Film Production Commons^™

All You Can Eat, Kelly Schiesswohl

Theses and Dissertations

All You Can Eat is a 2D-animated horror short following the patrons and inhabitants of a bakery as they prepare for its annual pie-eating contest. As the contest nears, tensions rise after the discovery of a dark secret amongst the staff inspires rebellion. Through the visual metaphor of pie and the pie-eating contest, this film explores how sexual violence functions on a systemic level. It explores our collective conditioning to a range of behaviors that contribute to patriarchal oppression and the social cycles that reinforce them across generations. Through design and surreal storytelling, this film captures the urgent threat of …

Personification: A Short Film, Charles R. Adams

Undergraduate Honors Thesis Projects

Personification follows a group of college students as they receive news that mysterious shape-shifting creatures are posing as humans. They quickly turn on each other, realizing there is no one they can trust. In the style of mid-20th - century horror films, notably Don Siegel’s Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956), the short film explores themes of paranoia and the value of human expression in a time when generative AI seeks to replace the creative method. In keeping with this theme, the emphasis for this project was on the act of creation. Pre-production—which included scriptwriting, casting, and various organizational tasks—ran …

Sunlight, Veiled, Sina Ahmadkhani

Theses and Dissertations

Sunlight, Veiled is a narrative short film exploring themes of displacement, class, and identity through the lens of an Iranian intern navigating a morally ambiguous company party in the United States. This written component traces the evolution of the project from development through post-production, while reflecting on the personal and political frameworks that shaped the creative process. Through cinematic references, cultural analysis, and production insight, the paper aims to contextualize the film within a diasporic experience and a growing awareness of social power dynamics. It also reflects on the challenges of filmmaking as an outsider, where self-doubt, cultural translation, and …

Echo, Ana Beltran

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation 2023-2024

Echo is a 3D animated short film rendered within Unreal Engine from Epic Games. The story is centered around a small child named Echo who has moved to Earth with her mom. The story follows her adventures through her first days at school and what can happen when a parent suddenly disappears from a child's life against their will.

Many of the story beats take direct inspiration from personal experiences of either myself, my family members, or stories of immigrant children who come to the United States (US) with their parents in search of a better future. There has been …

Easy Prey, Annika L. Norris

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation 2023-2024

Easy Prey is a three-dimensional (3D) animated action comedy short film about stereotypes, expectations, and portrayals of strength that follows a ballerina as she is cornered in an alley. The fight that ensues expresses women's empowerment, physically and emotionally, by challenging preconceptions of ballerinas and the performance of femininity. This expression is founded on the intentional inclusion and exclusion of common cinematic tropes to efficiently convey key information while undermining common stereotypes. The action and atmosphere utilize classic film techniques to heighten and release tension. Easy Prey is inspired by my personal journey in healing my relationship with femininity and …

Dark Moon, Kate Mathews

Theses and Dissertations

Dark Moon is a short narrative film that follows Billie as she comes home for the weekend to look after her father, Jack, who has recently been diagnosed with early onset Dementia. The appearance of a mysterious woman shines a light on their changing power dynamic, threatening to throw their world out of orbit. Dark Moon is a rumination on an ailing man’s need for agency and a daughter’s misguided attempts to keep her father safe. Inspired by my own relationship with my father, the film explores loss and the ways we try, however foolishly, to fight against it.

Why My Sister Really Left: A Narrative Film, Sarah Shively

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

My Honors Project will bring awareness to some of the less positive aspects of homeschooling that some homeschool advocates tend to gloss over. I will plan and produce a fifteen-to-twenty-minute film that portrays a homeschooled teen as her efforts to discover the truth about her estranged sister lead her to a life-altering decision. In making this film, I wish to explore a homeschool coming-of-age story, as well as the effects that authoritarian parenting styles can have on the homeschool environment. My preproduction research will consist of the relationship between authoritarian parenting and parents’ reasons for homeschooling, the impact of the …

This Must Be The Place: A Short Film, Reagan Shull

Honors Projects

This Must Be The Place is a short film categorized as a Coming of Age Mystery with strong narrative ties to Magical Realism set in the heart of small town America. The key thematic ideas are identity, female relationships, isolation, friendship, and loss. This story emphasizes each person’s struggle for identity, and the isolation that can be brought upon themselves when they do not know who they are. Further, the difficulties regarding the search for one’s dreams without a strong sense of identity are also discussed in this narrative. Ultimately, this story is about dealing with isolation as we grow …

When I Wake, Summer Pierce

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

This paper sets out to detail the making of When I Wake with specific attention being paid to the mental processes of, the author, Summer Pierce throughout the undertaking. The paper, much like the filmmaking process, will discuss in succession the inspirations for the film, pre-production formulations, production of the film, post-production procedures, and analysis thereof.

Creating The Water Clock, Amy C. Laws

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

This thesis will discuss the making of my short film The Water Clock at the University of New Orleans from its inception to its final short film form. Part One discusses the balancing of content and style and explores the relation between time and water as inspirations for story. Part Two details the preproduction process and major crew members’ collaborations and contributions before filming. Part Three describes daily successes, struggles, and direction while in production. Part Four describes every phase of the post-production process as the film is completed. Lastly, I will analyze my personal growth as a filmmaker.

