Digital Commons Network^™

7 An Interactive Installation: Explorations In The Digital, The Spiritual, And The Uncanny, Bradley Paul Lewter

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis explores the application of digital technologies in the creation of visionary or transformative artwork. The installation emphasizes number, color, symmetry, and the human form to create symbolic compositions patterned after ancient archetypes. Background research was done to inform the work through studies of the principles of visionary and transformative artwork as practiced by Ernst Fuchs, De Es Schwertberger, and Alex Grey. Connections between art and spirituality as explained by Kandinsky were studied to augment these principles. The sequence of artwork within the installation is comprised of both digital paintings and interactive triptych panels. To convey a sense of …

Evelyn Offscreen: An Application Of Interactive Performance Methodsin Alternate Reality Gaming, Dawn Borglund

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

For my thesis project for the Masters of Fine Art in Film and Digital Media, I designed and produced Evelyn Offscreen, an alternate reality game (ARG) that was facilitated by interactive performance. The goal was to create an interactive experience that allowed several players to collaboratively create story across numerous media within the field of alternate reality gaming. The approach used in Evelyn Offscreen was intended to provide a degree of creative freedom to the players that has not been demonstrated in other ARG experiences and to use digital media to capture information about the relative effectiveness of the different …

A Beautiful Belly: Toward An Intimate Cinema Through Microbudget Production Techniques, Andrew Gay

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

A Beautiful Belly is a feature-length, microbudget, digital motion picture produced, written, and directed by Andrew Kenneth Gay in pursuit of the Master of Fine Arts in Film & Digital Media from the University of Central Florida. The guiding question behind the production of A Beautiful Belly was whether digital "no budget" production was particularly suited to the telling of a particular kind of cinematic story - the interior journey. The pursuit of an intimate cinema shaped every decision by the filmmaker and his collaborators, and this thesis is a record of their production experience.

Red Tide: A Feature Length Motion Picture, Dino Gallina

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The following document provides insight into the uncharted process of producing a micro-budget feature length film. This paper aims to document my growth as an artist in terms of storytelling and filmmaking as well as the development and production process. Red Tide: A Feature Length Motion Picture includes elements from each phase of the production process, from story and script development to marketing and distribution. This document reflects on the obstacles we faced and the solutions we implemented during the process of creating a feature length motion picture on an undersized budget.

Taming The Wild: On Womanhood, Nation And Nature In Ann-Marie Macdonald's Fall On Your Knees And The Way The Crow Flies, Yvonne Michelle Hammond

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

This project evaluates the work of Canadian author and playwright Ann-Marie Macdonald in the context of links between ecocritical, feminist and post-colonial perspectives; it seeks to understand how broader definitions for gender provide an alternative to the patriarchal binaries that limit both individual and national identities. Part of the Canadian conscious is an anxiety that questions not only the way difference impacts their culture, but also how these differences speak to a lack of a homogenized national identity. This study focuses on Macdonald�s novels Fall on Your Knees (1996) and The Way the Crow Flies (2003) , in order to …

Recollection, Rebecca Gehres Weed

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Recollect is an investigation of personal histories and myths relative to the experience of time and willful manipulation of said time. Depicted in the traditional medium of oil painting an autobiographical account is laid out. Not in chronological order, nor in any sense depicting actual events, these paintings are an attempt to identify and recreate distinguishing factors in my life. Acquiring a personal mythology is the prerogative of any and all people. History on a global scale has been written and rewritten under the influence of many factors. The factors that cause us to manipulate our own personal pasts are …

Grounding Diaspora In Experience: Niagara Mennonite Identity, Cynthia Anne Jones

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

This qualitative case study grounds theoretical notions of diaspora in personal accounts of Russian Mennonites living on the Niagara peninsula of Canada. The focus is on successive, complex interrelationships with ‘place’ (in a fixed sense, and a globally connected sense), with attention to gender, generation, and life-stage. How have these individuals experienced diaspora, and how has this influenced their culture and identity? Interrelationships with place are examined within an analytical framework composed of three key elements as identified in diaspora literature: cultural hybridity, social heterogeneity (internal divisions), and responsibility flows. The results are both descriptive and theoretical, featuring first person …

But Where Will They Build Their Nest? Liberalism And Communitarian Resistance In American Cinematic Portrayals Of Jewish-Gentile Romances, Holly A. Pearse

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

This dissertation analyzes approximately fifty American films that feature predominantly heterosexual interfaith/intercultural romantic, sexual or marital relations between Jewish and Gentile protagonists. It asks what political or social ideals can be illustrated by these portrayals, and how these films can be taken cumulatively to explore trends in modern life. The author places liberalism at the heart of the mainstream Hollywood discourse on intermarriage, and shows how films that run counter to the expectations of liberal romances may reflect communitarian critiques of liberal tenets.

