Film and Media Studies Commons^™

Historia Naturalis, Alaina Boyett

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

In this paper, I will detail the process of making the graduate thesis film Historia Naturalis. I will begin with how the idea came into being in the first part. Next, I will outline the methodology from screenwriting to completion- examining all the major creative and production related elements. Finally, I will attempt to personally analyze the success of the final project.

Lost In Adaptation, Caitlin S. Manocchio

Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters

philosophical societies that send us here as their representatives- can no longer, in this case, allow itself [the philosophical idea] to be enclosed in a single idiom, at the risk of floating, neutral and disembodied, remote from every body of language

(Derrida 1994: 14)

Introduction

In Sending: on representation (1994), Jacques Derrida questions the function of representation that we can use to offer a challenge to the experience and structure of representation as a practice in visual culture and for contemporary spectatorship. When the function of representation is being questioned, rather than its subject, the practice of representation is seen …

Subjective Identity Takes Flight: Magical Realism In Birdman, Kelly Kramer

Montview Journal of Research & Scholarship

Analysis of magical realism in the film Birdman.

Film And Theatre: Hybridization And The Convergence Of Mediums, Rachel A. Jones

Senior Honors Projects, 2010-2019

This essay explores the ever-changing relationship between theatre and film. I used my expertise in both theatre and film to create a recording of a children’s theatre show Upside Down Fairytales in order to show how mediated theatre can be created. This essay argues that mediated theatre can be used educationally, dramaturgically, and for entertainment. The uses of mediated theatre can be very effective for those in communities where theatre is not accessible. This essay states that a new medium is created when live performance is recorded and it can have an impact on how theatre will continue to be …

The Texts We Play: Avatar Creation And Racial Invisibility In Role-Playing Video Games, Daniel L. Archer

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This project sets out to address problems of racial inequalities in role-playing video games as part of a growing field of video game studies in literary criticism. As these games are an increasingly popular form of entertainment in contemporary culture, their potential effects on players cannot be ignored. If these games continue to reflect society in a way that perpetuates racist stereotypes, social progress will halt. In order to study these games from a literary perspective, then, this project combines both narratological and ludological approaches to video game studies in order to bring about new insight from two strong perspectives. …

Hansel And Gretel: A Feature And Study On How Fairy Tales Have Changed, Nazeli Ekimyan

Honors Thesis

Once upon a time, the Little Mermaid watched her Prince marry another woman, the Sleeping Beauty was raped by a Prince and woke up from her deep slumber to find out she was the mother of twins, the Little Red Riding Hood never made it out alive, and Goldilocks broke her neck jumping out of a window. This project examines original fairy tales and how they have changed over the years through various adaptations in media and film. The purpose is to find an answer to the question of why these sugarcoated changes have been made over time. In order …

A Pilot Project Of Art And Eating Disorders: A Self-Advocacy Campaign Through Video Narratives, Sarah Pray

Art Therapy Counseling Final Research Projects

This pilot project of Art and Eating Disorders was approved by The Emily Program Foundation (TEPF) (Emily Program Foundation, n.d.), a 501(c) (3) nonprofit working to eliminate eating disorders through advocacy, social outreach, and collaboration with community partners. TEPF recruited five artists. Artists were interviewed by Sarah Pray and artwork digitally recorded at various locations, filmed and edited by videographer, Eve Daniels. Artists brought artwork and other creative work related to their recovery. The resulting videos were uploaded to the TEPF website (www.theemilyprogramfoundation.org) weekly. The goal of the pilot project was to measure the project's ability to document …

Found In Translation: An Analysis Of Popular American Film In Spain, Emily Dushek

Honors Projects

This research examines American popular film in Spain with the aim of understanding if and how removing a popular text (such as a film) from its original language and socio-cultural context and translating it for consumption in a different language and culture affects the interpretation of the film. The study delves into the very successful 2012 films The Avengers (Joss Whedon) and Django Unchained (Quentin Tarantino) and uses textual analyses and comparisons of the original English and the translated Castellano Spanish versions of the films, specifically focusing on the translations, as well as analyses of film reviews and critiques written …

Their Swords, Our Plowshares: "Peaceful" Nuclear Weapons, Propaganda, And Cold War Memory Expressed In Film: 1959-1989, Michael A. St. Jacques

Masters Theses, 2010-2019

During the Cold War, both the United States and the Soviet Union developed nuclear weapons as tools of warfare and diplomacy. Immediately following the Second World War, American attitudes toward the atomic bomb were overwhelmingly positive. Once the Soviet Union developed their own atomic bomb and the United States lost the atomic monopoly, attitudes started to shift. After the first hydrogen bombs tests, public sentiment, as demonstrated in film, became markedly negative. To counter these negative attitudes and portray their nuclear weapons as peaceful tools instead of weapons of mass destruction, both the United States and the Soviet Union developed …

Am I Creative?, Michael Patrick Duggan

Senior Theses

This thesis is an exploration of what it means to be creative and what it takes to start new creative projects. The overall goal of the project was to capture the process of taking on something new, and following it through to the end. I also want to show the audience the reward and gratification that can come from trying something new and completing it. My hope is that people will see my documentary and want to do something similar, inspiring them to go out and find the ways that they can live a creative life.

