Film and Media Studies Commons^™

The Power And Importance Of Women In Television And Film, Rachael Mackinnon

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

Glazed, the pilot episode of a situation comedy series, is just beginning to explore what the world of television has in store for women in 2018. At a time like now where women across the nation are feeling the important effects of entering the Fourth Wave of feminism, there is no time like the present to celebrate the beautiful mind that is that of a woman.

For far too long, women in television have been just something to merely look at. More often than not, the crew would be comprised of mostly men: the strong-willed directors, the scandalous producers, …

"All I Ask Of You": A Feature Film, Margaret Siciliano

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

All I Ask of You is a dramatic feature film script that showcases the dynamics between people who struggle with types of dementia and their friends and family. Although most stories that cover dementia focus on the victim, this story chooses to focus on the people closest to those victims. The story takes on tough decisions that those closest to the disease have to make due to the debilitating affect it has on victim. The medical community doesn’t know very much about dementia. We know there is a particular dementia gene that is hereditary, but we don’t know how to …

How Comedy Television Is Written And Developed., Douglas Holloway

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

In this analysis, I plan to describe how I developed and wrote three episodes of a comedy web series. In the beginning of my paper, I will discuss the importance of my cultural background and how it shaped my appreciation of a wide variety of artistic expression. I then will discuss the contrast of art I experienced in my academic compared to my domestic life. I will then focus on the importance of television and film in my life. Specifically, I will discuss how I was influenced by popular television at a young age. I will discuss viewing sinister films …

Osiris: A Short Film, Kathryn Ferentchak

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

Osiris is a narrative short film which emphasizes renewable energy as Earth’s one Hail Mary, placing the power of science and engineering into the hands of a female protagonist. Directed and produced by the up and coming filmmaker, Kathryn Ferentchak, Osiris is unique among student films for its incredible production value. The independent film industry is often hampered by an incomplete or poor understanding of how to successfully plan for and execute the five essential steps of filmmaking. Analyzing Osiris will demonstrate how a successful film can move from Development to Distribution. There is never only one way to make …

“The Imaginary Dragons” A Short Film., Christina Mcdonagh

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

It’s mid September of 2001 and Fawn, a sheltered yet curious girl living in Manhattan, begins to feel as if everyone is keeping a secret from her…

– A Short Film Based on a True Story –

My Story.

Think back to the day of September 11^th, 2001. Do you remember where you were and what you were doing when the tragic news broke? Most Americans do, but what if it was kept from you? What if your world was so sheltered you didn’t realize the city you lived in was falling apart around you? That was the …

Kat & Lily: An Original Screenplay, Isabella Engelhard

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

In Kat & Lily, my screenplay focuses on the strained relationship between two sisters and their approach to love, life, and self-actualization. Kat, the older sister, is a wild child and Lily, the youngest, has a much more practical approach to life. Their parents divorced when they were young, thus causing both sisters to approach love in different ways. On one hand, Kat uses her sexuality to gain power over men, and on the other hand, Lily feels that her brain is more important than her body. My screenplay is very much a romantic comedy trope, however, I wanted to …

Personal Memory And Digital Mobile Media: How A Product And A Web Platform Can Improve Digital Memory Archiving, Sarah Folger

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

Our technology has been evolving so rapidly and our ability to capture our moments has been become so accessible, we are creating hundreds of thousands of digital files. When we were operating with analog methods of memory making and archiving it was much easier to organize our files because we had fewer or them and they were often all sentimental because of their value. Today, it is hard to distinguish between all of our digital files to determine which ones are most important and even to determine where they are. The creation of social media has created an interesting dynamic …

Making Fun Of Franco: Representations And Caricatures Of Spanish Fascism In The Films El Espiritú De La Colmena, Cría Cueros And El Laberinto Del Fauno, Elizabeth Pruchnicki

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

The end of the Spanish Civil War marked the beginning of Francisco Franco’s dictatorship, which lasted more than 35 years. Throughout this time, he systemized terror, executing more than 100,000 republican sympathizers in the first few years of his regime and marginalizing the remainder of the population. Therefore, the Fascist Era lasting from 1940-1975 is one plagued with strained relationships, ambiguous loyalties and distant relatives. The films El espiritú de la colmena by Victor Erice, Cría cuervos by Carlos Saura and El laberinto del fauno by Guillermo del Toro’s illustrate these kinds of challenges, from the point …

“Who Wants To Be A Millennial?” Game Show Production, Lauren Lewis

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

When deciding to produce a pilot episode of a television series, I thought about the type of entertainment I wanted to see on TV but had not yet seen. I thought to myself about the themes of entertainment that could resonate with my generation. I decided to combine the interests of the Millennial generation with a game show competition including popular culture and social media themes. I wanted to emulate this traditional genre of television while capitalizing on a new, emerging audience. I had witnessed this same production tactic successfully create The American Bible Challenge when I interned at …

Elsie: A Screenplay, Eileen M. Spath

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

Elsie is a 57 page, one-hour screenplay. A modern adaptation of a true story, Elsie tells the tale of Elsie Whitman, a young housewife unhappy in her marriage and looking for a way out. When her estranged sister arrives, she finally finds the strength to do the unthinkable.

