Film and Media Studies Commons^™

Cultivating Transmedia Storytelling: Real World Perceptions Derived From Popular Media, Tabitha Lynn Cassidy

Wayne State University Dissertations

With continued interest in media convergence, transmedia storytelling is as prevalent to communication studies as ever. However, research into the effects of transmedia storytelling remains scarce. Looking at the difference between heavy and light viewers, cultivation theory purports that those who more frequently view violent programming on television are more likely to think the world is a violent place. As of writing, such effects have not yet been extended to transmedia storytelling. This dissertation fills in those gaps in research by examining the cultivation effects of transmedia storytelling usage on participants. First, the main themes or messages of content within …

Sonic Motion And Heaviness In Black Media, Kevin Dwight Ball

Wayne State University Dissertations

Sonic Motion and Heaviness in Black Media investigates music videos that imagine alternative black futures through the embodied motion of sound or, more directly, “bodies of sound.” It analyzes videos by contemporary artists such as Kendrick Lamar, Vince Staples, Flying Lotus, and Beyoncé that raise the question: How would it feel to have a body made of sound? To move with and through sonority against the epistemic, spatial, and omnidirectional pressure of antiblackness? This “sonic motion” manifests as levitating bodies, haunted choreographic sequences, and black feet on the run, with each visual motif elaborating the timbral and rhythmical dynamics of …

Working The News: Preserving Professional Identity Through Networked Journalism At Elite News Media, Jenny Hauser

Doctoral

The concept of journalism as a profession has arguably been fraught and contested throughout its existence. Ideologically, it is founded on a claim to norms and a code of ethics, but in the past, news media also held material control over mass communication through broadcast and print which were largely inaccessible to most citizens. The Internet and social media has created a news environment where professional journalists and their work exist side-by-side with non-journalists. In this space, acts of journalism also can be and are carried out by non-journalists. Through the new news distribution channels offered by social media, non-journalists …

Jazzland: Absent Yet Present, Devin Townsend

Summer Community of Scholars Posters (RCEU and HCR Combined Programs)

No abstract provided.

Homelessness In Akron: A Research Documentary, Tyler Gunter

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

This Honors Research Project at The University of Akron is one that will serve as a learning experience relative to my Major and will also become a useful tool to show my expertise to potential employers. My project is a filmed and edited mini-documentary on homelessness in the city of Akron. The link to the project can be found on page 15.

Through this project, I am hoping to bring more awareness to the issues of homelessness in Akron, and some of the different services and programs that are assisting those who are in need. I will be doing this …

Designing A Website For A Non-Profit Organization, Kristen Lauck

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

The purpose of this honors project is to redesign and launch a website for the nonprofit organization Better Future Facilitators. Better Future Facilitators is a 501c3 non-profit organization that helps homeless men and women start their own businesses by providing them with the education, skills, and support necessary to be successful and break the cycle of homelessness.

Starting June 3rd, I will be writing website copy, taking photographs, reorganizing content, and designing a simple website layout for betterfuturefacilitators.org via Wix.com’s website creator. This website will allow the organization to better communicate with their target public and create a secure place …

The Wedding War, Meredith Garcia-Painter

LMU Theses and Dissertations

An overly protective young woman tries to plan her sister’s perfect wedding, while clashing with the ultra-traditional Chinese mother of the groom.

Never Seen Before--Again: Aesthetic Adaptation And Transmedia Storytelling Networks In The Age Of Digital Cinema, Mike Mccleary

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

The primary purpose of this study is to re-evaluate the theorization of the narrative/non-narrative divide in cinema because there is still far too much rich information that is being lost in the chasm left between these two positions, particularly when it comes to the study of spectacular imagery. Working beyond the binary construction of a narrative/non-narrative divide allows for a more nuanced and dynamic analysis of the information that is conveyed by the cinematic image and, more specifically, by way of its aesthetic design. By no means is this study championing image over story or any other such formulation; rather …

A Comparison Of Older Adult Suicide And Adolescent Suicide Through Film Representations, Catherine Longmore-Micham

