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Full-Text Articles in Film and Media Studies
Inkling: An Exploration Of Visual Effects As A Character, Joshua Cooper
Inkling: An Exploration Of Visual Effects As A Character, Joshua Cooper
Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-
Inkling is an animated short film about a creature made of ink falling into a cycle of anxiety. This film explores the use of visual effects in character design. Inspiration for this film was drawn from Absurdist essays and stories and used abstract imagery and cinematic devices to manipulate the audience into feeling the character's anxiety. This thesis briefly examines the foundation of methods pioneered by visual effect artists. To produce this short film, critical decisions in software and animation were made to streamline the process to allow more time to focus on creating a method for the visual effect …
Miss-Adventures: Fantasy And Friendship In The Context Of Animation, Nathaniel Shrage
Miss-Adventures: Fantasy And Friendship In The Context Of Animation, Nathaniel Shrage
Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-
Friendship is not always magical, as the protagonists learn in "The Miss-Adventures of Molly & Sage." In this buddy-comedy set in a magical fantasy world, the titular characters are two teenage girls who go on epic quests and cause mischief. Many aspects of the story went through changes during the production of this hand-drawn animated short film. However, the main characters and their chaotic friendship remained consistent throughout the animation process. While developing this film, I noticed that my peers responded positively when I referenced my Ashkenazi Jewish heritage in various story elements. The film's artistic style was heavily inspired …
And They Saved My Sorry Ass: A Documentary Discovering Self In Contemporary Fan Culture, Chunxiao Yang
And They Saved My Sorry Ass: A Documentary Discovering Self In Contemporary Fan Culture, Chunxiao Yang
Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-
"And They Saved My Sorry Ass" is a documentary/personal essay film about queer ani- me lovers (including the filmmaker) based both in the US and in China. This film focuses on how these fans express their identities by embodying and re-interpreting anime characters. Experimental methods, such as staged performance, first-person narration and abstract imaging are explored in addition to conventional interviews. This thesis follows the pre-production, production and post-production processes of making this film through 2020 to 2023, also mapping out marketing and distribution plans after finishing the project.
Tooth Farmer: Exploring 3d Printed Replacement Heads For Stop-Motion Animated Films, Jamie Lachnicht
Tooth Farmer: Exploring 3d Printed Replacement Heads For Stop-Motion Animated Films, Jamie Lachnicht
Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-
Tooth Farmer is a 2-minute hybrid animated short film combining stop-motion puppetry with a 3D environment. Tooth Farmer is a vital story as it was developed over four years and getting closer to the artist's goal of creating a successful stop-motion armature puppet that is durable for an entire stop-motion short. The story is a different take on the Tooth Fairy mythology that varies from culture to culture. This story offers an alternative to the world of the Tooth Fairy folklore. In Tooth Farmer, a little mouse lives inside a person's mouth to help maintain tooth hygiene. The film focuses …
Ruffled: Examining Feminism & Femininity Through Animation, Savannah Berry
Ruffled: Examining Feminism & Femininity Through Animation, Savannah Berry
Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-
The animated short film Ruffled confronts the subjects of Feminism and Femininity through the after-hour musings of a young seamstress. Sewing to patterns and working from their papered paradigms she discovers her unique voice that is both referential of the past while remaining distinctly modern. The struggle twenty-first century Feminists may encounter when determining their place within a history rich with prejudice, confrontation, and triumph is metaphorically represented in each of the character's attempts at garment creation. Within the film, not only does this clothing harken back to vintage apparel but whimsically transforms her surroundings to reflect three visually distinct …
Magic Show: Themed Experiences Utilizing Animation, Emma Cuitino
Magic Show: Themed Experiences Utilizing Animation, Emma Cuitino
Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-
Magic Show is an animated short film created in the Unity game engine that follows a mischievous fairy named Faye, who attempts to deceive her human audience, the viewer, into believing she can do magic. My goal in the program was to create a themed entertainment experience. I created a point-of-view animated film as an alternative to traditional theme park 3D/4D attractions that typically take place in a theatrical setting with large audiences. This allows for a more intimate experience and accessibility in the absence of a physical theater. The storyline itself is a study of imposter syndrome. Instead of …
Peat And Patty: Providing A Voice For Nature Through Animation, Clinnie Brinson
Peat And Patty: Providing A Voice For Nature Through Animation, Clinnie Brinson
Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-
Peat and Patty is a 3D animated short story of a young scientist, Patty, and her pet parrot Peat, whose goal is to save their world from a dying ecosystem. Ultimately, they inadvertently receive help from a nearby polar bear which leads to the success of Patty's experiment. The purpose of this story is to highlight the dangers of global warming to our own ecosystem thus building eco-consciousness in viewers. We currently have natural disasters increasing in frequency, a rising global temperature, and pollution in our bodies of water (Rossati). By personifying nature, animation can invoke empathy from viewers towards …
Crossed: Strength In Unity And Connection, Dillon Williams
Crossed: Strength In Unity And Connection, Dillon Williams
Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-
It is only through the strength of bonds that we can overcome evil. In Crossed, these bonds are tested as Calum and Dmitri are forced to duel for their lives. The film explores the themes of indoctrination, belief, the power of friendship, and never giving up on the people you care about. The accompanying paper explores how these themes are integral to who we are. I then explore the process of producing animation utilizing cutting-edge mediums and how these mediums can allow us to create animation in an entirely new way.
Hitting A Little Too Close To Home: Reflexivity, Liminality, And Identification In Horror Across Film, Theatre, And Games, Alyssa Barrack
Hitting A Little Too Close To Home: Reflexivity, Liminality, And Identification In Horror Across Film, Theatre, And Games, Alyssa Barrack
Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-
Reflexive art makes explicit the inherent connection between artistic process, intertextual context, and an audience to create an intentional dialogue with its audience by tapping into the duality inherent in spectatorship - awareness of both the creation process and the final product, and participation in one or both through viewership. In this study I analyze several pieces across three mediums––film (Funny Games (2007), The Poughkeepsie Tapes (2007)), theatre (Ubu Roi (1896)), and video games (The Stanley Parable (2013), Bioshock (2007))––and consider audience reviews to determine how audiences are affected by reflexivity in each. Through the lens of the horror genre …
If Found: Exploring Death Through Animated Media, Hannah Huffman
If Found: Exploring Death Through Animated Media, Hannah Huffman
Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-
If Found is a narrative 2D animated short film that explores our connection with death. The film makes use of the conventions of a Western fairy tale setting to make this difficult topic more digestible. This works in conjunction with the East Asian storytelling format of Kishotenketsu, a narrative convention focused on a conflict-less plot. Death is not something we can defeat; rather, it is a natural force with which we all must make peace. By following this traditional format, the film also explores and shows appreciation for the impacts of East Asian thought, storytelling, and animation on Western culture. …
Castle Of Unknowing: An Immersive Virtual Reality Experience, Damian Thorn-Hauswirth
Castle Of Unknowing: An Immersive Virtual Reality Experience, Damian Thorn-Hauswirth
Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-
Castle of Unknowing is a rendered virtual reality (VR) experience presented as visual poem. As VR is a nascent technology, content is still limited, and methods of storytelling are not yet formalized. My film seeks to expand the breadth of what types of narratives are being told with this medium. The project is an immersive, experiential narrative imbued with symbolism. The viewer moves through a fixed sequence as they are taken on a journey which mixes elements of sci-fi, fairy tale, and surrealism. It utilizes compelling visuals and sound instead of traditional narrative to evoke an emotional response within the …
Un-Portalable! An Animated Exploration In Boundaries And Relational Design, Ira Klages
Un-Portalable! An Animated Exploration In Boundaries And Relational Design, Ira Klages
Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-
Un-Portalable! is an animated multimedia short film about two friends who become fused together after using a faulty teleporter. They attempt to conceal their deformity while simultaneously navigating a social situation with one of their friends. The main focus in the film is the concept that boundaries tend to become clearer as they begin to break. This conceptual focus merges into the visual theory of the film in which highly expressive character design and hybrid media utilization are driven by relational and narrative design choices. This film serves as a condensed pilot and proof of concept for a larger prospective …
Cinematic Practices: An Evaluation Of Production Theories In Service Of Micro-Budget Feature Film-Making, Andrew Myerson
Cinematic Practices: An Evaluation Of Production Theories In Service Of Micro-Budget Feature Film-Making, Andrew Myerson
Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-