Our story opens with the arrival of Elsie's sister, Marianne, and the departure of her husband, John. Alone in the house together, the sisters relationship grows complex. Marianne begins to see Peter, a young man with a mysterious past. However, when Elsie is wronged by John, she jumps into bed with Peter. …

How To Be Alice: A Feature-Length Screenplay With Production Package, Alison Joy

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

This Capstone consists of a feature-length dramatic screenplay of 110 pages along with a production package including schedule and budget. The production documents, created using Movie Magic software, detail a shooting schedule of 21 days and a budget of $890,979.

The film centers on a successful magazine editor who loses her job and her fiancé in the same day. Professionally disgraced, financially stunted, and unexpectedly hearbroken, she is forced to take on a “How To” blogging gig to pay the bills while she gets back on her feet. She begrudgingly accepts mentorship from an eccentric older neighbor to help her …

Syracuse University Los Angeles: A Promotional Video, Bradley Slavin

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

Created in 2009, the Syracuse University Los Angeles Semester Program has allowed students interested in the media and entertainment world to spend a semester working, living, and playing in Los Angeles. Despite being a well-constructed and impressive experience, the SULA program is still very much in its infancy. The purpose of this Capstone was to film, edit, and distribute a short promotional video that may be used by the program for recruiting initiatives.

The target audience for this project is current Syracuse University students considering the Los Angeles Semester Program, prospective Syracuse University students seeking additional benefits of studying at …

Anthony Jr., Allan Duso

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

Video Editors are the unsung heroes that take every piece of media, shot in production, and spin it into a story that is entertaining from beginning to end. It is hard to spot a marvelous editor because the better they, are the less the audience notices. It is only the bad cuts or the mismatched shots that the audience points out. There is no way to show the amount of work and puzzle-solving editors put in to make a movie sparkle.

For my capstone project, I edited The Sopranos television series down into a feature length movie. The story focuses …

Stir, Alyssa Di Rienzo

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

The Syracuse University student body is overflowing with brilliance. Over the course of their four years on campus, many Syracuse students engage in truly amazing academic initiatives. Currently, there is no single resource that captures the stories and accomplishments of the university’s most talented students. I have set out to address this opportunity, by creating a website that celebrates and shares the stories of the Syracuse University students. ! I have created STIR, an online resource featuring video testimonials from outstanding Syracuse University students. The website has four main missions. First, to share the stories of Syracuse University talent with …

The Evolution Of Comic Book Movies: An Exploration And Implementation Of Comic Books In Academia, Michael C. Rogers

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

The following paper outlines my Capstone, which centers on the creation and implementation of a course focusing on the academic study and consumption of comic book movies and the comics they are based on. The study of this medium has been absent from classrooms for too long, and so, in the pages that follow, I have included a syllabus, sample lesson plans, and a detailed exploration of comic books and the films they inspire in an academic setting. This paper includes research, analysis, and insight detailing the exploits of the class I taught in Fall 2013, HNR 210: The Evolution …

Art Activism And Digital Technologies, Christina Sterbenz

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

The following represents a critical, long-form journalism narrative, exploring the emerging relationship between art, activism, and digital technologies such as social media. These 3,000 words explore the concept using the lens of two large non-profit, social art organizations: The AIDS Quilt and the One Million Bones Project. The former, now an international endeavor, catalogues life in the age of AIDS through a community-driven patchwork quilt intended to raise awareness and funds for HIV/AIDS and allow all those affected by the disease a creative coping strategy. The latter began as a small art installation in Albuquerque, New Mexico with a goal …

“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 …

Prospects: An Original Tv Pilot, Kevin Slack

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

My capstone project is a television pilot script about the trials and tribulations of a minor league baseball team’s front office. Following around the new general manager and his various colleagues and colorful characters around the ballpark, the show, tentatively titled Prospects, is meant to be optimistic and warm-hearted, but still with a bite of humor and cynicism.

For the composition of this piece, I initially used the free screenwriting software Celtx, as well as your standard tools of writing: pad and pen.

My goal for this project was to create a quality ensemble-driven show that, while centered around the …

Smart Kids The Documentary, Hannah Louys

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

Smart Kids was a program, started in 2009, that was created as a joint venture between the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications and the School of Education at Syracuse University. Professors and students from these two schools worked with kids from Syracuse elementary and middle schools, teaching them how to use cameras and video editing software to tell their own stories. The goal of the program was to aid urban education reform, but more so than that, to truly give kids a voice when it comes to their education.

My job, when it came to this project, was to …

Green Sisters: Bringing Spirituality And Environmental Awareness Together At Homecoming Farm, Marisa Decandido

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

“Green Sisters: Bringing Spirituality and Environmental Awareness together at Homecoming Farm,” addresses the topic of the “green sisters” movement and its presence at Homecoming Farm, a Community-Supported Agriculture project located in Amityville, New York. The green sisters movement, started in the 1980s in Caldwell, New Jersey, entails groups of Catholic nuns who are beginning to pursue “Earth ministries,” and dedicating their lives to environmental education and practicing sustainability. One example of this is found at Homecoming Farm, where the Sisters of Saint Dominic in Amityville created an organic farm in 1992 to nurture the surrounding community in body and spirit. …