Film and Media Studies Commons^™

Taiwanese Cinema, James N. Udden

Cinema & Media Studies Faculty Publications

Like the island itself, the cinema of Taiwan has always been in a perpetual state of liminality. Taiwan was a Japanese colony for fifty years (1895–1945) and during that time no cinema that could be labeled as distinctively “Taiwanese” emerged. After World War II, Taiwanese cinema was still caught between a political rock and an economic hard place. Despite allowing some low-budget films to be made in the Taiwanese dialect, the Kuomintang (KMT, aka “Nationalist”) government made sure its cinema did not violate its core ideological tenets of a “Greater China.” This came largely at the expense of anything specifically …

Un Nino Judio En El Equipo: Futbol E Identidad En Pelota De Trap (De Leopoldo Torres Rios), Mirna Vohnsen

Articles

Este art ículo se centra en la representación de Abrahamcito, un niño judío que aparece en la película argentina Pelota de trapo (Leopoldo Torres Ríos, 1948). Se explora la relación que el niño tiene con su padre y los demás niños del vecindario, así como también la manera en que el fútbol como metáfora de integración promueve una alianza superior a cualquier otra. Se demuestra que Abrahamcito, quien hace frente a los ideales de su padre y se une a los otros niños en los juegos de pelota, forja su identidad de pertenencias múltiples en la que integra su identidad …

Digital Surrealism: Visualizing Walt Disney Animation Studios, Kevin L. Ferguson

Publications and Research

There are a number of fruitful digital humanities approaches to cinema and media studies, but most of them only pursue traditional forms of scholarship by extracting a single variable from the audiovisual text that is already legible to scholars. As an alternative, cinema and media studies should pursue a mostly-ignored "digital surrealism" that uses computer-based methods to transform film texts in radical ways not previously possible. This article describes one such method using the z-projection function of the scientific image analysis software ImageJ to sum film frames in order to create new composite images. Working with the fifty-five feature-length films …

In Search Of Lost Selves: Memory And Subjectivity In Transnational Art Cinema, Anders J. Bergstrom

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

This dissertation begins from the position that cinema’s ongoing persistence as a specific operation of subjective perception is intimately related to the questions of self and memory it raises. Even as digitization and global capitalism have ostensibly led to the creation of a “post-cinematic” culture, cinematic forms and practices remain inextricably related to the larger (often unacknowledged) metaphysical concerns of the cultures and social contexts in which they continue to signify. These concerns—which include beliefs in perceptual realism, the relations between images and the past, and notions of selfhood—shape both the production and consumption of cinema as a tool which …

Exploring Movie Construction & Production: What’S So Exciting About Movies?, John Reich

Milne Open Textbooks

Exploring Movie Construction & Production contains eight chapters of the major areas of film construction and production. The discussion covers theme, genre, narrative structure, character portrayal, story, plot, directing style, cinematography, and editing. Important terminology is defined and types of analysis are discussed and demonstrated. An extended example of how a movie description reflects the setting, narrative structure, or directing style is used throughout the book to illustrate building blocks of each theme. This approach to film instruction and analysis has proved beneficial to increasing students’ learning, while enhancing the creativity and critical thinking of the student.

Read this text …

The Post Banishment Films Of Jafar Panahi, Christopher L. Inoa

Capstones

https://medium.com/@ChristopherInoa/the-post-banishment-films-of-jafar-panahi-b039b44c810b#.xcvqp7z07

New Hollywood: Classical Hollywood In A New Light, Wesley D. Buskirk

Cinesthesia

This essay analyzes the manifestations of America’s post-1960 film industry, more specifically the rise of “New Hollywood.” In response to governmental intervention of the studio system, the popularization of commercial television, and the influences of the French New Wave, Hollywood’s emerging “film generation” embraced the commercialization of the star auteur and the blockbuster picture. George Lucas and Steven Spielberg, sons of the “Hollywood Renaissance,” capitalized on the potential of “high concept,” “ultra-high-budget” feature films and their associated synergetic marketing systems, a phenomenon referred to as the “blockbuster syndrome.” Jaws, a pioneering New Hollywood megapicture directed by Spielberg, exhibits the “Lucas-Spielberg” …

Copyright In A Nutshell For Found Footage Filmmakers, Brian L. Frye

Law Faculty Popular Media

Found footage is an existing motion picture that is used as an element of a new motion picture. Found footage filmmaking dates back to the origins of cinema. Filmmakers are practical and frugal, and happy to reuse materials when they can. But found footage filmmaking gradually developed into a rough genre of films that included documentaries, parodies, and collages. And found footage became a familiar element of many other genres, which used found footage to illustrate a historical point or evoke an aesthetic response.

