Reaching Young Audiences: Serial Fiction and Cross-Media Storyworlds for Children and Young Audiences (RYA)
The media use of Danish children and young people has changed dramatically in the past few years. Fictional content and ‘media snacks’ on Netflix and YouTube are now a major part of their media diet while their encounters with national film, TV and online fiction are declining.
In close collaboration with international scholars and national industry partners this research project combines production and audience analysis when studying the current production and reception of film, TV and online fiction for children and young audiences.
The aim of this research is to provide detailed knowledge about the production and reception of film, TV and online fiction for young audiences through in-depth analysis of the current strategies for creating engaging fiction for them. The project analyses the notions of digital childhoods and best practice in the current production frameworks and links this to extensive qualitative reception studies based on the hypothesis that much can be learned, from an academic as well as an industry perspective, by bringing production and audience studies closer together.
The focus is on Danish fiction for children and young audiences, but the project also conducts comparative case studies in Norway, the UK and Australia.
Peer reviewed publications by the RYA core team
Christensen, Christa Lykke. ‘Relevance and identification in television content for children: Analysing DR commissioners’ perceptions of children’s media interests.’ In Audiovisual Content for Children and Adolescents in Scandinavia: Production, Distribution, and Reception in a Multiplatform Era, ed. Pia Majbritt Jensen, Eva Novrup Redvall and Christa Lykke Christensen. Göteborg: Nordicom, pp. 25–42.
Christensen, Christa Lykke (forthcoming 2023) ’Reaching the Youngest Audiences on the Danish Broadcaster DR’s Minisjang Platform.’ Comunicazioni Sociali, 2023.
Freudendal, Jakob (forthcoming 2024) ’Listening to audiences to remain relevant: Audience research as a new production method for Scandinavian screen cultures in transition.’ Journal of Scandinavian Cinema, 2024.
Freudendal, Jakob (forthcoming 2023) ‘Small Nation Public Service for Children in a Global Market: Domestic Animation Production at the Danish Broadcasting Corporation.’ Comunicazioni Sociali, 2023.
Redvall, Eva Novrup (2023a) ‘Screenwriting for Children and Young Audiences.’ In The Palgrave Handbook of Screenwriting Studies, ed. by Rosamund Davies, Paolo Russo and Claus Tieber. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham, pp. 453–468.
Redvall, Eva Novrup, Pia Majbritt Jensen and Christa Lykke Christensen (2023) ‘Introduction: Audiovisual content for children and adolescents in Scandinavia.’ In Audiovisual Content for Children and Adolescents in Scandinavia: Production, Distribution, and Reception in a Multiplatform Era, ed. Pia Majbritt Jensen, Eva Novrup Redvall and Christa Lykke Christensen. Göteborg: Nordicom, pp. 9–24.
Redvall, Eva Novrup (2023b) ‘Creating serialised live action drama for children: Talent development, affordable volume fiction, and portable brand characters at DR.’ In Audiovisual Content for Children and Adolescents in Scandinavia: Production, Distribution, and Reception in a Multiplatform Era, ed. Pia Majbritt Jensen, Eva Novrup Redvall and Christa Lykke Christensen. Göteborg: Nordicom, pp. 61–78.
Jensen, Pia Majbritt, Eva Novrup Redvall and Christa Lykke Christensen (eds) (2023) Audiovisual Content for Children and Adolescents in Scandinavia: Production, Distribution, and Reception in a Multiplatform Era. Göteborg: Nordicom.
Jensen, Pia Majbritt and Petar Mitric (2023) ‘The appeal of public service fiction in an internationalised media context: Findings from a survey of 8–17-year-old Danes.’ In Audiovisual Content for Children and Adolescents in Scandinavia: Production, Distribution, and Reception in a Multiplatform Era, ed. Pia Majbritt Jensen, Eva Novrup Redvall and Christa Lykke Christensen. Göteborg: Nordicom, pp. 139–162.
Freudendal, Jakob (2023) ‘Dansk børne- og ungdomsfilm i det nye årtusinde: Fra verdensmestre til krisestemning.’ Kosmorama #284, juni 2023. Peer reviewed.
Freudendal, Jakob og Eva Novrup Redvall (2023) ‘Introduktion: Danske børne-, ungdoms- og familiefilm i det nye årtusinde.’ Kosmorama #284, juni 2023.
Redvall, Eva Novrup. 2023. ‘Childhoods during lockdown: Danish children as documentarians of the COVID-19 pandemic.’ In Documentary in the Age of COVID, ed. By Dafydd Sills-Jones and Pietari Kääpä. Peter Lang, pp. 123-147.
Redvall, Eva Novrup (2021) ‘Cross-media, co-creative and current: New strategies for educating talent for Danish children’s film and television in the 2020s.’ Film Education Journal, 4 (2), pp. 184-194.
Redvall, Eva Novrup and Katrine Bouschinger Christensen (2021) ‘Co-creating content with children to avoid “Uncle Swag”: Strategies for producing public service television drama for tweens and teens at the Danish children’s channel DR Ultra.’ Critical Studies in Television, 16 (2), pp. 163-180.
Redvall, Eva Novrup and Katrine Bouschinger Christensen (2021) ‘Editorial: Screenwriting for children and young audiences.’ Journal of Screenwriting, 12 (3), pp. 259-268.