Honors Projects

Approximately, 47,173 people in the United States died by suicide in 2017, making it the 10th leading cause of death. Although middle-aged adults have the highest rate of suicide, 20.2 per 100,000, older adults (i.e., individuals 60 years and older) closely follow with a rate of 20.1. Adolescent age groups have much lower rates for suicide: a rate of 14.46 per 100,100 in 2017 (American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, 2017). The risk factors that affect adolescents and older adults are similar in some ways, but they differ in one major aspect: impulsivity. The issues that can be said to ‘cause’ …

The Mileage Of The Weary Father: Harrison Ford As Aging Screen Action Icon, Bahnt G. Freiberger

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

This thesis explores how fatherhood guides cinematic narratives of aging masculinity through a star study of the late-stage career of Harrison Ford. It bridges fundamental cultural studies of masculinity, such as those by Raewyn Connell and Michael Kimmel, with film studies to provide key insights into cultural narratives of maleness related to vulnerability, heroism, and most significantly, fatherhood. By focusing on Ford’s late-career reprisal of his iconic characters, I explore how the development of his image provides a postmillennial recontextualization of twentieth century masculine iconography. This study covers three cinematic texts: Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull …

Funding A Feature: Creating A Film Business Plan, Jordan C. Hunt

Senior Honors Theses

Every film, from the smallest indie to the biggest studio blockbuster, must be funded, and all investors who finance a movie expect that the movie will give them a return on their investment. In order to seek funding, many filmmakers create a business plan to present to potential investors. Beginning with the film industry as a whole, this paper will define a specific target audience and distribution plan for one film in order to create a business plan. The film, titled Intertwined, is an independent low budget family drama that will primarily raise funds through equity investors. This is …

Power To The People: Responsible Facilitation In Co-Creative Story-Making, Amanda Hill

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Power to the People: Responsible Facilitation in Co-Creative Story-Making describes and applies a tool for recording and analyzing the co-productive creation process of digital storytelling (DST) workshops to be used by project facilitators for the purposes of reflection and for developing an ethics of responsibly in story-making practices. It provides a method for analyzing digital storytelling practices that focuses on the rhetorical, dialogic, co-productive, creative story-making space rather than the finished stories or the technologies. Looking through a new media lens, this dissertation aligns the DST genre and practice in relation to alternative media broadly, and tactical media specifically, to …

Legends Of The Fabricated Wild: An Experimental Representation Of Natural Landscapes Through The Utilization Of Analog Film Techniques, Nicholas Twardus

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Legends of the Fabricated Wild is a feature-length body of work of landscape films. Voice-Destroy, Self-Portrait: Impermanence and the titular Legends of the Fabricated Wild are the experimental films that comprise my body of work. Keep your Distance, a single-channel installation, is a supplemental piece. Legends of the Fabricated Wild frames the complex interaction between a filmmaker and the collective unconsciousness of the natural environment, a theory outlined by Carl Jung, considering the implications and discoveries along the way. Subtle movement and precise compositions provide a transcendental perspective on the natural Florida landscape. Images of landscapes devoid of human figures …

Adaptive Acts: Queer Voices And Radical Adaptation In Multi-Ethnic American Literary And Visual Culture, Michael M. Means

Theses and Dissertations

Adaptation Studies suffers from a deficiency in the study of black, brown, yellow, and red adaptive texts, adaptive actors, and their practices. Adaptive Acts intervenes in this Eurocentric discourse as a study of adaptation with a (queer) POC perspective. My dissertation reveals that artists of color (re)create texts via dynamic modes of adaptation such as hyper-literary allusion, the use of meta-narratives as framing devices, and on-site collaborative re-writes that speak to/from specific cultural discourses that Eurocentric models alone cannot account for. I examine multi-ethnic American adaptations to delineate the role of adaptation in the continuance of stories that contest dominant …

A Child Shall Lead Them: Exploring Discourses Of Efficacy And Climate Change As They Appear In Children's Animated Film, Jason Derry

