Film and Media Studies Commons^™

@Ctress To @Ctivist: Sophia Bush's Activism & Self-Branding Through Twitter, Katie Persechino

Pell Scholars and Senior Theses

This study analyzes actress Sophia Bush s Twitter account in terms of activism and self-branding, as she tweets out daily to millions of followers. While scholars have studied social media use for other celebrities in terms of self-branding, none have looked at the celebrity use of social media for activism. One hundred tweets from Bush s Twitter page are randomly selected and categorized in order to determine what kind of social media presence Bush creates. It is concluded that Bush s brand goes beyond her profession of an actress and includes her activist Twitter presence to where her title becomes …

Making "The Gray Area": Transitioning From Print Journalism To Documentary Filmmaking, David C. Floyd Mr.

Undergraduate Honors Theses

In my senior year at ETSU I produced a documentary about opioid abuse in East Tennessee. In 2016, two local health care providers and a university collaborated on a project that would bring an opioid treatment center to Gray, Tennessee. The center includes a methadone clinic, an addition that piqued the concern of many citizens living in Gray. The film evaluates the concerns citizens had about the clinic and explores the issue of opioid abuse in East Tennessee.

Automation In Entertainment: Concept, Design, And Application, Ryan Thally

Undergraduate Honors Theses

The focus of this thesis is to explore the automation technology used in the modern entertainment industry. Upon completion of my thesis, I will deliver a working prototype of the chosen technology and present its capabilities in a choreographed show.

A Theoretical Application Of Metaphor Research To The Film Industry, Michael J. Stanton

Undergraduate Honors Theses

This paper explores the value of using metaphor based marketing research methods (most notably Zaltman Metaphor Elicitation Technique) in the development and green-lighting processes of filmmaking. A review of literature reveals that even large blockbuster films lack any marketing research employed in the developmental stage. Audiences are extremely difficult to analyze when considering something as abstract and subjective as what makes a “good” film. Metaphor based marketing research methods (e.g. ZMET) offer a solution by examining the minds of consumers through language markers called metaphors. Using a metaphor based marketing technique early in a film’s development process may help to …

Of Sharks And Spaceships: The Role Of The Tuba In John Williams's Film Scores For Jaws And Close Encounters Of The Third Kind, Stephen Davis Turner

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This document examines John Williams’s use of the tuba in his film scores. This unique timbral element has significant narrative implications in these movies. Film music scholarship is more often concerned with the questions of psychoanalysis, gendered readings, and other theoretical apparatuses than with how film composers score for individual instruments. My research aims to shift this focus by demonstrating that Williams used the tuba in his scores for more than typical “underscoring” or standard sectional playing, but as an integral part of the film narrative to be noticed and “read” by audiences. In both Jaws (1975) and Close Encounters …

Nick Fury, Will Smith, And Other Black Authority Figures Breaking The Racial Contract In Popular Films Of 2000-2015, Solai N. Wyman

Master's Theses

Film is arguably a model of reflection and reinforcement of cultural, social, and political values of audience members. Therefore, the images and messages displayed in films are of importance. In this study, film is analyzed in order to determine if Charles Mills’ racial contract is depicted in popular films of 2000-2015. The Racial Contract (1997) suggests that only some people, specifically white people, agree to form a state in which their absolute privileges in the political, economic, and social arenas are guaranteed by virtue of being white. This theory was used to understand the role of black people in American …

Immigrant Stories: Exploring The Conflicts That A Filmmaker Must Face In A Documentary, Berenice Saez Briceno

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study attempts to address the personal conflicts that a filmmaker must face in the making of a documentary. It contrasts definitions and theories with the experience of producing the documentary entitled Immigrant Stories and the ethical implications of making it. To conclude, it summarizes the results of the study as final thoughts.

Duality, The Methodology Of Shooting A Documentary As A One-Man Crew, James Mcmahen

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis will discuss Duality, a long-form documentary about artistic nude models who also create art involving the nude female form. This thesis will discuss the inspiration for the film, as well as the deciding factors that made me choose this as the topic for my thesis documentary.

