Jean-Luc Godard's Histoire(s) du cinema (1988-1998) is a video work made up of visual and verbal quotations of hundreds of images and sounds from film history. But rather than simply telling (hi)stories of cinema, Godard makes a case for cinema as a tool for performing the work of history. This is partly because the film image, by virtue of always recording more of the real than was anticipated or intended, necessarily has history itself inscribed within its very fabric. It is also because montage, as the art of combining discrete elements in new ways in order to produce original forms, can be seen as a machine for realising historical thought. This thesis examines these ideas by discussing Godard's account of the role of cinema in the Second World War, and by analysing some of his recent work as examples of historical montage which attempt to criticise our current political climate through comparison with earlier eras. After a first chapter which sets out Godard's argument through an extensive commentary of Histoire(s) 1A and B, a second chapter discusses Godard's depiction of the invention of cinema and traces a complex argument about technology and historical responsibility around the key metaphorical figure of the train. Chapter 3 explores the ways in which Godard's historical approach to cinema allows him to maintain a critical discourse with regard to the geopolitical realities of late twentieth-century Europe (Germany, the Balkans), but also to the communications and business empires that have developed over the past few decades. A final chapter offers a detailed consideration of the nature of Godard's cinematic quotation and seeks to explicate the apocalyptic rhetoric of his late work. Aside from Histoire(s) du cinema, films discussed include Nouvelle Vague (1990), Allemagne neuf zero (1991), For Ever Mozart (1996) and Eloge de l'amour (2001).

This thesis examines forms of Gothic fiction on television, and defines the ways in which television produces Gothic drama which is medium-specific (e.g. formally distinct from versions of the genre in other media). This work employs a textual analysis to explore Gothic television, and combines this with archival research and an examination of the changing climate of television production in a range of national and historical contexts. The thesis is organised into four case studies, each dealing with different national industries during different periods: British anthology drama of the 1960s and 70s (e.g. Mystery and Imagination (ABC/Thames, 1966-70), Ghost Story for Christmas (BBC1, 1971-78)); Danish art television in the mid-nineties (Riget (Danmarks Radio/Zentropa, 1994)); British adaptations of female Gothic literature, (e.g. Rebecca (BBC2, 1979), The Wyvern Mystery (BBC1/The Television Production Company, 2000); and big-budget, effects-laden series from North America in the 1990s (e.g. American Gothic, CBS/Renaissance, 1995-96), Millennium (20th Century Fox/10:13, 1996-1999). I argue that Gothic television plays on the genre's inherent fascination with the domestic/familial, to produce television drama with an overt consciousness of the contexts in which the programmes are being viewed, a consciousness which is locatable within the text itself; as such, the thesis defines the Gothic as a genre which is well suited to presentation on television. Furthermore, an examination is offered of the 'model' viewer as presented within the television text, enabling an understanding of the ways in which conceptions of television viewership are inscribed into television drama at the moment of production. I also interrogate the notion that television is an 'uncanny' medium by locating the precise sources of uncanniness with Gothic television, and delineate the ways in which innovations in television production have been showcased through the representation of the supernatural and the uncanny with Gothic Television.

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The subject of this study is Sub-Sahara Africa Anglophone Video-moviemaking and the research process is an empirical enquiry into how this contemporary cultural industry has emerged in the region, bringing with it a paradigmatic shift in the concept of cinema on the African continent. Within this context I look at the interventions that necessitate and define this industry pioneered by Ghana and Nigeria. These interventions are historical, economic, social and political. To put this research into perspective I commence with the critical question: why is it important to do a study on Sub-Sahara Anglophone video-moviemaking? It is an important subject because this is the history that is barely constructed. It is a history that follows traditional lines of filmmaking and yet distinctly differs from the traditional concept of high culture celluloid filmmaking. It is an industry that is a significant part of the economies of producing countries. The products of this industry also constitute a major source of entertainment in Africa and among African immigrants in the West. Yet, studies on African moviemaking practices have, until most recently, bypassed this important industry. By undertaking this research I explore Sub-Sahara Africa videomoviemaking in order to open discussion and critical review of this creative industry that forms an important part of the economic and cultural systems in the region. This thesis is a hybrid with two components – a text document and an audio-visual documentary on a digital versatile disk (DVD). The presentation of these two components reflects the expansion of dissemination platforms for study results. In presenting these two different formats I have to reduce certain things from each side but I do so in such a way that they work together. In that working together is an emerging corporative that intervenes beyond academia.