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Recent climate change discourse has tended to presume scientific knowledge and rational argumentation as the principle factor in convincing peoples and publics toward climate action. However, scholarship across numerous fields reveals myriad other contributing factors in how people think about and respond to this environmental crisis, which leans predominately toward silence and apathy. Alongside this, children are often centered as inheriting a calamity, yet find themselves largely disempowered. From out of this rhetorical milieu I interject by way of a multidisciplinary grounding to examine the predominate framings of efficacy in the context of children, climate change, and environmental discourse. To …

El Cine De Honduras: El Neorrealismo, El Expresionismo Y La Transformacion Social En Los Filmes De Sami Kafati E Hispano Duron, David Joseph Inczauskis

Master's Theses

Sami Kafati e Hispano Durón son dos de los directores más importantes en la historia del cine hondureño, pero sus obras han recibido poca atención académica. De hecho, muchos investigadores ignoran el cine hondureño por completo. Este estudio define algunas características esenciales de la historia fílmica del país al argumentar que tendencias neorrealistas y expresionistas captan los deseos de los directores de describir las fuerzas estructurales opresivas en Honduras, retratar la angustia que estas fuerzas producen y utilizar esta angustia para alentar al espectador a transformar la nación hacia la justicia social y la equidad de género.

Poison Ivy's Green Screen Debut: A Rhetorical Criticism On Erasing Identity On Screen, Jennifer Baney

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

This project investigates the loss of power on screen for female comic book characters. Specifically, I investigate how scenes create narratives using heteronormativity and over-sexualization of female characters. The artifact of analysis included in this project is Batman and Robin (1997). This text focuses on Poison Ivy, including the background of the character before dissecting her role in the film. Turning to Sonja J. Foss (2009) and her feminist critique as a guide to understanding the implications of this research. Using feminist criticism, I argue that Poison Ivy was put in a lesser position, removed of her power, and was …

Annual Report 2018-2019, Depaul University College Of Computing And Digital Media

CDM Annual Reports

LETTER FROM THE DEAN

I am pleased to share with you the 2018-19 College of Computing and Digital Media (CDM) annual report, highlighting the important work done by our faculty, students, and staff. We’ve said this before, and we’ll say it again: it was a big year. In 2018-19, programs across all three of our schools (Computing, Cinematic Arts, and Design) were ranked nationally. Our faculty were published in dozens of scholarly journals, screened their films over 100 times, and had their work exhibited globally. Student and alumni accomplishments included an Emmy nomination, a first place win in a Department …

The Intermedial Politics Of Handwritten Newspapers In The 19th-Century U.S., Mark A. Mattes

Faculty and Staff Scholarship

Handwritten newspapers appeared in a variety of social contexts in the 19th-century U.S.1 The largest extant portion of 19th-century handwritten newspapers emerged from home and school settings. More far-flung examples include those written aboard ships during exploratory and military voyages. Others were produced within institutions such as hospitals and asylums. Such works were written during times of privation, including life in an army regiment or a prisoner-of-war camp during the Civil War. At other times, handwritten newspapers accompanied efforts at westward settlement and transcontinental railway journeys. Impromptu papers could follow in the wake of natural disasters that knocked out print-based …

The Female Nature: Representations Of Motherhood And Nature In Dystopian Films, Veronica Andrea Martinez

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

This study will explore female representation and conceptualization of nature in dystopian narratives by examining dystopian films. The study is guided by film theory and ecofeminism to investigate themes of domination of both nature and women. The main goal is to examine the structure, themes, dialogue, and visuals in the films to explore the underlying essence of dystopian narratives and examine roles of reproduction and motherhood of female characters. The study contributes to previous studies on female and nature representation in media.

Bass Reeves: A Screenplay, James Walzel

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

This Thesis does not have an abstact.

