Film and Media Studies Commons^™

Cloaked Trannies On The Silver Screen: "Evolutionary Derangement" And Cronenberg's Approach To Shaping A Critical Mindset Towards Trans Bodies, John David Hunter

All Theses

This thesis engages David Cronenberg’s 2022 film, Crimes of the Future, analyzing the text through the lens of Saul Tenser (Viggo Mortensten) as a transgender allegory. Through this, the project investigates the way in which Cronenberg’s text visually creates a Deleuzian language of the body, which is the body of becoming. This queer analysis of the film does so by utilizing the perspective of the trans body, through the character of Tenser, which more clearly illustrates the human body as one which is in a continual process of evolution. Following in the footsteps of scholars such as Susan …

Production Process Of Music Videos And Significance Of Understanding Music, Amanda Grace Dalmacio

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

This paper provides information about music videos, perspectives from film scholars and authors, information about what the process of making a music video looks like, and an interview (appendix pg.11) from a documentary that was filmed to get a personal view on the production process of music videos.

Make America(N Cinema) Great Again: The Rhetoric Of Nostalgia In Trump Era Cinematic Multiplicities, Courtney J. Dreyer

Department of Communication Studies: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

This dissertation investigates the rhetoric of nostalgia in politics and popular Hollywood cinema during the Trump era. I argue that MAGA Cinema, the contemporary trend of reboots, remakes, and sequels related to properties from the late 1970s to early 1990s, both respond to and strengthen attachments to an imagined version of the 1980s. However, this illusory golden age more closely reflects the world as depicted in the cinema of the 1980s rather than the reality of American in the years of Ronald Reagan’s presidency. Through a close analysis of David Gordon Green’s Halloween Reboot series, Top Gun: Maverick, and …

Automated Cinematographer For Vr Viewing Experiences, Zihan Wu

Dartmouth College Master’s Theses

As the virtual reality (VR) industry continues to evolve, the question of how to effectively capture VR experiences for an audience remains a challenge. The predominant method of showcasing VR applications through first-person recordings lacks cinematic interest, failing to capture other viewpoints and the essence of the moment. Meanwhile, manually setting up cameras and editing videos requires technical expertise on behalf of the user. In this paper, we propose the use of machine learning (ML) to automatically select the most compelling predefined viewpoint in a VR environment, at any given moment. Our models, trained on actor motion and voice volume, …

Bedeviled Beauty: My Journey Through White American Theater Institutions, J'Aila C. Price

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

Game console: Oculus Quest

World: American Theater Institutions

Player: Minority

Place: United States

Level: “Ain’t no way.”

This thesis explores the contrast between the Westernized philosophies ingrained in my education and my identity as a Black female artist. It sheds light on the difficulties of pursuing higher education in the arts and the gaps that arise from limited exposure to culturally diverse Black resources, revealing the systemic issues in Western performance education. The paper also discusses the insights gained from my journey as a Black female artist, focusing on my thesis performance of Blood at the Root, which is …

That Way: An Examination Of Male Relationships In Film During The Hays Code, Jane Knudsen

Theses/Capstones/Creative Projects

The Hays Code (1934-1968) influenced the construct of United States masculinity and the discourse surrounding masculine presentation between the 1920s to the 1960s. The Hays Code and World War II affected the culture surrounding male/male relationships in the United States. Previous research done by David Lugowski (1999) and Jeffrey Suzik (1999) shows that both World Wars led to crises of masculinity in which the hegemonic ideal of masculinity was restructured to establish men as providers and warriors, and Code-era films reflected the discourse. To understand the gender roles in the 20^th century, I analyzed the Hays code, male bonds, …

Timely Dissonance : Anachronistic Music In Film, Ayda Tuncay

Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters

Music in film is used as a tool that can psychologically transport the viewer and alter their perception of a narrative. It is a highly influential aspect of the mise-en-scene and can influence both our reality and the fictional world in the film, depending on whether it is non-diegetic or diegetic. The elaborate soundscapes of period films typically utilize period accurate scores and soundtracks to embed the audience in the environment of a different age. However, this paper will examine ‘musical anachronism’ and the correlation between music and emotion through an analysis of films such as A Knight’s Tale (Brian …

