Theses/Dissertations - Communication Studies

Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://hdl.handle.net/2104/4478

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The building of the X-men transmedia franchise and how expansive storytelling is affecting Hollywood.
(2014-06-11) Wucher, Joshua.; Kendrick, James, 1974-; Communication.; Baylor University. Dept. of Communication.
This thesis investigates the effects of transmedia storytelling on Hollywood franchises through a case study of the four X-Men films and the comic book series The Uncanny X-Men. This thesis shows how the adaptive process that transforms the character of Magneto from morally ambiguous comic book anti-hero to a more streamlined movie supervillain is illustrative of the two-edged approach of transmedia theory. It elucidates why transmedia franchises are economically and artistically advantageous, while concurrently having the potential to dilute narrative and thematic complexity. This analysis concludes that transmedia narratives can enrich popular culture, but also risk falling into the traps of formulaic storytelling, which could detrimentally affect artistic production.
The cinematography of "Closet memories."
(2013-09-16) Oei, Robert, 1982-; Hansen, Christopher J.; Communication.; Baylor University. Dept. of Communication.
The cinematography of a film heavily influences the audience’s mood and their perception of tension. The way a director of photography uses lights and the camera can enhance or destroy the moments of a film a director has built. Keeping this knowledge in mind, the cinematography of Closet Memories uses film noir lighting, a mixture of handheld and smooth camera work, and other techniques to maintain the emotional content of the film’s scenes.
The cinematography of In Paradise.
(2014-06-11) Youngblood, Aaron Michael.; Hansen, Christopher J.; Communication.; Baylor University. Dept. of Communication.
A film's cinematography should interpret and render the various elements of the story in visual terms and add levels of meaning that enhance the action and dialogue. Lighting, framing and camera movement should be used to illustrate the mood, tone and themes of the film. The cinematography of In Paradise utilizes low-key lighting to set the dark mood and tone of the story, as well as diverse composition and a combination of smooth and handheld camera movement techniques to reflect the emotion and energy of the story.
Communication expectations between younger superiors and older subordinates.
(2013-09-16) Trimble, Ashley L.; McNamee, Lacy G.; Communication.; Baylor University. Dept. of Communication.
One of the most important workplace relationships is that of superiors and subordinates. However, it is not clear if this relationship becomes more complex if traditional age roles are reversed and a younger superior manages an older subordinate. This study has been designed to explore the extent to which age complicates the communication dynamic between superiors and subordinates in regards to expectations of appropriate communication, and power and respect. Through the use of qualitative research, interviews were conducted and analyzed. The results revealed the important communication dynamics that exist between older subordinates and younger superiors. Themes such as adequate experience, reciprocal respect, training and development and collaborative communication were interpreted from the data and can be used to further explore scholarly concepts such as LMX and assist in practical senses.
Economic frames : transitional rhetoric under Clinton, Bush, and Obama.
(2013-09-16) Kurr, Jeffrey A.; Medhurst, Martin J.; Communication.; Baylor University. Dept. of Communication.
During boom and bust periods, the dynamic status of the economy has become a perennial issue in the political arena. In this thesis, I engage in a rhetorical criticism analyzing how three presidents, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, and Barack Obama, rhetorically framed economic conditions to justify legislative solutions. I examine how each president prescribed policy solutions during his first months in office. In particular, I argue: Clinton constituted national identity around economic concerns to push his 1993 budget plan; Bush reinterpreted the nation-as-family metaphor to justify his 2001 tax cuts; and Obama injected crisis rhetoric into the American Dream to champion his 2009 stimulus. This analysis provides a foundation for understanding the econo-rhetorical leadership role of the president and the implications it has on framing congressional and public deliberation.
Editing as directing : editing the feature film, In Paradise.
(2014-06-11) Moore, Dakota Maverick.; Hansen, Christopher J.; Communication.; Heinrich, Philip, 1989-; Youngblood, Aaron Michael.; Baylor University. Dept. of Communication.
The editing process of a narrative film shares many artistic similarities to directing. Through a critical examination of the editing process for the film In Paradise, this thesis will highlight the directorial aspects of editing and how the post-production stage directly shapes the final form of the film. This thesis will also describe the methodological process of editing the film. Storytelling and professional goals are provided, as are films, literature, and insights that are influential to the editing process of the film.
Editing Closet Memories : theory and methodology.
(2013-09-16) Hall, Grant M.; Hansen, Christopher J.; Communication.; Baylor University. Dept. of Communication.
Editing is a unique aspect of the filmmaking process that involves crafting production footage and audio into a cohesive story. The editor must also approach the film with an objective eye in order to craft the best narrative possible. This study examines the creative editing process of Closet Memories, a short film, from preproduction through post-production as well as the relationship between the editor and director and how the vision of each shaped the film from the rough cut to the final cut.
