Barrett, The Honors College Thesis/Creative Project Collection
Barrett, The Honors College at Arizona State University proudly showcases the work of undergraduate honors students by sharing this collection exclusively with the ASU community.
Barrett accepts high performing, academically engaged undergraduate students and works with them in collaboration with all of the other academic units at Arizona State University. All Barrett students complete a thesis or creative project which is an opportunity to explore an intellectual interest and produce an original piece of scholarly research. The thesis or creative project is supervised and defended in front of a faculty committee. Students are able to engage with professors who are nationally recognized in their fields and committed to working with honors students. Completing a Barrett thesis or creative project is an opportunity for undergraduate honors students to contribute to the ASU academic community in a meaningful way.
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- Creators: School of Film, Dance and Theatre
Description
“The Evil Box spilled, and someone has to clean it up. That someone rolls into a nothing town in search of an Evil driving possessed Mortals to violence. In saving the target of the attack, she finds a team of wannabe do-gooders intent on saving the world – or, at least, keeping it from becoming worse. Armed with apparent eons of experience, cynicism, and a not insignificant amount of Divine Intervention, they set out to contain the mythological Evils and their detriment to the world.”
In a world not unlike our own, Pandora opened the world to malicious Evils. With the world, as it is, the last thing it needs is additional evil. Enter: a group of people who are not responsible for the situation. Their only stake in the game is that it affects the world in which they live, and they’d really like to save it.
Following in the tradition of great female-led television dramas and rife with questions about the difference between culpability and responsibility, this modern continuation of the myth of Pandora –an attempt at a generational allegory - finds its form in a 60-minute single camera drama.
This Barrett, The Honors College Creative Thesis Project, consists of the first draft of a pilot screenplay, a corresponding “bible” (a compilation of information regarding the concept, story, and characters so as to facilitate its writing), and a reflection on the process undergone.
In a world not unlike our own, Pandora opened the world to malicious Evils. With the world, as it is, the last thing it needs is additional evil. Enter: a group of people who are not responsible for the situation. Their only stake in the game is that it affects the world in which they live, and they’d really like to save it.
Following in the tradition of great female-led television dramas and rife with questions about the difference between culpability and responsibility, this modern continuation of the myth of Pandora –an attempt at a generational allegory - finds its form in a 60-minute single camera drama.
This Barrett, The Honors College Creative Thesis Project, consists of the first draft of a pilot screenplay, a corresponding “bible” (a compilation of information regarding the concept, story, and characters so as to facilitate its writing), and a reflection on the process undergone.
ContributorsGeelhood, Tessa Renee (Author) / Maday, Gregory (Thesis director) / Bernstein, Gregory (Committee member) / School of Film, Dance and Theatre (Contributor) / Department of English (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2019-05
Description
Directors make choices on how a movie is film, these choices effect everything in the film and there are multiple factors that go into that decision-making process. Directors usually make decisions based on the entire story and their vantage point of know everything. For example, a director might choose to make a piece of information known to the audience before the character’s know so that it raises tension. The creative project refers to this type of filmmaking as: “objective cinema”. The alternative is when a director makes decisions not based on the overall story but on the reality of a character(s). That is, filmmaking techniques are used in service of communicating a character’s emotional and situational reality.
The goal of such an exercise is to bring the audience closer to a character, typically the main character. A film is driven by the audience’s connection to the plot and the main character, who is typically the driving force behind the narrative. Having an audience closer to the main character is advantageous to give the audience something personal to latch onto. Getting invested in a single character’s story is a tactic that most films use and while some use traditional filmmaking styles to narrate the film, some put in these subjective moments.
Most movies include a mix of objective and subjective scene; however, the vast majority of screen time is usually objective. Subjective moments are just that, moments within a film where the filmmaking is visually distinct from before in order to communicate the transition into a character’ subjective experience of reality. The process of using cinematic techniques: sound, images and actors to create emotion is the focus of the thesis. What specific techniques do director and other filmmakers use to create these moments from the perspective of a specific character? The research on this creative project included reverse engineering scenes to firgue out the technical specifications that the filmmakers use. What kind of lighting, cameras and sound design where employed? Why were those techniques chosen to represent a character’s subjective reality? And most importantly, why do those techniques evoke those emotions?
