The aim of this work is to evaluate the prediction performance of random forests in comparison to support vector machines, for predicting the numerical user ratings of a movie using pre-release attributes such as its cast, directors, budget and movie genres. In order to answer this question an experiment was conducted on predicting the overall user rating of 3376 hollywood movies, using data from the well established movie database IMDb. The prediction performance of the two algorithms was assessed and compared over three commonly used performance and error metrics, as well as evaluated by the means of significance testing in order to further investigate whether or not any significant differences could be identified. The results indicate some differences between the two algorithms, with consistently better performance from random forests in comparison to support vector machines over all of the performance metrics, as well as significantly better results for two out of three metrics. Although a slight difference has been indicated by the results one should also note that both algorithms show great similarities in terms of their prediction performance, making it hard to draw any general conclusions on which algorithm yield the most accurate movie predictions.

CONTRACTUAL PROCESSES IN MOVIE LAW - ABSTRACT Thesis Contractual Processes in Movie Law revolves around the phenomenon of audiovisual works. Its purpose is to familiarize the reader with the process of creation of an audiovisual work from a legal perspective as well as to describe basic contractual relationships arising during that process. This thesis consists of two parts. The first focuses on basics of Copyright Law and its legal sources. It further contains an analysis of law concerning audiovisual production and Movie Law along with an overview of applicable terminology. The second part elaborates on contractual obligations originating within the process of creation of an audiovisual work. The following types of contracts are described thoroughly: licence agreement, contract of employment, contract of services, contract of work and fixed job contract. KEY WORDS: Audiovisual work, Movie Law, Copyright related contracts

After the "Cultural Revolution" in 1976, the Chinese film industry returned to normal. Between 1976 and 1979, most filmmakers returned to their film studios and began to reorganize the production system. After 1980, the Chinese film industry began to develop multi-dimensionally. The highlight of this development was the rising of a large number of young directors and their works, which became hits and attracted attention both at home and abroad. More and more Chinese films were seen at international film festivals, often winning the awards. This study focuses on the important period between 1976 and 1988 in the Chinese film history and its influence on the development of the Chinese film industry; it concludes with the discussion of the direction the Chinese film industry is heading in the future.

[pt] Em O que destina o olhar à cegueira, discutem-se algumas representações do olhar cego como condição contemporânea, em textos ficcionais e teóricos, filmes e outras mediações imagéticas. Um dos objetivos do estudo é procurar respostas para as perguntas: de que maneira falar de cegueira diante da predominância de uma civilização da imagem? Ou estar diante de um olhar que se deforma ao perceber um mundo onde as imagens são cada vez mais numerosas, porém mais diversificadas e mais intercambiáveis? Na investigação de diversos textos, percebem-se as implicações do olhar deformado na experiência acelerada das imagens contemporâneas. É esta reflexão crucial que ecoa ao longo do texto, na revisão de algumas perspectivas possíveis para pensar o problema da cegueira como ganho, como outro ponto de vista, como nova possibilidade de visão, como antídoto para o acúmulo sem limite do excesso. E ainda: tendo o cuidado de não repetir os clichês do gênero que descobrem a espantosa capacidade de os cegos exercitarem sua percepção diante do mundo que se lhes apresenta como retrato de uma negação: a negação do visual. / [en] In What leads the look to blindness we find discussions about some representations of the blind look as a contemporary condition in fictional and theoretical texts, films and other images mediations. One of the essays goals is to look for answers to the following questions: how to talk about blindness in a civilization where the image is predominant? Or how to confront ourselves with a world vision that is ever transforming while facing images that are always increasing, though more diversified and interchangeable? .In the process of reviewing several texts on the subject we find the implications of the transformed vision in the accelerated experience of contemporary images. This is the crucial reflection that echoes in the text, in the review of some possible perspectives to think the blindness issue as a gain, as another point of view, as a new possibility of seeing, as an antidote to the unlimited excess. Yet more: taking care of not repeating the gender clichés when unfold the amazing ability the blind have when exercising their perception before the world that presents itself as a denial portrait: the visual denial.

