Out of Order is a documentary film that explores the emotional and physical aspects of living with polycystic ovarian syndrome. This reproductive disorder affects between 5 and 10% of all women of reproductive age. This film features an animated, autobiographical look at director Kimberly Davis' personal experience with this condition.

The purpose of this thesis was two-fold. First, an investigation into the design process was conducted in order to find the influences, which bring forth architecture from various methods of play and interaction with materials, media and idea forming. This work was documented with several stop motion animations and compiled in the form of a movie that is attached to this book. Following this examination, a more traditional design method was used to create a Montessori School that would draw inspiration from its position between the earth and sun to guide its architecture. The result of this method is evident through the following drawings and models. / Master of Architecture

This thesis critically comments on the unapologetic consumerist society that is feeding the obesity epidemic in the United States. Utilizing the medium of animation, this work displays the paradox advertisement creates by enticing individuals into an unhealthy life style, while simultaneously shaming their excessive indulgence by exhibiting images of ideals. The appealing surface level of this piece masks the dark underlying implications, similar to the colorful boxes of food that disguise illness as nourishment.

This thesis critically comments on the unapologetic consumerist society that is feeding the obesity epidemic in the United States. Utilizing the medium of animation, this work displays the paradox advertisement creates by enticing individuals into an unhealthy life style, while simultaneously shaming their excessive indulgence by exhibiting images of ideals. The appealing surface level of this piece masks the dark underlying implications, similar to the colorful boxes of food that disguise illness as nourishment.

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Representations of mental illness in mainstream media have historically been infantilizing and dangerous. In the last century, dominant media has perpetuated inaccurate and damaging tropes about bipolar disorder in particular, perpetuating misunderstanding and stigma. Despite this fact, art can provide an outlet through which healthy images that promote understanding and sympathy can be dispersed. My project, Polarized, presents a more accurate representation of the disorder and its effects on individuals who struggle with it, as well as their loved ones. Bipolar disorders are a group of mental illnesses that cause dramatic shifts in an individual’s mood, energy, thinking ability, and sexual drive. In popular media, bipolar is represented in a number of different problematic ways ranging from childishness to irrational violence, which provide damaging stereotypes of the bipolar community and ultimately serve to further ostracize the bipolar community. Polarized’s critique of representations of disability in hegemonic discourse is informed by true stories and histories of mental illness. The short’s narrative is fictional, inspired by my own experience as a young woman with Bipolar II and augmented with the research and memoirs of manic-depressive diagnosed clinician Kay Jamison as written in An Unquiet Mind: A Memoir of Moods and Madness.

Claymation is an animation technique developed around a century ago and featured inseveral video games. However, traditional claymation production is not most accessible togame developers due to its specialized skill requirements. This research aims to make theclaymation visual style more accessible by digitally emulating its characteristics usingmethods widely used in game development. Our approach involved developing and iteratingdigital techniques to replicate the surface texture of clay models and the jittery animationquality in a 3D physics-based game, the emulated results of which were evaluated throughinternal and external playtesting. The research team concluded that a combination ofdisplacement maps, normal maps, and color adjustments could be used to emulate realisticclay surface textures. Meanwhile, 3D animation and physics-based animation approacheswere explored to recreate the jittery animation look. The team found that, within 3Danimation, strategic use of still frames and manual motion variance addition to each in-motionpose are effective jitter emulation methods, with the latter being more effective. With physics-based animation, adding a randomized value to an object’s physically simulated motionsimulates motion jitters. The research compiled the emulation process into steps, serving asemulation guidelines for future projects.