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This thesis offers a reading of the relationship between the cinematic image and the promotional process in the context of emerging digital technologies. Asserting that computer generated image forms now function as a single currency across multiple audiovisual economies, this thesis posits a new understanding of digital attractions as constituting a 'cinemas of transactions'. Neither a singular, unitary'cinema' nor a singular 'transaction', the cinemas of transactions constitutes a complex and multiply interrelated system of textual, technological, aesthetic and economic developments whereby computer generated attractions and promotional practices span many media and textual forms. While Anglo-American film theories of the twentieth century separated the study of film form from those of spot advertising, the contemporary context, characterised by a wane in Marxist aesthetic discourse and a rise in theories of converging new media, offers a moment in which to question this separation. In this theoretical context, the relationship between the computer generated attraction and the promotional process is explored through the analysis of a broad range of media texts which all feature spectacular digital special effects. Through case studies of Hollywood films, trailers, net attractions and spot advertisements this thesis expands the work of film theories conducted in the 1980 and 1990s into the expanding domain of new media discourse.

The central goal of this thesis is to frame a widespread mode of practice amongst avant-garde filmmakers as a form of 'practical psychology,' rather than a form of artistry that masochistically rejects pleasurable aesthetic experiences - as it has been characterised by Steven Pinker and others in a cognitive context. I will suggest that, taking "sense as muse" (in Stan Brakhage's words), many avantgarde filmmakers introspectively draw creative inspiration from their own cognitive and perceptual capacities, and touch on topics explored by actual psychologists. These include narrative comprehension, memory, visual perception, synchronisation and synaesthesia; each of these themes will be considered in detail. I will also suggest that as practical psychologists, avant-garde filmmakers provide "lessons in perception" (in Michael Snow's words), offering psychological experiences that are largely unrehearsed in commercial cinema, and life in general. This practice will be framed as a form of 'expansionism.' In addition, I will advance the argument that avant-garde filmmakers provide spectators occasion to reflect on their own habits of mind and perceptual facilities by challenging them, rather than triggering well-rehearsed cognitive and perceptual processes which run beneath the conscious radar. My thesis is divided into three parts that focus, in turn, on cognition, visual, and audio-visual perception. In each, I will demonstrate how avant-garde films can teach us about the nature of our own minds. If the spectator is willing to engage with films that do not attempt to directly interface with pre-existing, wellrehearsed skills of comprehension, the avant-garde may reveal experiences and pleasures which develop the viewer's sensitivities and range of engagement skills. In a sense, my argument is an updated invocation of the Romantic model of the artist-as-prophet who enlightens the mind, in the context of modern research on cognition and perception.

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This thesis through practice attempts to develop and articulate a theory and practice of contemporary acting and actor training from a Korean perspective by utilizing practices and underlying principles based primarily on DahnHak. DahnHak is a relatively recent form of Korean meditation developed by Seung-Heun Lee in the 80s systemizing tradition of Korean bodymind cultivation. Ki occupies a central position in DahnHaKs practice and philosophy. According to DahnHak, ki is a fundamental life force of the universe, and in relation to the body and mind, it refers to a linking state between them. This thesis examines a: psychophysical process in developing an· awareness and control of ki as an actor's creative asset along with the body and mind. Four practical projects were analyzed. In The Bald Soprano Project and The Water Station Project. I examine the psychophysical process as an actor. The Godot Project in Exeter and Seoul are examined from the perspective of facilitator/director.

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This thesis is a qualitative investigation that explores how British Muslim civic actors within Muslim organisations perceive belonging, citizenship and negotiate tensions. Fifty interviews with civic actors from fifteen national Muslim civic organisations were undertaken across Britain during 2007/08. The theoretical debates which shaped the study, are based on Goffman's notion of stigma, dramaturgy and frame analysis. The findings suggest that although facing alienation and exclusion, Muslim civic actors increased their participation and exercised forms of active citizenship. This was based on their frames, religious values and principles in difference to liberal and national normative conceptions. They performed an authentic Muslim self to present a diligence to participation, civic duty and responsibility. The civic actors circumvented the 'them and us' approach by actively participating in the front stage, British civil society. The marginalisation, framing, as 'bad Muslim', stigma and Islamophobia they experienced did not prevent them from identifying with British citizenship identities. Britishness, multiculturalism, cosmopolitanism and social cohesion were seen as other forms of belonging. These did not present a sense of 'divided loyalties' to the civic actors. The religious notion of the Ummah was perceived as a core identity, which provided participants with a sense of belonging amongst the uncertainties they found within Britain. In the present neoliberal political context, the findings suggest a need to increase dialogue between the state and Muslim civic organisations to counter divides and dissolve the perceived boundaries of 'us versus them'. This thesis furthers the debates on citizenship, integration, belonging and multiculturalism in a contemporary British socio-political context.

