Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Animated films – South Africa'

The thesis analyses representations of the ‘Rainbow Nation’ and dominant postapartheid themes in South African films between 1987 and 2014. The term South African films or cinema is used to encompass films that are co-produced between South Africa and other nations, as well as films that may find their South African articulation only in content and narrative composition. Drawing on Raymond Williams’ scholarship, the thesis sets out to explore whether a new structure of feeling can be identified in post-apartheid films. The thesis also engages trauma in the post-apartheid films about the ‘Rainbow Nation’. In being able to identify how new South African films show and grapple with post-apartheid identities as ‘acting out’, ‘working through’ and ‘making sense’ of the past, the thesis concludes that post-apartheid films are in some ways critical of the past and in other ways, hopeful for the future. However, the more the country settles into its new national identities, the more variations are present in filmic representations and the more possibilities exist for seeing the complexities of post-apartheid cinema. The thesis is divided into three sections and follows a thematic approach as well as a form of periodisation that has not been used in previous scholarship about South African cinema. Section One considers the moment before the end of apartheid in the films A Dry White Season (Euzhan Palcy, 1989), Cry Freedom (Richard Attenborough, 1987) and Mapantsula (Oliver Schmitz, 1988). Section Two is constituted of two chapters which focus on the representations of the end of apartheid, trauma, guilt and ‘acting out’ seen in the films Red Dust (Tom Hooper, 2004), In My Country (John Boorman, 2004), Forgiveness (Ian Gabriel, 2004), Zulu Love Letter (Ramadan Suleman, 2004), Disgrace (Steve Jacobs, 2008) and Skoonheid (Oliver Hermanus, 2011). Section Three explores the possibility of a new structure of feeling through analysis of the representations of youth identities and coming to terms with the past in Hijack Stories (Oliver Schmitz, 2001), Tsotsi (Gavin Hood, 2005) and Disgrace (Steve Jacobs, 2008). In the final chapter, the films Disgrace (Steve Jacobs, 2008), Fanie Fourie’s Lobola (Henk Pretorius, 2013) and Elelwani (Ntshavheni wa Luruli, 2012) are analysed to show how traditions and rituals are fashioned as important, unexpected vehicles, through which to navigate emergent post-apartheid South Africa and its identities.

Thesis (MA)--Stellenbosch University, 2003.<br>ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The terminology used in segregationist discourse that South Africa is a combination of 'first world' and 'third world' elements has been appropriated from an international discourse about problems of world-wide socio-economic development. The terms are used to describe the sophisticated metropolitan areas inhabited by highly developed whites and simple, backward, isolated, rural regions occupied by undeveloped or underdeveloped blacks. However, in South Africa this dual world metaphor, which has socio-political implications that have brought great misfortune to blacks, was institutionalised by apartheid, with the consequences that blacks have expressed their resistance in what became known as the 'struggle' against the dualist system. Selected South African and African films whose themes have a bearing on such a socio-economic system are explored in this thesis. A supplementary exploration of films dealing with the theme of the 'struggle', which has become a metaphor for the 'generations of resistance', has been undertaken by means ofa detailed analysis. The interpretation of 'development' in this thesis finds a link betweeen the dualist paradigm, the perpetuation of poverty and the migratory labour system. The peculiar relationship which the 'struggle' has had with the cultures of black people, in which there is a mutual influence between the 'struggle' and the nature of these cultures, is explored in the relevant films. However, this thesis offers no solutions, but exposes a VICIOUS system which IS threatening to gain world ascendency.<br>AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die terminologie gebruik in die segregasie-diskoers tot die effek dat Suid-Afrika 'n kombinasie van 'Eerste Wêreld' en 'Derde Wêreld' elemente is, is oorgeneem uit 'n internasionale diskoers wat handeloor wêreld-wye sosio-ekonomiese ontwikkeling. Dié terme word gebruik om die gesofistikeerde metropolitaanse areas bewoon deur hoogsontwikkelde blankes en eenvoudige, agterlike, geïsoleerde, landelike streke beset deur onder- of on-ontwikkelde swartes te beskryf. Maar in Suid-Afrika is hierdie dubbelwêreld metafoor - met die sosio-politiese implikasies daarvan wat tot groot ellende vir swartes aanleiding gegee het - deur Apartheid geïnstitusionaliseer, met die gevolg dat swartes hul weerstand uitgedruk het in wat bekend geword het as die 'struggle' teen dierdie dualistiese sisteem. 'n Keur van films uit Suid-Afrika en die res van Afrika, die tema's waarvan betrekking het op hierdie sosio-ekonomiese sisteem, word ondersoek in hierdie skripsie. 'n Bykomstige ondersoek na films wat handeloor die tematiek van die 'struggle', wat metafories geword het vir die 'generasie van weerstand', is by wyse van 'n meer gedetaileerde analise uitgevoer. Die interpretasie van 'ontwikkeling' in hierdie skripsie ontbloot 'n verband tussen die dualistiese sisteem, die voortsetting van armoede en die sisteem van trekardbeid. Die besonderse manier wat die 'struggle' met die kulture van swart mense verhou, waarin daar 'n wedersydse beïnvloeding tussen die 'struggle' en die aard van die kulture plaasvind, word ondersoek in die relevante films. Hierdie skripsie bied egter geen oplossings nie, maar ontmasker eerder 'n wrede sisteem wat dreig tot wêreld-oorheersing.