The goal of such an exercise is to bring the audience closer to a character, typically the main character. A film is driven by the audience’s connection to the plot and the main character, who is typically the driving force behind the narrative. Having an audience closer to the main character is advantageous to give the audience something personal to latch onto. Getting invested in a single character’s story is a tactic that most films use and while some use traditional filmmaking styles to narrate the film, some put in these subjective moments.
Most movies include a mix of objective and subjective scene; however, the vast majority of screen time is usually objective. Subjective moments are just that, moments within a film where the filmmaking is visually distinct from before in order to communicate the transition into a character’ subjective experience of reality. The process of using cinematic techniques: sound, images and actors to create emotion is the focus of the thesis. What specific techniques do director and other filmmakers use to create these moments from the perspective of a specific character? The research on this creative project included reverse engineering scenes to firgue out the technical specifications that the filmmakers use. What kind of lighting, cameras and sound design where employed? Why were those techniques chosen to represent a character’s subjective reality? And most importantly, why do those techniques evoke those emotions?
ContributorsKaufman, Jacob Aryeh (Author) / Collis, Adam (Thesis director) / Klucsarits, Philip (Committee member) / Lawrence, Sher (Committee member) / School of Film, Dance and Theatre (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2019-05
Description
Psychology and dance both shed light on the question: how do our personal, life experiences affect our movement? This document introduces elements from psychology and dance through associative learning, attachment styles, muscle patterning, and partner improvisation as ways of exploring this question. It aims to briefly introduce these theories and explain how they had a role in the research of the creative project. It also documents the inception, creation, and production of Lullabye, a dance work intended to be accessible to an audience with little to no experience viewing concert dance, with the target audience specifically being the writer’s mother. It has three sections, each featuring a different element of dance, storytelling, and individuality. It starts a conversation on how emotions and thoughts related to personal experiences can affect our movement.
ContributorsTello Solano, Carlos (Co-author, Co-author) / Kaplan, Robert (Thesis director) / Montoya, Yvonne (Committee member) / Schupp, Karen (Committee member) / Department of Psychology (Contributor) / School of Film, Dance and Theatre (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2019-05
Description
For the creative project portion of the Barrett Honors Thesis Requirement, “The Author’s Daughter: A Series Concept and Pilot Pitch” was developed to further explore a television series idea based upon a senior capstone film. The story follows a young Author who, in a future where fictional content is censored and illegal, has the power to create and bring stories to life in another realm, known as the Narrative. What’s more, she can bring these characters and stories to life in Reality, though many dangerous consequences face her because of it.
The creative project explores the concept much more in depth than its capstone counterpart; where as the capstone film serves as a concept, prequel film to the series, for the creative project the pilot script was developed, spanning over twice the length of the first script. What’s more, along with the pilot a pitch bible was developed, outlining series and franchise potential as well as an in-depth look at characters, rules of the world, and formatting styles. Finally along with the written portion came the pitch, where the series was presented to a “buyer” in this case the jury of the defense, and paired with marketing and distribution strategies to help simulate an industry style pitch and packaging demonstration.
The purpose of the honors creative project was to explore the conceptual challenges of world and series creation, as well as the execution of the serialized narrative. What’s more the project’s purpose was to research the execution of selling an idea and the business side of television, specifically in terms of the sales, marketing, and distribution of a series idea.
The creative project explores the concept much more in depth than its capstone counterpart; where as the capstone film serves as a concept, prequel film to the series, for the creative project the pilot script was developed, spanning over twice the length of the first script. What’s more, along with the pilot a pitch bible was developed, outlining series and franchise potential as well as an in-depth look at characters, rules of the world, and formatting styles. Finally along with the written portion came the pitch, where the series was presented to a “buyer” in this case the jury of the defense, and paired with marketing and distribution strategies to help simulate an industry style pitch and packaging demonstration.
The purpose of the honors creative project was to explore the conceptual challenges of world and series creation, as well as the execution of the serialized narrative. What’s more the project’s purpose was to research the execution of selling an idea and the business side of television, specifically in terms of the sales, marketing, and distribution of a series idea.