After witnessing the success of Canadian strategies to attract U.S. film production in the 1990s, states and localities began offering financial incentives in an effort to lure film and video production away from their traditional hubs in California and New York (Christopherson & Rightor, 2010). This effort increased dramatically in the 2000s, both in scope and in scale. Production activity can now locate in states offering rebates of up to 40 percent of costs, even if this exceeds their actual tax bills, and all but a handful of states offer some form of tax incentives (Christopherson & Rightor, 2010; Katz & Rosenthal, 2006; National Conference of State Legislatures, 2011; Vock, 2008). While some states may be reducing incentive packages in the current climate of fiscal austerity, others are doubling down on that strategy as an effort to stimulate job growth and increased economic activity. And while most states tout many successes from these programs in both metrics, the question of whether such policies promote long-term sustainable economic development has not been fully answered. First I use theoretical literature to construct a model of sustainable industrial development. I will then test this model using a variety of methods and data sets at the national, and state and county levels. In the following two analytical chapters, I will evaluate the impacts of incentives on state-level employment and firm growth, followed by an assessment of the economic effects of incentives in one such state: Georgia. By using this variety of approaches and units of analysis, I hope to shed light on both the macro- and micro-level impacts such incentives have on the industrial economic development of states. In the first study, I use data from the County Business Patterns (CBP) over the years 2002-2013 to view changes in economic activity by state by the level of incentives offered. Using panel data for industry employment, establishment and occupational employment, I use a fixed and random effects regression models to view the relationship between the presence of incentives and the levels of employment and firms in the film industry of each state. Next, I use Georgia as a case study with which to evaluate the degree to which financial incentives for the motion picture industry can create a sustainable network of local firms and workers. I test these theories by using confidential QCEW data to analyze establishment-level activity and relative locations. The results neither completely confirm nor disprove the hypothesis that attracting mobile productions with state tax incentives can establish a nascent industry and generate long-term employment in a region. However, there is some evidence that the number of years the MPIs are in effect does have a positive impact, especially on establishments and occupations. Additionally, the states’ climate and transportation access relative to Los Angeles and other locations are important factors in building a local industry.

[pt] Salò e o Cinema Impopular segundo Pier Paolo Pasolini, pretende analisar o último filme de Pier Paolo Pasolini (1922-1975), Salò, o 120 giornate di Sodoma (1975), estabelecendo uma analogia com seus últimos ensaios publicados nos livros Empirismo Eretico (1972), Scritti Corsari (1975) e Lettere Luterane (1976), destacando a idéia de um Cinema Impopolare escrito em 1970, como possível indício de um reorientamento ou acentuação de determinados procedimentos artísticos que conduziriam a Saló, verificando antecedentes na obra de Pasolini ou influências de teorias e práticas cinematográficas anteriores, que poderiam ter contribuído para a formulação deste conceito. E por fim, observar a relação destas idéias com alguns fenômenos que ocorreram contemporaneamente a este período. / [en] Salò and the Unpopular Cinema by Pier Paolo Pasolini, intend to analyze the last film by Pier Paolo Pasolini (1922-1975), Salò, o 120 giornate di Sodoma (1975), establishing an analogy with his last published essays in books Empirismo Eretico (1972), Scritti Corsari (1975) Lettere Luterane (1976), emphasizing the idea of a Cinema Impopolare written in 1970 as a possible indication of a redirection or intensification of certain artistic procedures that lead to Salò, checking the background of the work of Pasolini or influences of theories and practices prior movie that could have contributed to the formulation of the concept. Finally, observe the relationship of these ideas with some events that occurred contemporaneously in this period.

[pt] A indústria cinematográfica tem na acentuada tipificação da linguagem uma estratégia para a produção e comercialização dos filmes, o que promove numa proliferação de clichês, determinando os lugares das imagens e de suas leituras. Parte de uma cultura de massa presente em escala global, essas representações valem-se das convenções e do ilusionismo dos efeitos técnicos para seduzir o olhar do espectador e manter afastados os aspectos obscuros e misteriosos da existência. Analisamos neste trabalho como o cineasta contemporâneo Lars von Trier realiza uma leitura crítica dos clichês da cultura contemporânea em sua própria cinematografia. No filme Dançando no Escuro (Dancer in the Dark, 2000), von Trier recorre à tradição da tragédia, do melodrama e do musical não apenas como mero efeito estilístico, mas como estratégia para realizar um jogo reflexivo. Promovendo, a cada filme, o movimento duplo de continuidade e ruptura com as convenções, observamos como o cineasta herda a tradição do cinema moderno e apresenta em seu estilo cinematográfico profundas afinidades com o também dinamarquês Carl Th. Dreyer, em sua busca por criar vida na tela. / [en] The movie industry has evolved a standardised visual strategy for film production and marketing, which promotes a proliferation of clichés, determining the use of the known images and their respective readings. Part of a mass culture that is present in a global scale, these representations are attached to the conventions and illusionism of cinema through technical effects to seduce the viewer s gaze and keep out the dark and mysterious aspects of life. We analyze in this work how the contemporary filmmaker Lars von Trier performs his critical reading of the clichés of contemporary culture in his own films. In the film Dancer in the Dark (2000), von Trier uses the tradition of tragedy, melodrama and musical not as a mere stylistic effect, but as a strategy to make a reflexive game. Promoting in each movie the double movement of continuity and breaking of conventions, we notice how von Trier s film style inherits a tradition of modern cinema and how it demonstrates so many affinities with his fellow Dane Carl Dreyer, in his quest to create life on the screen.

