Film and Media Studies Commons^™

Seeing The Sacred, Emily Potter

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

Seeing the Sacred is a multidisciplinary arts project exploring the purposes of sacred art and its relationship with community identity. The project highlights three common purposes of sacred art: to represent a worldview, to express identities as members of a community, and to connect with something bigger than ourselves. This Capstone Experience/Thesis Project developed through an intersection of three primary interests: visual art, community engagement, and religious studies. This project includes an overview of the CE/T’s origins and evolution, a written analysis of research goals and experiences, a review of relevant literature, a series of related artwork, and a collaborative …

The Assignment: How The Videographer's Role Is Shaped By The Job Assignment, Ian J. Dowty

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

I am a videographer. Yes, my degree will qualify me as a reporter, someone familiar with the inner workings of a news station. However, I posit that the School of Journalism and Broadcasting does not give you a career, but rather a skillset that prepares you for a range of jobs. My discipline taught me how to articulate my thoughts in a clear, concise manner, which translates well to script or track writing. In addition, I have technical abilities that enable me to handle video and audio equipment proficiently. Combining these capabilities with soft skills I honed over the past …

They're Watching Us: Conspiracy Theorists In Popular Media, Parker A. Hanna

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

The term “conspiracy theorist” is often used in discussions as a rhetorical device to discredit a speaker on the basis of their opinions. The effect of this has been to turn attention away from the speaker’s stated opinions towards the speaker himself and his character as a “conspiracy theorist.” These negative connotations are recognized and understood by many thanks to archetypes of the “conspiracy theorist” character found in popular media, making the accusation an effective tool for muting the “conspiracy theorist’s” opinion in mainstream public forums, whether that forum is the news, politics, or real life. This paper examines stereotypical …

Gather, Katie M. Meek

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

Food is both basic and multifaceted. It nourishes satisfies, levels, defines and gathers us. Food unifies and brings people together as part of the human experience. When people embrace food and make it their own, it can shape and define their lives in big ways.

Food can cultivate a lifestyle, preserve cultural identity, foster a small business, nurture relationships and serve a community.

This project is a documentation of five different groups of people that experience food in uniquely different ways. Through photo essays and written stories I strive to capture what how food brings people together in specific ways …

Launching And Maintaining A Wedding Photography Business, Shelley D. Owens

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

With the popularity of the wedding industry in America perpetuated by social media, blogs, and other networking sites, thousands of self-employed photographers have set out to make a living documenting the most important day of some people’s lives. Digital photography appeals to many for its convenience, but having a camera does not make one a professional photographer. What separates the hobbyists from the professionals is the development of skills and creative vision and the proper legal and business licensing to make a profit off of their wedding photography. Shelley Owens provides her own experiences as a professional wedding photographer as …

Occupy The Future: A Rhetorical Analysis Of Dystopian Film And The Occupy Movement, Justin J. Grandinetti

Masters Theses, 2010-2019

The anarchic Occupy Wall Street protests, which began in 2011, had an immediate impact on politics and the global lexicon. By introducing the terms “the one percent” and “the 99%” into the public sphere, Occupy was able to draw attention to growing global income inequality. This revolutionary spirit was not lost on popular culture, as a number of films that followed the protests were linked to Occupy. The Hunger Games (2012), The Dark Knight Rises (2012), and Elysium (2013) represent films that were not only extremely successful in the box office, but were also connected to the Occupy Movement because …

A Miniseries Of Unfortunate Events: Realizing The Full Potential Of Lemony Snicket's Book Series Through Television Adaptation, Ryan T. Pait

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events, a series of 13 children’s books, seemed like it had the potential to become a massive franchise in a similar vein to the Harry Potter film series. Snicket’s books feature three plucky protagonists, a sinister villain, and constantly-shifting settings—all elements that could make a successful movie series. A film adaptation, titled Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events was made in 2004. It adapted the first three books in the series, and became a moderate financial and critical success. Despite the success, no further films were made.

As a fan of Snicket’s …

Situating Urban Moving Images: Illuminating Place, Annie Dell'aria

Graduate Student Publications and Research

No abstract provided.