Disrupting Negative Representations Of Queerness In Genre Cinema, Mark Gambino

Postgraduate

The stigmatisation of queer identities is a constant in cinematic history, especially so in horrorgenre movies. A transgressive and confronting medium, horror cinema presents numerous opportunities to align queer identities with cultural symbols of degeneracy; perpetuating associations that contribute to negative cultural attitudes towards queerness. While public discourse on such topics has advanced to entertain ideas of equity and authenticity in these representations, negative values and attitudes are yet evident in contemporary cultural texts. Therein lay an opportunity to examine how these attitudes and values are perpetuated through history by deconstructing how societal attitudes inform the creation of a text …

The Phygital Design Process: Using Emerging Technologies To Create A Phygital Fashion Brand Rooted In Nostalgia, Madeline M. Mcdaniel

Creativity and Change Leadership Graduate Student Master's Projects

This Master's Project is a comprehensive exploration of the intersection of digital fashion design, nostalgia, and sustainable practices. Its primary objective is to create 'project CYBERBAE,' a phygital fashion collection that draws inspiration from early 2000s video game characters, trends, and aesthetics. The project utilizes advanced digital tools like Clo3D to demonstrate a comprehensive digital fashion design process that emphasizes inclusivity and sustainability. It also pioneers the development of a 3D virtual world, providing users with an immersive environment to interact with and experience digital fashion. This virtual space serves as a platform for a community of fashion, technology, and …

Lived Experiences, Migration Journey, Religiosity, And Spirituality Depicted In Drawings By Latino Children And Youth Crossing The U.S. Mexican Border: A Qualitative Study., Doroty Magalhaes Sato

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Widespread violence forces thousands of Central American children to endure a hazardous journey toward the U.S. Border seeking refuge. In the Latino community, faith serves as a social movement of resistance against oppression, playing a vital role in migration. There is a paucity of research documenting this experience and children's overall journey. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the lived experience of crossing international borders, religiosity, and spirituality depicted in Latino children's drawings used as coping methods to endure the journey toward the U.S. southern border. This investigation employed Art-based approaches to give voices to children's experiences by analyzing 63 …

Influence Of Narrative On Interior Architectural Film Visualizations: A Case Study Of Dune, Tatem Criner

Interior Design Undergraduate Honors Theses

The following investigation is a case study of the popular classic novel DUNE, written by Frank Herbert in 1965, and its successive cinematic iterations about the nature of the translation of architectural visualizations through communicative mediums, literature and film. The investigation sought to answer the following questions: “To what extent do descriptions of interior architecture influence a film adaptation’s interpretation of built visualizations?” and “Can written narratives of interior environments be an effective tool to generate physical interior architecture?” The methodology process began by selecting three scenes from the novel and their successive cinematic interpretations. The cinematic interpretations included …

How Design Depicted In Film Contributes To The Evolution Of Cultural Narratives, Catherine Vanhoose

Interior Design Undergraduate Honors Theses

Interior Design and its trends have had significant influence on pop culture and the general public through the course of human history. Acting as a universal language, design is a tool often used to help communicate ideas. The different interpretations of these ideas are what help to create cultural narratives. This capstone explores the relationships between film and design as creative arts, how they are affected by the current times and trends throughout the history of women, and as a result how women throughout history are influenced by these relationships. Findings provide insight on how interior design is used to …

In A State Of Becoming, Benjamin Conley

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The artist discusses his Master of Fine Arts exhibition titled, In a State of Becoming. The exhibition was on view at the Tipton Gallery in downtown Johnson City, TN from February 26 March 8, 2024. In a State of Becoming showcased three large scale paintings, five multimedia prints, two sculptural installations, and a video projection installation. Conley's thesis research and current artistic practice revolve around the interfaces, connections, and relationships of humans and animals. Conley explicitly uses language like "animal" to describe "non-human animals" in his work's context. The exhibited works focused primarily on how the artist and/or the viewer …

Visions Of Our Future: A Manifesto For Environmentalist Cinema In The Climate Era, Daniel Milovic

Honors Scholar Theses

Environmentalism has strengthened as a discipline during the climate era, a period defined by the ongoing effects of climate change, and it is time for a fully environmental activist cinema to emerge. This type of filmmaking must be committed to generating images of our future along a utopian or apocalyptic continuum. This approach allows filmmakers to maintain the gravity of the climate crisis while generating inspiring, alternative futures that are not tied to the current global culture of capitalist exploitation of natural resources and marginalized peoples. Environmentalist filmmakers must then articulate climate change as a cultural issue—one that is produced …

