Screenwriting Commons^™

The Female Heroine Of Action Films: A History And Exploration Of The Genre And Application To The Short Film Lois, Daniel Brunner

Senior Honors Theses

The action genre is one of the oldest forms of filmmaking, beginning with some of the earliest short films with simple chases and heists. From then it has progressed into the genre we know today but still retains certain crucial aspects. One of sub-genres within these films can be seen in post-apocalyptic and dystopian films. All of these tend to follow the hero’s journey as described by Joseph Campbell. The representation of powerful female heroines within the action genre has increased since 1980s from its traditional male centric viewpoint. The screenplay for the short film Lois shows the convergence of …

A Date With Cheemis: Bullying In The Virtual Space, Nicholas Roger Nolasco

Liberal Arts and Engineering Studies

A Date With Cheemis is an alternative game mode for the social platform VRChat designed in the Unity real-time 3D development platform. The project is an experience where the player meets many non-playable characters (NPCs) and makes decisions based on different scenarios. The game tells the story of a VRChat user named Cheemis who is bullied for the avatar they use and how they interact with other characters. The player must make choices of how to react to the way the NPCs treat Cheemis, whether that be defending him or being a bystander. This experience is only available through the …

Contemporary Films And Contemporary Issues: An Introductory Film Class Curriculum, August W. Liguori-Chien

Liberal Studies (MA) Final Essays

Teachers spend years teaching students to interpret texts. This interpretive skill is deemed vital in our education system, but little time is devoted to developing students’ ability to interpret film, the most popular media students engage with. Film is an incredible amalgamation of words, motion, and music. The world of film offers students incredible opportunities to interpret, analyze, and be moved. If our students must be able to interpret literature shouldn't they also be able to do the same in the immense world of film.

This class will not focus exclusively on the history of film or the classically taught …

A Good Man Is Hard To Find, Cara Jackson

LMU/LLS Theses and Dissertations

A woman on a journey of self discovery accidentally starts a doomsday cult.

Prescience, Mustafa Yasar Ii

LMU/LLS Theses and Dissertations

In a society where one percent of the population can see into the future, a stubborn man who drinks alcohol to suppress his psychic powers is compelled to use his foresight when his brother disappears.

Different Versions Of Myself, Anya Smith

Undergraduate Theses, Professional Papers, and Capstone Artifacts

This is a research-informed screenplay exploring the relationship between religion and recreational pole dancing. While the popularity of recreational pole dancing has grown over the last two decades, it remains a controversial topic in some circles. This study employed interviews, autoethnography, and a literature review to examine the tensions between pole dancing and religion. Creative Analytic Practice was employed as a method of evaluating and presenting the research, which culminated in a fictional screenplay.

The story is about Louise, a young woman caught between two worlds. She feels pressured to conceal her recreational pole dancing activities in order to retain …

The Anti-Hero Struggle: Mental Health And Addiction Overwhelming The Postmodern Protagonist, Nicholas Michael Durdan

Theses and Dissertations

Essay: The Anti-Hero Struggle: Mental Health and Addiction Overwhelming the Postmodern Protagonist -- Script 1: Shades of Death -- Script 2: Borderline -- Script 3: iSassins -- Script 4: Fake News.

The Art Of Provocative Entertainment, F. Clint Denisco

Theses and Dissertations

The art of provocative entertainment -- Jeff Doops somber greeting (bad entertainment) -- Off the cuff -- Cool counselor -- Next door on Alice Street.

No Beef, No Filler, Just Baloney: My Approach To Truth In Screenwriting, Bryant Alexander Loney

Theses and Dissertations

Essay: No Beef, No Filler, Just BALoney: My Approach to Truth in Screenwriting -- Script 1: Peach Beachy, Thanks for Asking! -- Script 2: Scooby-Doo: “The Wane of Whitney Woods” -- Script 3: Bob’s Burgers: “Bob’s Books, Beach Mice, and Body Scrubs” -- Script 4: LEGO Friends: “When Bricks Are for Boys” -- Script 5: Sea Breeze Academy.

Witchcraft Anonymous, Molly Vogel

LMU/LLS Theses and Dissertations

An addict to magic in an (alternate reality) magical world wakes up with the ability to talk to the dead and must navigate sobriety while reluctantly solving cold cases for the cops.

