Scholarship & Research
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Item Ani(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Arts & Architecture, 2024) Gorham, Olivia Marie; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Jennifer BolesThis film and accompanying paper thesis delve into the intricacies of life within a nunnery amidst the landscapes of the Himalayas. Through the lens of sensory ethnography and observational filmmaking, the project offers a nuanced portrait of the daily rituals, spiritual practices, and communal relationships that define the existence of the nuns within this remote sanctuary. Employing asynchronous sound and poetic filmmaking techniques, the project reassesses traditional documentary conventions, aiming to evoke a visceral and immersive experience for the audience. As viewers exist within the nunnery's spaces, they are enveloped by the resonant chants of prayers, the whispers of mountain winds, and the rustle of prayer flags, inviting them into a state of contemplation and introspection. Drawing on extended periods of intimate engagement with the space, the film captures moments of quiet reflection, collective meditation, and acts of devotion that speak to the rhythms of monastic life. Through lingering shots and evocative compositions, it seeks to convey not only the outward manifestations of religious practice but also the inner landscapes of the relationships between the nuns and their environment. In tandem with the film, the accompanying thesis paper provides a theoretical framework for understanding the methodological and aesthetic choices underlying the project. It explores the intersection of sensory ethnography, observational filmmaking, and poetic representation, arguing for their collective potential to convey the complex dimensions of lived experience. Ultimately, Ani invites viewers to contemplate assumption, relationality, and human curiosity.Item Resilient: Norfolk's race against the rising seas(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Arts & Architecture, 2024) Hermsen, Erinn Catherine; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Cat DaleResilient is told in the expository mode of documentary filmmaking. The characters' stories are woven together through the use of talking-head characters who provide voice-of-authority commentary with their first-hand stories and expert testimony, as well as an omniscient narrator that provides additional context and information. The film presents a problem/solution structure (Nichols 22) supported by evidentiary editing. Resilient presents the problem of flooding due to climate change-induced sea level rise and introduces solutions. Norfolk's infrastructure adaptation projects aim to protect the city in the short-term while the city can solve the long-term issue of living along rising sea levels. The characters' stories serve to ultimately further the argument, which is in line with key characteristics of the expository mode (Nichols 121). Two relevant films I watched as research for my own had similar approaches to storytelling. "Sinking Cities: Miami" and "Climate Crisis: Flooding" also used the expository mode of documentary. The stories were also told through talking-head experts who provided voice-of-authority expert testimony, as well as an omniscient narrator. The characters' stories provided first-hand experience and knowledge that supported the films' problem/solution storylines.Item Sparks(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Arts & Architecture, 2024) Ratliff, Jacqueline Noel; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Hugo R. SindelarExploring a world unknown to some, the short documentary SPARKS invites viewers to view the world of welding through narrative and immersive storytelling. The short documentary demonstrates the impact of one's dream and highlights how even small acts of empowerment can lead to fulfilling endeavors. While making the film, this paper was written to help share specific research, thoughts, and ideas critical to creating the story. In the beginning phases, a detailed logistical outline provided insight into the filmmaker and crew. The research was a pivotal phase; deep diving into subjects and topics portrayed in the film and drawing insights from comparable films aid in illuminating overarching themes and editing styles. For SPARKS, the paper examines the industrial industry of welding and ironwork in the context of female labor. Thus, it identifies holes in employment for female workers in male-dominated careers. Understanding this key fact helped inform this film. The paper explores connections to the broader field of science and natural history documentary filmmaking, emphasizing observational/expository styles and immersive ethnographic experiences in contemporary documentaries. Films (not limited to) like Single Stream, Nuisance Bear, TOM, and Glass were examined. The latter part of the paper explains Brenda Stredwick's (protagonist) and filmmakers' connections while outlining distribution plans involving a festival circuit, educational showings, and free screenings. This paper offers insight into Stredwick's inspiring journey and its broader implications within documentary filmmaking and gender dynamics in the arts.Item Hold fast: cultural resilience in the face of climate change(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Arts & Architecture, 2024) LaCalle, John Christian; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Hugo R. SindelarThe Cajun Prairie of South Louisiana offers a distinctive lens through which to view the resilience, spirit, identity, and culture of a regional community that is under threat by the impacts of climate change and unsustainable development. Hold Fast explores and captures these struggles using documentary storytelling techniques through the lens of an emblematic subculture in southwest Louisiana in the McNeese State University Rodeo Team. The film presents the challenges of living within a changing climate as the team rebuilds after Hurricane Laura ravaged southwest Louisiana and uprooted their lives in 2020. The short film showcases that in a time of upheaval and widespread displacement, strong cultural identity becomes critical to a community's ability to rebound after disaster. By highlighting the McNeese Rodeo team's journey against the backdrop of Cajun Prairie's challenges, this project seeks to illuminate the interconnectedness of human and environmental stories, showcasing the unwavering spirit of the Cajun community.Item Rivers of resilience: the ripple effect of community-based action(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Arts & Architecture, 2024) Coe, Madison Lindsay; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Hugo R. SindelarProtect Our Rivers is a documentary film that chronicles the transformative journey of Sarah Nelson, a young woman who, after enduring profound personal losses, discovers her life's purpose in river conservation. Inspired by her first whitewater rafting trip, Sarah establishes the nonprofit organization Protect Our Rivers, which mobilizes volunteers to remove over 120,000 pounds of trash from local streams and restore the health of America's waterways. Through Sarah's story, the film explores themes of resilience, community, and the power of individual action in the face of environmental degradation and climate change. The film captures Sarah's tireless dedication to river conservation, juxtaposing her personal journey of healing with the renewal of strained waterways. Set