Matching Items (19)
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- All Subjects: Film
- Creators: Miller, April
- Creators: Department of Marketing
- Resource Type: Text
Description
This paper aims to investigate how the portrayal of the crusaders in twentieth and twenty-first century film has evolved and how they have become tools in serving contemporary goals, including those of individual filmmakers and broad societal ideologies. Through the analysis of five films, in both narrative and cinematography, spanning from the 1950s until 2011, themes of redemption, maturity, and the dichotomy of "good" and "bad" are discussed, as well as their chronological evolution in regards to the crusading hero. These films, widely ranging in historical subject matter and country of origin, show a greater range of evolution for the holy war hero and the important themes widely associated with them.
ContributorsBowman, Taylor Nicole (Author) / Benkert, Volker (Thesis director) / Bruhn, Karen (Committee member) / Miller, April (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of Historical, Philosophical and Religious Studies (Contributor)
Created2015-05
Description
The depiction of mental illness, schizophrenia in particular, within film is a unique phenomenon that film directors have decided to undertake more so in the last 20 years than ever before in cinematic history (Wedding & Niemic, 2014; Robinson, 2004; Gabbard & Gabbard, 1999; Wahl, 1997). Countless filmmakers have taken on the challenge of depicting this complex, yet degenerative condition that entails auditory and visual hallucinations, disorganized thought and speech, and delusions. Its portrayals are usually exaggerated and romanticized, and convey a sense of separate "Otherness" with those who have a mental disorder. And while filmmakers try to encapsulate the schizophrenic experience, it is not without psychiatric error and regarding the person who has schizophrenia as a spectacle. This unfair and ostracizing view of people who have schizophrenia is fueled by films like A Beautiful Mind and The Shining where the film either creates impossibly high standards for schizophrenics to perform at, or the film paints the character as a violent savage. In either case, the end result is the marking and, usually, denouncement of the schizophrenic for their illness. What filmmakers tend to overlook is how much the public learns from the cinematic portrayals of these disorders, and that their films are contributing to an overarching issue of public presumptions of actual schizophrenia and how it is perceived. While the Hollywood approach offers a depiction that is usually more tangible and enjoyable for masses of audiences, spectators should recognize that these are artistic interpretations that take liberties in their depictions of schizophrenia. Viewing these films with an objective mindset to better understand the inner workings of schizophrenia is absolutely crucial in arriving anything close to the truth behind this mental illness that has been demonized long enough.
ContributorsFraga, Nicholas Andrew (Author) / Miller, April (Thesis director) / Cavanaugh Toft, Carolyn (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Department of Psychology (Contributor) / Department of English (Contributor)
Created2015-05
DescriptionA comprehensive look at the roles and responsibilities of producers in contemporary Hollywood. The experience I have as an Associate Producer on a current project is also chronicled while the ups and downs of film production are explored.
ContributorsGalen, Adam (Author) / Sandler, Kevin (Thesis director) / Green, Michael (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Department of Economics (Contributor) / Department of Marketing (Contributor) / Department of English (Contributor)
Created2014-05
Description
The purpose of this thesis will be to outline the different tactics involving social and digital media that film studios currently use to market their films. Before that is done, a brief history will be provided about the ways the film industry has promoted itself in the past, as well as a brief history of the development of social media. After the history is provided, the marketing tactics that studios use that involve digital and social media will be listed and explained. In addition to discussing the tactics used by studios, there will also be a discussion of the shifts that have occurred in the marketing of films at a strategic level. After the explanation of all the tactics mentioned, there will be an analysis of the ways two major Hollywood blockbusters, The Hunger Games and Gravity, used some of those tactics to promote themselves. Through all these sections, the reader will be able to comprehend how big of an impact social media has made on the film industry and understand exactly how it is used to promote films.
ContributorsRamirez, Alvaro R (Author) / Gruber, Diane (Thesis director) / Giles, Charles (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Department of Management (Contributor) / Department of Marketing (Contributor)
Created2014-05
Description
This work examines three common practices—yellowface in Cloud Atlas (2012), whitewashing in Star Trek Into Darkness (2013), and absence in Firefly (2002)—employed in popular science fiction that represent Asianness and disregard the Asian body. Though the creators purport to have progressive ideals at the center of their production choices, their works call on Techno-Orientalist and Orientalist tropes and divorce them from the Asian body, implicitly continuing the Orientalist argument of Western supremacy even in representing Asianness.
ContributorsTse, Kassidy Laurane (Author) / Miller, April (Thesis director) / Rondilla, Joanne (Committee member) / Department of English (Contributor) / School of International Letters and Cultures (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2017-05
Description
This thesis is a two-part theatre and literature project on The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde. The research component will consist of gathering information from the origins of this play in writing and in production to further understand my knowledge of the time it was written in and how it has been interpreted over the years. The theatrical elements will come as I direct and produce my own production of the play, and compare my research of Wilde's play and past productions to my own directorial decisions in attempt to make a successful student performed play.
