Border Perversion: Physical, Bodily and Conceptual Borders and the Multimodal Essay Film is an interdisciplinary and multimodal media dissertation based on extensive research, interviews and field notes. This practice-led research investigates alternative border imaginaries through two multimodal essay films Blazing Worlds and Common Work, and a written thesis that examines the shifting nature of borders — conceptual, political and lived experiences — in the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard. It developed from the question as to why, in hyper globalized world, are so many borders being built? There were fewer than five border walls globally post World War II, and just 12 border walls at the end of the Cold War. Today, 74 border walls exist across the globe, most of them erected in the past two decades, with at least 16 more planned or in construction at the time of writing. Within all power relations, there is the potential for resistance, especially through changing the meaning and value of terms. In this dissertation, I reactivate the concept of perversion as an erring or straying as a source of subversive and creative potential, to unveil alternative border imaginaries within the distinctive legal terrain of the Svalbard archipelago. Through this exploration, I analyze and contribute to unconventional perspectives of borders. This involves not only navigating the complex legal intricacies of the Svalbard archipelago, but also pushing artistic boundaries to transcend the genre of the essay film. By appropriating perversion, I challenge existing conceptual frameworks but also pioneer an innovative approach to understanding artistic expression, proposing the emergence of a new type of essay film, a multimodal essay film, which continues the essay film’s trajectory of subverting dominant artistic structures. The multimodal essay film provides room to explore the complex issues of borders by blurring the boundaries of materialities and methods. I assert that this transgression reanimates the subversive and augments its heterogeneous form through the introduction of objects. I undertook field research in Svalbard as the Svalbard Treaty provides a compelling case study to illustrate alternative border imaginaries which transcends the traditional domestic-international divide. With its unique governance model, and diverse transnational players, the fluid coexistence among actors in Svalbard challenges the dichotomy between “them” and “us”, revealing a more intricate interplay of belonging. My exploration of how identity and belonging operate in Svalbard, in a context detached from conventional life markers, offers a fresh perspective on the evolving nature of borders. In parallel, this thesis has two multimodal essay film realizations, Blazing Worlds and Common Work, both of which were exhibited in Ireland, and a collection of interviews with artists and scholars exploring multimodal essay film. In addition, a symposium titled ‘Encounters with Boundaries’ was hosted by the Slought in Philadelphia in 2022 which explored issues raised in this dissertation. The central focus of this research is exploring the beyond of the essay film and of conventional border frameworks, fostering space for diverse narratives, practices, and imaginings. Through this exploration, it contributes to the decolonization of knowledge by transcending genre boundaries. / Documentary Arts

This thesis explores the poetics of editing in the films and multimedia works of Chris Marker. From his first essay films of the 1950s to his 1998 CD-ROM Immemory, the director’s work has attracted critical attention for its beauty and originality of expression. Much existing analysis engages with this work in terms of its subject matter and themes and their relationship with its associational, rather than linear, narrative form, with relatively little focus on the stylistics of Marker’s editing. While questions of the director’s thematic concerns also arise in my study, I argue that Marker’s contribution to cinema and the visual arts cannot be fully appreciated without a systematic understanding of his stylistics—his expressive use of cinematic forms and patterns. In developing such an understanding, this thesis utilises the work of a number of film writers explicitly concerned with the expressive use of cinematic space and time. From Andr?? Bazin, I take the idea of rapprochement to mean the way the comparison between two juxtaposed events or images suggests or expresses the meaning of their juxtaposition. From Jean-Andr?? Fieschi, I draw on the idea that the dialectical interaction of the plastic, formal and narrative elements of a film gives meaning to its cinematic space and time. My approach synthesises and builds upon both ideas for its account of the stylistics of Marker’s work. Starting with a preliminary analysis of one cinematic comparison in The Case of the Grinning Cat (2004), I then consider Marker’s exploration of the imaginative potential of a single image sequence in The Last Bolshevik (1993). After this, I explore examples of the stylistic figure of rapprochement in Letter from Siberia (1958), and the stylistic figure of transformation in Sunless (1982). The thesis then studies articulations of rapprochement and transformation in the museum installations Zapping Zone: Proposals for an Imaginary Television (1991), Silent Movie (1995) and the CD-ROM Immemory.