Redvall, Eva Novrup and Pia Majbritt Jensen (2023) ‘Fighting to keep up with children and young audiences: Reflections on Danish children’s television in the 2020s.’ In The Children’s Media Yearbook 2023, edited by Ashley Woodfall and Hannie Kirkham. London: The Children’s Media Foundation, pp. 127-130.
CSTonline blogs by the RYA core team
Redvall, Eva Novrup (2023) ‘”I Think About War … And Roblox”: Trying to Understand Children And Their Media Use One Report At A Time …’ CSTonline, 30 June 2023.
Redvall, Eva Novrup, Vilde Schanke Sundet and Jeanette Steemers (2022) ’From TV to TikTok: The ECREA pre-conference on ‘Young people, entertainment and cross-media storytelling’ pointed to widespread interest in investigating youth media across borders and platforms.’ CSTonline, 28 October 2022.
Freudendal, Jakob (2022) ‘Working with ’kidnographers’ to not be cringe: New ways of using ethnographic audience research methods when trying to reach young audiences.’ CSTonline, 17 June 2022.
Mitric, Petar (2021) Recurrent challenges when researching children and young audiences, CSTonline, 1 October 2021.
Redvall, Eva Novrup (2021) ‘Writing for Television, Netflix or Children? New Screenwriting Training Grounds for Serial Drama and Cross-Media Content in Denmark in the 2020s.’ CSTonline, 19 March 2021.
Christensen, Katrine Bouschinger and Eva N. Redvall (2019) ‘Producing public service serial drama for children and young audiences: Towards a new future for the Danish Broadcasting Corporation’s tween channel DR Ultra.’ CSTonline, 13 December 2020.
Redvall, Eva Novrup (2020) ‘The Danish serial Oda Omvendt (‘Oda Upside Down’) is making rebellious live action children’s fiction for 3-6-year-olds travel beyond the Nordics.’ CSTonline, 20 November 2020.
Christensen, Christa Lykke (2020) ‘Danish children’s content for 1-3-year olds and the importance of national platforms like the Danish Broadcasting Corporation DR.’ CSTonline, 16 October 2020.
Mitric, Petar and Pia Majbritt Jensen (2020) ‘How do children watch fiction in Denmark and what content do they prefer?’ CSTonline, 25 September 2020.
Christensen, Katrine Bouschinger (2020) ‘COVID-19 from a teenage web series perspective.’ CSTonline, 12 June 2020.
Redvall, Eva Novrup (2020). ‘Family binge-watching in times of Corona.’ CSTonline, 17 April 2020.
Redvall, Eva Novrup (2020) ’Scandinavian Slow TV is moving strongly into the 2020s – and is now also for children.’ CSTonline, 14 February 2020.
CSTonline blogs by collaborating scholars
Lam, Ji Qi and Caroline Maria Rynord (2023) ‘Today’s Teen Dramas are Painting a Colourful Portrait of Youth.’ CSTonline, 13 October 2023.
Mouritsen, Amanda Skovsager. 2022. ‘Fictional formats on TikTok: From #Dractotok to new NRK-series Toxic.’ CSTonline, 16 December 2022.
Lundtofte, Thomas Enemark (2021) ’It’s not a penis, it’s a dillermand.’ CSTonline, 12 February 2020.
Agger, Gunhild (2020) ‘The Magic of the Danish Christmas Calendar.’ CSTonline, 18 December 2020.
Edited journals
Freudendal, Jakob and Eva Novrup Redvall (2023) Danske børne- og ungdomsfilm i det nye årtusinde. Kosmorama #284, juni 2023.
Redvall, Eva Novrup and Katrine Bouschinger Christensen (2020). ‘Tema: Børn og unge.’ Special issue of the member magazine Replikker (#32) published by The Danish Writers Guild, fall 2020.
Redvall, Eva Novrup and Katrine Bouschinger Christensen (2021) Special issue of Journal of Screenwriting on writing for children and young audiences, 12 (3).
Reports
Jensen, Pia Majbritt, Petar Mitric, Thomas Sehested Larsen and Amanda Skovsager Mouritsen (2021) 'What is quality audiovisual fiction as seen through the eyes of young Danish viewers: Results from an explorative survey of 8-17 year old children'. University of Copenhagen and Aarhus University.
Danish core team
| Name | Title | Phone | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Christa Lykke Christensen | Associate Professor | +4535328116 | |
| Eva Novrup Redvall | Associate Professor - Promotion Programme | +4535329437 | |
| Petar Mitric | Assistant Professor - Tenure Track | +4535322489 |
- Katrine Bouschinger Christensen
- Pia Majbritt Jensen, Aarhus University
Collaborating scholars
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Anna Potter, USC, Australia
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Andrea Esser, University of Roehampton, London
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Inge Ejbye Sørensen, University of Glasgow
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Jakob Ion Wille, The Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, Schools of Architecture, Design and Conservation
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Jeanette Steemers, King’s College, London
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Stine Liv Johansen, Center for børnelitteratur og medier, Aarhus Universitet
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Trisha Dunleavy, Victoria University, Wellington, New Zealand
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Vilde Schanke Sundet, University of Oslo
Collaborating industry partners
- The Danish Broadcasting Corporation (DR)
- Nordisk Film Production, CEO Katrine Vogelsang
- Nordvision, General Secretary Henrik Hartmann
- BUSTER, Head of programming, Mariella Harpelunde Jensen
- The Cross-Media School of Children’s Fiction, Head of School Elin Algreen-Petersen