This study examines anti-apartheid documentary production in South Africa between 1977 and 1987. These documentaries were produced by a variety of producers in order to record aspects of South Africa's contemporary social history, and as a means of contributing - in some way - to changing the conditions described. While the 'content' of the documentaries is historical and social, and their intention political, this study is aimed at elucidating how a documentary, as a representational system, produces meaning. The study is therefore located within the discourse of film studies. My study is based on the theory that a documentary is the embodiment of several relationships: the relationship between social reality and documentary producers; the social relationships engaged in, in the production of the text; the relationship between the text and its audience 1, and the relationship between the audience and its social context. This informs my methodological approach in which analysis appropriate to each area of study is used. Using secondary sources obtained through standard library research, I pursue social and historical analysis of the 1970s and 1980s in order to contextualise both the producers of the documentaries, and their audience. The social relations of production of a text are examined using material gathered through extensive interviews with the producers and published secondary material. How this impinges on the documentary is ascertained through detailed textual analysis of 30 documentaries. For analytical clarity each chapter focuses on a specific aspect of documentary - although I do show how the various relationships impinge on each other. This research finds that the documentaries faithfully reflect the anti-apartheid ideology dominant in the extra-parliamentary opposition in the period under discussion - to the extent that all forms of consciousness are framed by this discourse. An examination of the textual strategies used shows that they are bound by the conventions of broadcast television. They therefore construct a spectator-text relationship which is not consistent with the political concern that democratic relationships be established as the basis of a post-apartheid society. In other words, there is an inconsistency between the ideology espoused, and the way in which film- and videomakers, in their specialised field of production, practise their politics. This can be attributed to the over-riding political intention of the documentarists 'to record' what is happening, and to establish a popular archive which can be used by extra-parliamentary opposition groups in their struggle against apartheid.

Thesis (PhD)--Stellenbosch University, 2012.<br>ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Since John Grierson first coined the term “documentary film” in the 1920s, there has been a debate about the objectivity or subjectivity of the filmmaker. Some theoreticians believe that a documentary filmmaker may not interact subjectively with her subject. Contemporary perspectives lean towards acknowledging the subjectivity of the filmmaker, and accept that subjectivity is intrinsic to the making of a documentary film. Some would even argue that it is precisely the subjectivity of the filmmaker – the meeting of an individual, subjective perspective with the pro-filmic world – that makes a particular film unique. Brecht believed that the structure of a theatre piece could be used to counter the audience's uncritical emotional engagement and identification with the content of the work. This Verfremdungseffekt enables the audience to engage intellectually with the work. The audience does not get lost in the content of the piece, but rather views it from a critical distance. Brecht believed that this distantiation does not exclude entertainment, but that the audience would be able to enjoy the production while viewing it from a critical, intellectual distance. The self-reflexive mode of representation is identified by Nichols as one of the primary ways for a filmmaker to engage with her subject. Self-reflexivity entails the inclusion of cues within the film reminding the viewer that it is, indeed, a film. The motivation for this is to make the audience aware of the constructed nature of the film, thereby acknowledging the subjectivity of the filmmaker. The most overt form of self-reflexivity in documentary films