An exploratory study on virtual reality head mounted displays and their impact on player presence.
(2014-06-11) Seibert, Jonmichael.; Shafer, Daniel Mark, 1978-; Communication.; Baylor University. Dept. of Communication.
This study explores how a video game player's sense of being in a game world (i.e., spatial presence) is impacted by the use of a virtual reality head-mounted display. Research focused on virtual reality research has fallen by the wayside since the early 90s due to the limitations in the technology. With modern reimagining of virtual reality head-mounted displays, there is now an opportunity to reexamine the impact it has on gaming experience. This thesis explores the results of an experiment in which university students played video games using either the Oculus Rift VR head set or a standard monitor while playing a first-person shooter (FPS) video game. Control interface was also manipulated. Results indicated that virtual reality head mounted displays have a positive impact on a players’ level of spatial presence, but they can also produce negative feelings that counteract that sense of presence in its impact on enjoyment.
In Paradise : a feature film.
(2014-06-11) Heinrich, Philip, 1989-; Hansen, Christopher J.; Communication.; Youngblood, Aaron Michael.; Maverick Moore.; Baylor University. Dept. of Communication.
In Paradise is a feature length live action narrative film that I wrote, directed and produced as my masters thesis. I worked on the film in cooperation with Baylor masters candidates Aaron Youngblood and Maverick Moore. The film tells the story of Leon Vincent, a high school science teacher whose fascination with quantum mechanics drives him into a destructive obsession. This written component of the thesis is an overview of the planning, production, and post-production of the film from a directorial standpoint. It explores the key stages of making this film in order to provide a look at the process of independent feature filmmaking.
The kid with a camera : Abbas Kiarostami's cinematic critique.
(2013-09-16) Ewing, James Blake.; Kendrick, James, 1974-; Communication.; Baylor University. Dept. of Communication.
This thesis is an exploration of the film works of Iranian film director Abbas Kiarostami. It argues that his films constitute a body of work that serves as a self-reflexive critique of cinema. Through both documentary and fiction film-making, Kiarostami complicates the clear divide between reality and fiction in film-making by blending both realities and fictions into his film. Through the use of ambiguity, Kiarostami complicates the authorial claim of a writer/director claims, implicating the audience in the generation of meaning. Several of his films also explore the apparatus of the camera and the act of film-making. In these films he demonstrates how the camera is not a passive, objective observer, but an active tool that shapes and reforms the reality it captures.
Metaphors in the “fight” against human trafficking under the Obama administration.
(2014-06-11) Morgan, Ashley Nicole.; Medhurst, Martin J.; Communication.; Baylor University. Dept. of Communication.
Human trafficking and immigration have become prominent policy issues during Barack Obama’s presidency. In this thesis, I argue that the metaphors used in the Obama administration’s human trafficking rhetoric and those used in immigration rhetoric are mutually constitutive. I examine a number of texts related to human trafficking and immigration produced by the Obama administration, including speeches, statements, public service announcements videos, posters, and government reports for the most prevalent metaphors. By comparing the metaphors used by the Obama administration to describe the practices of human trafficking and immigration, this thesis will illustrate the commonly overlooked interlinkages between human trafficking and immigration rhetoric. The implications this rhetoric has for trafficking and immigration policy and conceptualizations of national identity are explored. This analysis contributes to a deeper theorization of the role of metaphor in human trafficking rhetoric and a better understanding of the relationship between human trafficking and immigration rhetoric.
Positive deviance in the workplace : expanding the boundaires of dissent.
(2013-09-16) Bowman, Brianna.; McNamee, Lacy G.; Communication.; Baylor University. Dept. of Communication.
While a strong negative bias towards deviance subsists within society and scholarship, this study provides a theoretical basis and argues for the expansion of deviance as a constructive or positive resource within organizations. The central purpose of the following paper is to integrate positive deviance into the communication discipline as a subset of organizational dissent. For the purposes of this paper, positive deviance is defined as any action exhibited by a member or group of members of an organization that violates or circumvents the stated or implicit will of the encompassing organization, motivated by moral purpose, and lacking any malicious intent toward other members or the organization at large. Towards this end, the present study surveyed 285 working and retired full-time professionals in an effort to measure positive deviance through one of its most basic forms, rule breaking, as well as examine its relationship with both dissent style and personality.
The psychological and aesthetic development of "Closet memories" as a short-film production.
(2013-09-16) Sabin, Ruth E.; Hansen, Christopher J.; Communication.; Baylor University. Dept. of Communication.