ContributorsMarnick, Courtney Melissa (Author) / Miller, April (Thesis director) / Brown, Dori (Committee member) / Department of Marketing (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-12
Description
Currently the Chinese marketplace is very much influenced by its economic, demographic, political, technological, and sociocultural trends. The Chinese population is aging, and the gender ratio is being tipped to favor the male population. Also, the urbanization of rural parts of China has lead to a rising middle class with higher inclinations to spend their income. Along with these changes, China has fully embraced technological innovation, from mobile payments to sharing economies, to allowing social media access to almost all functions of daily life. The Chinese film market used to consist of mainly government-produced domestic films, but since the the first insurgence of foreign imports, China’s desire for Hollywood films has sparked and grown immensely.
However, while the general public has a high demand for foreign films, the key player in exporting a film and distributing it into China is the Chinese government and related censorship bodies. Since China is a widely untapped marketplace for foreign filmmakers, it makes sense to enter, and there are three ways a film can do so: a flat-fee export, the revenue sharing, and the co-production model. The flat-fee export model entails a straight export into China, including only a flat price, no sales revenue. The revenue-sharing model is the desired choice for big-budget studios since they get a percentage of the ticket sales in China, but there are only a select few spots that are filled each year. The co-production model is when an American film studio partners with a Chinese production company and they create a film together. This model allows the film be considered domestic, but comes with many stipulations regarding Chinese presence and influence in the film.
For an independent film company looking to expand in the most lucrative international market, the best way to effectively create, market, and distribute a movie in China is to first craft a broad, unique, and attainable mission statement. Once the goals of the company are created, then key factors for success are choosing the best method of entry into the marketplace while adeptly taking the government influence into consideration, hiring locals who have previous experience in the Chinese film industry and have a deep understanding of Chinese history, culture, and the current social trends, and taking advantage of all the avenues that are available to market and distribute the film. Overall, the best options for a small independent film company in America would be to create an animated feature with two versions, or a live-action film featuring prominent Chinese actors. These are the most feasible under the flat-fee model for those with a limited financial budget, or a co-production approach for those interested in a more long-term investment plan with China.
Overall, there are many moving parts and aspects to consider when entering the Chinese movie marketplace, and this research and suggestions are geared towards making sure that if going to China is possibility, then this information provides the best tools and resources to ensure that venture is a success.
However, while the general public has a high demand for foreign films, the key player in exporting a film and distributing it into China is the Chinese government and related censorship bodies. Since China is a widely untapped marketplace for foreign filmmakers, it makes sense to enter, and there are three ways a film can do so: a flat-fee export, the revenue sharing, and the co-production model. The flat-fee export model entails a straight export into China, including only a flat price, no sales revenue. The revenue-sharing model is the desired choice for big-budget studios since they get a percentage of the ticket sales in China, but there are only a select few spots that are filled each year. The co-production model is when an American film studio partners with a Chinese production company and they create a film together. This model allows the film be considered domestic, but comes with many stipulations regarding Chinese presence and influence in the film.
For an independent film company looking to expand in the most lucrative international market, the best way to effectively create, market, and distribute a movie in China is to first craft a broad, unique, and attainable mission statement. Once the goals of the company are created, then key factors for success are choosing the best method of entry into the marketplace while adeptly taking the government influence into consideration, hiring locals who have previous experience in the Chinese film industry and have a deep understanding of Chinese history, culture, and the current social trends, and taking advantage of all the avenues that are available to market and distribute the film. Overall, the best options for a small independent film company in America would be to create an animated feature with two versions, or a live-action film featuring prominent Chinese actors. These are the most feasible under the flat-fee model for those with a limited financial budget, or a co-production approach for those interested in a more long-term investment plan with China.
Overall, there are many moving parts and aspects to consider when entering the Chinese movie marketplace, and this research and suggestions are geared towards making sure that if going to China is possibility, then this information provides the best tools and resources to ensure that venture is a success.
ContributorsCrozier, Julianna (Author) / Eaton, Kate (Thesis director) / Schlater, John (Committee member) / School of International Letters and Cultures (Contributor) / School of Art (Contributor) / Department of Marketing (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2019-05
Description
In the Film and Media industries, it seems like it is completely male dominated both on and off the screen. With movements like Me Too and See Her it is important now, more than ever to make a change in the film industry. These movements have been great sparks to create changes in the field which lead to having more representation of women both on and off the screen and in film, tv and media. In my personal experience, when you are a woman on a film set it feels like you can get incredibly overshadowed or if you try to stand up for an idea you could be called bossy. A female mindset on a set, in major positions, seems like it can only be a good thing. Whether that is true or not there have been so few experiences and records of how an all-female set is ran. There is lot of fear that goes into running a set. Many women feel like they cannot handle the environment of a film set because of a certain stigma and stereotype of women in powerful positions. Women, while not always true, can be more understanding when difficult circumstances arise. The gender bias for larger film crews is almost 75 % male, this is a statistic that needs to change soon. It is important to teach the new generation that women in powerful creative roles in film is a normal occurrence and the only way we can get there is being more conscious about who is on our sets.
