Digital Commons Network^™

East Of The Sun, West Of The Moon Film Pitch Deck, Micah Anderson

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

A pitch deck to present an idea for a film adaptation of the fairy tale "East of the Sun and West of the Moon." The deliverables include a 3-5 minute animatic of a single scene (complete with placeholder audio), the script of the scene, storyboards used to map out each action, at least one model sheet for each major character, and rough sketches of all 30 characters. They are to be presented in an exhibition with the animatic on loop on a TV, a public presentation in the Myers auditorium, and a written paper on the details regarding the medium …

Writing Stories That Have An Impact, Andrew Rogers

Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Social Justice & Raising Awareness: The Stories That Need To Be Told, Christopher Eastman

Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Write What You Know: Serving Others Through Purpose Driven And Honest Storytelling, Breanna Porter

Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Lilly Reich: La Mente Detrás Del Mobiliario Moderno Que La Historia Olvidó, Noa Llanas Angrill

GDI. Revista de investigación de Género, Diseño e Innovación

La historia ha sido escrita desde una perspectiva que se ha invisibilizado las contribuciones femeninas en su desarrollo. Este artículo se centra en Lilly Reich (1885-1947), figura clave del diseño moderno, cuya autoría ha sido eclipsada por la de su colaborador Ludwig Mies van der Rohe. La investigación evidencia que la diseñadora no solo contribuyó al diseño de mobiliario moderno y de espacios expositivos, sino que lideró proyectos clave y que su trabajo ha impactado en el diseño expositivo, textil y mobiliario moderno.

Feminine Felons: Violent Offenders' Intersectional Experiences In Twentieth-Century Montana, Cassidy Ann Vander Voort

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

This paper explores the treatment of violent female offenders in Montana in both the media and prison system from 1900-1960. Women of all races faced gender discrimination from both the carceral system and popular media. Local newspapers sensationalized crimes committed by female offenders, portraying them as women who lived outside of the expectations of womanhood in the twentieth century. Newspapers and courts placed women into two categories: “mad/sad” female offenders, who received forgiveness for their crimes; or unforgivable, “bad” offenders. Crime did not determine these categorizations; instead, gender expectations of the white middle class shaped female criminals’ treatment. If these …

Sunlight, Veiled, Sina Ahmadkhani

Theses and Dissertations

Sunlight, Veiled is a narrative short film exploring themes of displacement, class, and identity through the lens of an Iranian intern navigating a morally ambiguous company party in the United States. This written component traces the evolution of the project from development through post-production, while reflecting on the personal and political frameworks that shaped the creative process. Through cinematic references, cultural analysis, and production insight, the paper aims to contextualize the film within a diasporic experience and a growing awareness of social power dynamics. It also reflects on the challenges of filmmaking as an outsider, where self-doubt, cultural translation, and …

The Swiping Desire: Intimacy, Libidinal Capitalism, And The Digital Subject In The Tinder Swindler, Chanif Ainun Naim

Masyarakat: Jurnal Sosiologi

This article examines how dating applications operate as libidinal infrastructures that restructure and commodify intimacy within platform capitalism, using The Tinder Swindler as a cultural case study. Employing a visual-narrative approach within the framework of Critical Discourse Analysis, the film is analyzed to reveal the structural exploitation of user affect and desire. Grounded in Lacanian psychoanalysis and Baudrillard’s simulation theory, the study argues that these platforms capitalize on the subject’s ontological lack (manque) which fuels desire as the desire for the Other’s desire. This psychic lack sustains a perpetual pursuit of recognition that can never be fulfilled. The swindler’s hyper-curated …

Threading The Needle: Chinese American Adoptees And The In-Between, Annalee Johnson

Honors Undergraduate Theses

Threading the Needle is a short documentary that investigates the relationships between Chinese American adoptees, their families, and their heritage. The film features two primary participants, Mia Nails and Annalee “AJ” Johnson as they reflect on their Asian American identity, experiences with racism, and their struggles with cultural estrangement. The similarities and differences in their perspectives shed light on both the wonderful and the heartbreaking circumstances of adoption. The contemporary value of the film lies in how it challenges popular representations of the Asian American experience: Though in recent years, Asian American media has become more present in popular culture, …