Bottom of a Glass Blues and its accompanying dissertation, Cinematic Practices are the basis of research into production practices used by independent and micro-budget filmmakers in the Central Florida community. The research presented in this dissertation is used to satisfy the academic requirements for the University of Central Florida's Master of Fine Arts in Feature Film Production. Cinematic Practices evaluates production theories used in studio and independent film-making in the present day in addition to practices popularly embraced by local filmmakers in Central Florida. The research found that there is no shared knowledge on how to organize film crews for …
2d Animation Of The 21st Century: The Digital Age, James Chambless
2d Animation Of The 21st Century: The Digital Age, James Chambless
Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-
My thesis project, entitled The Curse Breaker, is a personal and career venture studying the medium of 2D animation while battling my struggle with cigarette addiction. I researched and applied symbolism and narrative strategies while building an impactful hero narrative. Joseph Campbell's The Hero with a Thousand Faces provided insight into the monomyth and hero archetypes. Character and environment designs implemented symbolism as a driving focus of my thesis and fueled the semantic interpretation needed to successfully communicate my struggle with the audience in a non-verbal fashion. The language of cinematography aided in the effectiveness of my thesis film. The …
The Universal Story: Coming-Of-Age In Contemporary Animation, Christina Christie
The Universal Story: Coming-Of-Age In Contemporary Animation, Christina Christie
Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-
Cycles is a 3D animated short film about a father who struggles to keep up with his daughter as she races through life. Whereas most coming-of-age films focus solely on the journey of the adolescent, Cycles subverts the expectations of the genre by exploring the impact growing up has on both the parent and child in tandem. As a film, Cycles relies on the careful and deliberate use of tropes, informed character and environment design, and established cinematic devices to support the story's theme of accepting change. Though my personal experience inspired this film, it evolved into a contemporary and …
Storm: An Exploration Of Home Through Painterly Animation, Kirstin Hardin
Storm: An Exploration Of Home Through Painterly Animation, Kirstin Hardin
Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-
Storm is an animated short film that follows a family of Florida Sandhill Cranes. The family experiences a storm that destroys their nest and separates them from their smallest chick. The reunion of the cranes, at the end of the film, symbolizes that the sense of home consists of the members of the family, and not the physical place. The film combines digital two-dimensional (2D) animation with traditional paint on glass animation to create visual contrast between the cranes and the storm. The stylistic choices that I have made include showcasing paint strokes, going with a lineless and painterly animation …
One Pint At A Time: Documenting The Black Experience In American Craft Beer, Aaron Hose
One Pint At A Time: Documenting The Black Experience In American Craft Beer, Aaron Hose
Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-
One Pint at a Time is a documentary feature by Aaron Hosé, created as part of the requirements for earning a Master of Fine Arts in Feature Film Production from the University of Central Florida. This is the first documentary film in history to focus exclusively on the stories of African American beermakers and brewery owners, their ties to ancient Egyptian and African brewing traditions, and how they are trying to make their mark within the business of craft beer; a multi-billion-dollar industry in which merely one percent of breweries are Black-owned and operated. Following the guidelines of UCF's program, …
Incongruous Surrealism Within Narrative Animated Film, Daniel Mccabe
Incongruous Surrealism Within Narrative Animated Film, Daniel Mccabe
Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-
A pop music video is a form of media containing incongruous surrealistic imagery with a narrative structure supplied by song lyrics. The lyrics' presence allows filmmakers to digress from sequential imagery through introduction of nonlinear visual elements. I will analyze these surrealist film elements through several post-modern philosophies to better understand how this animated audio-visual synthesis resides in the larger world of art theory and its relationship to the popular music video. This analysis coincides with the practical and theoretical experimentation evident in the film companion to this thesis, Slapper the Cat: A Musical Cartoon. A long-form animated music video …
Asper, Isaiah Nearor
Asper, Isaiah Nearor
Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-
Asper is a microbudget feature-length film written, directed, and funded by Isaiah D. Nearor for the requirements of earning a Master of Fine Arts in Entrepreneurial Digital Cinema from the University of Central Florida. Completing a film production can be challenging because not every day is the same. Production took place during Summer 2021 during COVID 19. With proper guidance and safety protocol, the film made it through production. The film is a narrative thriller. This thesis explains the process and decisions made from preproduction through post-production.
