Film and Media Studies Commons^™

Genre As Bait: Using Pop Soundtrack As Narrative Counterpoint Or Complement, Margaret Dudasik

Honors College Theses

There is much argument against using pre-existing music in film, Ian Garwood noting three potential problems with the pop song: obtrusiveness, cultural relevance, and distance from the narrative (103-106). It is believed that lyrics and cultural connotations can distract from the action, but it is my belief that these elements only aid narrative. By examining the cinematic functions of the soundtracks of O Brother Where Are Thou? (2000) and Marie Antoinette (2006), I will argue that using pre-existing music in film is actually more effective than a score composed specifically for a film.

Film theorist Claudia Gorbman notes that film …

Reimagining The Silver Screen: Contemporary Film Stills, Kyle Demartino

Senior Honors Projects

During the late 19^th century longer rolls of celluloid photographic film, and motion picture cameras were first introduced, which allowed for the capture of rapid sequences of still images at a relatively high speeds. The first films shown to audiences on a larger screen, although rudimentary, caused people to gasp or run from the cinema, as they believed the images on screen were real. As technology increased feature films progressed from only showing a simple static event to creating full stories spanning over various sets and containing multiple characters. With the advent of sound, filmmakers were given another tool …

Meet Them Where They Gather: An Analysis Of Nasa’S Communications Approach For The 21st Century, Amanda D. Stein

College of Journalism and Mass Communications: Theses

Since the National Aeronautics and Space Act of 1958, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has been tasked with not only governing the United States’ space activities, but also sharing those efforts and subsequent findings with the American public. When President Barack Obama issued the Open Government Directive in 2009, NASA was well positioned to meet the objectives. Today, the administration has built one of the most successful web-based information-sharing presences by government agency, largely by tailoring communications efforts to reach the public on popular social media platforms. This paper will explore how NASA has utilized two-way symmetrical communications …

“Vicariously” - Short Film, Kaylee Karlik

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

This film helped me to fulfill something academically, and allowed me to do something challenging and out of my comfort zone. Academically, I wanted to have the effect of a “jointed perception” experience. I wanted to explore the basic idea of what Synesthesia is, or how I interpret it. Synesthesia is a psychological phenomenon that means jointed perception of the senses. So when one takes something in by sight, sound, feel, taste, touch, one actually experiences it in another sense. I thought everyone could relate to this phenomenon in some form, even if not clinically diagnosed. When I learned about …

The Forgotten Chancellor, Lorne Fultonberg

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

Every past chancellor of Syracuse University has had something named for him. Every chancellor except for one.

The Forgotten Chancellor examines the administration of John Corbally, the only past chancellor without a campus namesake. Does SU’s eighth headman actually create a lasting legacy in his 18 months on campus? And most importantly, does he deserve anonymity?

The project took on the form of a documentary, using pictures and sounds to truly transport the viewer back to Syracuse in 1968-1971.

The story relied on the people who were there to retell it and bring it to life. The search for eyewitnesses …

The Front Yard Economy, Jillian Iles D'Onfro

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

I decided to write a longform, magazine style article about yard sale culture in America, especially as affected by the Great Recession. I wanted to humanize the devastation wrought by the economic downturn through my in-depth examination of the emotion and meaning involved in—and inherently a part of—yard sales. My story explores an important social issue through the personal lens of the (sometimes agonizing) choices we make as we decide what to keep and what to let go when a life transition spurs us to host a yard sale. It also reflects on the catharsis that can come from seeing …

Suitcase Magazine, Victoria Wolk

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

For my Honors Capstone Project, I chose to create an original magazine. Our campus has many publications, but there is no travel magazine for students to contribute to. I decided to create a campus travel magazine, one that would focus on trips in the general area of Syracuse. I want to be a magazine writer and editor in the future, so this project was a great way for me to gain experience in the field.

I asked friends to help with writing some of the articles, taking photographs, creating original artwork, and helping me to design and layout the magazine …

Being Somali Bantu In The City: A Look At The Life Of A Somali Bantu Student In The Syracuse City School District, Bailey Nay White

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

“Saturdays with Egal” is a documentary for the Capstone thesis “Being Somali Bantu in the City: A look at the life of a Somali Bantu student in the Syracuse City School District. The film focuses on Egal Adan, a Somali Bantu, fourteen-year-old refugee. It is a story about my relationship with Egal as a tutor and mentor. “Saturdays with Egal” also delves into the adversity he has had to overcome and his accomplishments in school, sports, extracurricular activities, and at home despite his hardships.

I chose to create a documentary because of the organic relationship it creates between viewers and …

Transmission - A Radio Series, Marc Sollinger

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

‘Transmission’ is a serialized radio drama released via podcast. It consists of ten episodes, ranging from 8-30 minutes in length. It is fully voiced, with music and sound effects. The plot concerns a lone astronaut who finds himself stranded on an alien world. At first, he is completely alone, but soon discovers that the planet is both inhabited and post-apocalyptic, with tribes of nomadic, human-like creatures moving through the ruins of a once great civilization. The astronaut must uncover the mystery of what happened to this alien world, while also surviving the many dangers that lurk in the ruins. The …

Red Rope Magazine: A Sustainable And Creative Model For A Magazine For Chinese Students In The U.S., Kexin Zheng

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

Last year, China surpassed India for the first time and became the leading country of origin of all international students studying in the United States. With the increasing number of students from China, American students are getting used to the amount of Chinese faces on campus, and the growing Chinese community has created a comfort zone for the newcomers to live a familiar life within their native language. However, the fundamental issue lies in the need for a stronger sense of empowerment.