This thesis explores the poetics of editing in the films and multimedia works of Chris Marker. From his first essay films of the 1950s to his 1998 CD-ROM Immemory, the director’s work has attracted critical attention for its beauty and originality of expression. Much existing analysis engages with this work in terms of its subject matter and themes and their relationship with its associational, rather than linear, narrative form, with relatively little focus on the stylistics of Marker’s editing. While questions of the director’s thematic concerns also arise in my study, I argue that Marker’s contribution to cinema and the visual arts cannot be fully appreciated without a systematic understanding of his stylistics—his expressive use of cinematic forms and patterns. In developing such an understanding, this thesis utilises the work of a number of film writers explicitly concerned with the expressive use of cinematic space and time. From Andr?? Bazin, I take the idea of rapprochement to mean the way the comparison between two juxtaposed events or images suggests or expresses the meaning of their juxtaposition. From Jean-Andr?? Fieschi, I draw on the idea that the dialectical interaction of the plastic, formal and narrative elements of a film gives meaning to its cinematic space and time. My approach synthesises and builds upon both ideas for its account of the stylistics of Marker’s work. Starting with a preliminary analysis of one cinematic comparison in The Case of the Grinning Cat (2004), I then consider Marker’s exploration of the imaginative potential of a single image sequence in The Last Bolshevik (1993). After this, I explore examples of the stylistic figure of rapprochement in Letter from Siberia (1958), and the stylistic figure of transformation in Sunless (1982). The thesis then studies articulations of rapprochement and transformation in the museum installations Zapping Zone: Proposals for an Imaginary Television (1991), Silent Movie (1995) and the CD-ROM Immemory.

Submitted by Filipe dos Santos (fsantos@pucsp.br) on 2016-12-01T12:10:47Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Ernesto Filho.pdf: 33346318 bytes, checksum: 1ca825566abca949df6c03d8946490f5 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-12-01T12:10:47Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Ernesto Filho.pdf: 33346318 bytes, checksum: 1ca825566abca949df6c03d8946490f5 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016-10-20 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / This dissertation seeks to organize and complexify a certain dimention of the body in film making having as a starting point the notion of essay film and the film of my own "Pas ce soir", finalized and presented for the first time in January 2015. The term essay film began to be used in the 1940s to refer to certain types of cinematic experiences that were beginning to emerge. Many of these experiments were related to the emergence of new technologies such as 16mm cameras, which enabled a single artist to handle the apparatus necessary for the making of a film. Part of the theoretical work is based on theories that discuss the body and its relationship with the environment. Among them, “Corpomídia” theory (GREINER and KATZ); the notion of “embodied meaning” (JOHNSON, Mark) and ideia of “extended mind” (Clark, Andy). The hypothesis is that the notion of essay film needs to be problematized because until today it relies on dualistic separations that do not make sense in bodily terms / Esta dissertação busca organizar e complexificar uma certa dimensão do corpo no cinema tendo como ponto de partida a noção de ensaio fílmico (film essay) e o filme de minha autoria “Pas ce soir”, finalizado e apresentado, pela primeira vez, em janeiro de 2015. O termo ensaio fílmico começou a ser usado na década de 1940 para se referir a certos tipos de experiências cinematográficas que começavam a surgir. Grande parte desses experimentos estavam relacionados ao aparecimento de novas tecnologias como as câmeras 16mm, que possibilitaram que um único artista pudesse manusear o aparato necessário para a realização de um filme. A fundamentação teórica se apoia em algumas teorias que discutem o corpo e suas relações com o ambiente. Entre elas, a teoria Corpomídia (GREINER e KATZ); a noção de significado corporificado (JOHNSON, Mark) e a ideia de mente estendida (CLARK, Andy). A hipótese é a de que a noção de ensaio fílmico precisa ser problematizada pois até hoje apoia-se em separações dualistas que não fazem sentido em termos corporais

This paper is a theoretical and aesthetic exploration of my MFA thesis film- an autobiographical documentary. This documentary was entirely shot in China, with both high-definition footage and Super 8 film; it takes a journey in my hometown to discuss the contemporary housing problem across generations in modern China. By focusing on ordinary family life, the film attempts to reveal the tension and conflicts arising between Chinese people's need for roots and the shifting socioeconomic system. The first part of the paper addresses the highly contrasted filmic textures that establish various temporal dimensions in the film. Taking an autobiographical approach, the first person perspective is employed to connect these times and spaces. The second part of the paper will examine the subjectivity in the film and discuss how the self functions as a storyteller, an outsider and a family member at the same time. The following chapter will visit the physical familiar space. The lens searches for marks and signs left by everyday practices, in order to trace the change of the concept of home in Chinese culture after the invasion of industrialization and consumerism. Such an enormous socioeconomic transformation has eventually given birth to a wave of nostalgia in contemporary China. This nostalgia answers a cultural need that counters the irresistible process of modernization, urbanization and commercialization in the transitional China.