This thesis will also cover the process and methodology of shooting a documentary as a one-man crew, beginning with the process of preproduction, then the principal photography of the documentary, followed by the editing and postproduction process, and finally premiering the final film.

Van Gogh: Changing Perceptions Of Mental Illness And Art, E. Deidre Pribram Ph.D.

Communications: Faculty Publications

This chapter explores interconnections among conceptualizations of mental illness, artistic genius, and emotional suffering. It does so through the extended example of Vincent Van Gogh from 1890, the year of his death, to the 1990s, a period of record-breaking sales of his work. My intention is to assess, first, how popular culture in contrast to modernist high art circles regard the place of emotionality in aesthetic activity. Second, I examine the role of emotions and emotional disorders in public perceptions of mental illness when applied to twentieth century art. Emotional disorders, as I use the term, encompass mood, anxiety, and …

Tuesday In Winter Valley, Nicholas Redding

Honors Projects

Tuesday in Winter Valley is a short student film about a difficult day in the life of a college transgender woman and how she stands up for herself. The film was shot in the Spring 2017 semester and its anticipated premiere is the Fall of 2017. Tuesday is an entirely student-run production with help from the BGSU Department of Theatre and Film.

"This Aggression Will Not Stand": The Coens On Masculinity, Evan Kelly

Honors Projects

This research examines the constructions of masculinity within the films of Joel and Ethan Coen. Through textual analysis of three film, Raising Arizona (1987), Fargo (1996), and The Big Lebowski (1998), three key themes emerge: masculinity as performance, children and family as ego extensions, toxic masculinity personified, and children and redemption through rejection of hegemonic masculinity. Comprehensively, the paper seeks to prove the Coens uniquely construct masculinity as a performance which can override public policy and interpersonal prosperity. This research serves several functions. First, it recasts the Coens as cutting-edge progressive filmmakers, despite their protestations to the contrary. What we …

The Portrayal Of Child Soldiers In Documentaries And Hollywood Film, Jessica Tassava

Butler Journal of Undergraduate Research

People in the United States are becoming increasingly mindful of child soldiers, with film being a critical means of bringing about awareness. However, awareness can be dependent upon media representation since most individuals in the U.S. do not have direct experiences with child soldiers. The purpose of the present study is to discover how the media has portrayed child soldiers in Hollywood films and documentaries, with an emphasis on the portrayal of violence, the role of women, and the reintegration experiences of child soldiers that are shown. Through a combined qualitative and quantitative content analysis, this study explores the depictions …

Letter From The Department Of Theatre, Dance & Film To The Dominican Fathers And Sisters, Department Of Theatre, Dance & Film

Playbill and Promotion

Providence College Department of Theatre, Dance & Film

Letter from the Department of Theatre, Dance & Film to the Dominican Fathers and Sisters inviting them to the Student Film Festival.

April 28, 2017

Mainstream Versus Ethnic Media: How They Shape Ethnic Pride And Self-Esteem Among Ethnic Minority Audiences, Srividya Ramasubramanian, Marissa Joanna Doshi, Muniba Saleem

Media Studies - All Scholarship

This article explores the underlying processes that influence the ways in which mainstream and ethnic media shape ethnic minority audiences’ self-concepts. Ethnic minorities are often underrepresented and presented in stereotypical and negative ways in mainstream popular U.S. culture, while ethnic media tend to represent them in more diverse and auspicious ways. This study uses survey methodology to simultaneously assess the differential effects of mainstream and ethnic media on ethnic minorities. Specifically, it tests the role of mainstream media and ethnic media in influencing ethnic pride, self-esteem, and ethnic performance (behavioral expression of one’s ethnic identity) among Indian Americans. Results from …

Cli-­Fi Cinema: An Epideictic Rhetoric Of Blame, Chloe Louise Powell

Graduate Research Symposium (2010 - 2017)

This thesis identifies and explains the mechanisms within two cli­-fi films, The Day The Earth Stood Still (2008), and Interstellar (2014), to offer an account of: (1) their purpose in helping us to understand and cope with climate change, and (2) their use in the transmission of values and ideologies in order to build and strengthen community. Because cli­-fi films begin from a dystopic vision of a possible future, it fulfills the "blame" function of epideictic in order to provoke the "ecological imagination." Through this provocation we are then provided the possibility of hope and redemption through the adoption of …