It can be difficult to determine whether found footage is protected by copyright, who owns the …

Exploring Hollywood Cinema: A Look At Cinematic Techniques And The Classical Hollywood Ideology, Jeb E. Johnson Mr

Undergraduate Honors Theses

The focus of this thesis is to explore the ideas behind Hollywood Cinema and techniques used to craft camera shots of today’s cinema. The movie industry is one of the United States’ biggest export profits; because of this, American movies standout above the rest. I will be exploring and demonstrating the researched techniques of American cinema.

Meditation On A Cat Picture And A Flamingo Statue, Lucas Alexander

AUCTUS: The Journal of Undergraduate Research and Creative Scholarship

I am a very visual person. As a student studying cinema, I’m interested in creating stories that can be woven together into a film. Even when something isn’t “supposed to” contain elements of narrative and fiction as defined by its medium, I do my very best to put them in there anyway. I want to make my own unique stories, in pictures and in words. Optimally, they end up being amusing.

When making anything, I tend to hack a jagged path through the whole mess as fast as possible, and have something technically defined as a finished product as soon …

Father Of All Destruction: The Role Of The White Father In Contemporary Post-Apocalyptic Cinema, Felicia Cosey

Theses and Dissertations--English

Since September 11, 2001 a substantial number of English-language, post-apocalyptic films have been released. This renewed interest in the genre has prompted scholars to examine the circumstances within western society that make post-apocalyptic films appealing to audiences. The popularity of these films derives from a narrative structure that reinforces conservative notions of good and bad and moral absolutism. The post-9/11, post-apocalyptic film typically features a white male hero who, in one way or another, reestablishes the pre-apocalyptic social order through proclamations of mandatory and prohibitive laws that must be adhered to by the survivors. The hero of post-apocalyptic film does …

Le Cinéma Face À L’Oblitération Génocidaire. Silences Éloquents Et Hors-Champ Intérieur Chez Philippe Van Leeuw Et Kivu Ruhorahoza, Alexandre Dauge-Roth, Ayse Irem Ikizler

Présence Francophone: Revue internationale de langue et de littérature

Philippe Van Leeuw and Kivu Ruhorahoza’s cinema proposes an esthetic and ethical gaze that distances itself from the historic realism that defines the majority of the films on the genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda. By conferring an unprecedented eloquence to different types of silence and by maintaining viewers in a concerted state of ignorance, both filmmakers question societies’ will to know within the legacy of genocide and their willingness to culturally acknowledge the traumatic resonance of its aftermath.

Now, We Hear Through A Voice Darkly: New Media And Narratology In Cinematic Art, James Anthony Ricci

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation explores the intersection of new media and narrative, as it is presented through a cinematic aesthetic. The narrative language of film is analyzed through the theoretical framework of Bakhtin’s concepts of Heteroglossia, Chronotope, and Dialogism. Bakhtin’s ideas of classifying language act as strong tools for demonstrating how cinematic narrative can inform and alter the perception of its spectators. Lev Manovich’s principles of New Media, specifically Variability, Modularity, and Automation are also utilized to demonstrate how cinema is a constantly evolving paradigm.

Chapter one focuses on the theoretical terminology, outlining the conceptual definitions and illustrating their relevance in precise …

Genre, Justice & Quentin Tarantino, Eric Michael Blake

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The films of Quentin Tarantino have held a significant influence on modern cinema, and therefore on cinema studies. As such, studies on the social and philosophical implications of his work have appeared over the years, mostly in regards to content. However, with the exception of references to his use of cinematic violence, studies of his technique—i.e., his cinematic style—have been rare, and rarer still have been studies of the social implications that arise from the patterns of his style as well as those his subject matter.

The following thesis seeks to use the concept of Auteur Theory—specifically, that Tarantino …

Realizing The Witch: Science, Cinema, And The Mastery Of The Invisible [Table Of Contents], Richard Baxstrom, Todd Meyers

Cinema & Media Studies

Benjamin Christensen’s Häxan (The Witch, 1922) stands as a singular film within the history of cinema. Deftly weaving contemporary scientific analysis and powerfully staged historical scenes of satanic initiation, confession under torture, possession, and persecution, Häxan creatively blends spectacle and argument to provoke a humanist re-evaluation of witchcraft in European history as well as the contemporary treatment of female “hysterics” and the mentally ill.

