Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'DreamWorks'

This thesis contextualises and historicises the contribution of DreamWorks Animation to the dominant aesthetic of contemporary American feature animation from the early 2000s to the present day. Specifically, it aims to justify the claim that mainstream feature animation has shifted away from hyperrealism and towards a form of ‘narrative-cartoonalism’ predicated on non-visual departures from realism. The thesis introduces this term to counteract the focus on the visual in conceptions of animated realism, and aims to identify the extent to which the DreamWorks studio played a key role in this shift, particularly through its use of intertextuality. Tracing the history of intertextuality in animation from the 1920s to the present day, the thesis looks to establish DreamWorks’ position within this lineage by closely examining the studio’s use of star performances, contemporary music, generic pastiche and allusive comedic gags in its features, and discussing the various diegetic contradictions that result. Ultimately, I intend for this thesis to contribute a crucial approach to understanding one of the key studios working during a hugely significant period of western feature animation, not only illuminating the output of Dreamworks but of this period as a whole. Culturally important yet critically neglected, research into the aesthetics of this modern era is essential to the progression of animation studies.

Submitted by Paulo Junior (paulo.jr@fgv.br) on 2011-04-27T20:58:32Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Marco Antonio Zanini CURITIBA.pdf: 423690 bytes, checksum: 4028bb753ea17b239f10336290fb6936 (MD5)
Approved for entry into archive by Paulo Junior(paulo.jr@fgv.br) on 2011-04-27T20:58:59Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 Marco Antonio Zanini CURITIBA.pdf: 423690 bytes, checksum: 4028bb753ea17b239f10336290fb6936 (MD5)
Made available in DSpace on 2011-05-02T12:58:24Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Marco Antonio Zanini CURITIBA.pdf: 423690 bytes, checksum: 4028bb753ea17b239f10336290fb6936 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2010-06-15
Avaliar uma empresa nos dias de hoje é algo corriqueiro e relativamente fácil de ser feito, na maioria dos casos, quando a empresa se adequa as metodologias disponíveis. Este trabalho se propõe a avaliar uma empresa que possui características impares, dificultando o uso dos métodos mais tradicionais hoje em uso. A empresa Dreamworks Animation SKG, estúdio norte-americano especializado me produções áudio visuais em computação gráfica para o cinema, possui é caracterizada por possuir em sua maioria ativos intangíveis, tanto como matéria prima quanto produto final, são historias que se convertem em filmes animados por computador. Este cenário propicia algumas peculiaridades, como por exemplo, a dificuldade de previsão dados financeiros futuros, devido às receitas da empresa estarem fortemente ligadas ao sucesso e/ou fracasso das produções lançadas. Como se trata de conteúdo muito subjetivo, como tudo que é relativo à arte. O trabalho apontou a proposta de uma solução que permite certa confiabilidade na previsão de receitas geradas pelo lançamento de uma produção. Há uma forte relação entre a receptividade do lançamento em seus dias de estréia e o alto retorno gerado pelo mesmo, o que não acontece com a relação entre o custo da produção e seu sucesso nas bilheterias.

Children's animated films have held a lasting influence on their audiences since the rise of their popularity in the 1980s. As adults co-view such films with their children Hollywood has had to rewrite the formula for a successful animated children's film. This thesis argues that a main factor in audience expansion is adult humor. The results show that children's animated films from 2002-2013 are riddled with many instances of adult humor while earlier films from 1982-1993 use adult humor sparingly. It is clear that over the years the number of adult humor occurrences has consistently increased. Furthermore, this research shows that adult male roles consistently deliver the adult humor.