against the backdrop of the pristine Salmon River and the urban stretch of the South Platte River in Denver, Colorado, the film underscores the importance of preserving rivers as vital ecosystems and sources of community recreation and well-being. Despite facing extreme pollution and degradation, Sarah's grassroots efforts demonstrate the potential for small-scale actions to make a significant impact on river health and community empowerment. Drawing stylistic inspiration from other verite-style environmental documentaries, stunning cinematography and immersive storytelling is embraced in the film to evoke emotional resonance and inspire collective action in its viewers. By highlighting the interconnectedness of environmental conservation and human well-being, the film serves as a poignant reminder of our shared responsibility to protect the planet's precious rivers. Through Sarah's story, Protect Our Rivers offers a beacon of hope and empowerment, demonstrating that one person's passion and dedication can create a ripple effect of positive change in the world.Item Influence of emotions: how a film score aids audience attention and understanding in documentary film(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Arts & Architecture, 2023) Weikert, Grace Allison; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Dennis AigThe music that accompanies documentaries often needs to be more valued and utilized. Although documentaries primarily focus on facts or discoveries, their musical scores, which are often secondary, house the emotional nuances and sensitivities that are the true key to their meaning and impact. Intentionally crafted scores--as the emotional undertone--draw viewers into the inner world of the film. By maximizing intellectual stimulation through the visual means of film and auditorial means of music, there is a greater chance for audience attention and understanding. This thesis seeks to examine original scores within documentary films, applications pertaining to learning capabilities, and the proper execution within documentary context to direct attention of the viewer. I include a case study using my science documentary film Holy Curiosity: Uncovering the Expansion Rate of the Universe to assess the effectiveness of sequences in aiding audiences' attention and understanding of complex scientific information through its original musical score as a structural device. Ultimately, documentary films employing an original film score may garner increased audience attention and understanding.Item Beyond continuity within the frame: experiments in 360 documentary(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Arts & Architecture, 2021) Barker, Richard Dozier; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Theo Lipfert360 video is a new medium, with different opportunities than traditional film and a need for new conventions. In a traditional film, the typical HD resolution contains about 2 million pixels spaced over a screen which fills only a portion of the viewer's full range of vision. The filmmaker must squeeze all of the information they are trying to convey into that small space and direct the viewer's attention within the frame. In 360 video, the lowest resolution in frequent use contains about 10 million pixels, over 8 million more than the traditional HD standard and distributed over a range that fills the viewer's entire vision in every direction. Similarly to how the advent of traditional film gave photography the use of motion and time, the challenge and opportunity of 360 video is to effectively direct attention while making full use of the extra space. This Master of Fine Arts thesis is an exploration of potential avenues for making use of those extra pixels in documentary film, the immersive aspects of the 360 medium, and maintaining the editorial agency of the filmmaker while taking advantage of new opportunities for collaboration with the viewer.Item The blind leading the blind: filming during a pandemic with a sightless subject(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Arts & Architecture, 2021) Holder, John Kenneth; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Dennis AigThis paper is constructed to serve as a detailed analysis of the storytelling and logistical process for making the film Sonora in Colombia, South America. Sonora is an experimental short documentary with Juan Pablo Culasso as the main subject. Blind since birth and deeply reliant on his heightened sense of hearing and touch to understand the world around him, Culasso navigates a world that is truly more complex than most of us can imagine. As a result, he has developed a mind that inherently has a unique connection to nature. Sonora is ultimately a haptic film visually and sonically that combines Culasso's non-scripted voiceover with in-the-field examples of how he experiences nature. The goal is to instill a better awareness within the individual viewers of the potential use of their own senses.Item Investigation of how poetic mode documentaries work as a catalyst for information in science and natural history filmmaking(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Arts & Architecture, 2022) Bach, Harrison; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Dennis AigPoetic mode storytelling comes in the form of a new, unusual, and abstract means of expressing information and conveying emotion in media narrative production. When used in the context of science and natural history filmmaking it is a double-edged sword; it can induce intrigue or instigate bewilderment. When the poetic mode elements are used in conjunction with science and natural history filmmaking, there is a defiance in the expectations of what both conventional cinema and experimental cinema are trying to convey. These differences come in the form of producing films that visually and emotionally express features of poetic mode storytelling techniques while still creating a film that is about a real process, person, and place. Through case studies of poetic mode science and natural history films Samsara, Sweet Grass, and my film 'Flourish,' this paper will examine how the use of poetic mode film techniques in science and natural history films are utilized, and the accolades and critiques that come as a result.Item The role of reciprocity in documentary filmmaking(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Arts & Architecture, 2022) Larson, Daniel Jon; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Cindy StillwellFilmmakers are often required to navigate conflicts and difficult moral dilemmas with their participants. While some have proposed ethical guidelines to help filmmakers resolve these dilemmas, such normative codes are unable to account for the unique particularities of every situation. I argue Simone de Beauvoir provides a philosophy that is well suited to documentary filmmaking and can help filmmakers analyze the particularities of moral dilemmas too unique to be accounted for by normative guidelines. Beauvoir's philosophy has two primary advantages for documentary filmmakers: 1) it accounts for the sociopolitical context in which the filmmaker and participant exist and, 2) it advocates for an ethic of reciprocity that requires filmmakers to respect the alterity of their participants and foster equitable relationships with them. I apply Beauvoir's philosophy to the ways in which filmmakers build relationships with their participants and use this framework to discuss Michael Apted's 'Up!' series, as well as my own film, 'Middle America'.