Fest Winners, Ben Sweeney

Commentary

Providence College Department of Theatre, Dance & Film

Email from Ben Sweeney to Susan Werner and James Calitri about the film fest winners.

Friday, May 1, 2015

Manifold Worlds, Ying Mui, Grace Tang

Artists-in-Residence Programme : Exhibition Catalogues

We start to know our world when we begin our existence, and we believe that the world is like what we see. But is the world we know the real world? It may just be a world of how we feel about the real world! We are born equipped with a set of sensors to perceive the world. Our perception of the world depends on these sensors. Other living things possess different sensors; they see their worlds differently from us and each other. Although we have different perceptions of the same world, we do exist in the same physical world. …

Character Surfacing And Feathering For Ufo, Sarah R. Runge

All Theses

This thesis focuses on the methods used to create the look of the unusual flying ostrich in UFO, a short, stylized film about an earthbound bird with his head in the clouds. That this aspiring aviator is not an ordinary ostrich is visibly indicated by his unusual markings, reflecting his unusual mindset that allows him to achieve the impossible. The techniques used to accomplish the final appearance of the unusual ostrich will be explored in this thesis, with a particular focus on the methods used to create and style the feathers, and the techniques used to hand paint the assorted …

The Role Of Women In Film: Supporting The Men -- An Analysis Of How Culture Influences The Changing Discourse On Gender Representations In Film, Jocelyn Nichole Murphy

Journalism Undergraduate Honors Theses

Women are underrepresented in film. Racial minorities are underrepresented in film. White men are vastly overrepresented in film. How do these facts affect audiences that are so demographically different from what is portrayed onscreen? This study serves to examine how character representations in film relate to the demographics of the audience viewing them, and how these portrayals have changed over a 20-year span. Considering the depictions of women in the context of social gender movements of the last two decades will provide a deeper understanding of the attitudes toward female characters, as well as factors that shape the themes and …

Running Contradiction: A Negotiated Reading Of Encoding Strategies In The Boondocks Animated Series, 2005-2011, Wesley Tyler French

Dissertations

This study is comprised of a five-point qualitative critical analysis of denotation strategies employed in the first three seasons of The Boondocks Animated Series, which aired on United States cable television between 2005 and 2011. The five encoding strategies discussed in this study were selectively employed into each episode by the cast and crew of The Boondocks Animated Series. The encoding strategies were employed to facilitate audience accessibility between 2005 and 2011 during The Boondocks Animated Series’ successful initial run on the Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim programming block.

This study focuses on the first three seasons of The Boondocks Animated …

Walking Alone At Night, Amanda L. Grattan

Senior Honors Projects

One in four women face sexual abuse before the age of eighteen. One in five women are survivors of rape. With college campus rape allegations coming forward and being reported in mainstream and social media, the conversation about sexual assault and rape is extremely relevant and college students are taking a stand.

Emma Sulkowicz, a senior at Colombia University, took a firm stand when she developed a performance piece where she carried around the dorm room mattress, which she was raped on. Her story made it’s way to the mainstream media, including the cover of …

Anime: Fortress Of Solitude Or Kryptonite?, Oscar King Iv

Honors Thesis

Anime is a complex medium that is expanding at a rapid rate on a global scale. It inspires fandoms, some of which unbelievably tenacious. My research explored scholarship concerning anime fans and asked the question: Why does anime in particular seem to create hyper-obsessed fans? I consulted fandom studies, pop culture scholarship, and sources regarding the anime medium as a whole.

The results of my study suggested that anime, at its extremes, functions in some capacity as a modern fairy tale genre. It allows a viewer to vicariously experience life through the screen, engaging with the animated characters in a …

Generic Organizational Strategy Integration Impacts On Profit Margin Ratio And Inventory Turnover In Publically Traded Oklahoma Manufacturing Organizations, Christopher Bell

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study sought to determine if and to what extent strategy integration was related to the financial indicators profit margin ratio and inventory turnover for publically traded manufacturing organizations in Oklahoma. Current strategy theory states that the more thoroughly an organization adopts a given strategy the greater the effect will be on these financial indicators. Hence the need to more fully understand the extent and rates at which strategy integration effects these indicators. This study looked at perceived strategy integration scores for publically traded Oklahoma manufacturing organizations taken from June to August 2014 and financial indicators from 2012 and 2013. …