is the inclusion of the director in the film. The focus of this study is, however, more specifically on how editing devices can be used to foreground the construction of a film. Structural analysis of a selection of recent South African documentary films is undertaken as part of this study. The result of this in-depth analysis is a list of twenty-eight conspicuous, selfreflexive editing devices used in these films. To test the effect of self-reflexive editing devices, I purposely incorporated them into the construction of a documentary series, Booza TV, of which I was one of the editors. The goal of Booza TV is to change viewers' perceptions of alcohol and alcohol abuse. Both quantitative and qualitative research results pointed to the ability of the series to achieve this goal. The perception change, however, is not the focus of this study. Instead, findings specifically related to the viewer's experience of the editing of the production are analysed. These findings show that viewers do notice self-reflexive devices, that the devices can contribute to their enjoyment of the production and that self-reflexive devices are able to communicate subtext to the audience. The conclusion is drawn from the research conducted in this study that the potential of a documentary film to change viewers' perceptions is as dependent on the way the film has been constructed as it is on the content of the film.<br>AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Sedert John Grierson in die twintigerjare begin het om die term 'dokumentêre film' te gebruik, word daar gedebatteer oor die objektiwiteit al dan nie van die filmmaker. Party teoretici glo dat 'n dokumentêre filmmaker nie subjektief mag omgaan met haar onderwerp nie. Kontemporêre perspektiewe neig egter om te erken dat die dokumentêre filmmaker subjektief is, dat subjektiwiteit intrinsiek is aan die maak van 'n dokumentêre film, en boonop dat dit juis die subjektiwiteit van die filmmaker is wat 'n film uniek maak. Dit is die ontmoeting van 'n individuele, subjektiewe perspektief met die waarneembare wêreld. Brecht het geglo dat die struktuur van 'n teaterstuk of film gebruik kan word om die gehoor se verbintenis met die inhoud daarvan te verbreek. Hierdie Vervremdungseffekt lei daartoe dat die gehoor in staat is om krities om te gaan met die produksie. Dit lei verder tot 'n kritiese interaksie met die materiaal. Die gehoor raak nie verlore in die inhoud van die stuk nie, maar slaag daarin om dit intellektueel te beskou. Brecht het geglo dat hierdie vervreemding nie vermaak uitsluit nie, maar wel die gehoor toelaat om die teaterstuk of film te geniet terwyl hulle dit krities en intellektueel beskou. Die self-refleksiewe voorstellingsmodus word deur Nichols geïdentifiseer as een van die primêre maniere vir 'n filmmaker om met haar onderwerp om te gaan. Selfrefleksiwiteit behels die insluit van tekens binne 'n film dat dit 'n film is. Die motivering hiervoor is om die gehoor bewus te maak van die konstruksie van die film, om sodoende die subjektiewe perspektief van die filmmaker te erken. Die mees blatante vorm van self-refleksiwiteit in dokumentêre films, is die insluiting van die regisseur in die film. Die fokus van die studie is egter op die gebruik van redigeringstegnieke om die konstruksie van 'n film op die voorgrond te plaas. Daar word van strukturele analise gebruik gemaak in hierdie studie om 'n verskeidenheid hedendaagse Suid-Afrikaanse dokumentêre films in diepte te beskou. Die resultaat van hierdie analise is 'n lys van ag-en-twintig sigbare redigeringstegnieke wat in hierdie films gebruik is. Om die effek daarvan te toets, het ek doelbewus self-refleksiewe tegnieke gebruik in die konstruksie van 'n dokumentêre reeks genaamd Booza TV, waarvan ek een van die redigeerders was. Die doel van Booza TV is om gehore se persepsie aangaande drank en drankmisbruik te verander. Beide kwantitatiewe en kwalitatiewe navorsingsresultate het aangedui dat die reeks dié doel wel bereik. Persepsieverandering is egter nie die fokus van hierdie studie nie. In stede daarvan word daar in diepte gekyk na gehore se ervaring van die self-refleksiewe redigeringstegnieke in die produksie. Daar is gevind dat gehore self-refleksiewe redigeringstegnieke raaksien, dat die tegnieke kan bydra tot gehore se genot van die produksie, en dat die tegnieke gebruik kan word om subteks in die film te kommunikeer.

