Honors Concentrators 2010-2011

Joshua Bayer: a film, Self-Help

Joshua’s Honors project, Self-Help, deals with Clifford, a pot-smoking, stuck-in-the-sixties, 29-year-old experimental filmmaker who revels in “sticking it to the man." One fateful morning, a Bluetooth-sporting female business executive named Deus supernaturally materializes in his one-room apartment, challenging his bohemian existence. When Clifford is unreceptive, Deus subjects him to a nightmarish “self-help” program, teleporting him through a series of cliché Hollywood scenarios in which he must “become the hero” by accomplishing death-defying feats— unfortunately for Clifford, this particular rehabilitation program seems to be rigged against him.

Connie Huang: a film, When It's All Been Done Before

Connie's Honors project is entitled When It's All Been Done Before (A Con Artist Musical) and the working title of the film is Art & Angst. In the film, artist and filmmaker Haley, struggles with the feeling of being stuck creatively. She enters her own mind as she visualizes her fears and neuroses about the creative process. Haley enters different rooms and surreal settings that express her anxieties. This eventually builds to a climactic musical number where she confronts them.

Liann Kaye: a film, Slash Fiction

Liann's Honors project, Slash Fiction, is the story of a young librarian who is left feeling alone and out of place in her cookie-cutter world. By taking on the personalities of others, Penelope eventually finds her voice in what may seem to be an unexpected venue.

Jacob Mendel: a 3-D Film, Train of Shadows

Jacob's Honors project, Train of Shadows, is a 3-D film with a non-linear narrative
centered on a train’s journey through a landscape of a character’s lost memories. He explores a set of themes dealing with temporality, which are theoretically, dramatically, and formally inflected: the virtuality of memory, loss and renewal, the constitution of subjectivity in time, and the narrative imperatives of that subjectivity.

Noah Stahl: a film, It's In The Handwriting

Stahl's Honors project has two working titles: It's In The Handwriting or It's Not Just You Bobby. His project is a Woody Allen-inspired comedy about a college student coping with his doubts about romance in the wake of being dumped by his girlfriend. It is highly subjective, with many a wacky psychological projection impeding on the narrative.

Evelyn Sherbenou: a thesis, Battlestar Galactica: Creating a Franchise Through Fans.

In Evelyn's thesis, entitled Battlestar Galactica: Creating a Franchise Through Fans
and Paratexts, she argues that to identify oneself as a fan is to reveal an aspect of one’s identity,
to share it with others, and to be judged for it. Fandom activities differ from the activities of a casual viewer; fans develop a deeper connection to the text than most casual viewers. She states that an investigation into the Battlestar Galactica franchise, which has had a dedicated fan base since 1978, supports her argument that a franchise could not be successful without the support of its fans.

Ellen Flaherty: a thesis, The Place of the Musical Conglomerate Media.

Ellen's thesis aims to determine the place of the musical genre in contemporary, convergent media. She is researching the history of the film musical, its connection to the recent birth and
popularity of the television musical (American Idol, Glee), and the various forms both film and television musicals take when their content is recycled and put on the Internet. This recycling can be done by fans looking to merely engage with the musical material, or by corporations hoping to use the musical form in order to advertise/promote a commodity. Ultimately she is interested in determining whether all this convergence is positive for the genre, or if it is causing a loss of integrity.