Published Works

MFA Thesis Abstract:

As we move into the 21st century, the relationship between television and the internet will continue to change and evolve. The future of the internet as an alternative distribution method to television is beginning now. The question becomes how to define that future. This portfolio sets up an argument for what the future of the internet and television’s relationship will be. From a switch in advertising models, to new marketing strategies, this portfolio takes a look at what has worked and what still needs to be changed. In addition, it includes the formation of a new company, titled Tixer TV, which will attempt to navigate this new future.

You can read the full portfolio here.

Active Research

A Hero’s Journey through TV Series
This paper takes a look at a popular TV Series (sci-fi horror) and how through the first season the main character completes a vast portion of the typical hero’s journey as laid out in The Writer’s Journey by Christopher Vogler which is based on The Hero with a Thousand Faces by Joseph Campbell. I want to expand this concept to the entirety of the series and even beyond to other serialized shows, particularly within the epic hero genre. I would like to also tie this back into genre theory and argue that this could be considered a genre classification based on narrative structure rather than typical genre constructs.

Advertising Genres
This paper looks at the development of an advertising genre theory based on the work of genre film theory and the likes of Schatz, Altman, Braudy, and others. I am developing this theory in the same way French film theorists developed film theory from literary theory, except I am taking film genre theory and applying it to advertisements. There is great potential within this paper from an academic standpoint and practical standpoint. Academically very little has been done on grouping ads into genres probably in part because historically ads had little narrative value. That has started to change as advertisers are forced to vie more and more for the attention of the audience. Advertisers have already started a trend in increasing the narrative structures of their ads. It is time for academia to take note and develop a genre taxonomy for digital video ads. By developing my own genres I have begun to crack the shared semiotics of these genres to better understand the deeper meaning-bearing structures that lie underneath. Using these shared semiotics advertisers can increase the narrative meanings in their ads. This can lead to rapid development of ads for advertisers that will target their message to the audience.

War and Cinema
I would like to take an interdisciplinary approach using film history/theory and social history/psychology and cultural anthropology to dissect historical and contemporary war films. The structure would be, comparing and contrasting three major wars, (WW2, Vietnam, and Modern Wars in the Middle East) and the films depicting these wars. I want to compare and contrast films made during and immediately following these conflicts with films made decades later. I want to identify any trends and social attitudes that fluctuate between these wars and the intervening decades as revealed in the films made about them. I want to draw conclusions based on era and how our attitudes about past wars change as suggested through the cinema of these wars. I want to see to what degree the films reflect social attitudes towards these wars versus shape those attitudes, and if that changes over time. A big challenge of this paper would be that I would have to factor in American and industry censorship or lack thereof for these films.