Area Of Effect The History And Effects Of Linguistic Choices Made In The Final Fantasy Franchise, Camille Mcdermott

Theses and Dissertations

The Final Fantasy franchise, a seminal role-playing game (RPG) series, has captivated a global audience since its inception in 1987. This thesis, titled "Area of Effect: The History and Effects of Linguistic Choices Made in the Final Fantasy Franchise," explores the intricate use of language that has shaped the series' identity and influenced its worldwide fanbase. The linguistic landscape of Final Fantasy is as diverse and dynamic as its fantastical worlds, evolving from simple text boxes to fully voiced narratives. This study examines the historical context and evolving linguistic choices throughout the series, highlighting how these decisions enrich the gaming …

Creating An Ofrenda, Sara Hinojos

Open Educational Resources

You do not need to be Mexican to celebrate Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead). What you need however is a deep and thoughtful cultural understanding of the practice. This lesson plan teaches students what Dia de los Muertos is, the influence of colonialism (past and present), how mainstream media understands the celebration in the U.S., and how local communities honor the celebration. This approach is from a media studies perspective and a particular focus on art, specifically altar making or making an ofrenda. Writer, philosopher, tejana Gloria E. Anzaldúa details that altars are “‘the sanctuary of the …

Intro To Motion Graphics & Effects, Andrea E. Defelice

Open Educational Resources

Introduction to Motion Graphics & Effects MEDST 258 Section 1, 3 credits | Open Educational Resources (OERs) Faculty Fellowship Program 2024-2025 Online/Synchronous | Professor Andréa DeFelice

Links: Academic Commons: https://motiongraphicsfx.commons.gc.cuny.edu

OER-Calibrated COURSE DESCRIPTION: Get a project-based approach to the aesthetic and technical aspects of motion graphics and effects. This introductory course is designed to inform and inspire beginners, while utilizing OER and zero-cost materials. Students enrolled in this course are provided a free Adobe CC license and taught to use Adobe After Effects. Students are also taught how to be resourceful by searching out open license/free media online, by way …

Exploring The Shadows: How Taylor Swift's Music Embodies Dark Sound As A Popular Music Artist, Kristyn E. Cole

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

To challenge the conceptual matter of “dark sound”, this major research paper centers around the popular music artist, Taylor Swift to demonstrate an overarching feminist wisdom in an alternative style of music to identify how Taylor Swift presents and embodies qualities of “dark sound”. Research done by D. Ferrett, Theodor Adorno, Roland Barthes and Paul C. Jasen are used to examine her popular music, and its intersections and influence on our culture and society. Using multimodal critical discourse analysis, this research paper discusses three of Swift’s songs; “willow” (evermore, 2020) for her sound, All Too Well: The Short …

One, Two, Unemployment’S Coming For You: How Slasher Films Reflect Societal Fears, Arwen G. Hansen

Honors Program Theses

No abstract provided.

Teaching Documentary Filmmaking As Social Advocacy: The Case Of The Yangon Film School, Violet Valdez, Mon Mon Myat

Department of Communication Faculty Publications

This is a descriptive case study of Yangon Film School (Yangon, Myanmar) in a setting of protracted civil conflict that has persisted since 1968. It examined the school’s approach in the teaching of documentary filmmaking and analyzed key aspects of the school’s operations. Findings show that the documentary filmmaking taught in the school was informed by social advocacy. This was fostered through the students’ participation in films commissioned to the school by civil society organizations and the practice of participatory filmmaking. The school stood out in the Myanmar setting for its dual character as a training center and a production …

The Ras, Briana Kaisen

Screenwriting and Film Studies Theses (MA/MFA)

Eve’s goal is simple: to discover a college major that will earn her the most money without completely draining her soul. When her housing plans implode and tuition bills pile up, Eve reluctantly takes on the role of RA—a glorified babysitter for drunken freshmen—in exchange for a roof over her head. Quitting isn’t an option, but surviving this circus of unhinged students and incompetent coworkers might just cost her what’s left of her sanity.

