Film Production Commons^™

Cinematic Practices: An Evaluation Of Production Theories In Service Of Micro-Budget Feature Film-Making, Andrew Myerson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

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 …

A Strategic Audit Of A24, Jackson Bartak

Honors Program: Senior Projects (Public)

A24 is an independent film production and distribution company founded in 2012. The company performs both duties for independent films as well as television programs, and a small portion of company revenue comes from merchandise it sells in an online kiosk. As of 2021, A24 had around 300 employees while maintaining a large catalog of movies and shows. Using a focus strategy, the company targets a more cultured audience for its unique (and sometimes outright bizarre) subject matter. To achieve this, A24 attempts to cast top B-list personnel both in acting and technical roles in order to corner its market. …

Seaglass: An Animated Rejection Of Narrative Permanence, Alejandra Louise Blackmore

Scripps Senior Theses

This thesis explores how popular narrative structures imply that our reality should be stagnant, thereby leaving us as viewers unprepared for the notion of change. I introduce the term “narrative permanence” as a story structure that assumes the foundations of a narrative are absolute. These stories therefore consider structural change as a threat or abnormal. I analyzed examples such as The Simpsons and news coverage of the BP oil spill to demonstrate how popular media frames change as an unnatural occurrence that must be neutralized. My thesis then culminated in an animated short about a person living in a seaside …

Why My Sister Really Left: A Narrative Film, Sarah Shively

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

My Honors Project will bring awareness to some of the less positive aspects of homeschooling that some homeschool advocates tend to gloss over. I will plan and produce a fifteen-to-twenty-minute film that portrays a homeschooled teen as her efforts to discover the truth about her estranged sister lead her to a life-altering decision. In making this film, I wish to explore a homeschool coming-of-age story, as well as the effects that authoritarian parenting styles can have on the homeschool environment. My preproduction research will consist of the relationship between authoritarian parenting and parents’ reasons for homeschooling, the impact of the …

Idyllic History: The Role And Agency Of Women And Religion In Contemporary Bollywood, Kushma Singh

Honors Undergraduate Theses

The intent of this thesis is to explore the directorial choices made by Ashutosh Gowariker, in his film Jodhaa Akbar (2008), and Sanjay Leela Bhansali, in his films Bajirao Mastani (2015) and Padmaavat (2018), in order to evaluate the representation of women and the Muslim religion. Through use of mise en scene, I discuss lighting choices, visual display and use of color and how these elements create and support the stories Bhansali and Gowariker have chosen. I also rely on the recorded history of the time periods as well as the literature to contextualize the films.

Afroam: A Virtual Film Production Group, Bill Taylor Jr.

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

Because of the gatekeeping practices of the Hollywood film industry, and the high cost of both filmmaking and distribution in general, Afro-American filmmakers have struggled to produce films with “global reach.” This study visits the possibility of Afro-American filmmakers using alternative technologies and infrastructures to produce high-quality films, thereby bypassing the high cost and exclusionary practices of Hollywood studios. Using new 21st-century digital technology, this study involved the creation of a small geographically dispersed virtual film production team. The study’s foundational framework was a constructivist qualitative research paradigm, using Action Research, and supported by 24 months of triangulated data from …

Winter 2021

In The Loop

2021 Emmy Nominees; Animator Tapped by Cartoon Network; IndieCade Horizons 2021; Hack4Space; Security Daemons Prevail; Role Models: DePaul Originals Game Studio students build industry-level skills that benefit themselves and others; Frames and Fortune: Eugene Bush programmed his indie video studio with patience and planning; Reality Check: Heather Snyder Quinn augments reality to question systems of unchecked power

Dear Maliha,, Na-Eela Djemil

Capstones

Dear Maliha is a short documentary film exploring the complexities of spiritual abuse through Maliha Fairooz. Spiritual abuse is a form of abuse that uses spiritual or religious beliefs to control or manipulate others. In some cases, spiritual abuse can be used to describe a religious leader who abuses their platform. But in Maliha’s story, we explore the concept of parental spiritual abuse. However, we learn more about this through Maliha Fairooz and the creative use of her journal.

For Maliha journaling is a form of therapy she uses to process her feelings and days. She also uses it as …

American Lotto, Kris Parker

Capstones

The Preka family won the diversity visa lottery and has immigrated to the seaside town of New London, Connecticut. They are a family of four that have dreamed of immigrating to the United States for much of their lives. Originally from Albania, a country with limited opportunities and riddled with corruption, the film will follow them in Connecticut as they adjust to life in the US and the challenges of learning a new language, finding decent work, and adjusting to a new culture. The film explores their emotional journey; their hopes, expectations, and disappointments, as they build a life without …

Can Man, Dalton G. Lambert Jr

University of New Orleans Thesis Films

CAN MAN tells the story of a man tasked with identifying a room full of unlabeled cans without opening them. I explore the challenges of making a film with the production guidelines set forth during the COVID-19 pandemic and how it impacted the final film. I also discuss all that I've learned in the past five years I spent studying in the UNO Film and Theatre Department.