Thesis (MDram)--Stellenbosch University, 2000.<br>ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The study starts with a general analysis of the South African film industry and finds that lack of funding, the shortage of dedicated, industry-accredited training, the political climate of the past, censorship, the subsidy system, local distribution problems, and the success of Hollywood films have all played a part in bringing about a veritable dearth in local film production in South Africa. While the local film industry may not be able to repair itself fully in the short term, I do believe the energy and talent is there to start making a concerted effort to actively stimulate the production of a wide variety of local films to kick-start the healing process. I believe short films (shorts) have the potential to play an important role in this process, and the bulk of the study explores this idea by looking at the nature, form, and potential of shorts as well as the processes involved in their production. I fmd that the short film is the ideal medium for experimentation and development, and can serve as a valuable teaching tool in film and television training. As importantly, the short is one of the best mediums of empowerment for disadvantaged filmmakers, due to the relatively small size of its budget. Shorts have the ability to playa part in stimulating the growth of the local film and television industries, and in redressing socio-political imbalances of the past in a country where film was previously used as a tool of propaganda and oppression. It seems clear from the examples of other small film industries internationally that the encouragement, through innovative funding initiatives and international co-productions, of vibrant, authentic local short and feature film production can play an important role in strengthening the local film industry. It can be beneficial to stimulate the production of shorts in particular, as this will enable new and experienced filmmakers alike to experiment and develop ideas and techniques, thereby also developing the industry as a whole. Among the specific suggestions made in the thesis are the implementation of a quota system governing the screening of local productions, the stimulation of film literacy through establishing film festivals and a short film website, the stimulation of short film production through public and private funding and co-productions, and the advancement of film training. In addition, local broadcasters could be encouraged to participate more in funding feature and short film production in order to stimulate the development of a healthy, viable film industry in South African. South Africans can gain a lot from a healthy film industry - an increased number of employment opportunities, improved training institutions, an increase in tourist activity, and a medium that can serve as a form of expression and a forum for discussion. We still have a long way to go before these projected gains become an everyday reality, but it seems that shorts can, and must, play an invaluable part in taking local talent and the South African film industry as a whole to a level of performance where it will be able to exploit these opportunities to the full.<br>AFRIKAANSE OSPOMMING: Die tesis begin met 'n ontleding van die Suid-Afrikaanse filmbedryf waarin gevind word dat plaaslike filmproduksie in Suid-Afrika gekortwiek is deur verskeie faktore, waaronder 'n tekort aan befondsing en geskikte opleiding, die politiese klimaat van die verlede, sensuur, die subsidie stelsel, plaaslike verspreidingsprobleme, en die sukses van Hollywood films. Dit word ook duidelik dat die plaaslike bedryf nie binne 'n oogwink herstel kan word nie, maar dat die energie en talent tog bestaan waarmee die produksie van 'n wye verskeidenheid plaaslike ftlms weer gestimuleer sou kon word. Ek glo dat kortfilms die potensiaal het om 'n uiters belangrike rol te speel in hierdie proses, en in hierdie tesis bekyk ek die gedagte aan die hand van 'n indringende studie van die aard, form en potensiaal van kortfilms, en die prosesse betrokke by die produksie daarvan. 'n Sleutel bevinding is dat die kortfilm nie net die ideale medium vir eksperimentering en ontwikkeling is nie, maar dat dit ook kan dien as 'n waardevolle hulpmiddel in film- en televisieopleiding. Net so belangrik is die bevinding dat kortfilms. danksy hullae produksiekoste, een van die beste mediums is vir bemagtiging van minderbevoorregte filmmakers, Kortftlms kan dus 'n rol speel in die stimulering van die plaaslike film- en televisiebedrywe, én help om van die ongelykhede van die verlede uit die weg te ruim, in 'n land waar film voorheen gebruik is as 'n werktuig van propaganda en onderdrukking. Dit blyk duidelik uit die voorbeelde van ander klein filmbedrywe dat die aanmoediging van die aktiewe vervaardiging van oorspronklike kort- en vollengte films ons eie fIlmbedryfkan versterk. Innoverende befondsingsondernemings en internasionale mede-produksies is ook van belang in hierdie verband. Dit is dan ook veral van belang omjuis kortfIlmproduksie te stimuleer, aangesien dit beide nuwe en ervare filmmakers die geleentheid gee om te eksperimenteer en idees en tegnieke te ontwikkel, wat dan weer vernuwend kan inwerk op vollengte fIlmproduksie en die ontwikkeling van die bedryf in sy geheel. Ander spesifieke voorstelle wat in hierdie tesis gemaak word is onder andere die implementering van 'n kwota-stelsel wat die wys van plaaslike produksies sal reguleer, die bevordering van entosiasme, kennis en inligting oor ftlms en die filmbedryf deur middel van fIlmfeeste en die internet, die stimulering van kortfIlmproduksie deur verhoogde privaat- en regeringsbefondsing en die aanmoediging van mede-produksies, en die bevordering van goeie opleiding in fIlmproduksie. Verder kan plaaslike uitsaaiers aangemoedig word om te help met die befondsing van kortfilms sowel as vollengte films. 'n Gesonde, lewensvatbare filmbedryf in Suid-Afrika sal nie net voordele inhou vir filmmakers en -kykers nie, maar ook vir gewone Suid-Afrikaners, aangesien dit onder andere meer werksgeleenthede, verbeterde opleidingsinstansies en verhoogde toeristeaktiwiteit sal meebring. Dit sal ook 'n medium daar stel wat kan dien as 'n vorm van kreatiewe uitlewing sowel as 'n gespreksforum. Alhoewel dit tyd sal neem om al hierdie voordele 'n realiteit te maak, kom dit tog voor of kortfilms 'n onontbeerlike rol kan, en moet, speel om plaaslike talent en die filmbedryf as 'n geheel op 'n vlak te kry waar film-makers die beskikbare geleenthede ten volle kan benut.