The Ecology, Biogeochemistry And Phylogeny Of Methane Seep And Non-Seep Benthic Foraminifera From The Pacific Margin, Ashley M. Burkett

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In an effort to understand the relationships between active methane seep and adjacent non-seep (inactive) populations of the deep-sea foraminifera Cibicidoides wuellerstorfi, a common paleo-indicator species, from methane seeps in the Pacific were analyzed and compared to one another for genetic similarities of small subunit rDNA (SSU rDNA) sequences. Pacific Ocean C. wuellerstorfi were also compared to those collected from other localities around the world (based on 18S gene available on Genbank, e.g., Schweizer et al., 2009). Results from this study revealed that C. wuellerstorfi living in seeps near Costa Rica and Hydrate Ridge are genetically similar to one another …

A Model Of Packet Loss Caused By Interference Between The Bluetooth Low Energy Component Of An Ios Wearable Body Area Network And Residential Microwave Ovens, William C. Barge

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Cardiovascular diseases are the leading cause of death in the United States. Advances in wireless technology have made possible the remote monitoring of a patient’s heart sensors as part of a body area network. Previous studies have suggested that stray wireless transmissions in the industrial, scientific, and medical (ISM) band cause interference resulting in packet loss in Bluetooth piconets. This study investigates the impact that wireless transmissions from residential microwave ovens have on the Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) component of the body area network. Using a systematic data collection approach, two variables were manipulated. The distance between the microwave oven …

An Exploratory Study On The Impact Of Mobile Wireless Technologies In A Teacher Education Classroom, Anupama Ghattu

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Mobile technology is revolutionizing the American higher education system. Integrating mobile technology into college classrooms is changing the teaching and learning process. Today’s millennial generation students are tech savvy and using their mobile devices to learn and explore in many possible ways. Mobile technology devices can be used as effective tools to enhance teaching and learning. The ubiquitous nature of these mobile devices with wireless capabilities makes learning possible instantly anywhere and everywhere with easy access to information for everyone. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of integrating mobile wireless technologies (MWT) on preservice teachers’ attitudes …

Beyond Constructing And Capturing: An Aesthetic Analysis Of 1968 Film, Chandler Warren

Department of English: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

This study revisits conversations surrounding the global moment of 1968 and the forms of radical filmmaking that occurred during that time. Focusing on the Newsreel collective and the Dziga Vertov Group from the United States and France respectively—groups that utilized very distinct filmmaking methodologies and produced disparate aesthetics—the study argues that traditional leftist film critique must be rethought by acknowledging the revolutionary opportunities afforded to filmmakers through aesthetic elements like voiceovers or intentionally manipulated relationships between image and sound of specific shots. Instead of judging radical films within a spectrum of revolutionary efficacy, the reflexivity afforded to the filmmaker by …

David Fincher's Harsh Mercy: Guns In Hollywood Compositions, Joshua Matthews

Faculty Work Comprehensive List

No abstract provided.

The Visual Turn In Ir: Documentary Filmmaking As A Critical Method, William A. Callahan

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Although the field of international relations (IR) is arguably in the midst of a ‘visual turn’, few scholars have directly discussed research methods for studying visual international politics. This article follows the aesthetic turn’s call to resist the rational methods that frame our understanding of ourselves and the world. Yet it also argues that the visual turn is more than an elaboration of the aesthetic turn. While analyses of visual culture are characteristically suspicious of the power of images, this article argues that making films can provide an innovative method for studying IR. In particular, the visual turn can better …

Presence-At-Hand, Eric Lyle Schultz

Graduate School of Art Theses

Abstract

The writing that follows is intended to provide a theoretical framework for the motives behind my practice. The primary concerns addressed are the reception, transmission, and physical shape of knowledge. I will discuss a human condition that exists as a byproduct of both the legacy of representation as well as the innate biology of the brain. I will argue that as a society we are governed by the residue of an extreme logic, and that this condition places severe margins on our potential for creative solutions. I will propose that our ability to create meaning is stifled by the …