Red Rope magazine, with red symbolizing happiness and rope symbolizing binding, will be the first general-interest magazine in …

The Jump Magazine, Victoria Troxler

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

The Jump is an online life stage magazine for women, focused on the transition from college life to the real world. The magazine’s target audience is women ages 19 and 25 who have recently graduated from college or will soon graduate. These women are interested in a luxury lifestyle and current trends, but also value budgeting and their careers. They are also newcomers to real world. The Jump answers the questions about home décor, cooking, fashion, beauty, and budgeting in a simple way that is tailored to their stage in life.

Each department of The Jump – musings, home, eat, …

An Investigation Of Lesser-Known Environmental Issues In The United States, Amy Lipman

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

This Honors Capstone Project focuses on lesser-known environmental issues in the United States, mainly on the East Coast. The topics at hand are nuclear waste storage at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina, racism in the workplace at the Savannah River Site, mountaintop mining in West Virginia’s Appalachian mountains, and the ramifications of hydraulic fracturing in Pennsylvania and how they apply to the future of the practice in New York.

This project consists of four mini-documentaries totaling 45 minutes in length. To put the first three pieces together, I reviewed interviews and conducted research on the subjects, wrote and …

The Newhouse Network Ii, Perry Russom

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

The S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications has launched some of the best minds in media into the workforce since the school’s founding gift in 1964. From Bob Costas to Larry Kramer, the list of Newhouse success stories in the business is vast.

What separates Newhouse from other communications schools in the country is its strong alumni. Whether it’s visiting a class, helping a student get an internship, or serving on the advisory board, Newhouse grads want to assist other Newhouse people in succeeding.

This project adds to the foundation created by Clay LePard ’12. It continues and adds value …

A Mother's Love: A Screenplay, Marie Hankinson

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

A Mother’s Love is a sixty-eight page feature-length dramatic screenplay. The story attempts to answer the following question: How far should a mother go to ensure her child’s overall happiness and acceptance in the world? In the screenplay, Emily is the mother of Aden, a child with autism. Aden’s autistic condition is about in the middle of the autistic spectrum. When a new doctor recommends putting Aden on an experimental treatment that promises to eliminate Aden’s autistic symptoms, Emily agrees to follow the program. Although the revolutionary treatment begins to radically ease Aden’s autistic symptoms, the drug comes with severe …

Creating Dynamic Grass For Tartan Troubles, Nicholas Mcelveen

All Theses

In computer animated movies, the setting and its environmental elements aid in storytelling. In Tartan Troubles, dynamic grass was created as a part of the highlands of Scotland set. This thesis discusses the importance of environmental elements in animation as well as the terminology, procedures, and techniques used to produce dynamic grass as seen in the animated short, Tartan Troubles. The scalability, control, and flexibility of the dynamic grass pipeline make this effect applicable for various solutions in computer animation.

Reflections On When The Sun Hits, Sebastian Jones

HIM 1990-2015

When the Sun Hits is a feature length film concerned with the delicate relationship between the individual and the whole. A young man named John has fallen into a state of social paralysis since his father's death. He no longer knows how to relate to others and the world around him. Rather than looking to friends and family for support he closes himself off. After the mysterious disappearance of his mother, John blames himself for her leaving. He tries his best to reconnect with his old life, but finds himself making the same mistakes over and over. When his friend …

Little Women: Study Of Female Representations In Teen Films And How Those Representations Have Affected Gender Perceptions, Maillim Santiago

HIM 1990-2015

Although teen film is littered with tales of young women coming of age, the messages presented in most of these films follow a formula centered on a patriarchal nuclear family ideal, which leads to damaging perceptions regarding gender roles in teenage society. There is the main traditional model of stay at home mother with a father in the role of the breadwinner; the rise of rape culture; and the glass ceiling in the workplace. The young females consuming a mass amount of this media then reflect negatively on themselves. The research following this conundrum was broken into two parts: the …

Inhuman Temporality: Koyaanisqatsi, Matthew Bell

Bridgewater Review

No abstract provided.

The Unrecognized Problem: An Analysis Of Masculinity Stereotypes In Advertising Across Six Channels, Darcy Semmler

Honors Thesis

Because advertising relies on simplifications to get messages across more quickly, gendered stereotypes are prevalent in advertising media messages, and have been well- researched for their content and effects. Researchers have been more critical of the messages that perpetuate stereotypes involving women, but have focused less on the stereotypes men must face. This thesis uses content analysis to examine commercials on six channels for the frequency of male or female voiceovers and the frequency in which men and women appear in commercial advertisements. The analysis also investigates the masculinity stereotypes present in the commercials in comparison to neutral or gender- …

Does Movie Viewing Cultivate Unrealistic Expectations About Love And Marriage?, Lauren F. E. Galloway

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The present study examines the association between consumption of media messages via movie viewing and endorsement of ideals and expectations about romantic relationships in a university-based sample of 228 respondents. Frequent viewing of romantic comedy and drama films was significantly and positively correlated with idealized notions that love conquers all, greater expectations for intimacy, and endorsement of the eros love style. Viewing preference for romantic movies was also significantly and positively correlated with fantasy rumination and marital intentions. However, participants who frequently watched romantic movies did not endorse beliefs in sexual perfection, mindreading, or disagreement disallowance. Implications of the findings …