Includes abstract.<br>Includes bibliographical references (leaves 217-239).<br>This thesis examines one aspect of cinema in South Africa, namely, the historical construction of a 'black film industry' and the development of a 'black' cinema viewing audience. It does so by focusing on films produced specifically for an African audience using a state subsidy. This subsidy was introduced in 1972 and was separate from the general or A-Scheme subsidy that was introduced in 1956 for the production of English- and Afrikaans-language or 'white' films. This thesis is a critical assessment of the actual film products that the B-Scheme produced. The films are analysed within the broader political, economic and social context of their production and exhibition. The films are used as historical sources for the way in which African identities were constructed. Through critical analyses of the selected films, the thesis examines the manner in which African people, culture, gender and family relations, as well as class and/or political aspirations were represented in film. Africans had very little opportunity or power to represent themselves and where this had been possible, it was within the ideological and political boundaries set by the apartheid government.

Cette thèse met en avant, d’une part, les bouleversements qui parcourent le secteur cinématographique en Afrique du Sud depuis 1994 : volontés d’autonomie esthétique et économique, recherches de voix authentiques, formation d’une nouvelle famille de cinéastes.D’autre part, cette recherche révèle le rôle de l’État Sud-Africain dans la définition de la fonction du cinéma au sein de la démocratie contemporaine : Organes spécialisés de l’État, politiques publiques, idéologies, relations avec les professionnels du secteur<br>This thesis highlights on one hand, changes that run through the film industry in South Africa since 1994 : wills of aesthetic autonomy and economic, research of authentic voices, growth of a new family of filmmakers. Moreover, this research reveals the role of government in the South African definition of the function of cinema in the contemporary democracy: specialized organs of the State, public policies, ideologies, relationships with industry professionals

Abstract This study examines the notion as well as the use of metamorphosis in the animated films of selected South African artists. The analysis demonstrates how metamorphosis, as a narrative strategy, is wholly appropriate to South African animation artists whose works engage with issues which tend to surface in a country in constant flux and in which the word ‘transformation’ is part of its everyday vocabulary and collective consciousness. I bring together ideas around metamorphosis from various animation writers and link these to an eclectic selection of writers in other fields. I examine W.J.T. Mitchell’s writing on the multistable image as well as the work of neuroscientist, V.S. Ramachandran in order to suggest a possible explanation for the hold that metamorphosis has over its audience. I also included an alternative history of animation via the transformative, Vaudeville performances of chapeaugraphy, shadowgraphy and Quick-Change. In addition I differentiate between the digital morph as exemplified in the music video to Michael Jackson’s Black or White (1991) and the type of hand-drawn metamorphosis in the work of William Kentridge. The issue at stake here is the ability of the morph to transgress arbitrary boundaries of categorisation versus its tendency to obliterate otherness and inculcate sameness. For my case studies I examine William Kentridge’s use of metamorphosis in his Drawings for Projection and how metamorphosis is apparent not only in the transformation of one object into another, but at the level of the medium itself. Here I look at how his work is infused with metaphor through the palimpsetic traces left behind by the incomplete erasures of his technique. As a loose framework around the discussion of metaphor I look at the theories of Paul Ricoeur and the more poetic writing of Cynthia Ozick. In the on-going time lapse collaboration project Minutes by Mocke Lodewyk Jansen van Veuren and Theresa Collins I examine how both the city and our experience of time and space is transformed through time lapse animation and how this transformation enables an analysis of spatial practice that can be utilized in future urban renewal programmes. In my own work, I am interested in exploring the theme of origins. I look at genetics and cosmology as well as Deleuze’s theory of individuation and how they all seem to incorporate a kind of ‘metastable state’ of infinite potential that is similar to Eisenstein’s “plasmaticness”. As a visual idiom I use static ‘snow’ or ‘noise’ in animation, video work and drawings; conceptually harnessing the idea that static contains residual radiation left over from the birth of the universe. Static noise is the medium through which I create portraits of my father and encounter my own ‘genetic‘ self-portrait. I also analyse some of the work on physical actions by theatre theorist and director Jerzy Grotowski. From Grotowski, I have begun to understand certain performative aspects around gesture and the simultaneous portrait/self-portrait see-saw of my work.

A Research Report submitted to the Faculty of Arts, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in partial fulfilment of the requirements of the degree of Mater of Arts in Digital Arts: 3D Animation by Coursework and Research Report, 2017<br>During the colonial era, stereotypes of Africa were created and normalised in order to gain, maintain and justify colonial power. Europe during the colonial era, defined itself, using binary thinking (stemming from the Enlightenment period), against the "Other". This was used to establish a definition of the savage against which Europe was defined as civilised; Europe, deeming itself rational, used nineteenth-century African ways as an opposition by which the binary of rational against irrational could be expressed (Loomba 45). Colonial depictions of Africa often overlooked complexities and distinctions and represented the continent as a homogenous land and created oversimplified representations of the people and places (Harth 14). From the repeated production of imperial imagery, a regime of representation was created portraying Africa as a primitive wilderness, inferior to Europe, and as a site of colonial adventure. More recently, Triggerfish Animation Studios, based in Cape Town, created the films Adventures in Zambezia (2012) and Khumba (2013). This research argues that both films contain colonial stereotypes that conform to the regime of representation depicting Africa as a homogenous land of animals and landscapes, and repeat the colonial single story of an Edenic Africa. Khumba (2012), although still containing colonial stereotypes, offers a less stereotypical depiction than Adventures in Zambezia (2013).<br>XL2018