Animated Encounters: Transnational Movements Of Chinese Animation, 1940s-1970s By Daisy Yan Du (Review), Li Guo

World Languages and Cultures Faculty Publications

In her groundbreaking monograph, Daisy Yan Du offers a rigorous discussion of Chinese animation by highlighting the historical course of Chinese animation and how animated filmmaking contests the notion of nationhood and opens up a spatialized conception of intercultural encounters and collaboration. The book contains a theoretical introduction essay, four substantial chapters, a concise epilogue, and three appendices on animated films by Mochinaga Tadahito, on leaders of Shanghai Animation Film Studio, and on major publications on Chinese animation. It contributes valuable discussions on the “disjuncture between politics and aesthetics in the sense that politics cannot fully control arts” (Du 2020, …

การเขียนบทละครเพลงว่าด้วยเรื่องเล่าเกี่ยวกับชีวิตของจิตร ภูมิศักดิ์, นฤทธิ์ ปาเฉย

Chulalongkorn University Theses and Dissertations (Chula ETD)

งานวิจัยนี้ศึกษาวิธีการเขียนบทละครเพลงว่าด้วยเรื่องเล่าเกี่ยวกับชีวิตของจิตร ภูมิศักดิ์ โดยใช้การนำเสนอรูปแบบละครเพลง (musical theatre) และใช้วิธีการนำเสนอแบบหลายโครงเรื่อง (multiple plots) เพื่อแสดงให้เห็นว่าเรื่องเล่าเกี่ยวกับชีวิตของจิตร ภูมิศักดิ์ ถูกผลิตขึ้นและนำไปใช้ด้วยวัตถุประสงค์ที่แตกต่างกัน การยึดติดบุคคลต้นแบบที่ผ่านการประกอบสร้างจากเรื่องเล่า อาจทำให้เกิดความแตกแยกทางความคิดในสังคมที่บานปลายสู่การใช้ความรุนแรงได้ ผู้วิจัยศึกษาแนวคิดเกี่ยวกับการผลิตเรื่องเล่า ละครเพลง การเขียนบทละครเพลง การเขียนคำร้องในละครเพลงและวิธีการนำเสนอแบบหลายโครงเรื่อง จากนั้นจึงดำเนินการเขียนบทละครเพลงร่างที่ 1 โดยพัฒนาบทละครเพลงจากการจัดแสดงในรูปแบบการอ่าน (stage reading) แล้วนำความคิดเห็นของผู้ชมมาประมวล เพื่อพัฒนาเป็นบทละครเพลงร่างที่ 2 ก่อนนำเข้าสู่กระบวนการผลิตและจัดแสดงอย่างเต็มรูปแบบ จากการประเมินผลการวิจัยผ่านการจัดแสดงอย่างเต็มรูปแบบ ผู้วิจัยได้ข้อสรุปว่า การนำเสนอด้วยรูปแบบละครเพลงสามารถส่งเสริมการถ่ายทอดประเด็นสำคัญของเรื่องที่เต็มไปด้วยความขัดแย้งทางความคิดในประเด็นทางสังคมและการเมือง ด้วยการยกระดับประสบการณ์ทางอารมณ์ของผู้ชมควบคู่ไปกับการทำงานทางความคิด และการใช้วิธีการนำเสนอแบบหลายโครงเรื่อง โดยออกแบบปฏิสัมพันธ์ของเหตุการณ์บนโครงเรื่องตามวัตถุประสงค์ของบทละครเพลง สามารถกระตุ้นความคิดเชิงวิพากษ์ (critical thinking) ของผู้ชมให้มีต่อเรื่องราวและประเด็นสำคัญของเรื่อง และเผยให้เห็นการประกอบสร้างบุคคลต้นแบบผ่านเรื่องเล่า รวมถึงอิทธิพลชองการสืบทอดอุดมการณ์ทางการเมืองผ่านบุคคลต้นแบบ

Graphic Content Warning; Personal And Political Traumas, Emily K. Wardell

Theses and Dissertations

The written portion of this thesis work is meant to address and further investigate the visual work created using mediums of print and found video. This artistic research has been interested in examining varying associations with truth, recollection, and evidence. This includes the recollection of public histories and news-media narratives as well as my own history and trauma. Through this work my aim was to create a deconstruction and revolt against how associations are formed, and how to understand imagery as information. This thesis first discusses my relationship to appropriated imagery, then connects and examines it through the addition of …