ContributorsOwens, Krystina Diane (Author) / Maday, Gregory (Thesis director) / Scott, Jason (Committee member) / School of Film, Dance and Theatre (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2019-05
Description
This thesis interprets and discusses the concept of representation of marginalized groups on television. The focus is on the character of Piper Chapman from the Netflix original series Orange is the New Black, and how her depiction is a unique kind of approach to the idea of The Burden of Representation. This idea theorizes that where there is representation, there is a duty held by the creators to tell a story that will not damage the communities it represents, as those stories shape the way the people who consume them think about said communities in real-life situations. However, if the creators were to construct a character or narrative that is perfect and “to-good-to-be-true,” that narrative may not be true to what is experienced by people in day-to-day life. One approach to this problem of non-damaging representation vs. genuine representation, is to create a character or narrative that is imperfect, but still a positive depiction. Not all “good” representation has to be perfect representation.
Through the examination of Piper Chapman’s character development, the narrative structure of Orange is the New Black, and the historical context of its representation in comparison to previous iterations, this thesis analyzes the unique way in which the show approaches its characters, setting, and storylines. The main subjects of analysis are Piper, and her girlfriend Alex Vause, each representing the bisexual and lesbian communities, respectively, and the major tropes that will be discussed are “the experimenting bisexual,” “the criminal lesbian,” “the vampiric lesbian,” and “bury your gays.” Each trope plays a significant role on the show, but the way the show uses its narrative structure and character development creates a new approach to the subversion of said tropes. Orange is the New Black focuses on telling a more human story rather than creating a perfect representation, while it still maintains a positive image for its characters.
Through the examination of Piper Chapman’s character development, the narrative structure of Orange is the New Black, and the historical context of its representation in comparison to previous iterations, this thesis analyzes the unique way in which the show approaches its characters, setting, and storylines. The main subjects of analysis are Piper, and her girlfriend Alex Vause, each representing the bisexual and lesbian communities, respectively, and the major tropes that will be discussed are “the experimenting bisexual,” “the criminal lesbian,” “the vampiric lesbian,” and “bury your gays.” Each trope plays a significant role on the show, but the way the show uses its narrative structure and character development creates a new approach to the subversion of said tropes. Orange is the New Black focuses on telling a more human story rather than creating a perfect representation, while it still maintains a positive image for its characters.
ContributorsMcdermot, Kathryn Lynne (Author) / Miller, April (Thesis director) / Ingram-Waters, Mary (Committee member) / School of Film, Dance and Theatre (Contributor) / Department of Marketing (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2019-05
Description
This performance attempts to decolonize possibilities for love through unarcheology, an invented method intended to re-narrate artifacts "dug up" by institutions of oppressive power and utilized in service of particular ideologies. Through unarcheologies of Sirhan Sirhan, the performer's father, and the performer's own body, the performance offers a critical call for us to examine the ways that colonial logics of criminality, threat, and wrongness always already implicate Palestinian bodies and our relations with them.
Rhetorics of criminality have long been written onto Palestinian bodies. From Dareen Tatour's imprisonment by the state of Israel to the U.S. detaining Adham Hassoun indefinitely as a "security threat", these rhetorics lead to material violence against Palestinians on a global scale, as well as on a discursive and interpersonal level. Communicative work which seeks to decolonize the Palestinian body in its various settings is vital to our survival in literal as well as symbolic ways. From a postcolonial perspective, we cannot extricate the individual from the communal, the local, the national, the global nor the universal. A postcolonial understanding of "survival" demands that we reflexively interrogate the Palestinian body in its sociohistorical complexity and on its own terms.
Autoethnography is uniquely situated as a method for postcolonial analyses of Palestinian survival. Chawla and Atay argue, "postcolonialism and autoethnography are inherently self-reflexive practices… that necessitate a centering of both the subject–object within a local and historical context" (4). In this performance, I introduce "unarcheology" as a postcolonial method for learning to love the Palestinian body. Using media and embodied performance, I stage a series of scripts comprised of poetic autoethnographic reflection, repurposed diary entries from an archetypal Palestinian "criminal," and the text of my father's indictment. These scripts, composed through a queer, collage-like method I call "unarcheology," are separated into temporal sections (past, present, and future) and audience members determine the order of their performance, thus demanding direct engagement in the performance's decolonial project. Staged on and around a single pile of dirt, this performance interrogates colonial barriers of criminality preventing the capacity to critically love Palestinians. It documents the survival that Palestinians are forced to embody- its goal, however, is the pursuit of critical, generous, decolonized love.