In the mid-1960s and early 1970s, experimental and independent cinema received a considerable amount of support from the U.S. federal government through the American Film Institute (AFI), and from private philanthropies and arts institutions such as the Rockefeller Foundation (RF) and the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA). These measures appeared at a moment when the theatrical film industry was reorganising its industrial model and its main trade organisation, the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), was revising its moral standards. Only recently scholars have started historiographical research on experimental cinema's connection with arts and academic infrastructures, yet they have not paid similar attention to the FI's support for experimental and independent cinema production. Thus, they have failed to explain experimental and independent cinema's complex relationship with both the theatrical film industry and philanthropic enterprises during that period. In this project I address these connections through archival research on the FI's experimental and independent film production fund, the Independent Filmmaker Program (IFP), relating this measure to other distribution and exhibition policies. I locate the origins of these policies in pre-WWII federal government's and RF's film education and propaganda programmes. Then I further contextualise the measures within the wider international state of the film industry between 1945 and 1974. Thus I argue that the policies advanced in the 1960s engaged with some of the demands of experimental and independent filmmakers and critics for freer personal expression and more flexible modes of film production. At the same time, these policies contributed to expand non-theatrical film production and update film education in line with the interests of the main theatrical film industry. This study contributes to understand a key moment in American film history considering both the relationship between the U.S. federal government, private philanthropies and the MPAA, and between institutions and filmmakers.

Historically the understanding and appreciation of cinema have been shaped by a bias towards the image. Consequently, film sound has received little attention: today we know very little about how sound works in the cinema, especially in contemporary terms. My particular concern is to provide a first substantial account of sound in contemporary Hollywood cinema. Since the arrival of Dolby technologies in the early 1970s, the seismic nature of the changes that have taken place in mainstream cinema are so pervasive as to suggest that we are indeed in a new 'era' of cinema, the Dolby era. This period in the history of cinema has been characterised by a variety of factors such as the emergence of a new generation of filmmakers as well as a new 'kind' of audience. The thesis investigates these changes and their implications within a historical framework that has its roots in the 1960s, exploded in the 1970s, and matured beyond expectations over the past two decades. The thesis is structured around an exploration of the central features and figures that have characterised the Dolby era. It includes an examination of the reasons behind the success of Ray Dolby and Dolby Laboratories, as well as an analysis of the impact that technological innovations in film sound have had on filmmaking practices and the industry at large. The thesis advocates a move towards closer dialogue and integration between the world of academia and that of practitioners by focussing specifically on professional practices through a series of interviews with leading Hollywood practitioners. Finally, the thesis proposes an original approach to some key areas of film studies, namely film audiences, film narrative construction and film analysis.

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This practice-led research investigates a design framework within an artistic context for the implementation of Whole Body Interactive (WBI) performance systems that employ real-time motion capture technology. Following an Interaction Design perspective I engage in exploring the requirements for composers, dancers, musicians and performers and their expectations, within a series of transdisciplinary collaborative artistic projects. Integral to this investigation is a comprehensive review and analysis of the progression of interactivity in fine art, music, dance and performance practices, presented in this thesis. As I am particularly concerned with the seamless transfer of the tacit skills and the implicit knowledge of non-digital artists and practitioners to a WBI performance setting, my practical explorations emerged in the contexts of music improvisation - Untitled#1, contemporary dance - Untitled#2, contemporary music composition - Hiroshima, and traditional dance - Duende. Adopting a Holistic Design approach, the experience and knowledge gained from my first practical explorations led to the design and implementation of a WBI prototyping software environment called EnActor, used in tandem with the Orient wireless inertial motion capture system, developed by the Research Consortium in Speckled Computing, at the University of Edinburgh. EnActor provides a simple and effective solution to the problem of linking physical actions to rich digital media responses and can serve as a blueprint for the development of other WBI design software, since it has operated successfully as a prototype, addressing a wide range of WBI design briefs in various contexts. In this thesis I introduce the role of the WBI designer as a specialist interaction designer able to conceptualise WBI scenarios and implement complete systems that operate within various levels of body sensing and control. I also propose the development of WBI systems that are autonomous and unsupervised, and I explore various compositional concepts and mappings that are implemented as automatic, semi-automatic or manual modules and ultimately arranged into layers and to series of blocks that represent complete compositions. Following the understanding of interactivity as a property between systems, I identify the design of three basic types of WBI performance systems that differ in how a user engages with them: methodical, empirical and dialectic. Overall this research aims to facilitate designers and artists interested in the use of real-time motion capture systems in dance, music, theatre and performance art applications.