There are three parts to this thesis, which explores how politicians, the public and broadcasters were affected by ‘antiestablishment’ BBC comedy between 1939 and 1973. ‘The Establishment’ is understood not just as the holders and loci of power, but something with social dimensions, too. Part one explores the immanent anarchy of humour by looking at controversies stirred by radio comedy before 1960. Key studies are ITMA and The Goon Show, two programmes at times concealing ‘antiestablishment’ attitudes. The chapter also discusses a BBC file, ‘Jokes Against Government’, which shows that listeners were detecting satirical intent and so-called political bias in variety as early as 1932. The implication is: if relatively innocuous comedy can disturb, those programmes which intentionally attack politicians may have quite some power. Such programmes are the focus of part two, which dedicates a chapter each to That Was The Week That Was; Not So Much a Programme, More a Way of Life and BBC-3. These were televised revue shows with much satirical, topical content. All three were produced by Ned Sherrin and all three, it is argued, had sustained political impact. The archival material presented suggests a worry by many politicians, both Labour and Conservative, about television’s role in political culture. This theme continues in part three. What were the Sherrin trilogy’s long-term effects? The contention is that the irreverence towards politics that marked out these shows was subsumed into some more ‘serious-minded’ BBC programming. One example offered is the 1971 documentary Yesterday’s Men, which examined the fortunes of the Labour Cabinet defeated in the 1970 general election. The presentational techniques of Yesterday’s Men, sometimes described as ‘satirical’, led to a row between the BBC and some of the documentary’s interviewees, analysis of which leads to some conclusions about the value of archival research into satire.

This thesis investigates various forms of historical reassessment in contemporary American cinema (2005-2013), with a particular emphasis on the role that digital technologies play in re-framing, re-negotiating, and re-vivifying historical figures and events. The focus of this work concerns questions relating to cinema’s relationship with history, and how this has been achieved through changing narratives and film aesthetics. It uses critical analysis to propose that a new range of practices and tools have been utilised to address and challenge conventions of specific historical genres, such as the historical epic, the gangster film, and the biopic. The complex and ambiguous notions of historical narrative and experience, together with continued discourses concerning representation, verisimilitude and accountability, make recent historical cinema particularly suitable for demonstrating this. The Review of Literature addresses three major areas through which this thesis has been conceived and conducted: historiography, historical cinema, and film technologies. It considers a broad range of literature in order to acknowledge some of the wider contexts that will be employed in the discussion of the historical film, and establishes the more specific conditions under which my analysis takes place. The main section of the thesis is divided into three chapters, each of which examining a particular sub-genre of the historical film. Chapter One introduces some of the key issues surrounding historical cinema, discussing the conventions of the historical epic in order to frame our understanding of issues of spectacularity and subjectivity in the genre. I use The New World and Che as case studies to examine the differing practical, aesthetic and narrative approaches to the historical epic, considering the implication of technology in terms of style, approach and implication. Chapter Two deals with the gangster film, using Public Enemies to consider issues of immediacy and immersion within the genre. I also compare modern iterations of the gangster film with its classical, revisionist and retro antecedents, making extensive comparisons with Bonnie and Clyde. Similarly, in my study of the biographical film in Chapter Three, I use Citizen Kane as a contrast to the modern form of the “unconventional” biopic embodied by The Social Network. This genre is considered in light of its aesthetic approaches, generic deviations and developments, the public-private dynamic, and the notion of the American Dream. The thesis concludes with an overview of the aesthetic and narrative approaches studied in this work, and draws attention to the contemporary shift in filmmaking practices and technologies. Given the isolated period of study, I propose ways in which the study could be extended in generic, transmedial and methodological terms, as well as acknowledging the importance of the historical film at the levels of expression, representation, and discourse.

This project asks what a fanvid (vid) is, and by extension, what vids are to television. Vids are derived from television and film sources but they are themselves neither television episodes nor films. These works approximate the music video in appearance and duration, but are non-commercial fan works which construct creative and critical analyses of existing media. Vids remake narratives for a deeply attentive fan audience who watch with a deep knowledge of the source text, or with familiarity of the codes and conventions of the vid form. This thesis is concerned with vids of live-action narrative fiction and covers technological changes from broadcast television, to VCR and the rise of home video, to digital viewership. The chapters focus on different aspects of the vid form in relation to current issues in television studies, with some recourse to the growing field of fandom studies to provide appropriate subcultural context. The first case study chapter addresses contrasting theoretical understandings of collections and archives to contextualise the kinds of archival work done by vidders as a form of historiography. Vids are created from personal archives of film, television and other media sources; vids bear traces of their archival origins, and their creation is the performance of the vidder’s knowledge of their own archive. This chapter includes vids from the VCR era, and has a particular focus on Star Trek. The next chapter addresses multifandom vids – a vid genre that draws together video clips from several sources to compare and contrast norms of representation – alongside critical work on found footage films, to analyse the visual pleasures of vids and their relationship with audience fascinations (of erotics, of spectacle, etc.). The final chapter is an intensive case study of a trilogy of Battlestar Galactica vids, to analyse both the vid’s relationship with adaptation and genre, and the central role of songs in vids. While vids rely heavily on their soundtrack to structure meaning within the work, they are not abstract illustrations of songs. Instead, the clichés and idioms of the chosen song’s instrumentation are vital in completing the vid’s reinterpretation of its source text. Television studies is an appropriate disciplinary frame for studying the vid, as it offers ways of thinking about audiences, sequential narratives and the textuality of video forms. The creators and audiences of vids are highly competent in the deep reading and careful viewing of both mainstream and cult television and film, and keep archives of media which they reframe and re-present.