Alongside her eclectic team of fellow RAs, Eve battles to keep students alive while chasing down banned pets, unraveling the mystery of the dorm elevator couch, …

From Ink To Code, From Binary To Boundless Reality—Until All Returns To Emptiness, Weitong Sun

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis explores the entangled relationship between language, memory, and technology through the lens of immigrant experience. Moving from programming to visual storytelling, I investigate how dyslexia, bilingualism, and cultural displacement have shaped my ways of reading, writing, and coding.

Beginning with personal reflections on switching from computer science to art, I trace how code offered a form of clarity and expression where written language had once failed me. Yet as I ventured into real-time simulation and XR storytelling, I encountered new forms of mistranslation—where narratives dissolved, mutated, or resisted coherence altogether.

Through a series of experiments in code-driven art, …

Orb Weaver, Quinn Standley

Theses and Dissertations

Orb Weaver is a 24-minute experimental video/lm. This essay does not explain its meaning, as viewers should feel the power to trust their own interpretations. Instead, it reflects on the process of making the lm interwoven with autobiographical thoughts.

Liner Notes On Black Trans Girlhood: Afrofuturist Affect & Black Popular Music As A Praxis Of Self-Fashioning, Shawn J. Williams

Theses and Dissertations

Liner Notes on Black Trans Girlhood: Afrofuturist Affect & Black Popular Music as a Praxis of Self-Fashioning interprets Black musical performance in identity-making, with a focus on how music and Black trans identity intersect and informs Black trans girlhood. As such, Black trans girls render ourselves legible, i.e. understood without shame or judgment, by constructing our identities through the music by Black women we listen and dance to, or watch and sing. These musical connections affirm the possibilities of Black femme expression. This expression of Black femininity is due to what I call an Afrofuturist affect, by which I refer …

For Her Horror: Sociopsychological Gratifications Obtained By Fem Fans Of The Slasher, Brooke Eaglesong Wilson

Masters Theses

Those who side with the unjustified killer in slasher films are doing so to fulfill sociopsychological needs that are not being met in social reality. There were three main findings found in this study. First, participants sided with the unjustified killer in slasher films to gratify needs that were not being fulfilled in their careers such as the need to perform without having to consult mentors, not unlike how the unjustified killer murders victims without discussing with others. Second, participants sided with the unjustified killer in slasher films to gratify needs in their romantic relationships such as the need to …

The Romanticization Of Human-Vampire Relationships: How 'Twilight' And 'The Vampire Diaries' May Prime Young Women To Accept Dating Violence, Natalie M. Bowen

UROP Posters

The first literary vampire can be traced back to 18th century Germany, with Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s poem “Die Braut von Korinth,” but the stereotypical features of a vampire are traditionally accredited to Bram Stoker’s Dracula. Modern vampires, such as Edward Cullen and Stefan Salvatore of the Twilight and The Vampire Diaries series respectively, have managed to win the hearts of teenage girls all across America with their sex appeal and charismatic nature. According to Bandura’s Social Cognitive Theory, individuals learn new behaviors by modeling and imitating the actions of those around them. This comprehensive literature review investigates the connection …

Women’S Work In Film Production And The Documents Of Film History, Erin Mcguirl

Library Staff Publications

This article surfaces evidence of women’s work in film production through critical bibliographical analysis, arguing that existing textual records are robust sources for feminist film histories. Case studies covering nearly a half-century of American film history show critical bibliography in action. Treated as artifacts, documents not only exhibit women’s roles in their creation but also speak to their afterlives in the marketplace and in research libraries. Looking forward, critical bibliography can make visible below-the-line women’s labor in existing collections and inform work to curate and use new ones in the future.

40 Years Passing By In (A) “Heartbeat”, Christopher Janney

Monsoon: South Asian Studies Association Journal

This article outlines the forty-year history go Christopher Janney’s iconic performance work “HeartBeat.” Trained as an architect and jazz musician, Janney combines these two disciplines to create large interactive light/sound installations and performances. On the one hand, he attempts to make architecture more like music, more “alive” using real-time sensing devices as on his “Harmonic Convergence” installation on the Miami International Airport. On the other hand, he attempts to make music more like architecture, more physical more visual. In his “HeartBeat” performance, a dancer wears a heartbeat device that amplifies his/her heartbeat in “real time.” Over this pulse, live musicians …

Yoga Sūtra Book Four And The Yogabindu, Christopher Key Chapple

Monsoon: South Asian Studies Association Journal

Four themes from the fourth pāda of Patañjali’s Yoga Sūtra are examined here: karma (IV:2-13), individuality (IV:16), humility (IV:20-22), and freedom (IV:29-34). Affirmations and variant interpretations of these four are provided from Haribhadra Virahāṅka’s Yogabindu, most likely composed a century or two later.