Captivating Bubbles: Creating Lasting Children's Stories Using Animation, Rhythm And Life Experience, Ronald Hargrove
Captivating Bubbles: Creating Lasting Children's Stories Using Animation, Rhythm And Life Experience, Ronald Hargrove
Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-
This work examines the inclusion of social values in children's stories and the visual and auditory techniques implemented in animation. It explores personal encounters and experiences in my life which shape the content and mission of my story. This work also touches on my role in presenting family and social values to children using rhyme as style and animation as a medium. Furthermore, in discussing my animated film, this work will delve into the decision to incorporate rhythmic poetry, evaluate the composition of the film's score and touch on the purpose of visual devices. Finally, this work will highlight the …
Rubicon: The Dialectic, Marcos Carrasco Yanez
Rubicon: The Dialectic, Marcos Carrasco Yanez
Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-
Rubicon: The Dialectic is a virtual reality (VR), multi-channel, video-art installation, created after researching interactivity, virtual reality, 2D and 3D animation, filmmaking, philosophy, and music. I intend to manifest my feelings as a Venezuelan, a Latin-American, and a free thinker by sharing with the spectator a VR immersive piece representing my inner struggle in these times of political meltdown. Attempting to go beyond the two orders that structure reality according to French structuralist psychoanalyst Jacques Lacan, The Imaginary and The Symbolic, I am searching to approach the third Lacanian order that structures human existence--the one that opposes and exists beyond …
Pixelated Domes: Cinematic Code Changes Through A Frank Lloyd Wright Lens, William Allen
Pixelated Domes: Cinematic Code Changes Through A Frank Lloyd Wright Lens, William Allen
Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-
Panoramic 360-degree documentary videos continue to saturate the visual landscape. As practitioners' experiment with a new genre, understanding meaning and making awaits the academic and marketplace landscape. The new media journey of 360-degree documentary storytelling is ripe for media archaeologist to explore. New media scholar Lev Manovich (2016) believes "we are witnessing the new emergence of a cultural metalanguage, something that will be at least as significant as the printed word and cinema before it" (p. 49) Considering the meta- development of this new media genre, my dissertation seeks to discuss the historical roots of the panoramic image, define 360-degree …
Adachigahara Project: A 3d Iterative Series, James Mitchell
Adachigahara Project: A 3d Iterative Series, James Mitchell
Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-
This project tested an aesthetic use of 3D space to create alienation and immersion. It expanded upon it through iteration into other methods of cinematic alienation. To do this the project produced three short films each used the aesthetic of stereoscopic space. Two of the films were tested in conjunction with other methods of alienation while one served as a baseline. The project was able to render the spatial method of alienation and immersion, and found that other methods of alienation had an effect on it. While the project was able to test the use of 3D space to alienate …
Some Southern Waters, Julian Baner
Some Southern Waters, Julian Baner
Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-
Some Southern Waters is a microbudget feature-length film written, directed, and produced by Julian Baner as part of the requirements for earning a Master of Fine Arts in Entrepreneurial Digital Cinema from the University of Central Florida. The film is a black and white, semi-abstract narrative mainly in the mystery genre, with elements of thriller, horror, and black comedy throughout. This thesis is a description of the creative impetus behind the project, as well as the technical process from pre-production through production, and post-production.