Age Of Exploitation: Teen Sex Comedy Films Of The 1980s, Thyra Chaney

The Downtown Review: An Interdisciplinary Journal Written and Peer-Reviewed by Mandel Honors College Students at Cleveland State University

The teen sex comedy film genre is representative of dominant cultural factors which influenced the film industry in the 1980s. Films in this genre have been traditionally described as mindless, dumb, and exploitative. This article seeks to understand the distinction between teen sex comedy and traditional teen films, as well as the social and cultural influences which lead to the development and popularity of the teen sex comedy genre. Teen sex comedies are a document of mainstream society and popular culture in the 1980s.

One Pint At A Time: Documenting The Black Experience In American Craft Beer, Aaron Hose

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

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, …

She-Ra And The Princesses Of Power: An Intersectional Analysis Of A Modern Reboot, Laine Marshall

Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters

Children’s animation offers the viewer a unique window into the nuances of current societal norms. Because children’s animation is made for the young, sensitive, and impressionable, it is carefully controlled and often heavily censored. Any statements made regarding the protagonist’s heroism or the villain’s malignity are meant to be accepted as universal truths for the growing minds of our youth. The recent 2018 Netflix and DreamWorks Animation animated reboot of the classic 1980's series "She-Ra: Princess of Power," now titled "She-Ra and the Princesses of Power," shook the animation industry with its groundbreaking representation and astounding visuals. Following its predecessor’s …

Paint's Peeling, Nicholas A. Manning

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Movies That Sell: A Rhetorical Analysis Of Product Placements In Marvel Movies, Andrew Nii Okai Okai

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The advancement of digital entertainment media has given audiences the ability to skip ads that do not interest them. Consequently, brands face the challenge of creating ads that can compel audiences and finding media outlets that can effectively reach target audiences. Brands today use product placements to promote their products because movie audiences are generally attentive to ads when they are incorporated in a movie’s narrative. Marvel Cinematic Universe is a globally recognized entertainment franchise that uses product placements strategically to promote brands in their movies and TV shows. In this study, I conduct rhetorical analyses of select product placements …

Partizan: Separating The Human From Propaganda With Film, Raymond Hill

University Honors Theses

The relative protection Americans have for freedom of expression can allow stories to be told that would not be able to be told elsewhere. However, telling a story that does not belong to the storyteller and represents people of a different culture or nation can problematize the retelling of events and its perspective. The long-standing rivalry between United States and Russia complicates the matter further, making it difficult to find American film relating to Russia without the inclusion of propaganda and uneducated assumptions in film. Despite these issues, authentic storytelling can provide an informative view of events that the average …

Sisterhood

DePaul Magazine

Jessica Sarowitz (LAS ’91) launched a media company dedicated to amplifying the voices of inspiring women through documentaries called Miraflores Films. The first film issued by the company is “With This Light,” about the late Franciscan nun Sor (Sister) María Rosa Leggol, sometimes called the Mother Teresa of Honduras, who seeded and grew Sociedad Amigos de los Niños (SAN), or the Friends of the Children Society. SAN has helped save more than 80,000 children from poverty through housing, education and medical programs.

The Language Of Filmmaking And The Troubles Of Modern Illiteracy, Gabriel A. Blank

Honors Projects

An examination of cinematic language and its development over the last century of filmmaking. This paper discusses the effect of cinematic "illiteracy" and the divide between critics and mass audiences.

Distribution Struggle: Assembling A Media History Of J. Brian’S Enterprises With Court Proceedings And Public Records, Finley Freibert

Faculty and Staff Scholarship

This article introduces the concept of “distribution struggle”—the panoply of cultural and industrial conflicts that must be traced and accounted for in distribution histories—to sequence a primary-sourced media history of J. Brian’s gay media enterprises. In tracing this history, primary sources are surprisingly accessible, and provide new insights into J. Brian’s industrial operations. By triangulating archival records with secondary accounts, this article provides a more nuanced cultural and industrial portrait of J. Brian. It argues that media industry historiography must frame historical narratives by accounting for the cultural and industrial struggles that culminated in the available archival sources, in this …

Introduction To Video Technology, Ent 1190, Course Outline, Steven Olswang

Open Educational Resources

An introduction to the basic components and practices of preproduction and production methodologies for content creation in commercial video and film production. Through lectures, reading assignments, screenings and practice, students will learn the basics of all stages of production and working together, creating effective production aesthetics in pre-production, production and post-production, script-writing and story-boarding, cinematography aesthetics (lighting and camera), and design and graphics functions in editing.