The transformation of matter and the reflection of light are at the heart of filmmaking and moving image practice, exemplified by Stan Brakhage’s assertion that “matter is still light. Light held in a bind.” Catoptrics is the use of optical devices, mirrors, crystals and lenses in the processes of focussing and directing light. Alchemy has a two thousand year history, commonly misunderstood as a form erroneous proto-chemistry in which people sought the Philosopher’s Stone to transmute base metals into gold. Alchemical catoptrics is the place where the disciplines of alchemy and catoptrics meet, encompassing an enquiry into the fundamental properties of matter and the possibilities for its transformation, bound up in range of pre-scientific belief systems and philosophies of light, matter and cosmogenesis. In conventional media histories, the historical antecedents of moving image practice are usually explored through the evolution of visual media technologies. Such an approach only deals with the superficial tools of moving image practice, binding itself up in the machinery of spectacle, while remaining silent on the deeper questions of humankind’s imaginative relationship with luminous matter. The practice of alchemical catoptrics was an experimental exploration of this relationship; between light, the phenomenal world, the deep structure of substance, imagination, belief and meaning. The current study offers a fresh historical perspective on what it means to experiment with the substance of light in a transformative, luminous, meaning-making capacity. It uncovers a language of transformation that speaks to the author's own practice, while offering new insights into the experimental methodologies, motives and practices of other moving image artists. The research discusses the 13th century light philosophy of Robert Grosseteste and its referencing by Stan Brakhage and Hollis Frampton, leading into an exploration of the methodologies of historical alchemical catoptrics, citing original document translations prepared for the purpose of the thesis. Using the examples of Man Ray (1890–1976) and Patrick Bokanowski (1943-present), the research then shows how alchemical catoptrical thinking can inform our interpretation of the practices of these two moving image artists. The thesis concludes with an examination of the alchemical-catoptrical ideas and methods used for the production of two of my recent film works: Speculum (2011-2014) and Catoptrica (2011-2013).

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The Culinary Browns is an experimental documentary that traces four generations of the Brown family beginning with Bob Brown, my great-grandfather, a writer of pulp fiction, modern poetry, cookbooks and social commentary. This documentary is not a linear history or purely factual document, but instead, uses personal experience as a means to generate more universal connections to the inherently dysfunctional dynamics of family, the fragmentary quality of memory, and to ultimately remind the viewer that history is relative.

My thesis film for the Master of Fine Arts is a twelve-minute experimental film entitled You and me are stitched. It follows three friends, Rosine, Sandy and Travis. It is a film that thinks around their curious triangle. This report is an account of the evolution of its filmmaking concept and process, from the initial idea through the finished film. The finished film bears little similarity to the original intent, so I pay particular attention to discussing conceptual breakthrough and post-production discoveries in this report. / text

This dissertation explores experimentation--across experimental music, experimental theatre, and experimental film, in addition to the term's etymology, scientific usage, and colloquial deployment--in order to derive a deeper understanding of what we mean when we say an artwork is experimental, and how this term can help us understand current artistic praxes and products emerging from performance studies contexts. In this document, I advocate for the term experimental performance as both an umbrella term and as a specific genre name for the artistic activity of contemporary artists working between experimental theatre and performance art, often within performance studies contexts. Ultimately, citing the historical richness of experimental art and its long-standing relationship to the academy as evidence, I advocate for the further academic acknowledgement of experimental performance.

Little Paintings is a document that describes the creation, influences and process of two films, "Betty Creek" and "New Berlin". The films are personal responses to my experiences growing-up and living in the Southern United States. The Thesis illustrates the influences of painters such as Jimmie Lee Sudduth and Willie Jinks and how their raw painting methods inspire the development of my films using a tactile approach to filmmaking.

Project Shanghai is an experimental short film that addresses the problem of wealth inequality in Shanghai and draws attention to the lives of the lower class. Since the economic reform launched in the last century that brought China unprecedented growth, Shanghai has developed into the financial hub of East Asia and the gateway to mainland China. However, it has also become a city where one can see the extremes of income inequality. Influenced by the Six-Generation Chinese directors and their persistent attention to the marginalized city dwellers, Project Shanghai attempts to advocate the basic human rights for the victims of income inequality. With visual storytelling that illustrates the intimate details, rich textures, and vivid human stories in the city corners below the iconic skyscrapers, the film also addresses other socio-economic problems including geographic disparity and gender inequality.

創作是以「控制」作為主要概念，以人作為主體，思考「控制」之於人們的具象與抽象的連結意義。作品從微觀的個人生活開始，思考「控制」如何與人的日常生活連結，人們如何戮力控制外界事物；進而發展到在鉅觀的人類社會中，以相對被動的角度，思考人們如何在各種政經、社會、媒體層面，受到他者的控制；最後則以較為抽象的角度，思考「控制」概念的發展與極限，連結現代性，以譬喻的方式串連出「控制」 之於人類生活的觀點。 / This creation takes the verb "control" as the main concept, and takes human beings as the main subject, discussing the abstract and concrete significances of "control" in human’s life. It can be divided into three sections. First, it starts from the micro- perspective of personal life, trying to connect with the daily life of people and how people control the outside subjects; Second, it reaches into the macro-perspective of human's society, discussing how people are controlled by others passively from an political, economical, media's point of view; Third, it concludes with the abstract angle to represent about "control," connecting with modernity, using metaphors to build up the development of "control" in human's life.

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / Ao enfocar o filme de família no contexto da produção pós-moderna, esta dissertação tem por intenção debater a questão da autenticidade, bem como o processo de legitimação cultural de sub-gêneros fílmicos afins surgidos na década de 60, como o filme diário e o filme pessoal. A proliferação deste tipo de produção uma espécie de meio-termo entre auto-etnografias e filmes de arte - desafia as ciências sociais e, mais especificamente, a antropologia visual contemporânea a compreender a emergência de novas formas audiovisuais de representação social. A partir do estudo pioneiro de Bourdieu sobre a função social da fotografia, debate-se a estetização do território familiar e a função social do filme amador. / Focusing on the home movies in the context of post-modern culture, this dissertation intends to debate the question of authenticity, as well as the process of cultural legitimation of filmic sub-genres originated in the sixties: the diary film and the personal film. The proliferation of this type of film production something in-between the autoethnographies and the art films challenges the social sciences and, more specifically, the contemporary visual anthropology to understand the appearance of new audiovisual forms of social representation. The important work of Bourdieu on the social rules of photography is a starting point to debate the aesthetics of private family domain and the social rules of amateur film

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / Ao enfocar o filme de família no contexto da produção pós-moderna, esta dissertação tem por intenção debater a questão da autenticidade, bem como o processo de legitimação cultural de sub-gêneros fílmicos afins surgidos na década de 60, como o filme diário e o filme pessoal. A proliferação deste tipo de produção uma espécie de meio-termo entre auto-etnografias e filmes de arte - desafia as ciências sociais e, mais especificamente, a antropologia visual contemporânea a compreender a emergência de novas formas audiovisuais de representação social. A partir do estudo pioneiro de Bourdieu sobre a função social da fotografia, debate-se a estetização do território familiar e a função social do filme amador. / Focusing on the home movies in the context of post-modern culture, this dissertation intends to debate the question of authenticity, as well as the process of cultural legitimation of filmic sub-genres originated in the sixties: the diary film and the personal film. The proliferation of this type of film production something in-between the autoethnographies and the art films challenges the social sciences and, more specifically, the contemporary visual anthropology to understand the appearance of new audiovisual forms of social representation. The important work of Bourdieu on the social rules of photography is a starting point to debate the aesthetics of private family domain and the social rules of amateur film