[pt] Madame Satã é sem dúvida um dos representantes mais ilustres da malandragem da Lapa boêmia da primeira metade do século XX. Mas o personagem reúne, ainda, traços que o inserem em outras categorias, tais como, negro, homossexual e marginal. Esta tese busca desvendar um complexo processo em que se imbricam a apropriação (e resignificação) simbólica do malandro e a aplicação de estratégias biopolíticas sobre os corpos fora da norma. Os desdobramentos identitários de Madame Satã sugerem também uma potência política a ser explorada. Ao longo dos anos, as interpretações do personagem vão das mais conservadoras às mais transgressoras, deixando entrever, além dos diferentes contextos em que se inserem, os distintos projetos estéticos e políticos delineados. O objetivo principal deste trabalho é analisar o percurso de Madame Satã e promover uma reflexão sobre o poder de instrumentalização do corpo, tendo como horizonte a produção de subjetividades contemporâneas. Além do período em que o personagem se insere, dois momentos específicos são analisados: a década de setenta, quando retornará à cena midiática via uma entrevista concedida ao jornal O Pasquim e publicará uma autobiografia, e o início do século XXI, a partir do lançamento do filme Madame Satã, de Karim Aïnouz. / [en] Madame Satã is no doubt one of the most famous representative of the malandragem from the first half of XX century. But the character includes, indeed, features that insert him into other categories as, black, homosexual and delinquent. This study aims to reveal a complex process that imbricates symbolic appropriation (and re-signification) of the malandro, and the applying of biopolitical strategies over the out of normative bodies. The identity unfoldings of Madame Satã suggests also a political potency to be explored. Over the years, the character interpretations go from the most conservative to the most transgressors, breaking out, besides the different contexts to which they belong, the distinct aesthetical and political projects delineated. The main purpose of this work is to analyse Madame Satã’s course and to promote a reflection about the power of body’s instrumentalization, taking the contemporary subjectivities production as the horizon for reflection. As well as his acting age, two specific moments are analyzed: The seventies, when he was put back on the media scene and published an autobiography, and the XXI century, after the release of the film Madame Satã (2002), by Karim Aïnouz.

[pt] O colonialismo europeu teve um grande impacto nas sociedades africanas e é sentido até os dias de hoje. Mesmo com as lutas de independência no pós Segunda Guerra Mundial, o peso do domínio colonial se faz presente, especialmente no campo da cultura. A descolonização das mentes foi um desafio assumido pelos intelectuais engajados nas lutas de independência, principalmente aqueles de origem africana. O cinema se tornou uma importante ferramenta nesse processo, surgindo pela primeira vez a proposta de um Cinema Africano, no âmbito da antiga África Ocidental Francesa durante a década de 1960. Este trabalho analisa a produção cinematográfica do senegalês Ousmane Sembène durante o período supracitado. Sua proposta de cinema e sua militância influenciaram muitos artistas e intelectuais africanos, sua busca por uma estética que rejeitasse os padrões europeus e de Hollywood é considerada por muitos a fundação do que se costuma chamar de Cinema Africano. Esta dissertação tem como objetivo contribuir para a análise dos elementos que compõe essa proposta estética e o debate sobre a possibilidade de um Cinema Africano. Além disto, o trabalho se propõe ainda a se debruçar sobre a trajetória de vida de Sembène, seu processo de formação intelectual e seu exílio numa tentativa de estabelecer a conexão entre o artista formado e suas origens, através de sua biografia e suas entrevistas, investigando dessa maneira as relações sociais que deram origem ao cineasta. / [en] European colonialism had a great impact on African societies and is felt to this day. Even with the struggles for independence in the post World War II, the weight of colonial rule is present, especially in the field of culture. The decolonization of the minds was a challenge taken up by intellectuals engaged in the process of decolonization, especially those of African origin. The cinema has become an important tool in this process, appearing for the first time a proposed African Cinema, under the former French West Africa during the 1960s. This paper analyzes the cinematic of the senegalese Ousmane Sembène during the stated period. His proposal for an african cinema and his activism influenced many African artists and intellectuals, his quest for an aesthetic that rejected the European and Hollywood standards is considered by many the foundation of what is called African Cinema. This dissertation aims to contribute to the analysis of aesthetic elements that make up this proposal and the debate about the possibility of an African Cinema. In addition, the study aims to further look into the life trajectory of Sembène, the process of intellectual formation and his exile in an attempt to establish the connection between the artist and his origins, through his biography and his interviews, investigating this way the social relations that gave rise to the filmmaker.

[pt] O ano de 1990 foi o marco de uma grande crise na indústria cinematográfica do Brasil. Motivos políticos e econômicos, somados a uma crise generalizada no país, assinaram o obituário do cinema nacional. Quatro anos depois, com o auxílio de leis e incentivos fiscais, deu-se a chamada retomada do cinema brasileiro. Grandes bilheterias, indicações ao Oscar e uma renovação no desenho e na forma de produção apareceriam para abrir o caminho de uma nova cinematografia brasileira. O figurino de filmes de época produzidos nesta fase, com seus projetos de pesquisa e a construção de seus corpos históricos, são o objeto dessa dissertação. / [en] The year 1990 was the mark of a great crisis in the film industry of Brazil. For political and economic reasons, added to a general crisis in the country, signed the obituary of national cinema. Four years later, with the help of laws and tax exemptions it happenned the so called retomada do cinema brasileiro (the return of the brazilian cinema).