This exploratory study investigated the expansion of an established systematized group dreamwork method (Shuttleworth-Jordan, 1995) to incorporate artwork. The rationale for the addition of artwork was situated firstly, in a poetic Jungian understanding of the image as a holistic "place" of gnosis or transformative healing and, secondly, in an argument that in order to carry the gnostic potential of the image into the lived world, a dreamwork method should involve all four styles of consciousness (thinking, intuition, sensation and feeling). It was considered that the verbal interpretive Shuttleworth-Jordan method would be enhanced by the incorporation of a visual artwork process in order more fully to open the potential of the method for incorporating the nonverbal intuitive, sensation and feeling styles of consciousness. In order to compare the established method (dreamwork Without Art) and the proposed method (dreamwork With Art), two dreamwork workshops were conducted in which all participants experienced all four conditions of the study: Dream Presenter Without Art, Dream Presenter With Art, Group Member Without Art, Group Member With Art. Two levels of assessment were utilized: a quantitative analysis (involving rating scales completed after each dreamwork session), supported by a qualitative analysis (involving written questionnaires completed at the end of the workshops and follow-up interviews conducted a week after completion of the workshops). The results suggested that the incorporation of artwork in the Shuttleworth-Jordan (1995) group dreamwork method enhanced the established method in that a consistent trend of increased involvement in the dreamwork process and increased dreamwork effectiveness was reflected, while no deleterious effects were noted which might detract from the effectiveness of the existing model which had been established in previous research studies. Finally, a refined step-by-step group dreamwork method incorporating artwork was proposed, which included qualitative feedback from the present study.

Bibliography: leaves 182-200.
The aim of this study is to determine whether an awareness of unconscious processes, as elicited by a dreamwork technique, will increase creative potential. In the present investigation, 54 undergraduate students were randomly divided into three groups. Each group was tested for creativity on two measures: (1) The Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking, and (2) The Rorschach Test (movement response). For three weeks all subjects completed a dreamwork assignment, which was systematically varied across the three levels of the independant variable. The experimental group recorded their dreams daily, and answered questions on a dreamwork questionnaire designed to stimulate associations and amplifications to dream imagery (Group A). One control group recorded their dreams and performed a logical task on their content (Group B), while the other control group collected dreams from other people, and performed the same logical task on their content (Group C). It was hypothesized that those subjects who had an opportunity to work with and amplify the unconscious imagery occurring in their dreams would be more likely to increase in their creative potential, than those subjects who did not have this opportunity. Each subject met weekly with the experimenter for supervisory and motivational purposes. At the end of the study all subjects were retested with a parallel version of the Torrance and the Rorschach. Scoring on the Torrance yielded ten different measures, and six measures on the Rorschach. Using a two-way analysis of variance of repeated measures, no significant changes occurred on the Rorschach scores, but on the Torrance Tests, highly significant changes took place in Figural measures of Fluency, Originality, Elaboration and Figural Totals, as well as highly significant increases on all four verbal measures of Fluency, Flexibility, Originality and Verbal Totals. Since no interaction occurred, t-tests were performed, to discover that the increases in creativity on the Torrance occurred not only to experimental subjects in Group A, but also to subjects in Group C. These findings are discussed in relation to previous theoretical and empirical work on the creative process, and it is suggested that the increase in creativity, as measured by a divergent thinking test battery (Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking), was produced, not by the actual content of the tasks involved, but by the establishment of a problem-solving mind set.

Forty nine public school mental health practitioners (i.e., school counselors, school psychologists, and school social workers) completed a survey about working with dreams when counseling students. Most practitioners in this sample reported having at least one student bring up dreams during counseling and spent some time in counseling working with students' dreams. Practitioners addressed dreams more frequently in situations where the student was having troubling dreams or nightmares, and/or was dealing with death and grief. They also acknowledged working with dreams with students who were diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, were emotionally disturbed, suffered from recurrent dreams, were depressed, and had learning disabilities. This study shows that practitioners were less likely to talk about dreams with students who had adjustment disorders, psychosis, were oppositional or ill, struggled with substance abuse problems, or had eating disorders. Furthermore, most practitioners indicated receiving no training and did not feel competent to work with children's dreams. However, most surveyed practitioners were interested in learning more about dreams in general.

