Visual Studies Commons^™

The Message Design Of Raiders Of The Lost Ark On The Atari 2600 & A Fan’S Map, Quick Start, And Strategy Guide, Miguel Ramlatchan, William I. Ramlatchan

Distance Learning Faculty & Staff Books

The message design and human performance technology in video games, especially early video games have always been fascinating to me. From an instructional design perspective, the capabilities of the technology of the classic game consoles required a careful balance of achievable objectives, cognitive task analysis, guided problem solving, and message design. Raiders on the Atari is an excellent example of this balance. It is an epic adventure game, spanning 13+ distinct areas, with an inventory of items, where those hard to find items had to be used by the player to solve problems during their quest (and who would have …

A Selection In Horror Studies: Final Master's Portfolio, Shane Hesketh

Master of Arts in English Plan II Graduate Projects

This portfolio represents the best of the author’s work (Shane Hesketh) from his time pursuing the Master of Arts in English (Individualized Track) at Bowling Green State University. Both research papers are within the field of horror studies, the author’s primary field of study, and feature the discussion of two major slasher franchises as another genre through the analysis of the other genre’s tropes. The first paper analyzes the Candyman series as crime noir, and the second analyzes the A Nightmare on Elm Street series as action films. These papers were written in an attempt to shed light on the …

An Analytical Study To Design And Produce "Non-Official" Pop-Up Double Pages For Children's Book At The Faculty Of Applied Arts, October 6 University In Egypt, Mohamed Zakaria Soltan

Journal of Art, Design and Music

One of the most crucial suggestions of this paper is to study is an appeal to the officials of the Ministry of Education in Egypt to use the techniques of the pop-up pages in textbooks at primary schools to improve the quality of the textbook and reach higher levels of comprehension among students. It is a study of an experiment taught by the researcher with his 3rd-grade students, At the Department of Advertising, Faculty of Applied Arts, October 6 University, Book Art 1 Course for the Academic Year 2021/2022, to design and produce non-official pop-up pages for various children's books. …

Reimagining The Humanistic Tradition: Using Isocratic Philosophy, Ignatian Pedagogy, And Civic Engagement To Journey With Youth And Walk With The Excluded, Allen Brizee

Jesuit Higher Education: A Journal

The world is in a perilous place. Challenged by zealots, autocrats, a pandemic, and now a war in Europe, elected officials and their constituents no longer exchange ideas in a functioning public sphere, once a hallmark of the humanistic tradition. The timeliness of the Universal Apostolic Preferences (UAPs), therefore, is profound as they provide beacons of light for dark times. In this article, I trace Isocratic philosophy through Ignatian pedagogy and contemporary civic engagement to argue that we can use these three models to help us Journey with Youth and Walk with the Excluded. Key to this approach is a …

Confronting Contemporary Mythmaking: On Artists’ Engagements With Popular Culture, Jonathan Case

MFA in Visual Arts Theses

This paper begins by outlining an understanding of how the culture industry operates in American culture and explores ways to counter the transmission of modern mythmaking through art. As described in Roland Bathes’s Mythologies, mythmaking in the contemporary context serves to sever current systems of power and coercion from the historic processes of their creation; to naturalize the current neoliberal order and make it seem like the only way things could ever be. This sort of mythmaking is transmitted through popular culture, and many artists have responded to it through their practices. Herein I describe several different artists’ approaches, including …

Converting Horizontal Media For Vertical Platforms, Eric A. Hernandez

Graphic Communication

Today, most media is viewed on mobile phones and seen on a vertical screen. There are very few methods for converting horizontal media into vertical media for vertical platforms. This manual shows new ways to redesign horizontal content so that it looks better on vertical displays; I imagine watching things like the Super Bowl or the The Grammys on TikTok or Instagram with a new broadcast design that is more attractive.

Fragmentation And Fabulation: Reflexivity And The New Black Documentary, Joanna Lehan

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This thesis concerns the photographic representation of Black bodies in new, reflexive documentary forms that have been increasingly produced and exhibited in the midst of America’s renewed discourse on race. Approaching this argument categorically, focused on the themes of fabulation and fragmentation, my task here is to uncover the gaps and overlaps between earlier critiques of the documentary image and more recent discourse on photography and race by exploring the specific methods through which select recent documentary projects embed and expand these critiques.

Fragmentation is a category of production I use to frame a movement of Black photographic artists …

Inaccessible Interpolated Imagery: How Coffee Farmers In The State Of Chiapas Might Access Political Economic Opportunity Through Representation, Paolo Fiann Bicchieri

Master's Theses

Here is a useful parable to boil down the idea of this project and set the tone: when one goes to the bar to tell a story about a fight at the bar, they would never venture to place themselves as the hero of the brawl, taking out three drunkards in a single punch, unless they were really in the bar, at that time, fighting a good fight. One would never do this as the bartender, locals, and regulars would all know if this were the case or not. Yet transnational corporations, governments, and even consumers do this all the …

Because Potato, Candice Evers

MFA in Illustration & Visual Culture

This thesis project explores the phenomenological qualities of the internet; asking, since the internet is difficult to grasp, what other modes of investigation might we have available? Using an investigative framework set forth by Jack Halberstam, this thesis declines to come to knowledge solely through understanding the formal, the structural, the highly visible and mainstream. The literature that I have gathered provides a range of modes for interrogating the simultaneously central and inconsequential subject of my thesis itself: the potato. Juxtaposing the physical, political and material conditions of the potato the internet’s least academic mode of knowing: the meme. Analyzing …

Freestyle's Forsaken, Sage D. Rivera

Theses and Dissertations

Freestyle is a genre of music born in the mid-1980s from Latino and Black communities in the urban epicenters of the United States. This project spotlights a freestyle music artist “Corina," and how she suffered a patriarchal construct but finally got the moment of significance she deserved.