Isis Rhetoric: A War Of Online Videos, Kathryn Mcdearis

Masters Theses, 2010-2019

In an attempt to combat ISIS recruitment videos, the United States Department of State (USDS) developed the Think Again, Turn Away social media campaign featuring videos attempting to persuade viewers to resist the message of ISIS. In the article “U.S. government: A war of online video propaganda,” authors William Allendorfer and Susan Herring (2015) analyze the textual rhetoric of the ISIS video series Flames of War in comparison to eight Think Again, Turn Away videos. To add to Allendorfer and Herring’s (2015) textual analysis, this study uses the framework of scholar David Blakesley’s (2004) four elements of film rhetoric ( …

Visions: Chaos In Naango, Katarina J. Klask, Hunter Gibson, Taylor Roseberry, Summer Shigetani, Mattie Coccia, Alena Siu, Caitlin Mihm, Gaston Dondero, Sophie Rudell

Honors Thesis

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kxjqjJNMSFQ

Website: http://www.visionsthegame.com

Development Blog: http://visionsthegame.tumblr.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/visionsthegame/?fref=ts

Twitter: https://twitter.com/visionsthegame

Email: [email protected]

New Hollywood: Classical Hollywood In A New Light, Wesley D. Buskirk

Cinesthesia

This essay analyzes the manifestations of America’s post-1960 film industry, more specifically the rise of “New Hollywood.” In response to governmental intervention of the studio system, the popularization of commercial television, and the influences of the French New Wave, Hollywood’s emerging “film generation” embraced the commercialization of the star auteur and the blockbuster picture. George Lucas and Steven Spielberg, sons of the “Hollywood Renaissance,” capitalized on the potential of “high concept,” “ultra-high-budget” feature films and their associated synergetic marketing systems, a phenomenon referred to as the “blockbuster syndrome.” Jaws, a pioneering New Hollywood megapicture directed by Spielberg, exhibits the “Lucas-Spielberg” …

“I’M Trying To Do Something Important”: The Materialist Ideology Of Birdman, Nicholas Beardslee

Cinesthesia

A strong set of values dictate societal expectations and popular discourse. Though these values seem to overshadow any notions that do not agree with them, outliers still remain. It is from the disparate perspectives that the most can be learned, and one film in particular provides a very valuable lesson. Primarily in content but also in form, Alejandro G. Iñárritu’s Birdman subtly challenges the dominant value of materialism by means of its main character Riggan’s desperate search for material success, through which he begins to realize the futility of his efforts.

I Want To Believe: Kant, The X Files, And Cosmopolitical Unity, Jeremy Knickerbocker

Cinesthesia

Kant’s final chapter of Anthropology from a Pragmatic Point of View, puts forth certain observations concerning the characteristics of human beings. In order for these observations to have rational validity as a proposed ‘human nature,’ however, Kant admits that it is necessary to compare between humans and another species of rational animal. Thus in an effort not to succumb to a naively anthropocentric thesis of nature, Kant still falls victim to his own anthropocentric privileging of rationality as a strictly human capacity—at least terrestrially speaking. While Kant fails to recognize any other earthly species as a rational animal, he nevertheless …

Into Darkness: Representing American Anxieties, Alison Pettibone

Cinesthesia

The film Star Trek Into Darkness (Abrams, 2013) examines what it means to be human and the fears that are latent within the American subconscious through layered storytelling coupled with the special effects that are now conventional in big budget studio productions. There are many elements within the film that lend themselves to the intricate narrative weaving including mise-en-scene, sound and especially characters. All of these elements combine to create an engaging science fiction thriller that also subtly comments on America’s global status and anxieties about the future.

The World Of The Cat's Table: Literature Through Production Design Analysis, Andrea J. Johnson

Senior Honors Projects

The Cat’s Table by Michael Ondaatje is a rich piece of literature that has a diverse set of characters confined to one pivotal location, a ship. Just as the novel builds a world around its characters, in this project I attempted to build a space around immersive design choices.

Production Design is a visual response to analytic reading. By taking a written piece or concept and creating the physical/visual atmosphere for the work, a production designer’s job is to create the overall look and tone of a creative production, be it for a film, play, or museum space. This is …

Film Genre And David Fincher's Gone Girl, Emily Vanleuvan

Master’s Theses and Projects

No abstract provided.

Tracing Hollywood’S Legacy Of Self-Censorship Through A Comparative Analysis Of The Film Baby Face (1933) In Its Censored And Uncensored Forms, Morgan B. Lockhart

Undergraduate Honors Theses

In the early 1930’s the film business was booming and filled with sex, drugs, and scandal. All of that changed in 1934 with the enforcement of the Hollywood Production Code which effectively cleaned up the business into what most people today remember as classic Hollywood. By analyzing films from the Pre-Code era, and specifically Baby Face (1933), the roots of self-censorship in Hollywood can be traced to their current incarnation in the film business today.

Reel Racism, Real Consequences : A Multiple Case Analysis Of Savior Films As Racial Projects., Eric A. Jordan

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis analyzes how four blockbuster movies released in the years 2000-2014 represent racial projects. Racial projects encompass anything that helps people understand race. Films are racial projects because of their racist portrayal of characters. Films can be used to train audiences to view race in various ways that may contribute to problematic colorblindness. Specifically, the “White Savior” and “Magical Negro” tropes are ways through which films tell the viewers what to expect from White characters and characters of color. Viewers walk away from these films having constructed a racialized schema about White and Black characters, which further supports the …