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 …

Out Of A Darkness: A Collection Of Ramblings, Short Stories, And Poetry, Valerie Anthony

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

A Collection of Poetry, Short Stories and Ramblings

Paint's Peeling, Nicholas A. Manning

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Mausoleum, Madison Carel

Undergraduate Honors Theses

This project consists of the creative materials that go into creating a television show. It includes the pilot script and a show bible, as well as a reflection paper about the project. The show's logline is as follows: "Isolated and without a family, Alex struggles to come to terms with loss and her new title of 'final girl.' At the same time, the ghosts of Alex's past tell their own side of the story."

Whose Protagonist Is It Anyway?, Ori Mckinney

Symposium of Student Scholars

The Favourite (2018), written by Deborah Davis & Tony McNamara and directed by Yorgos Lanthimos, transcends the traditional tropes associated with genre period pictures in its unique telling of the tale of two cousins vying to be in Queen Anne's favour during her monarchy. In this presentation I study the unique story structure of this film, which centers on three equally weighted characters. In contrast to the traditional single protagonist story structure, this film shifts the point of view making each lead character either the protagonist or antagonist depending on whose perspective you watch it from. The story is written …

Pirates Of The Caribbean: An Analysis Of The Curse Of The Black Pearl And The Adventure Genre On-Screen, Mezi Mulugeta

Symposium of Student Scholars

In Story: Style, Structure, Substance, and the Principles of Screenwriting, Robert McKee maintains that while action-adventure is “often dismissed as mindless fare, it is in fact the single most difficult genre in which to write today…simply because it’s been done to death.” Said death came swiftly for Cutthroat Island, the 1995 flop that sank the pirate subgenre—until Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl premiered in 2003. The film was a risk that paid off massively for Disney, the pirate subgenre, and arguably the adventure genre as a whole in the modern age. This article …

Analysis Of Christopher Nolan's Interstellar, John Hunter Ray

Symposium of Student Scholars

In this study, I examine the ways in which Christopher Nolan developed the protagonist in Interstellar (2014). The protagonist, Cooper, played by Matthew McConaughey, is the audience’s window into the world Nolan creates in the film. Though typical Christopher Nolan screenplay structure is more complicated than the average feature film, I argue that it is the character development of the protagonist that engages viewers and ultimately allows us to connect with the story. The central conflict that cooper desires to be the best dad he can be he is forced to abandon his family to save the world. That is …

Godzilla (1954) Research Analysis, Cyrus Aldridge

Symposium of Student Scholars

Cyrus Aldridge

FILM 3105

Prof. Anna Weinstein

10/20/2021

Abstract Research Analysis: Godzilla (1954)

According to Michael Maher, two years after World War 2 the United States’ military presence attempted to control Japanese media including its cinema. Despite this fact, Japanese filmmaker Tomoyuki Tanaka was able to produce Godzilla (1954), symbolizing the horror of nuclear holocaust. In this presentation, I argue that Godzilla is one of the greatest monster movies of all time due to its cultural relevance and its use of musical scoring, set design and costume design. In this study I demonstrate how Tanaka implements its score, set …

The Impact Of Endings, Carolina Solis

Symposium of Student Scholars

This presentation explores the importance of movie endings, and how an ending can impact the audiences’ opinion of a movie. I look at Ronald Bass’ Sleeping with the Enemy, and how he developed Julia Roberts’ character in a way that made the audience believe that not only was she capable of killing her abusive husband, but that she should kill him. I also look at Frank Darabont’s The Shawshank Redemption and discuss how Andy’s eventual escape from prison was too much of a surprise to the audience, and how the movie should have ended with Norton’s suicide. Finally, I …

Gifted Screenplay Analysis, Chloe Ford

Symposium of Student Scholars

Gifted, the film directed by Marc Webb released in 2017, details the story of a single man named Frank (Chris Evans) raising his young niece Mary (McKenna Grace), who just so happens to be a 7-year-old genius. He plans for her to live a normal life; go to public school, make friends, play sports, truly be a kid, but his mother has something else in mind. Mckenna’s grandmother Evelyn (Lindsay Duncan) threatens to rip Mary away from her little life in the suburbs, as well as her beloved Uncle Frank. This study analyzes the complexity of the characters in …