The issue of intermarriage is contextualized with a discussion of the endogamous tradition in Judaism, and by …

Stacy Garrop's Settings Of Sonnets By Edna St. Vincent Millay: A Conductor's Analysis, Justin W. Durham

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Stacy Garrop is an emerging composer of choral and orchestral music. The focus of this research is to provide information on her career and compositional style and to provide a conductor’s analysis of six multi-movement a cappella works which set to music sonnets by Edna St. Vincent Millay. Works to be examined: Sonnets of Love and Chaos (2001) Sonnets of Vanity, Loss, and Rapture (2002) Sonnets of War and Mankind (2003) Sonnets of Desire, Longing, and Whimsy (2004) Sonnets of the Fatal Interview (2005) Sonnets of Beauty and Music (2006) The document is divided into nine chapters tracing the musical …

A Survey Of Professional Operatic Entertainment In Little Rock, Arkansas: 1870-1900, Jenna M. Tucker

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The late nineteenth century was a time of great political, economic, and social change in the state of Arkansas. The population of Little Rock, the state capital, nearly tripled in the last thirty years of the century. As more people settled in Little Rock, the demand for entertainment grew. Poor transportation was an initial obstacle; but as railroads gradually linked Little Rock to larger cities, traveling professional theatrical troupes began to include Little Rock on their itineraries. The purpose of this project is to document the history of professional operatic entertainment in Little Rock, Arkansas, from 1870—when the first professional …

Staging Polemics: Charles Palissot, Voltaire, And The "Theatrical Event" In Eighteenth-Century France, Logan James Connors

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation explores the exciting world of eighteenth-century French dramatic writing, performance and criticism from the point of view of the theatrical spectator. Instead of focusing on one single genre or writer, I assemble the textual creation, performance, and criticism of certain “polemical” plays into what I term a “theatrical event.” This optic provides a holistic vision of theater and an accurate view of how drama underwent noticeable change due to playwrights’ political associations, public reactions to performance, and the emerging power of the periodical press. In sum, this project differs from previous studies by focusing on the increasing rhetorical …

Other Tomorrows: Postcoloniality, Science Fiction And India, Suparno Banerjee

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

In this dissertation I argue that science fiction as a genre intervenes in the history-oriented discourse of postcolonial Anglophone Indian literature and refocuses attention on the nation’s future—its position in global politics, its shifting religious and social values, its rapid industrialization, the clash between orthodoxy and modernity, and ultimately the dream of a multicultural nation. Anglophone Indian science fiction also indicates India’s movement away from a nation trying to negotiate the stigma of colonialism to a nation emerging as a new world power. Thus, this genre reconstructs the Indian identity not only in the domestic sphere, but also in a …

A Performance Guide To Lori Laitman's Living In The Body, Kathryn Mary Drake

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this document is to provide a complete performer’s guide to American composer Lori Laitman’s Living in the Body, a song cycle consisting of six songs for soprano and saxophone set to the poetry of Joyce Sutphen. Living in the Body is one of very few cycles written for soprano and saxophone, and the combination is both unusual and interesting to investigate. The cycle explores letting go of the past and focusing on what will happen in the second half of life. The text is set expertly for soprano, bringing important words to the listener’s attention while keeping …

A Survey And Guide To The Most Frequently Programmed Lieder In The Undergraduate Studios Of Selected Major Music Institutions In The United States, Joseph Christopher Turner

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Among the many challenges faced by the new collegiate voice teacher is the assigning of appropriate music literature. There are numerous published guides to aid in this area, but they vary greatly. Some provide large amounts of literature and very little information, while others give more information but deal with a predetermined set of songs. What if the young teacher knew the core literature being used by veteran voice teachers from around the country? In order to address this problem, information was gathered from eight major music institutions chosen by a survey of voice faculty at Louisiana State University. At …

