Theses and Dissertations at Montana State University (MSU)
Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://scholarworks.montana.edu/handle/1/733
Browse
3 results
Search Results
Item Knowing death : analysis and critique(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Arts & Architecture, 2014) Suarez, Terrance Michael; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Dennis AigKnowing Death is an essay film exploring thanatophobia or the fear of being dead. There are difficulties in creating a film (a visual medium) about an abstract subject such as death anxiety as there are no tangible actions to show. I surmounted this issue by using images and sound as metaphors meant to elicit specific emotional responses in the audience rather than literal representations of the subject. The emotional responses mirror my personal journey through the subject of death anxiety while the subject itself is discussed through interviews.Item AnOther language(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Arts & Architecture, 2007) Ronan, Carah Dawn; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Walter MetzThrough revisionist anthropology, postcolonial theories and feminist theories, an alternative language in film can come to light. The analysis of spoken words in film calls attention to the use of language as a cinematic tool. Las Hurdes uses narration to construct a fictionalized society presented within the context of a documentary. This unconventional approach encourages viewers to view films more skeptically, while Everest: Beyond the Limits, reinforces the dominant ideologies of the west. Films without spoken words also call attention to the use of language that is conveyed to viewers in film. Films such as Playtime and Triplets of Bellville must connect with the audience through gesture and emotion, using few or no words at all. Surname Viet Given Name Nam calls attention to the use of voice-over in film and examines the issue of traditional interviewing with a solution of multiple voices and highlighted artifice. As Jacques Derrida points out, all language is a crisis. A solution can be found through a reading of the works of filmmakers and theorists. No single language exists without the larger context of work. The theorists whose work influences this approach include James Clifford, Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, Michael Ryan, Amy Lawrance, Hélène Cixous and Kaja Silverman. By analyzing language within both social and linguistic frameworks, a framework for reading and viewing films through an unspoken language can be constructed.Item Beyond words : the use of the non-verbal genre in natural history filmmaking(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Arts & Architecture, 2007) Haywood, Keene McDonald; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Dennis AigNatural history filmmaking has a history that begins with the advent of cinematography as a form of artistic and documentary expression. Natural history filmmaking has increasingly used techniques of fiction, drama and anthropomorphizing to represent the natural world in storytelling. This paper will examine the use of the nonverbal form of filmmaking as an alternative style that can be used to effectively document natural history using a more lyrical, poetic and often more thoughtful style. This work examines previous works in the non-verbal genre and discusses how this style compares with historically more traditional natural history films and why this alternative style is used for the thesis film. Additionally, works from the disciplines of geography and natural history writing are examined for relevance to the non-verbal natural history filmmaking genre.