Gentleman Death In Silk And Lace: Death And The Maiden In Vampire Literature And Film, Emily Wilson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis contains an examination in the psychosocial significance of Hans Baldung Grien’s “Death and the Maiden” art motif, created during the Renaissance period following the Black Death, and its resurgence in the vampire fiction genre of both literature and film. I investigate the motif in Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1897) and Anne Rice’s Interview with the Vampire (1976) as well as their film adaptations by Francis Ford Coppola (1992) and Neil Jordan (1994), respectively. By examining the presence of the motif in art, literature, and film, I found that the common threads across all investigated works were the dominant social …

The Star Caller: Shining A Light On Game Production And Real Time Cinematics, Jehoshaphat Chacko

All Theses

In the landscape of interactive entertainment, the synergy between game play and real-time cinematics has become a pivotal force driving innovation and engagement in modern video games. “The Star Caller” is a project made by a small group of talented artists that explores this intersection. It serves as a prime example of how these two features coexist in modern gaming. This project utilizes the fundamentals of not only video game storytelling, but also all the popular aspects of a single player experience. Artistic inspiration from popular works such as God of War: Ragnarok, Warframe, and films such as Children of …

‘Samoye Vazhnoye’: Behind The Scenes Of Russian Cinema, 1908–1924, Katerina Ludwig

War, Diplomacy, and Society (MA) Theses

From the first decade of the 20^th century to the middle of the 1920s, cinema in Russia exposed how politics and the modern medium were inseparably intertwined. As works that were produced during a period of great turmoil and uncertainty, films revealed more than a unilateral relationship. Cinema was used in Russia in the late-Imperial and early Soviet eras as an active tool of entertainment, propaganda, art, education, and intellectual discussion. Studying its intersectional nature illuminates areas obscured by purely political or artistic perspectives, which tell either opposite or mutually emboldening tales. This thesis argues on behalf of both …

Poetry Research, Maxime Cavajani, Movement Lab

Personal Work

Spring 2024 Poetry Research

Pastel Sculpture Research, Maxime Cavajani, Movement Lab

Personal Work

Spring 2024 Pastel Sculpture Research

Storytelling In Interior Design: A Hospitality Case Study Based On Avatar: The Last Airbender, Katelyn Isaacson Bauer

All Graduate Reports and Creative Projects, Fall 2023 to Present

Storytelling can function as a crucial element in interior design, offering a powerful means to captivate and engage individuals within a space. The allure of storytelling lies in its ability to evoke emotions, convey messages, and create memorable experiences. Humans are naturally drawn to narratives that transport them to different worlds, evoke nostalgia, or inspire. This fascination with storytelling has led to a notable increase in themed spaces across various industries, from amusement parks and hotels to restaurants and retail spaces. The integration of storytelling into interior design not only enhances the aesthetic appeal of a space but also serves …

The Lack Of Representation Of Mexican Women In Films, Lizbeth Garcia Gonzalez

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Representation in film lacks the meaningful exposure of Mexican women, the lack of roles available tend to rely on the stereotypes of Mexicans therefore excluding room for Mexican women to be represented authentically. In this paper I discuss the lack of representation that Mexican women have in films, identifying that in roles of superheroes, especially women of color do not compare to the many white superhero films. To discuss representation of Mexicans in film, I used The Perfect Game (2009) and McFarland, USA (2015), films that share meaningful representation of Mexicans. While also using examples of representation in superhero films …

Working In The Shadows: The Impact Of Wage Theft Among Undocumented Workers In El Paso, Texas, Christe Cherie Lattimore-Staple

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

The documentary film titled "Working in the Shadows: The Impact of Wage Theft Among Undocumented Workers in El Paso, Texas" sheds light on the pervasive issue of wage theft experienced by undocumented workers in the region. Through personal testimonies, interviews with workers, legal experts, and government officials, the film delves into the challenges faced by undocumented workers who are vulnerable to exploitation due to their legal status.Undocumented workers in El Paso face a host of challenges, including unpaid wages, unsafe working conditions, and fear of retaliation if they assert their rights. The film highlights the critical role of community organizations, …

Seeking The Unspoken: Examining Queer Subtext In Storytelling, Morgan Stevens-Reidy