This work will contain a detailed account and analysis of the making of Closet Memories as a short-film production, including descriptions of content research and resources, concept and aesthetic development, production goals and examples and finally, a thorough self-evaluation of situational outcomes involved in every stage of production. In providing a comprehensive presentation on the encompassing process of producing a thesis film, the intention of this work is to demonstrate the success of creating a product whose narrative intent is properly and satisfactorily represented by way of a researched and intuitive method of approach required in thesis development. Thus, the underlying objective of this work is to effectively demonstrate the significant nature the following content possesses in relationship to modern social occurrences, and thus encourage the application of its relatable content in appropriate areas of interest and compatibility within modern society.
Public memory, tourism, and Galveston’s selective heritage : a rhetorical analysis of the Elissa.
(2013-09-16) Bissell, Jaclyn L.; Varda, Scott Joseph.; Communication.; Baylor University. Dept. of Communication.
This study explores the rhetorical construction of 1877 iron barque Elissa as a tourist attraction on the island of Galveston, Texas. Focusing on a localized construction of public memory, this study asks questions centered on the presentation and privileging of narratives purposefully aimed at creating a consumable attraction. Since her rescue and decade-long restoration in the late 1970s, the Elissa has been rhetorically constructed as a tourist attraction, redirecting attention from Galveston’s realities of poverty in favor of a memory capable of being sold. Privileging a specific interpretation of race, class, and selecting an era as representative of Galveston as a whole, the Elissa enacts culture via consumable memory. In other words, instead of teaching patriotism or engaging in memorialization, the Elissa enacts a memory to be visited, experienced, and consumed.
Relationship quality and its association with job satisfaction, quality of life, and mental health of first-responders.
(2013-09-16) Adamson, Amber.; Morman, Mark T.; Communication.; Baylor University. Dept. of Communication.
First-responder firefighters deal with a number of stressors as a routine part of their careers. The current study examined the association between relationship quality and the effects of stress experienced by first responder firefighters. Through the survey responses of 75 current firefighters, this study sought to extend previous research on firefighter emotional health by assessing the relationship between marital and friendship quality and firefighters’ reports of job satisfaction, quality of life, and mental health. Results indicate that both marital and friendship quality are significantly associated with a number of important issues related to the emotional health of first-responder firefighters.
The rhetorical construction of hacktivism : analyzing the Anonymous Care Package.
(2013-09-16) Woods, Heather Suzanne.; Hahner, Leslie Ann.; Communication.; Baylor University. Dept. of Communication.
This thesis uncovers the ways in which Anonymous, a non-hierarchical, decentralized online collective, maintains and alters the notion of hacktivism to recruit new participants and alter public perception. I employ a critical rhetorical lens to an Anonymous-produced and –disseminated artifact, the Anonymous Care Package, a collection of digital how-to files. After situating Anonymous within the broader narrative of hacking and activism, this thesis demonstrates how the Care Package can be used to constitute a hacktivist identity. Further, by extending hacktivism from its purely technological roots to a larger audience, the Anonymous Care Package lowers the barrier for participation and invites action on behalf of would-be members. Together, the contents of the Care Package help constitute an identity for Anonymous hacktivists who are then encouraged to take action as cyberactivists.
Spring as a seasonal political metaphor : the Prague and Arab Spring in presidential rhetoric.
(2014-06-11) Cook, John W. (John William), 1989-; Gerber, Matthew G.; Communication.; Baylor University. Dept. of Communication.
Presidential rhetoric has historically adopted the common metaphor of “spring as political change” which serves as a metonymic naming of political periods or events characterized by change and vitality. This “spring as political change” metaphor has been influential through history in naming a varied group of political activities and changes. This study focuses on “the Arab Spring” and the “Prague Spring” as “spring as political change” metaphors that have shaped and defined presidential rhetoric on the issues they purport to describe. In isolating the dimensions of the spring metaphor at work in presidential rhetoric, this study demonstrates that this “spring as political change” metaphor reflects and projects certain values in order to make the conclusions or associations of the rhetor appear natural, logical, or otherwise necessary to complete the metaphoric meanings initiated by this metaphor.
Status, likes and pokes : self-disclosure and motivations for using Facebook.
(2013-09-16) Ables, Jenna L.; Shafer, Daniel Mark, 1978-; Communication.; Baylor University. Dept. of Communication.
Facebook provides a unique online environment where the social networking site user engages in facets of self-disclosure, meanwhile having control over information in a reciprocal, interactive communication environment. This study examined the relationship between factors of the uses and gratifications perspective and the Revised Self-Disclosure scale for Facebook users (n = 624). Significant relationships were found between intended disclosure, honesty/accuracy, depth, and Facebook disclosures. Age, time spent, and gender were also significant predictors. Reported social connection received from Facebook usage was a significant pattern throughout the results, providing further support of the user’s social gratifications received from social media use and emphasis of the social factor as a motivation for using Facebook.

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