The Making Of Camp Shakespeare For Young Performing Artists, Lauren E. Erwin

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

In this thesis paper, I will detail the making of Camp Shakespeare For Young Performing Artists, my final graduate short film at the University of New Orleans, from its inception as a script to its final form as a finished short film. In Part One I will examine the personal and cultural influences that led me to develop the script. Part Two will review the pre-production process – how my collaborators and I prepared for the shoot. In Part Three I will scrutinize the day-to-day process of filming. Part Four will chart the post-production process in which the film took …

Little Trees, Maxwell Kane

Honors Theses

I believe in the power of film as a medium of storytelling. My desire to head a year-long production as well as create a moving story that underlined my interest in sibling relationships motivated me to create a short film as my honors thesis. My film, Little Trees, emphasizes themes such as alienation and growth within a broken household. My ultimate goal is to become an artist who creates meaningful cinema by telling deeply personal stories, and creating Little Trees was a successful first step in that process.

Stay Woke, Langston A. Williams

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

Throughout the pages of my thesis, I comprehensively analyze the processes, intentions, and production of my thesis film Stay Woke. My examination will exhaustively probe every stage of the film from development to preproduction to production to postproduction and beyond. Individual aspects of this process including writing, casting, locations, production design, cinematography, directing, budgeting, scheduling, and postproduction workflows will be detailed. As I make elaborations in each section, I will explain my learning experiences from each day’s new tasks, challenges, and lessons. All of these things will be framed with regards to the overall goal and themes of the …

Into The Green, Mary M. Casteel

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

The contents of this paper will detail the making of my film Into the Green, a University of New Orleans thesis film. I will examine the processes used to create my film in five parts. Part One will cover the various inspirations and influences that I pulled from to create the story. Part Two will cover the entirety of pre-production and will begin to detail the various collaborators who worked along with me. In Part Three I will discuss the shooting process in Arkansas and in Part Four I will cover the film’s journey through post-production. Finally, in Part Five, …

Grand: A Short Film, Joshua R. Pereira

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

In this paper I will describe the creative process throughout the making of my short film thesis GRAND. I will describe this in three parts: pre-production, wherein I will detail developing the concept, writing the script, and funding/preparing for production; production, wherein I will detail the set construction, visual planning, and the day-to-day operations on set; and post-production, wherein I will detail the editing of the film and the composition of the score. All of this will be framed in reference to the proposed theme of the film, and I will conclude by evaluating whether or not the finished short …

'Do You, Andy?' [Taiwan], Portico Media Productions

Reconstruction: Studies in Contemporary Culture

Andy, a cute Taiwanese guy, about to propose to his boyfriend Jeffrey of "four years eight months and ten days" before his parents walk into the restaurant, throwing his plans off entirely. Together, the four end up eating together and in the end, after much awkwardness on Andy's part, his parents let him know they accept him and his boyfriend Jeffrey.

Thrown, Christopher Redden Gayden

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

In this thesis paper, I will document and analyze the process of making my graduate thesis film, Thrown. I will start by stating my overall thesis statement, then move into the evaluation of my performance in regards to each specific area of the filmmaking process. I will reflect how I translated my learning at the University of New Orleans in a practical application short film exercise and detail my successes and struggles throughout the process. The goal of this investigation is to understand how I can improve in the future. In the end, I will determine if my thesis proves …

The Making Of Just Like Wild Pete, Jade E. Hewitt

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

In this thesis paper, I will document and analyze the process of making my graduate thesis film, Just Like Wild Pete. I will start by stating my overall thesis statement, then move into each specific area of the filmmaking process. I will translate my learning at the University of New Orleans Film and Theatre program into real life situations with this film, as well as detail my successes and struggles throughout the process. I will analyze my own work, and constantly look to how I can improve in the future. In the end, I will determine if my thesis proves …

“Us Against The World”- The Production Of A Short Film, Andrea Kuehnel

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

In this paper I will recount the main stages of the process of making my thesis film Us Against The World, a narrative short film. In particular, I will focus on the authenticity and verisimilitude that I tried to achieve, as well as the limitations I worked under as a student filmmaker with a limited budget and how we consistently tried to use these limitations to our advantage. Starting from the beginning, I will first discuss my main inspirations and the writing process of the script. Secondly, I will explain how my team of creative collaborators and I prepared …

Copper Kingdom, Eric J. Gremillion

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

This paper thoroughly examines the production of the thesis film Copper Kingdom. From writing, directing, production design, editing, to cinematography, sound, and workflow, each aspect of the creation of Copper Kingdom is carefully detailed, with insights regarding the decisions made throughout the filmmaking process.

From A “Lazy Boy” To The Open Sea. The Journey Of Making “Call Me Cappy”, Maja M. Holzinger

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

In this paper I will describe and analyze the process of creating my thesis film, Call Me Cappy. I will start with stating the theme and discuss each aspect of this process in relation to the theme that originated this project. I will detail my biggest challenges and struggles. I will also try to show how the knowledge I absorbed through attending the graduate film program, and the literature I have read, has served my journey as a filmmaker. In the end, I will attempt to evaluate whether my theme found its full expression through this film. The final …