This dissertation focuses on the animated, charcoal, hand-drawn films of William Kentridge‟s Drawings for Projection series (1989—2003). At the beginning of this study, Kentridge‟s films are positioned as a dialectic of self and memory as embodied in a post-colonial South African setting. The series itself was selected as being representative of his artistic oeuvre. They are a closed-ended narrative, using a ground-breaking animation technique, created by the artist himself (Christov-Bakargiev 1998; Godby 1982). They were made by Kentridge during a specific South African cultural and historical period: beginning with Johannesburg, 2nd Greatest City after Paris, made in 1989 at the height of apartheid; through to Tide Table, made in 2003 at the beginning of post post-apartheid South Africa. The hypothesis presented is that Kentridge‟s films have memory as their main theme. Memory itself takes different forms, and the discourse of memory deals with, for instance: memorialisation; repressed memories; traumatic memories; the unconscious and memories; and “postmemory”. How he depicts memories of his own and those of others is at the centre of this research. Using qualitative research methodology, with contextualisation (socio-historical and cultural) and comparative studies (apartheid and the Holocaust; different artistic representations of memory, for example Pascal Croci and William Kentridge; and Anselm Kiefer and William Kentridge) being part of the research design, this thesis has sought to substantiate this hypothesis. Further substantiation and clarification has been expounded by referencing seminal works in the field, such as those of Sigmund Freud (1899: “screen memories”; 1917: trauerarbeit); Roland Barthes (1981: the punctum / spacio-temporal continuum); Pierre Nora (1989: “lieux de mémoiré” / “sites of memory”); Henri Raczymow (1994: “memoire trouée” / “memory shot through with holes”); Richard Terdiman (1993: poesis); Marianne Hirsch (1997: “postmemory”); and Hayden White (1996: historical metafiction); among others. There have already been numerous references to how William Kentridge has depicted the ephemeral nature of memory / memories (Boris 2001; Cameron, Christov-Bakargiev and Coetzee, 1999; Christov-Bakargiev 1998; Sitas 2001). However an in-depth, hermeneutic, comparative analysis has not yet been undertaken. This study is therefore significant in that it explicates William Kentridge‟s works, making the following contributions: to the scholarship on Kentridge‟s work; to a South African perspective to the growing field of trauma studies; and to the apartheid and post-apartheid reflections on re-remembering and forgetting, memorialisation, forgiveness and guilt. Through socio-cultural and historical comparisons as well as artistic contrasts, the films themselves are acknowledged as an important source of reference of South African society. They are a documentation of life lived during apartheid and post-apartheid South Africa.<br>Department of Communication Science<br>D.Litt. et Phil.

M.A., Faculty of Humanties, University of the Witwatersrand, 2011<br>With the invention and development of media technologies such as radio, television and the Internet, advertisers have welcomed and embraced these advancements for the purpose of selling products to the masses. Advertisers have considered television to be an effective and popular technology for marketing and communication; and animation has been used extensively in advertising. My proposed research will attempt to explain the reason for the widespread use of animation in television advertising aimed at children. Thus, through an examination and understanding of historical and contextual factors that may have influenced two South African animated television commercials, my research will attempt to highlight why the medium of animation was utilised and thought to be appropriate and appealing to children.

A research report submitted by the Wits School of Arts, Film and Television Department, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Masters in Film and Television. Johannesburg 2015<br>In our modern contemporary time period the vast and rapid expansion of globalisation is stronger than ever, resulting in the shifting of how identities are currently being formed. In Johannesburg there has been major shifts in the socio-political realities of our nation, coupled with globalisation there is a noticeable shift in way identities are formed in our present fractured environment. These shifts are important to acknowledge as South Africa is in the process of changing its image towards of an all encompassing equal state, and so It is imperative to study how these shifts are impacting on identity formation. There are multiple difficulties in a study such as this, initiating a study on a subject/s that is itself incomplete fails to produce finite answers or outcomes. Rather many varying results are produced and compiling this information proves challenging when attempting to comprehend these findings. It is my aim to understand not only how identities are being formed within the rejuvenating city, but also how the rejuvenation of the city is impacting on the formation of identities. Because of the long-established fractured nature of Johannesburg there has been a fracturing of identities that continues even in the face of the changes that are occurring. However with the changes meant to curb these fractures I question if these fractures are in fact diminishing, remaining the same or is there actually a noticeable change occurring. Initially I consider the history of South Africa as this has evidently impacted on the city, my research is it then focused on Johannesburg, as this is the environment I live in and have formed my own identity in. I also investigate how through the use of auto-ethnography I am able to practice ‘self-expression’ staged upon my personal view of Johannesburg and the fractures I encounter. Because I use auto-ethnography as my autobiographical filming technique I have exclusive control over the film and this proved challenging as I was positioning myself in the film as a form of subjectivity. This created a problem in how I was intending to represent myself along with the fractured landscape of Johannesburg. My outcome is a self-subjective representation of myself positioned into my environment represented as my personal view. I focus on the fractures I experience within my own environment the suburbs and that of the city, also the fracture between these two spaces and the continuing fracture in my own identity and relationship with the city. My research will allow for an avenue of self-representation on a very personal and idiosyncratic level as to encourage the city to be represented as it is experienced and perceived by its inhabitants. However my production can be seen as being specific to a similar case, that being of my own, but this practice allows for the use of auto-ethnography to represent our own individual perspectives and the subjectification of ourselves as inhabitants of the city from a personal perspective rather than a generalised and broad perspective.

Faculty of Humanities School of Arts 0300015g mamokuena@yahoo.com<br>The study aims to explore how black women read representations of black women in South African films. Using an ethnographic study of women’s interpretation of Fool, the study reflects in part the experiences of black women. The analysis attempts to reconcile the subject positions of the filmmakers with the narrative experiences of the women they claim to represent. The study draws on feminists’ theorists like bell hooks, Jacqueline Bobo and Ifi Amadiume as the theoretical framework of black female spectatorship to explore how black South African women read films. The study highlights the points of disjuncture in filmic representations and the experiences of women, who are interviewed for their interpretations. The shifting historical and political climate in South Africa reveals the desire the participants expressed to see changes in film that best reflect the instrumental changes in South African society.