Blade Runner And The Divine Menace, Alexander W. Pickens

MAD-RUSH Undergraduate Research Conference

Following the decline of Christianity in mainstream Western culture, a void rose in the moral and societal code. Those writers that emerged presented alternate visions that worked their way into the literature of the 20th century. Karl Marx's interpretation of the structure of labor in capitalism presented a new societal hierarchy whose finer points have been worked out in the complex film Blade Runner. This dystopian nightmare, in which a Marxist interpretation of current society bogged down by the ennui of capitalist accumulation is confronted, describes a new religious order based upon this economic theory. Central to this reimagining …

Female Moments / Male Structures: The Representation Of Women In Romantic Comedies, Jordan A. Scharaga

Media and Communication Studies Honors Papers

Boy meets girl, boy loses girl, boy gets girl again. With this formula it seems that romantic comedies are actually meant for men instead of women. If this is the case, then why do women watch these films? The repetition of female stars like Katharine Hepburn, Doris Day and Meg Ryan in romantic comedies allows audiences to find elements of truth in their characters as they grapple with the input of others in their life choices, combat the anxiety of being single, and prove they are less sexually naïve than society would like to admit. In 1999, a character struggles …

Homosociality In Michael Radford’S "The Merchant Of Venice", Eric A. Pitz

Conspectus Borealis

No abstract provided.

Movies In Medicine: Cinema Therapy For Children Suffering From Chronic Health Conditions, Wesley D. Buskirk

Cinesthesia

Children suffering from chronic health conditions endure many traumatic experiences, which often result in physiological turmoil. Physiological turmoil from posttraumatic stress can negatively impact pediatric patients' treatments and frequently requires therapy to promote psychological well-being, physical health, and lifelong coping methods. Cinema therapy, also known as movie therapy, utilizes narrative-based audiovisual stimuli as a therapeutic catalyst for child medical patients suffering from chronic health conditions.

Faint Glimmers Of Civilization: Mediated Nostalgia And “The Grand Budapest Hotel”, Jamie L. Bick

Cinesthesia

This paper explores how Wes Anderson strategically uses nostalgia in his 2014 film The Grand Budapest Hotel as a form of social commentary on the European interwar period and its relation to the current historical era.

Understanding Loss Of Self In "My Beautiful Broken Brain", Erika P. Collin

Cinesthesia

No abstract provided.

The Value Of Parental Co-Viewing On Children And Families, Alison Work

Cinesthesia

When we think back to movie watching in the sixties, we typically picture a family sitting around the television and experiencing the film together. Nowadays, it is common for parents to put on a movie for their child to watch while they focus on other tasks. In our modern, fast paced environment, with movies available to stream at all times, the act of watching a movie as a family has become increasingly rare, and there has been a lack of parental monitoring of media. Consequently, films are not being utilized to their full potential. Films can have a tremendous impact …

"Revealing Reality": Four Asian Filmmakers Visualize The Transnational Imaginary, Stephen Edward Spence

American Studies ETDs

This dissertation posits that four Asian filmmakers engage in “revealing reality” in unique but interconnected ways that employ innovative narrative and cinematic/visual techniques, including a direct address to the senses and an augmenting of their vision with fantasy or surrealism. My study argues that Hou Hsiao-hsien (Taiwan), Jia Zhangke (China), Tsai Ming-liang (Taiwan), and Apichatpong Weerasethakul (Thailand) mobilize this visual and narrative strategy to participate in debates about globalization and to comment on the state of their respective nations, the concept of the nation, and the transnational. The films of each artist are examined in detail; I investigate their stylistic …

1st Place Contest Entry: Critical Media Literacy: Liberating The "Criminal" And Empowering African American Males, Talia Cain

Kevin and Tam Ross Undergraduate Research Prize

This is Talia Cain's submission for the 2017 Kevin and Tam Ross Undergraduate Research Prize, which won first place. She wrote about how media contributes to the criminalization of African American males and the effects of this on African American male students.