The Mountains At The End Of The World: Subcultural Appropriations Of Appalachia And The Hillbilly Image, 1990-2010, Paul L. Robertson

Theses and Dissertations

There is an aversion within the field of Appalachian Studies to addressing the cultural formulations of the Appalachian/hillbilly/mountaineer as an icon of aggressive resistance. The aversion is understandable, as for far too long images of the irrationally and savagely violent mountaineer were integral to the most gross popular culture stereotypes of Appalachia. Media consumers often take pleasure or comfort in these images, which usually occur in a reactionary context with the hillbilly as either a type of nationally necessary savage OR as an unregenerate barbarian against whom a national civilization will triumph and benefit by the struggle.

I bookend my …

Silver Sands, David Riley

Theses and Dissertations

Silver Sands is a thirty-minute documentary film and accompanying installation that traces the story of Marc Hampton, a gay, desert-dwelling Vietnam vet, former Playgirl model, and vintage car collector who lost two lovers to AIDS. Drawing on videotaped interviews, shots of his house and environs, and extensive use of his personal photographic archive, this work addresses evolving ideas of memory and representation within the queer community. The film is divided into various chapters which function as meditations on masculinity, aging, loss, spirituality and intergenerational relationships. Marc becomes an archetypal figure––the survivor––whose meandering recollections illustrate some of the complexities of gay …

Out Of The Margins: Evolving Narrative Representation Of Women In Video Games, Rowan Lucas

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examines narrative representation of female characters in video games and how game narratives and representations contribute to socio-cultural discourse. First, this thesis explores and defines the cultural background for female representation in video games. It then defines video games as a type of text and describes the features that are unique to games, such as the use of avatars, and what impacts these features have on game narratives. The thesis attempts to establish evidence of an evolutionary arc of comprehensive female representation in video games by first exploring historical female narrative tropes, and then comparing them to narrative …

Humans Aren't Boxes, Art Isn't Finite, Brianne Alta Humphreys

Theses and Dissertations

I am bored. All around me are systems that perpetuate repetitive, reductive, and mundane modes of living. In an attempt to counter a culture obsessed with singular ways of existence and bite-sized perfection, I utilize moving mediums of video and performance to dive head first into a vast array of sloppy sincerity. The crisp, white-washed, analytical, and restrictive is loudly replaced with the empirical, haphazard, and instinctual. My intention is to create and encourage raw, performative-based work that is as multifaceted as unbridled life itself. This alive and physical practice hosts a conglomeration of sweat, memories, heartbreaks, hymn singing, line …

The Puppets Look Like Flowers At Last, Evie Metz

Theses and Dissertations

The urge to uncover aspects of human condition permeates my work, from the fundamental curiosity of a child tearing apart their doll to uncover what lies within to continuing a quest in uncovering basic human urges through my puppet animated dramas and tragedies. There is a controversial line between the childlike and the adult-like that can be ambiguous, and at some times more discernible while other times less. I create handcrafted stop-frame puppet animations that explore self-conscious emotions such as embarrassment, shame, and envy within unpredictable life scenarios. These are animations about inner life, attempting to resolve conflicting elements of …

Parallel Narrative: Short-Video Social Media Platforms’ Influences On Contemporary Narrative, Ruiqi Zhang

Theses and Dissertations

Through the study of Kwai, a popular short-video social media platform in China, this thesis investigates the social issues, media class divides and aesthetics specific to Kwai culture. It further proposes a strategy of artistic practice - parallel narrative - an experiment in video art production and editing techniques that explores new possibilities of narrative in video art. Integrating theoretical research on Post-Internet art and object-oriented ontology, this thesis reveals people’s ability to digest multisource information and shows how mobile technologies and open-source materials contribute to the formation of parallel narratives.