Postgraduate

This exegesis aims to examine the techniques of subtext that are used to determine creative decisions in narrative structures on various forms of fictional screen media with a specific focus on storytelling in an animation context and the creative mediums used to form it. The major focus of subtextual storytelling that is investigated during this exegesis is the themes and narratives used throughout the LGBTQ+ community and the diversity of its influences upon hidden signs within stories, which was studied through the process of creating the foundation of a short film with the use of methodological approaches such as practice-led …

Lifelong Movie Goers, Hardworking Filmmakers, And Oscars Discourse, Haley Kamola

Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters

This paper focuses on the discourse surrounding the Academy Awards, often referred to as the Oscars. The differences in discourse between people working in the film industry and those who watch movies are analyzed, as they represent the supplier and recipient of films and filmmaking. These two groups offer varied perspectives on the topic. The discourse of another group, a group in-between–student filmmakers–is also analyzed. To many people, what makes a film “good” is quite subjective, so the Academy Awards are often a subject of discourse. One particular focus of discourse will be the 2024 Academy Awards. There were a …

Sensorial Memories: A Cinema Speculum In Aftersun(2022) And Petite Maman(2021), Tingyi Zhu

Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters

In her 1975 article "Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema," Laura Mulvey used psychoanalysis as a political weapon to critique the issue of the male gaze in traditional Hollywood narrative cinema. Mulvey's work is pioneering for feminist film studies but was criticized and reexamined among film and feminist scholars. Building on the precedent of Mulvey and the feminist research of Luce Irigaray, contemporary scholar Lucy Bolton has proposed the camera as an "Irigarayan speculum," explaining how certain contemporary films delve into female characters' inner worlds, creating them with subjectivity and diversity. Drawing on contemporary feminist film theories and phenomenology theories, I …

Ground-Breaking Stories In Contemporary Cinema: In A Market Full Of Remakes, What Form Does Cinematic Originality Take Today?, Elisa Fong-Hirschfelder

Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters

This work aims to analyze the evolution of both international and American cinema as an art form, specifically in relation to the abstract concept of originality, to determine what possible future trends in cinema may look like and the potential for the manifestation of “new waves” in cinema. Emerging during the Industrial Revolution, cinema has evolved as an entertainment medium from brief moving pictures presented as novelties to lengthy feature films. With its evolution arose trends in visual storytelling, including experimental, narrative, and remakes, whose own categories comprise the retelling of old stories, remakes of films in other languages, and …

The Making Of The Russian At Christmas, Armando Rey Silvas Jr.

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis will explain the process of making my feature film, The Russian at Christmas, which I wrote, directed, and edited myself. I will discuss my influences for the film, and how those influences led to my own visual and writing style. By walking through the stages of pre-production, production, and post- production, I will discuss the film from conception to completion. My time in the SFA film program – including working on four other summer features – prepared me to direct my own feature film. Completing this feature film was a daunting task that has no comparison to …

Digital Orchestration In Media Compositions, Jimmy Bartley

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

As composers gain access to better tools, digital mockups have increasingly grown in popularity. Composers often aim to emulate an idealized orchestral sound in their mockups. By understanding the nature of acoustic orchestration and instrumentation, specific techniques and approaches for virtual instruments and sample libraries, and methods to process and manipulate MIDI audio, composers can achieve this idealized sound. This thesis will focus on the common techniques and methods that composers can use to achieve this in digital mockups. Concluding the thesis is an original work that combines digital and live instruments while exploring different techniques to achieve an ideal …

Hobby Horse, Kaitlyn Liu

LMU Theses and Dissertations

Against the wishes of her domineering mother, a teen equestrian rides into the Finnish sport of hobby horsing in order to win enough money to buy her real horse back.

Paradoks Determinisme Dalam Film Tenet (2020) Sebagai Refleksi Kesadaran Manusia Akan Waktu, Farobi Fatkhurridho, Suma Riella Rusdiarti

Paradigma: Jurnal Kajian Budaya

Time is a complicated object of study because understanding time is closely related to periodization, history, and memory. Film is a medium for presenting manifestations of motion and time in visual products that can be captured by human senses. Tenet (2020) is a film that displays temporal dimensions in terms of both creative ideas and packaging through its cinematography and narrative structure. Tenet presents the idea of overlapping time consciousness of the past, present, and future. A revolving door machine in the film is used to signify the paradox of determinism or the condition of characters suffocated in a time …