Two's Accompany: Understanding Acceptance Through Animation, Brian Phinn
Two's Accompany: Understanding Acceptance Through Animation, Brian Phinn
Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-
Animation as a medium has broad appeal based on its ability to convey stories in universal ways. This art form bridges cultural barriers that allow relationships to form through shared interests. Music also shares similar traits. Based on the global understanding of music and its history of use in film, the conclusion is the acceptance of different musical tastes can parallel acceptance of differing ideologies. When clashing ideological beliefs cause societal conflict, it is essential to remember that friendships cultivate through commonalities. The purpose of this study is to create an animated short film that presents the story of two …
Alexander: A Dive Into Identity, Inspiration, And Release Of The Creative Self, Alyssa Garoogian
Alexander: A Dive Into Identity, Inspiration, And Release Of The Creative Self, Alyssa Garoogian
Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-
Alexander is a story of overcoming the fear of personal artistic expression. Alexander is the son of an affluent family who was found to have musical talent at a young age. Alex grows to enjoy music, but rote exercises alone begin to disillusion the promising musician. Regardless, Alexander dutifully practices piano exercises daily, bored by the lack of creative stimulation but afraid to openly admit it. After an accidental music note sparks his imagination, Alexander escapes into fantasy: a colorful visualization of the original music he creates. Within this fantasy, a warm, supportive community leads Alexander to his most significant …
Seeds Of Doubt, Amber Hilson
Seeds Of Doubt, Amber Hilson
Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-
Seeds of Doubt is a two-dimensional (2D) animated film that explores how anxiety can stifle personal growth. The film demonstrates how accepting and coping with this anxiety can help you return to a place of calm and allow you to blossom. Roma, a young witch, struggles to use her magic to successfully make her crops grow. Her lack of confidence leaves her stuck inside the greenhouse until she is ready to move on to the tomato fields outside. She must first re-center herself and overcome her self-doubt before it consumes her completely. This idea is sourced largely from my own …
Ouroboros: The Evolution From Industrialized Mass Production To Auteurism In American Animation, Heather Knott
Ouroboros: The Evolution From Industrialized Mass Production To Auteurism In American Animation, Heather Knott
Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-
The evolution of animation in the United States and its resulting classification varies significantly from its global counterparts. Through a convergence of complex cultural, regulatory, and entrepreneurial influences, the medium's experimental artistic principals have remained firmly rooted in the mass-production style studio pipeline codified by Hollywood. Through the advent of academically centered animation education, the development of the internet, self-distribution, and the growing affordability of industry level hardware and software, the industry has expanded beyond the traditional narrow scope. This re-globalization of entertainment in the United States encourages an auteur approach to animated filmmaking that is challenging the strict association …
2030: Utilizing Animation In Political Messaging, Angela Hernandez-Carlson
2030: Utilizing Animation In Political Messaging, Angela Hernandez-Carlson
Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-
The purpose of this paper and film is to explore the animated medium's ability to convey controversial political topics. The goal of this film is to reach my audience on an emotional level, which will hopefully motivate them to act on the information presented. By using animated themes and metaphors, the audience can digest the political messaging by disassociating themselves from the characters in the story. This will allow them to be open to other perspectives. This paper will explore how one can use the aesthetic quality of animation imagery to convey an important political message about our environment. The …
Mirrors For Monsters: A Journey Towards Self-Acknowledgement And Nuanced Representation In Film, Alejandro Watson
Mirrors For Monsters: A Journey Towards Self-Acknowledgement And Nuanced Representation In Film, Alejandro Watson
Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-
Mirrors for Monsters is a body of work created by Alejandro Watson in partial fulfillment of the requirements for earning a Master of Fine Arts in Entrepreneurial Digital Cinema from the University of Central Florida. The body of work consists of a feature length documentary, MHD, several installations (Self-Acknowledgement/Self-Acceptance, Garden of Bodies, Why Am I Like This?, Not My Thoughts), several short video pieces (In A Dream I Saw A Way to Survive and I Was Full of Joy, Car Ride (Baker Act Version), My Lunch With Andy, Prompts) and an art book, It's All Good. The body experiments with …