The Economic Impact Of The Mpaa Rating System On Types Of Films Made From 2004-2014, Kaitlin Peck

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This thesis will examine the economic impact of the MPAA film rating system on the types of films made from 2004 to 2014. The research in this study will examine the violent and sexual content of films. For this research the Motion Picture Association of America rating system is the independent variable, and its financial or economic impact on films made in the last ten years is the dependent variable. An extensive review of previous literature will also help inform the direction of the current study. However, this topic is still relevant because the previous research has appeared to be …

The End Of The World (Eotw) Scientist And The Framing Of Science In Science Fiction Films From 1950 To 2010, Jennifer Naoko Lui

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The current study looks at scientists in End of the World (EOTW) films spanning from 1950 to 2010 through stereotypes and gender roles. Eighteen films, 12 representing EOTW films and 6 that are considered “regular” science fiction films, were analyzed in terms of Goffman’s (1976) 6 aspects, first introduced in Gender Advertisements, as well as aspects of visual and textual frame analysis. The analysis of these films provided a way to look at the portrayal of scientists in EOTW films and add to the limited body of literature on this particular sub-genre of film.

Previous research identified that scientists were …

Marketing Of Gender Stereotypes Through Animated Films: A Thematic Analysis Of The Disney Princess Franchise, Tiffany Jade Pelton

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The thesis focuses on animated films of the Disney Princess franchise, a brand with the Disney Corporation that contains 11 fictional female characters both princesses and heroines, and the marketing of gender roles and stereotypes specifically in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937), Cinderella (1950), The Princess and the Frog (2009), and Tangled (2010). These dated storylines, which often focused on domestic traits that were socially acceptable in the 1930s, 40s and 50s, in current society do not always reflect the interests of contemporary youth. Through a thematic analysis, this thesis examines from its inception to present day what …

Rendering And Compositing For Visual Effects, Jensen Abler

Undergraduate Honors Theses

The methods used to create visual effects for feature film production are quickly evolving. Cutting edge techniques are constantly being improved upon, and the capability to solve unique problems is paramount in real world production. I present a creative project which utilizes novel applications of common techniques, such as projection mapping, multi-tile UV workflows, procedural texture generation, normal mapping, and image based lighting.

“The Bedroom And The Barnyard: Zoomorphic Lust Through Territory, Procedure, And Shelter In ‘The Miller’S Tale’” & Haunchebones, Danielle N. Byington

Undergraduate Honors Theses

“The Bedroom and the Barnyard: Zoomorphic Lust Through Territory, Procedure, and Shelter in ‘The Miller’s Tale’” is an academic endeavor that takes Chaucer’s zoomorphic metaphors and similes and analyzes them in a sense that reveals the chaos of what is human and what is animal tendency. The academic work is expressed in the adjunct creative project, Haunchebones, a 10-minute drama that echoes the tale and its zoomorphic influences, while presenting the content in a stylized play influenced by Theatre of the Absurd and artwork from the medieval and early renaissance period.

(Re)Animating The Horror Genre: Explorations In Children's Animated Horror Films, Megan Estelle Troutman

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This project seeks to define the subgenre of children's animated horror film by examining its classification within the children's film genre and its use of generic conventions of horror. While this project does not aim to conflate children's film as a genre and animation as a medium, the scope of this project will be limited to children's animated horror films from 1993 - present day. In order to explore the subgenre of children's animated horror films from 1993-present, I will focus specifically on the following films: Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993), Wallace and Gromit: Curse of the Were …

Intersectionality In Jane Eyre And Its Adaptations, Laurel Loh

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

During the almost 170 years since Jane Eyre was published, there have been numerous adaptations in many different mediums and genres, such as plays, films, musicals, graphic novels, spin-off novels, and parodies. The novel has been read in many different critical traditions: liberal humanist, historicist, feminist, and postcolonial approaches dealing with topics such as the problem of female authorship and consciousness. In addition, it has been read in terms of an ideological struggle based on race, class, and gender; xenophobia and imperialism; female labor politics; and genre issues, to just name a few. As literary critics have explored numerous themes …