Submitted by Franciele Moreira (francielemoreyra@gmail.com) on 2017-12-20T15:54:07Z No. of bitstreams: 2 Dissertação - João Daniell Ferreira de Oliveria - 2017.pdf: 15698537 bytes, checksum: 7b7a14edaedb58d66a8c5cc45b6d6d7c (MD5) license_rdf: 0 bytes, checksum: d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Luciana Ferreira (lucgeral@gmail.com) on 2017-12-21T12:37:45Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 2 Dissertação - João Daniell Ferreira de Oliveria - 2017.pdf: 15698537 bytes, checksum: 7b7a14edaedb58d66a8c5cc45b6d6d7c (MD5) license_rdf: 0 bytes, checksum: d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-12-21T12:37:45Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 Dissertação - João Daniell Ferreira de Oliveria - 2017.pdf: 15698537 bytes, checksum: 7b7a14edaedb58d66a8c5cc45b6d6d7c (MD5) license_rdf: 0 bytes, checksum: d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e (MD5) Previous issue date: 2017-07-12 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior - CAPES / This research proposes a reflection on the relationship between the documentary and the essay film in the film Jogo de Cena (2007) by Brazilian documentary filmmaker Eduardo Coutinho. It is investigated if there is a tension between the analyzed domains in the analyzed film. From this question I seek to understand how the technical and aesthetic choices that constitute Coutinho's style assume essayistic contours in the research object. In order to answer the research question, I aim to understand how Coutinho 's cinematographic style is characterized and constituted; to understand how Jogo de Cena (2007) plays in the tradition of the documentary and to understand how the essay film was constituted and how it can be identified in the cinema. Methodologically, a proposal for the analysis of documents by Francisco Elinaldo Teixeira was adopted in three moments: 1. Inventory of composition materials; 2. Inventory of compositional modes; 3. Reflection on narrative modes and camera functions. Through the analysis it is indicated how it is possible to recognize essayistic strategies in Jogo de Cena (2007) as: the voice of essay tone, the dialectic of materials, the montage between word and image, the heterogeneity of the composition materials, second reading order. Thus, it is concluded that the film studied even belonging to the documentary domain presents a strong essayistic inflexion. / Este trabalho propõe uma reflexão em torno da relação entre o documentário e o filme-ensaio no filme Jogo de Cena (2007) do documentarista brasileiro Eduardo Coutinho. Investiga-se se no filme analisado existe um tensionamento entre os domínios abordados. A partir desta questão, busca-se compreender como as escolhas técnicas e estéticas que constituem o estilo de Coutinho assumem contornos ensaísticos no objeto de pesquisa. Para responder ao problema da pesquisa temos como objetivo compreender como se caracteriza e se constituiu o estilo cinematográfico de Coutinho; compreender como Jogo de Cena se inscreve na tradição do documentário e entender como se constituiu o filme-ensaio e de que forma identificá-lo no cinema. Metodologicamente adota-se a proposta de análise de documentários de Francisco Elinaldo Teixeira que por sua vez divide-se em três momentos: 1. Inventário dos materiais de composição; 2. Inventário dos modos de composição; 3. Reflexão sobre os modos narrativos e funções da câmera. Por meio da análise realizada indica-se como reconhecer estratégias ensaísticas em Jogo de Cena (2007) tais como: a voz de tom ensaístico, a dialética de materiais, a montagem entre palavra e imagem, a heterogeneidade dos materiais de composição e a leitura de segundo grau. Desse modo, conclui-se que o filme estudado mesmo pertencendo ao domínio do documentário apresenta forte inflexão ensaística.

Blivits! is a feature-length documentary produced, written, and directed by Charles Sutter in pursuit of the Master of Fine Arts in Film & Digital Media from the University of Central Florida. This thesis examines the ethical questions of making a documentary in the digital era. In accordance with the restrictions of the program's guidelines, this film was completed a budget of less than $50,000. The film was shot over 18 days, in various locations up and down the east coast of the United States. This thesis is the record of Blivits!'s journey through development until completion of picture lock.

No description available.

Mémoire numérisé par la Division de la gestion de documents et des archives de l'Université de Montréal / Pour respecter les droits d'auteur, la version électronique de cette thèse ou ce mémoire a été dépouillée, le cas échéant, de ses documents visuels et audio-visuels. La version intégrale de la thèse ou du mémoire a été déposée au Service de la gestion des documents et des archives de l'Université de Montréal.

This study is a close reading of how Shapeshifters (Sophie Vuković, 2017) and Inuti diamanten (Viktor Johansson, 2020) produce social criticism through essayistic forms. Using relevant research and theories on essay film, the first part of this study explores essayistic form in above mentioned films. It demonstrates how the use of voiceover, narrative structure and other filmic forms in Shapeshifters and Inuti diamanten can be described as essayistic. The second part combines the implications of the first part with theories on essayistic form and its capacity of societal critique. It reveals how an essayistic form allows these filmmakers to produce social critique in similar and different ways. Research about essay film is an expanding field of film studies that has become increasingly relevant in our postmodern society. Investigating a more personal, complex and open style of filmmaking, essay film studies offer new ways of making, watching and analyzing film. A shortage of attentiveness to essay film in Swedish film studies has urged this study to expand the research and explore essay filmmaking in contemporary Sweden.