At Home Among Strangers, Aleksandra Gorbacheva

Theses and Dissertations

At Home Among Strangers is a character-driven documentary that explores the price of freedom for a gay person in a society that lacks freedom and civil rights. It follows an asylum seeker from Russia, Sasha Smirnov, during a crucial moment of his life: starting over in New York City at 40 as a journalist without English language skills. The film reflects on the choices one makes and the consequences of staying true to oneself.

Peering Across The Filmic Cultural Boundary: An Analysis Of Societal And Gender Representation In Once Upon A Time In The West (1968) And Sholay (1975), Aditya Singh

Undergraduate Theses

In contrast to mainstream and blockbuster movies, art house and independent films are usually rooted in a particular sense of self, of culture, or of beliefs. While they may not enjoy the level of exposure or profit as their bigger budget counterparts, they are often more likely to resonate with an audience due to their more personal, less-commodified brand of storytelling. Often, when international film industries are attempting to remake foreign films, they look to these independent, original efforts, since it is unlikely that the big budget movies can be remade due to oftentimes monetary constraints alone.

There has existed …

A More Equitable Film Pedagogy: Including Media Literacy In Higher Education Film Classrooms To Result In Better Media Practitioners, Alexis Romero Walker

Journal of Media Literacy Education

This article explains the importance of including critical media literacy practices in skills-based classrooms in film education. Students continue to use methods of filmmaking that are inherently biased because they continue to be taught an age-old set of skills that do not engage in critical analysis. With the convergence of contemporary film theory in the classroom, educators can help students learn new methods of filmmaking that are representative for all communities and people. Through textual analysis of three films, this article shows why educators in higher education film programs must include critical media literacy in the skills course curriculum and …

Hidden Connections, Yazmin Goulet

Honors Theses

As a graphic designer pursuing degrees in both Art, from the College of Liberal Arts, and Integrated Marketing Communications, from the School of Journalism, the goal of the art that I create is for it to be seen by many and connect viewers to the messages that I am trying to get across through my work. Art is a form of visual communication, and as an artist, I am always looking at the world around me and seeing how art of all forms connects art to people.

Much how like art itself is used to connect people, for this thesis …

Long Live The Queer: Demystifying Noncitizenship In Uncle Frank And Pain And Glory, Andrew D. Manker

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis explores the ways in which a nation infantilizes its citizens, and how family dynamics internalize this infantilization. Queer family members and citizens are treated as threats to the family and by extension the nation because to live into queerness is to refuse the nations infantilization. Additionally, this thesis shows how queer people can cultivate a hopeful future for themselves and the family-as-extension-of-nation by radically redefining what citizenship looks like in a family and nation.

Slaying The Dragon: Dances Created During The Time Of The Pandemic, Regina Nejman

Theses and Dissertations

Regina Nejman’s paper details a dance artist’s negotiation of art-making in a global pandemic. It focuses on her improvisational dance films that were combined with live performance and animation in a gallery-like viewing environment. She situates herself among the many screendances and digital archives shared during NYC’s lockdown.

Slacking, Dazed And Rocking: A Study Of Richard Linklater, Parker D. Otto

Honors Capstones

The purpose of this capstone is to examine a filmmaker’s work to better understand the artist as well as look at an underappreciated filmmaker. Richard Linklater is that filmmaker. Several of his films are popular, others less so. By exploring his filmography, it can be determined whether he’s a true artist deserving of more attention from the filmmaking community as well as general audiences. After examining Linklater’s films, not only were there recurring thematic elements that cemented his artistic dominance, but there’s a feeling of evolution as he ages. The research of this project was conducted through watching Linklater’s films …

Meet And Run, Gia M. Binner

Theses and Dissertations

A defense for Gia Binner’s MFA Thesis, Meet and Run, argues that accessible art, known in this paper as commercial dance, is a meaningful vehicle for social change and that it has the ability to dismantle the outdated, European concert dance dominance by modeling the interdependency of both worlds.

Culture In Disney Films: A Comparative Analysis Of Color, Composition And Rhythm, Megan Paul

Interior Design Undergraduate Honors Theses

As a student of design, I take inspiration from everything around me. The media I consume, the places I visit, and the people I meet.By choice or not, I and my generation are subject to the various forms of pop culture, film is one of them. Film is one of few art forms which combines several methods and elements of design to produce a cohesive result, as opposed to a singular medium. This forms the connection to design thinking and is the foundation for the study.

Another critical component to pop culture is the ability to reach the masses. Due …

Balancing Data- Vs. Art-Driven Decisions In Video Game Design, Jaden D. Goter

Honors Theses, University of Nebraska-Lincoln

Video games, like software, need to be designed. Video game development studios tend to use data-driven or art-driven decision-making to design their games. Data-driven decision-making is where active and passive data is collected in order to make informed decisions about the design of a game. Art-driven decision-making is when designers use their artistic intuition to design games, potentially ignoring player data. This paper elaborates on the advantages and disadvantages of both approaches and provides case studies of games designed under both approaches. Based on these studies, for a game to be successful, a combined approach of data- and art-driven decision-making …