Rhetorics of criminality have long been written onto Palestinian bodies. From Dareen Tatour's imprisonment by the state of Israel to the U.S. detaining Adham Hassoun indefinitely as a "security threat", these rhetorics lead to material violence against Palestinians on a global scale, as well as on a discursive and interpersonal level. Communicative work which seeks to decolonize the Palestinian body in its various settings is vital to our survival in literal as well as symbolic ways. From a postcolonial perspective, we cannot extricate the individual from the communal, the local, the national, the global nor the universal. A postcolonial understanding of "survival" demands that we reflexively interrogate the Palestinian body in its sociohistorical complexity and on its own terms.
Autoethnography is uniquely situated as a method for postcolonial analyses of Palestinian survival. Chawla and Atay argue, "postcolonialism and autoethnography are inherently self-reflexive practices… that necessitate a centering of both the subject–object within a local and historical context" (4). In this performance, I introduce "unarcheology" as a postcolonial method for learning to love the Palestinian body. Using media and embodied performance, I stage a series of scripts comprised of poetic autoethnographic reflection, repurposed diary entries from an archetypal Palestinian "criminal," and the text of my father's indictment. These scripts, composed through a queer, collage-like method I call "unarcheology," are separated into temporal sections (past, present, and future) and audience members determine the order of their performance, thus demanding direct engagement in the performance's decolonial project. Staged on and around a single pile of dirt, this performance interrogates colonial barriers of criminality preventing the capacity to critically love Palestinians. It documents the survival that Palestinians are forced to embody- its goal, however, is the pursuit of critical, generous, decolonized love.
ContributorsTbakhi, Nissim Dawn (Author) / Linde, Jennifer (Thesis director) / Rohd, Michael (Committee member) / LeMaster, Benjamin (Committee member) / School of Film, Dance and Theatre (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2019-05
Description
A posthuman figure like the female cyborg challenges traditional humanist feminism in ways that make room for theorizing new subjectivities and feminist epistemologies. Rather than support a traditional feminism that assumes common experiences within patriarchal society and erases differences among women, cyborg feminism moves beyond naturalism and essentialism to acknowledge complex, individual, and ever-changing identity. Three films, Fritz Lang’s Metropolis (1927), Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner (1982), and Alex Garland’s Ex Machina (2015), all offer such a vision of the female cyborg. In these films, the cyborg subject is a composite of machine and human—sometimes physical, dependent on the corporal mixing of flesh and machine, but just as often mental. Human sentiment, human memories, and human emotion merge with mechanical frames and electronic codes/coding to produce cyborgs. Importantly, every main cyborg in these films is coded as female. For each cyborg, a female body hosts preprogrammed sexuality and the emotions each creator thinks a woman should have, whether those are empathy, compassion, or submissiveness.
The cyborgs in these films, however, refuse to let categorizations like female, or even their status as human, alive, or real, restrict them so easily. As human-robot hybrids, cyborgs bridge identities that are assumed to be separate and often oppositional or mutually exclusive. Cyborgs reveal the structures and expectations reified in gender to suggest that something constructed can as easily be deconstructed. In doing so, they create loose ends that leave space for new understandings of both gender and technology. By viewing these films alongside critical theory, we can understand their cyborgs as subversive, hybrid characters. Accordingly, the cyborg as a figure subverts and fragments the coherency of narratives that present gender, technology, and identity in monolithic terms, not only helping us envision new possibilities but giving us the faculties to imagine them at all.
The cyborgs in these films, however, refuse to let categorizations like female, or even their status as human, alive, or real, restrict them so easily. As human-robot hybrids, cyborgs bridge identities that are assumed to be separate and often oppositional or mutually exclusive. Cyborgs reveal the structures and expectations reified in gender to suggest that something constructed can as easily be deconstructed. In doing so, they create loose ends that leave space for new understandings of both gender and technology. By viewing these films alongside critical theory, we can understand their cyborgs as subversive, hybrid characters. Accordingly, the cyborg as a figure subverts and fragments the coherency of narratives that present gender, technology, and identity in monolithic terms, not only helping us envision new possibilities but giving us the faculties to imagine them at all.
