022.


Other outreach activities

Interviews:

Smits, R. (2022). 'European Film Festivals in Transition? Covid and Beyond'. Interviewed by Cineuropa, 13 January 2022. 

Smits, R. (2022). ‘The Consequences of the Transition’. Interviewed by Cinema&Video International, number 186, pages 34-35. https://issuu.com/cinemaevideo/docs/c_v_186_alta_x_issu, 2 February 2022.