Talia is a sophomore at Chapman University, majoring in Integrated Educational Studies. Her faculty mentor is Professor Anne Steketee.

Widerstandsidentitäten: Identitäts- Und Heimatsuche Der Nachfolgegenerationen Türkischer Migranten In Fatih Akins Gegen Die Wand, Feo Aladağs Die Fremde Und Feridun Zaimoğlus Kanak Sprak, Anja Ruxanda Barr

Foreign Languages & Literatures ETDs

ABSTRACT

This paper examines how Fatih Akin’s film Head-On/Gegen die Wand (2004), Feo Aladağ’s film When We Leave/Die Fremde (2010), and Feridun Zaimoğlu’s text Kanak Spraak construct a new Turkish-German identity that is established through resistance to a homogenously imagined culture. With the current influx of immigrants to Germany, the debate about integration, hybridity, and divergence has become more important than ever. The emergence of hybrid migrant identities that are being problematized in Turkish-German movies and texts has shown that issues of belonging and identity caused by multipositionality have become an integral part of Turkish-German narratives. Over time, representations …

Mass Media In Society, Sarah Mathis, Camila Garcia, Douglas Laman, Amanda Crotzer, Veronica Nicole Lang

Collin College Undergraduate Interdisciplinary Student Research Conference

Panel Chair: Lisa Vazzi

Student Presenters: Sarah Mathis, Camila Garcia, Douglas Laman, Amanda Crotzer, and Veronica Nicole Liang

• Sarah Mathis “The Effects of Media on Women’s Body Image”
• Camila Garcia “Positive Advantages of Mass Communication”
• Douglas Laman “Autism, Actually: A Look at Representation of Autism in Pop Culture”
• Amanda Crotzer “Thruth in Advertising: Targeting Children in and Age of Privatized Media Consumption”

Potter, Hugh Oliver, 1905-1986 (Mss 602), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Collection 602. Correspondence, research notes, book manuscripts, promotional material, and editorials related to Hugh O. Potter’s career as a radio broadcaster and his interests in Kentucky history, specifically Owensboro and Daviess County, and Abraham Lincoln. Includes one box of original legal documents (1783-1953) related to the Massie family of Daviess County.

Images, Speech Balloons, And Artful Representation: Comics As Visual Narratives Of Early Career Teachers, Julian Lawrence, Ching-Chiu Lin, Rita Irwin

SANE journal: Sequential Art Narrative in Education

The ways in which teachers adjust to challenges in the process of becoming professionals are complicated. Teacher mentorship, however, is an important step to creating and sustaining a strong professional career. This article discusses new understandings from a Canadian research project: Pedagogical Assemblage: Building and Sustaining Teacher Capacity through Mentoring Programs in British Columbia. Through our use of an a/r/tography informed methodology in teacher mentorship, we have come to understand how the use of comics permits an unfolding of visual narratives as a unique way of contextualizing the complex stories of teaching and learning. Our motivation in employing comics as …

Teaching Critical Looking: Pedagogical Approaches To Using Comics As Queer Theory, Ashley Manchester

SANE journal: Sequential Art Narrative in Education

Given the challenging depth of queer theoretical concepts, this article argues that one of the most effective ways to teach the complexities of queer theory is by utilizing comics in the classroom. I focus on how college-level instructors can use the content, form, and history of comics to teach students how to enact and do queer theory. By reading and making comics, students learn concrete and theoretical tools for combatting oppressive discourses and modes of meaning making. Teaching comics as queer theory promotes both innovative critical thinking and critical looking skills by centralizing both the rich history of queer comics …

Using Superheroes To Visually And Critically Analyze Comics, Stereotypes, And Society, Mike P. Cook, Ryle Frey

SANE journal: Sequential Art Narrative in Education

The purpose of this article is to provide teachers and students useful methods for utilizing the power of comic books as literacy sponsors in ELA classrooms. Given the continued boom in the popularity of comics in popular culture, this provides a relevant way to introduce students to visual and critical analysis. Engaging in meaningful analysis of comic superheroes can help students develop the skills required to critically analyze the stereotypes and social issues both within comics and within the world that surrounds them. Through the study of traditional and contemporary comic book heroes, students can critique society and begin to …