ContributorsMargolis, Madison Lawry (Author) / Dove-Viebahn, Aviva (Thesis director) / Miller, April (Committee member) / Department of English (Contributor, Contributor) / School of Film, Dance and Theatre (Contributor) / School of International Letters and Cultures (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2019-05
Description
For my creative project, I challenged myself to host my first ever photo gallery. After three years of documenting artists at music festivals and building an impressive portfolio, I felt inspired to display my work in a proper gallery setting. I partnered with another local music photographer and together, we hosted a collaborative pop-up photo gallery at Shady Park in Tempe. Research and analysis of the modernization and widespread success of the recent pop-up phenomenon suggests that hosting a photo gallery in this format is an effective way of appealing to a predominantly millennial audience. This notion was proven valid by the large volume of interest we received during marketing pushes, the high attendance at the gallery itself, and significant social media engagement and reactions received during and after the event. Although no prints were sold, the gallery was considered a success because it served its intended purpose of providing two young artists with a space to showcase work, open themselves to critique, and make new fans.
ContributorsElwell, Nicholas (Author) / Trujillo, Rhett (Thesis director) / Giles, Bret (Committee member) / Department of Marketing (Contributor) / Department of Management and Entrepreneurship (Contributor) / School of Film, Dance and Theatre (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2019-05
Description
This project includes the data collection and stories of both survivors and witnesses of sexual harassment in the film industry who work in behind-the-camera roles. The main piece goes through the data collected by a survey conducted by the author, concerning the amount of people who have been affected, the amount of times it has happened, the amount of people who have witnessed sexual harassment, and finally concludes with how they want others to react. It takes a look into the actual numbers of sexual harassment victims and witnesses and allows a look into just how common it is, even before and after the rise of the #MeToo movement. The second piece gives detailed accounts from people who were brave enough and decided to tell their stories, and this gives them a platform to do just that. These are their actual experiences while working on a film set, though the type of set varies from person-to-person. The author did not add or take away anything from the stories, only redacting the names of people or places who might put others at risk. People from all backgrounds, ethnicities, age, and gender participated in this study with the belief that their stories and responses would remain anonymous as they continue to work in the film industry or working their way there, and that is what was achieved. The two pieces work together to allow people to not only see the statistics, but the real-life experiences people continue to suffer while at the work place just doing their job.
ContributorsWillis, Savannah Stewart (Author) / Scott, Jason (Thesis director) / Griffith, Crystal (Committee member) / School of Film, Dance and Theatre (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2018-12
Description
BETTA, a narrative music video short film was produced by Kaitlyn Baucke and directed by June Hucko, and written by both filmmakers. By employing the knowledge and experiences gained in their academic careers, they were able to create a compelling yet experimental film that challenges the idea of whether or not people are simply compilations of their memories, and experiences. Sparked by an interest in music media, this project is in the visual style of a music video, but with a 10-minute narrative. This film lightheartedly tells the story of a young woman whose most cherished memories are always accompanied by a meal of tacos. Each memory is memorialized through the collection and personalization of receipts from the taco shop. After collecting hundreds and hundreds of these receipts, she reaches a turning point in her life where she finds herself overrun by her past memories, both positive and negative. She is faced with a decision in which she must choose to dwell in her past, or leave behind memories in order to move forward. The film is scored entirely by original songs of local, ASU affiliated musicians and bands. Producing this film required an extensive pre-production phase of writing, revisions, casting, securing crew, locations, equipment, funding, scheduling, and more. Setting deadlines, sticking to budget, and ensuring smooth production was key to success. From inception, to pre-production, to reflection, this project has allowed the filmmakers to experience evolution, challenges, failures, and immense creative development.
ContributorsBaucke, Kaitlyn (Co-author) / Hucko, Jennifer (June) (Co-author) / Maday, Gregory (Thesis director) / Klucsarits, Philip (Committee member) / School of Film, Dance and Theatre (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2018-12