The aim of this study was to investigate the various reasons consumers continue to infringe on copyrighted content, specifically in the South African context, even if the law forbids it. This investigation is two-fold since it also recognises that there are many individuals who do not infringe on copyrighted content even though they have access to peer-to-peer file sharing technology. This information could prove valuable since it can then be used to find comprehensive market-led solutions to the problem that targets the end-user. This study adopted a mixed method approach in order to cross validate findings and to reveal aspects of empirical reality. The target population for this study consisted of 100 adult South Africans who have access to the internet. Data was collected through an online, self-administered questionnaire. Quantitative data was analysed through descriptive statistics, while qualitative data was analysed through thematic analysis. The results show that there are variety of factors that influence respondents’ attitudes towards copyright infringement of films and/or television series through peer-to-peer file sharing technology, each of which is discussed in detail. The study concluded by identifying 24 factors that favourably influence people’s attitudes towards copyright infringement, including high prices of legitimate goods, historical inequality in South Africa, and perceived low risk of being caught and punished. Based on the conclusion above, the study recommends that policy makers such as government officials, boards of directors, managers, committees, and executives use the results of the study when making decisions and determining policies, especially in the South African context.<br>Communication Science<br>M.A. (Communication Science)

This study was carried out to investigate the effect of using animated computer 3-D figures illustration (ACTDFI) in the learning of polyhedron in geometry. By random sampling, intact group of four grade 9 classes in four different schools from a cluster of four educational district schools of Limpopo province in South Africa were selected. The study involved quasi-experimental and inquiry research approaches, the quasi-experimental approach involved pre and posttest design while the inquiry research approach involve classroom observation. There were three experimental groups and a control group with a total of 174 study participants. ACTDFI was used as an intervention for two weeks in the three experimental groups while in the control group, chalk-talk traditional teaching approach was used. Pre-test and post-test was used to collect quantitative data while classroom observation was used to collect qualitative data. This study was carried out to investigate the effect of using animated computer 3-D figures illustration (ACTDFI) in the learning of polyhedron in geometry. By random sampling, intact group of four grade 9 classes in four different schools from a cluster of four educational district schools of Limpopo province in South Africa were selected. The study involved quasi-experimental and inquiry research approaches, the quasi-experimental approach involved pre and posttest design while the inquiry research approach involve classroom observation. There were three experimental groups and a control group with a total of 174 study participants. ACTDFI was used as an intervention for two weeks in the three experimental groups while in the control group, chalk-talk traditional teaching approach was used. Pre-test and post-test was used to collect quantitative data while classroom observation was used to collect qualitative data. The findings from the quantitative Classroom observations were carried out to collect relevant data on how the study participants were taught stationary points in differential calculus, especially with the use of the constructivist pedagogical approach. A suitable observation checklist was developed for this purpose (Appendix 6 refers). Classroom observation checklist is a list of factors to be considered while observing a class. It gives a structure and framework for the observation. suggested that the use of ACTDFI might have improved academic achievement in learning of polyhedron during the intervention, while the qualitative data analysis indicated that the use of ACTDFI in the experimental groups might have facilitated the learning of the concepts of polyhedron. It is therefore recommended that further research is necessary on the application of ACTDFI in the teaching of 3-dimensional shapes at the primary schools<br>Mathematics Education<br>M. Sc. (Mathematics Education)

A dissertation submitted to the Faculty of Humanities in fulfilment of the degree of Master of Arts by creative research in Film and Television, University of the Witwatersrand, 2016<br>In this dissertation I examine the roles of the cinematographer in fiction feature film production. I begin the discussion with a historical review of the emergence of cinematography as a specialised field in early cinema. This corresponds with developments in camera technology that enabled accurate framing, lighting and the possibility of movement. In order to provide a framework for further discussion, the first chapter proceeds with a review of formal definitions and less conventional definitions of the role of the cinematographer. The focus in these discussions is on the cinematographer’s engagement with the design, development and application of a unique ‘visual style’ in the articulation of the director’s vision for the film. A large component of this research pertains to the work of the cinematographer in South African feature film productions. The second chapter presents an analysis of two very different South African feature films Oil On Water (Matthews, 2007) and SMS Sugar Man (Kaganof, 2008). I was the cinematographer on both productions and the discussion engages a reflexive mode of analysis. The third and final chapter is an analysis of the accompanying film Impunity (Mistry, 2014), which forms the creative component of this research. I conclude with establishing that the creative engagement of the cinematographer in the design of a coherent visual style contributes to a nuanced and engaging cinematic experience and richer visual vocabulary.<br>MT2017