Collective Karma: From The Yogasūtra To Taylor Swift, Zoë Slatoff

Monsoon: South Asian Studies Association Journal

The Indian knowledge traditions speak at length about karma, which is divided into three categories—accumulated (saṃcita), ripe (prārabdha), and future (kriyamāṇa). While much is said about our individual karma and how it affects our repeated reincarnation in cyclic existence, how does this affect others and how do others affect us? In other words, as this paper explores, what is our reciprocal and collective karma?

Painting Liberation: A Visual Ontology Of The Interplay Of Mind And Consciousness In Book Four Of The Yoga Sūtras, Melissa Townsend

Monsoon: South Asian Studies Association Journal

This presentation explores how artistic practice can illuminate philosophical questions about the nature of mind, consciousness, and liberation as articulated in Book Four of the Yoga Sūtras of Patañjali. Through a series of paintings that visually translate these sūtras, I propose that art offers a unique, experiential means of engaging with the complex relationship between citta (mind) and puruṣa (consciousness).

The paintings function as a form of “visual ontology,” inviting viewers to engage with abstract philosophical concepts in a sensory, tangible way. By depicting the interplay between the mutable processes of the mind and the unchanging awareness of consciousness, these …

Challenging Motherhood And Analysing Cultural Differences: A Review Of The Film Mrs. Chatterjee Vs Norway (2023), Sana Hashmi

Dignity: A Journal of Analysis of Exploitation and Violence

No abstract provided.

A Mandate For Healing: A World War Ii Vet Meets A Vietnam Vet In The Screenplay, Chinook With An Essay On War Screenplay Research, Buz Ecker

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

Chinook is an original screenplay about a Vietnam vet with PTSD who meets a World War II vet in a VA Home, and the screenplay takes one afternoon to unfold. This dissertation explains how Chinook came to be, with all of the processes undertaken. It begins with an introduction about the characters in the screenplay and who these characters are based on. There are several books, movies, and articles contained in this section to make the characters, events, and flashbacks of what actually happened in World War II and Vietnam. The best resources were conversations with actual veterans from either …

Mirrors Of The Reel: Black Women's Identity In American Cinema (2009-2024), Melanie-Penny Harrison

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

This study investigates whether white supremacy structures, embodied in Hollywood’s predominantly white leadership, drive negative portrayals of Black women in 31 mainstream American films from 2009 to 2024. Employing a mixed-methods approach—quantitative content analysis, qualitative content analysis (QCA), and narrative methodology—I code portrayals for racism, patriarchy, heterosexism, colorism, and internalized racism, classifying them as progressive (e.g., empowered roles), regressive (e.g., subservient stereotypes), or hybrid. Guided by Critical Race Theory and intersectionality, the analysis examines narrative structures, character agency, symbolism, and dialogue to uncover intersectional patterns (e.g., race, gender, class) across three periods: 2009–2013, 2014–2018, and 2019–2024. Across these periods, cultural …

The Progressive Potential Of The Horror Arg: A Digital Ethnographic Analysis Of Instagram Account Sabrinamiller230, Matthew N. Wiebe

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Alternate reality games (ARGs) are transmedia games that exist and operate utilizing a number of digital communication platforms. These games see players employing their digital literacy skills in order to solve narrative puzzles and craft theories with other ARG players – through engaging with the alternate reality fiction presented to them. sabrinamiller230 is a horror themed ARG that takes the appearance of an Instagram profile and presents players with a speculative alternate reality world featuring an alien who critiques humanity’s many injustices. This research paper seeks to address a key problem regarding the lack of digital ethnographic studies of ARG …