In Realizing the Witch, Baxstrom and Meyers show how Häxan opens a window onto wider debates in the 1920s regarding the relationship of film to scientific evidence, the evolving study of religion from historical and …

On The Convergence Of Cinema And Theme Parks: Developing A Predictable Model For Creative Design, Ryan Luke Terry

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The goal of this research study is to develop a model of information that will enable media conglomerates and other companies, with theme park investments, to make informed and effective decisions based on scholarly and empirical evidences. In order to do this, the following research study uses historic, scholarly, journalistic, and focus group evidences to consolidate the information necessary to create a model to support concepts and designs. The paper begins with establishing why it is important for media conglomerates, with theme park investments, to integrate cinema into the park’s design. Then it looks back through the history of cinema …

Discours Sur L’Environnement Et Stratégies Empathiques De L’Hégémonie Dans Les Écritures Francophones D’Afrique Noire, Jean-Blaise Samou

Présence Francophone: Revue internationale de langue et de littérature

It is a known that discourse developed on Africa in the European imagination between the late nineteenth and the first half of the twentieth century had largely contributed to the implementation of colonial ideology. Today, African writings recover and rework those discourses, highlighting the language strategies by which the construction of a tropical otherness, territorial dispossession and colonial domination in Africa were part of a pragmatic discourse. The analysis of those discourses in some novels and movies from French-speaking Black Africa not only reveals the environmental issues that underlay the European colonial adventure in Africa, but also the interest for …

Egyptian Film And Feminism: Egypt’S View Of Women Through Cinema, Wesley D. Buskirk

Cinesthesia

This essay analyzes the history of Egyptian film in relationship to the common perception of women in Egypt. From the early stages of Egyptian cinema, women assumed leadership positions, helping build the undeveloped industry to its height in the mid-1900's. An increasingly state-led and male-dominated film industry, however, adopted women as a symbol of nationalism, while neglecting them as equals through traditionalist film content. Furthermore, in the last quarter of the 20th century, governmental influences resulted in a shortage of production resources. Although commercial motion pictures suffered, social-issue, realist movies have reignited feminist initiatives and provided hope for a recovering …

They Survived The Conversion From 35mm To Digital, So Now What? The Future Of America’S Small-Town Art House Theaters, Morgan H. Marianelli

Student Publications

This paper explores the vital role art house movie theaters play in their communities, particularly in bringing film culture to small towns. I argue that art house theaters have a symbiotic relationship with their communities (particularly small towns) in which the art houses play a vital role in bringing culture to their downtown communities, and these communities are ardent supporters of art house theaters, helping them convert from 35mm to digital and continue to thrive. I explore two art house movie theaters in great detail as case studies, the County theater in Doylestown, PA and Gettysburg's Majestic theater, to prove …

Staging Quakerism In American Theatre And Film, James Emmett Ryan

Quaker Studies

Arguing that Quakers have been used as influential stock characters in American performance culture, this essay profiles several examples of Quakers as represented in American theater and film: John Murdock's play The Triumphs of Love (1795), Harry F. Millarde's lost silent film The Quack Quakers (1916), and the Academy Award winning film High Noon (1952). Paradoxically, in each of these productions, which range from farce to serious drama, Friends are shown as either claiming or as striving for unattainable moral and religious human ideals, but also as an exemplary community of individuals against which other Americans might and should be …

Book Review: On Goldman's The American Jewish Story Through Cinema, David B. Levy

Touro University Libraries Publications and Research

The author provides a review of the book The American Jewish Story through Cinema, written by Eric Goldman.

Discrimination Towards Algerian-French Citizens In Post-Colonial French Cinema, Jessica Bou-Anak

Senior Honors Projects

Three French films, Elise ou la vraie vie by Michel Drach, La Haine by Matthiew Kassovitz, and The French Democracy by Alex Chan, were analyzed in order to view the discrimination by Caucasian-French citizens towards Algerian-French citizens. The films were released in the aftermath of a significant event in France dealing with racism. Two main themes were prevalent throughout this analysis: discrimination by Caucasian-French citizens towards Algerian-French citizens in public spaces, and Caucasian-French police brutality against Algerian-French youths. The findings from this analysis suggest that discrimination and racism in France still persist today, although in different forms.