ABSTRACT Through an examination of the making and public lives of a selection of apartheid and post-apartheid black-centred films in South Africa: Come Back, Africa (1959), u’Deliwe (1975), Mapantsula (1988), and Fools (1997), their contexts of production, circulation, appropriation and engagement, I investigate the role of film in the public life of ideas. While my focus is chiefly on film, I introduce a brief comparator with the television series Yizo Yizo (1999-2001), where I deploy the same methodology. To this end, I ask how these films relate to ongoing contemporary discourses about black identity. To explain the making and extended public lives of the films, I combine elements of public sphere theory, literary theory and film analysis to develop a theoretical model that treats film as a circulating text open to appropriation and engagement over time. The results indicate that in ways that shifted throughout the films’ public lives, their genres, modes of circulation as well as contexts of their appropriation, mediate the manner and extent of their relations to critical public engagements of black identity. I argue that through the combination of its nature as a modern form and its specific generic attributes, with the conditions and circumstances of its circulation and engagement, film stimulates critical public engagements of certain types. Film achieves what I have called public critical potency, when its content directly or otherwise, resonates with contemporary social and political struggles. Through its public critical potency, which is the capacity of film to stimulate critical public engagements, film demonstrates its importance in the public life of ideas. However, film also has the potential to fail in that respect. As a result, the margin between its success and potential for failure to achieve public critical potency, makes precarious, the role and status of film in the public life of ideas. In examining film as a circulating text over time, the thesis challenges approaches that investigate the public sphere of film solely in terms of genre and cinematic spectatorship. In the process, it has engaged the concepts of ‘film’ and ‘public’ within film studies in a way that recognizes its wide reach and extensive role in the public sphere. In the final analysis, the thesis is instructive with regard to the ways in which film may or may not relate to the public sphere in repressive and post-repressive societies in particular, and in modernity in general.

A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Humanities, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in African Languages. Wits University, Johannesburg, 2015<br>This report interrogates the representation of blackness in post-1994 black-centred films in South Africa. With a particular focus on Khalo Matabane’s films, I analyse Conversations on a Sunday Afternoon (2005), When We Were Black (2007) and State of Violence (2011) across a spectrum of themes. I also interrogate and introduce several critical concepts such as ‘blackness’, ‘the image of blackness’, ‘black identity’, ‘masculinity’, ‘femininity’, ‘the Gaze’ and ‘Otherness’. These concepts are interlinked in ways that bring about an understanding of the concept of black-centred films, which is central to the research report. Amidst the different interpretations of black-centred films, the vantage point from which the concept is used is interested in black-centred films as films that are made by a black filmmaker, whose content addresses issues of blackness and is targeted at a black audience. However, these three factors need not always resonate in a single film in order for it to be considered and analysed as a black-centred film. The lens through which Matabane holds the camera questions his representation of the black image and whether it is from an insider or outsider’s perspective. The view from which Matabane holds the camera is important in establishing whether he has purported to represent historically stereotypical images of blackness, or whether his endeavours in filmmaking are occupied by the relentless pursuit to present new images of blackness.

M. Tech. Department of Chemical and Metallurgical Engineering.<br>Aims to understand and study the tribology and tribocorrosion behaviour of the adaptive titanium-nickel-zirconia composite coatings deposited on AISI 316 stainless steel using laser surface deposition technique under various laser processing speeds. The research aim is meant to be achieved through the following objectives: 1. Determine appropriate procedure for laser feedstock deposition ; 2. Investigate tribological performance of laser composites under various loads ; 3. Evaluate the corrosion of the laser composites coatings. and 4. Assess tribocorrosion behavior of the composite coatings

M. Tech. Digital Technology.<br>This dissertation reports on an optical-based two-dimensional position sensor for use in Active Magnetic Bearings (AMB) to measure the position of the levitated rotor. The motivation for the deployment of optical technology is the well-known advantage of high precision contactless displacement measurement. The radial and axial edges of the rotor are illuminated by red and green laser beams respectively. The position of the rotor is determined from its image projected on a Charge Coupled Device (CCD) sensor. The measuring principle is demonstrated as a position sampler in the closed loop control of an active magnetic bearing model. The image representing the position is processed with a real-time algorithm on a Field Programmable Logic Gate Array. The principle of operation of a CCD as a position sensor is analysed in order to establish how the image captured by the CCD can be processed to determine the position of the rotor. A simple AMB is modelled in which the sensor acts as a feedback position device. The main objective of the model is to evaluate the accuracy of the system. The purpose of the overall sensing technique to be used is to achieve highly accurate and precise measurements with CCD-based optical metrology.

This study focuses on the investigation and deconstruction of the phenomena of the South African dystopian society, as reflected in the novels of Lauren Beukes and films by Neill Blomkamp. The characteristics and signifiers of a uniquely South African dystopian society are established and investigated through a posthuman lens. The theoretical framework of this study is principally concerned with the critical posthuman writings of Rosi Braidotti, Donna Haraway and, to a lesser extent, Cary Wolfe. Feminism and post-colonialism, and their influences on posthuman theory, are applied as the secondary theoretical framework, in this study. The study is practice led, with the study of the literature serving as mutually informative to the execution of a body of work centred on the dystopian theme. The paintings are intended to be metonyms for the wide range of manifestations of social decline evident in contemporary South African narratives.<br>Arts and Music<br>M.A. (Visual Arts)