Writing About The South "In Her Own Way": Gender And Region In The Work Of Southern Women Playwrights, Casey Kayser

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation examines how identity—gender, race, sexuality, regional affiliation—intersects with considerations of the dramatic genre, commercial and critical factors in the American theatre, and understandings about the American South to complicate how contemporary southern women playwrights represent region. In light of the always-already "performative" nature of the South, and geographical, commercial, and ideological factors that set the South in opposition to the North, southern women playwrights face additional difficulties in navigating issues of authenticity and simulacra, the universal versus the specific, ideas about southern "backwardness" versus northern sophistication, and audience participation in fetishizing or distancing the South. Using drama as …

The Alfred Cortot Study Edition Of Chopin's Etudes & How The Alexander Technique Can Facilitate Progress Towards Performance Through His Suggested Exercises, Li-Fang Wu

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this research paper is to study how the Alexander Technique can be applied to the process of pianistic practicing, and specific technique issues. The sets of exercises I choose to focus on are from the Alfred Cortot study edition of Chopin’s Etudes, op. 10 and op. 25. The Alexander Technique is a method of releasing unnecessary muscular tension when performing every action, including motions in piano playing. Therefore, the preparatory exercises suggested by Alfred Cortot in his study editions can be more effectively executed by applying the Alexander Technique principles. This research paper is divided into four …

Designing Irishness: Ethnicity, Heritage, And Imagined Connection To Place Through Language, Thomas James Sullivan

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

In North America, those who are descended from "old world" immigrant groups—for example Germans, Greeks, Italians, Poles, and Irish—are thought to be assimilated or acculturated into the mainstream American culture. Since the late 1970s, however, sociologists have observed how a number of white ethnics, particularly those descended from third- and fourth-generation (and beyond) immigrants, continue to maintain a link to an ethnic group. This phenomenon—labeled symbolic or optional ethnicity—is now seen as a latter-stage development in the larger process of assimilation and ethnic-group identification. In this dissertation I show how the meaning of Irish identity has evolved in North America …

The Actor's Process : From Page To Stage, Julia N. Porter

Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

The Status Of Private Military Contractors Under International Humanitarian Law, Won Kidane

Faculty Articles

One of the serious problems that the new administration faces is undoubtedly the regulation and use of private military contractors in "the war on terror." The private military industry is largely unregulated at the national level. Its status under international law is also poorly understood. This article assesses the legal status of this industry, characterizes the various functions, demonstrates the difficulty of regulating the industry as a unitary entity, and identifies the appropriate set of international standards that the new administration and Congress as well as the larger international legal community could employ in evaluating regulatory options.

Mckillop Library Newsbrief Jan 2010

McKillop Library Newsbrief

No abstract provided.

The Legal Status Of Bcci: Unwarranted Ad-Hocism, Constitutional Hudles And The Pressing Need For A Cricket-Legislation, Aditya Sondhi

National Law School of India Review

The Supreme Court in Zee Telefilms rejected the contention that the Board of Control for Cricket in India comes within the scope of the definition of 'State' as defined in Article 12 of the Constitution. The Court, by a 3:2 majority, came to the conclusion that the BCCI is essentially an autonomous non-statutory body with no declared monopoly over the game of cricket, no public function to discharge, no significant financial assistance from the Government and not being subject to what could be described as 'deep and pervasive control' by the Government. This paper seeks to analyse the more significant …

Predictors Of College Persistence: Learning Strategies, Use Of Campus Services, And Beliefs About Intelligence, Mailee Ong Xiong Kue

Open Access Dissertations

Minority college student enrollment has doubled from 15 to 32 percent within the past thirty years (National Center for Education Statistics, 2009b), with the growth expecting to continue into the near future. While there are gains in the enrollment of minority students in higher education, there remains a completion gap for minority students. This study examined the role of learning strategies, use of campus services and beliefs about intelligence on college persistence of 203 minority and 571 non-minority undergraduate students from the University of Rhode Island. Survey results revealed significant differences in use and trust of campus services and beliefs …