ContributorsSmith, Mallory Keller (Author) / Scott, Jason (Thesis director) / Lunde, Julia (Committee member) / School of Film, Dance and Theatre (Contributor) / Dean, W.P. Carey School of Business (Contributor) / Department of Marketing (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2018-12
Description
My thesis provides an in-depth analysis of the Tarantinoverse, a shared universe in which most of Quentin Tarantino's movies exist. I start by talking about the relationships between characters across different movies and how Tarantino portrays them. I examine how he has some characters who are brothers and some characters who have ancestral relationships with other characters. I also observe how two characters in separate movies are the same person and that there is one non-familial relationship within Tarantino's shared universe. Next, I investigate the two distinct universes that make up the Tarantino's cinematic universe, the "realer than real" universe and the "movie" universe. In that section, I explain how he uses crossover characters, who can exist in both the "realer than real" and "movie" universes and how they represent different types of people that exist within both universes. Then I examine fictional products that are exclusive to Tarantino's shared universe. In that segment, I examine how Tarantino critiques the way other filmmakers use product placement in their movies and the way movies are used to market products. After that, I discuss how Tarantino's alteration of history in Inglourious Basterds, namely Adolf Hitler's death, affected the society of Tarantino's movies with respect to popular culture and violence. Regarding pop culture, I examine how Tarantino's characters use pop culture references, how frequently they used them, and what they reference in Tarantino's movies set before Hitler's death and contrast those with the same three aspects in movies set after Hitler's death. Finally, I inspect on how Tarantino uses violence within his movies and contrast how he uses it in movies before Hitler's death and how he uses it in movies set after Hitler's death.
ContributorsMurwin, Nicholas (Author) / Maday, Gregory (Thesis director) / Miller, April (Committee member) / School of Historical, Philosophical and Religious Studies (Contributor) / School of Film, Dance and Theatre (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2018-05
Description
Popular culture has a longstanding tendency for being affected by, and reversely affecting, politics. Films, in particular, can exist as either purse “escapism” or heady pathways for political commentary. During the Second World War, governments in both the United States and Great Britain used film as a vessel for their own messages, but after the war ended, the two nations allowed their respective film industries more free expression in commenting on wartime and post-war politics. Film also provided particularly vivid political commentary during, and in the years immediately following, the Cold War. Though film has a longstanding history of being a force for political commentary, the medium’s specific engagement with the Cold War holds particular significance because works produced by the two nations’ film industries paralleled the social trend toward political activism at the time. While films produced in the UK and the United States in the 1960s addressed a wide range of contentious political issues, a huge body of work was spurred on by one of the most pressing political tensions of the time: namely, the Cold War.
The United States and Great Britain were major, allied forces during the Cold War. Despite their allied positions, they had unique politico-social perspectives that greatly reflected their immediate involvement in the conflict, in addition to their respective political histories and engagement in previous wars. As the Cold War threat was a large and, in many ways, incomprehensible one, each country took certain elements of the Cold War situation and used those elements to reflect their varied political social positions to a more popular audience and the culture it consumed.
In turn, filmmakers in both countries used their mediums to make overarching political commentaries on the Cold War situation. This analysis looks at five films from those countries during the 1960s, and explores how each representation offered different, often conflicting, perspectives on how to “manage” Cold War tensions, while simultaneously reflecting their conflicted culture and political decisions. The films analyzed reveal that each country focused on contrasting perceptions about the source of the threat posed by Soviet forces, thus becoming tools to further promote their distinct political stances. While the specifics of that commentary changed with each filmmaker, they generally paralleled each country’s perspective on the overall Cold War atmosphere. The British message represented the Cold War as a very internal battle—one that involved the threat within UK borders via the infiltration of spies the tools of espionage. In contrast, the American films suggest that the Cold War threat was largely an internal one, a struggle best combatted by increasing weaponry that would help control the threat before it reached American borders.
The United States and Great Britain were major, allied forces during the Cold War. Despite their allied positions, they had unique politico-social perspectives that greatly reflected their immediate involvement in the conflict, in addition to their respective political histories and engagement in previous wars. As the Cold War threat was a large and, in many ways, incomprehensible one, each country took certain elements of the Cold War situation and used those elements to reflect their varied political social positions to a more popular audience and the culture it consumed.
In turn, filmmakers in both countries used their mediums to make overarching political commentaries on the Cold War situation. This analysis looks at five films from those countries during the 1960s, and explores how each representation offered different, often conflicting, perspectives on how to “manage” Cold War tensions, while simultaneously reflecting their conflicted culture and political decisions. The films analyzed reveal that each country focused on contrasting perceptions about the source of the threat posed by Soviet forces, thus becoming tools to further promote their distinct political stances. While the specifics of that commentary changed with each filmmaker, they generally paralleled each country’s perspective on the overall Cold War atmosphere. The British message represented the Cold War as a very internal battle—one that involved the threat within UK borders via the infiltration of spies the tools of espionage. In contrast, the American films suggest that the Cold War threat was largely an internal one, a struggle best combatted by increasing weaponry that would help control the threat before it reached American borders.
ContributorsNelson, Taylor Lynn (Author) / Miller, April (Thesis director) / O'Flaherty, Katherine (Committee member) / Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication (Contributor) / School of Historical, Philosophical and Religious Studies (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-05