El Cine Social Y Comprometido De Icíar Bollain: Hacia Una Perspectiva Global, Transcultural Y Ecologista, Estrella Cibreiro

Spanish Department Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

[Review Of The Book New Voices In Arab Cinema], Najmeh Moradiyan-Rizi

Communication & Theatre Arts Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Finding Treasure: The Story Of A Micro-Budget Digital Film, Christopher Williamson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Treasure is a feature-length narrative fictional film directed by Chris Williamson as part of the requirements for earning a Master of Fine Arts in Entrepreneurial Digital Cinema from the School of Visual Arts and Design at the University of Central Florida. This thesis is a documentary record of the film production from concept to completion. In this thesis the concerns of authorship are explored from the perspective of the author as the executive producer, writer, and director of the film.

Navegando Las Barreras Entre El Patriarcado Y El Poder Femenino: Un Análisis De La Representación De La Mujer En El Cine Español Desde 1948 A 2014, Olivia Sloan Marple

Honors Theses and Capstones

Este ensayo tratará del papel de la mujer en el cine español y como las representaciones de la mujer en el cine se conectan con lo que pasa en la sociedad española. Específicamente, mostrará que el poder del papel de la mujer se correlaciona con la deconstrucción de los roles de género en la sociedad patriarcal y la fluidez de género representadas en las películas.

Además, este ensayo intenta demostrar que no vemos una trayectoria directa de la representación de la liberación femenina en el cine español. Efectivamente, el poder de los papeles femeninos no tienen que ver con la …

Moral Anxiety, Mortal Terror: Considering Spielberg, Post-9/11, Jake T. Bart

Cinesthesia

In the wake of 9/11, a defining moment in the young 21st century, Spielberg’s thematic concerns undergo a marked evolution. As film historian Joseph McBride noted, “(n)o other American artist confronted the key events of the first decade of the century with such sustained and ambitious treatment” (450). Together, Spielberg’s War of the Worlds (2005), Munich (2005), and Minority Report (2002) create an informal trilogy, each exploring a different facet of American shock and anxiety in the War on Terror era.

Jean-Luc Godard And Francois Truffaut: The Influence Of Hollywood, Modernization And Radical Politics On Their Films And Friendship, Caroline Glenn

All Theses

During the late 1950's the French film industry's hard-won financial stability during the Occupation and liberation years had all but disappeared. Combined with the dwindling, unpredictable nature of French audiences, the multi-star, literary adaptation dramas French studios produced were no longer reliable. In response to these dilemmas a transformation took place in French cinema. Known as the nouvelle vague (or French New Wave), the movement was largely, but not completely, a reaction to France's declining film industry. The nation as a whole was undergoing significant change and growth during the 1950s. From the Algerian conflict, the Fourth Republic's collapse and …

Cloud Atlas’ Queer Tiki Kitsch: Polynesians, Settler Colonialism, And Sci-Fi Film, Gabriel S. Estrada

Journal of Religion & Film

Polynesian theories of film reception, visual sovereignty, feminisms, and worldview offer critical insights into The Wachowskis' and Tykwer's 2012 film Cloud Atlas. From Indigenous and Native feminist film perspectives, Cloud Atlas offers a sci-fi future deeply entrenched in the queer tiki kitsch of settler colonialism as situated within a comparative context of other queer Indigenous film. As an example of heteropatriarchal settler colonialism, the Cloud Atlas plot supports the heterosexual triumphs of cross-racial couples and sublimates the possibilities of transgender reincarnation. Although Cloud Atlas attempts to critique Christian slavery and defend a secular abolitionist stance in the 1848 South Pacific, …

The Laes Pocketbook For Filmmaker Enthusiasts, Steven (Sven) Thien Le

Liberal Arts and Engineering Studies

The LAES Pocketbook for Filmmaker Enthusiasts was written to be an essential tool for Cal Poly students to use when approaching the broad spectrum of film making. This introductory pocketbook tackles many of the confusions and questions that arise when first starting with film making and utilizes the equipment available at Cal Poly to make the film making process simpler for students. Printed out on standard 8.5" x 11" paper, this portable pocketbook is meant to be folded, stapled down the spine, and carried with the student on their filming endeavors.

This pocketbook will go over types of filming equipment, …