Thesis (M.A.)--Miami University, Dept. of Psychology, 2005.
Title from first page of PDF document. Document formatted into pages; contains [1], iv, 53 p. Includes bibliographical references (p. 45-56).

Dreams have, SInce time immemorial, both reflected the culture of those who dream them and have been used by them, with or without the help of soothsayers, to shape their personal lives and that of the culture of which they form part. Anthropologists have also, since the beginning of their discipline, commented on and analysed dreams in diverse cultures and in turn derived from these and other analyses, theoretical principles and approaches. In the modern world, and particularly in the twentieth century, first individual and then group therapies have incorporated the narration and analysis of dreams into their methods. More recently still, this process has been, at least partially, democratised and the therapist acting on the individual patient has transformed her/himself into the dreamwork facilitator and resource person for a, more or less, autonomous group. In this research I established and jointly facilitated three dreamwork groups In order to use experiential groupwork methods to demonstrate the articulation of embodied, but implicit, knowledge. In my analysis of the group process I use anthropological concepts derived from the survey of literature at the beginning of my thesis. The analysis proper proceeds In four stages. The first is concerned with "dreamwork", the way that the narration to and within the group can be shown to be collectively converted into a verbally expressed narrative of an experience 3 seen as having hitherto been concealed and confined to the imagination. Second, I turn to the analysis of structure and process In the group itself and the communicative context in which this dreamwork took place. Third, I use an hermeneutic analysis to unpick the emiC and etic interpretive, and to some degree feminist-inspired, perspectives used by the group to make sense of the narratives they have collectively created. Finally, I move outwards to the processual, meanIngcreating and outcome, analysis of such groupwork methods as gestalt, psychodrama and imagework which are used to elicit meaning from narrated dream imagery. I conclude that dreams are transformations of cultural symbols and that their interpretation is an example of what Obeyesekere, significantly calling on both psychoanalysis and cultural analysis, has called "the work of culture".

This survey-based study aimed to find out how to reduce speaking anxiety amongst second-language students attending two different upper secondary schools in Halmstad, Sweden. The survey participants were in their first and second years of upper secondary school and attending English 5 and 6 courses. The survey participants were asked to complete two online-surveys. The first survey dealt with measuring if the participants felt anxious while speaking English in class and what they considered was the most conducive way to alleviate anxiety when working with communicative exercises. After compiling the data from the first survey, it was found that the survey participants thought that working in groups would alleviate speaking anxiety the most. Following this, lessons were created where the classroom furniture was rearranged in order to promote group discussions. Subsequently, the survey participants completed the second survey, the purpose of which was to measure how they felt the group discussions went, and if they thought it helped them reduce their speaking anxiety. The results showed that the majority of the survey participants felt that group discussions made them less apprehensive about how their peers would perceive their speaking abilities. Interestingly, the results also showed that even though most of the survey participants felt that they had good English skills, they were still concerned about not being able to perform communicative tasks without inhibition. The results demonstrated that when the furniture was rearranged to suit classroom group-work, students were less worried about how they were being perceived as English speakers, leading them to feel more secure. Additionally, they became more motivated to speak English.

碩士
國立政治大學
企業管理研究所(MBA學位學程)
107
Film industry is now at the maturity stage of Product Life Cycle, considerable economies of scale and strong brand loyalty have been established. In addition to blocking the entry of potential competitors, it is also possible to manage the hostile relationship of industry competitors through non-price competition. This case study explains the current development and challenges of the animated film industry, and how the Cable giants - Comcast can cope with the rise of streaming media through vertical integration. Comcast originally started from the terminal channel (signal transmission company) and was recently affected by online streaming platform (Netflix, Amazon), which made its cable TV business gradually lost its oligopoly. In order to strengthen its competitiveness, Comcast began to vertical integrate, and to enhance content producing power through IP assets. This study is about Comcast acquiring Dreamworks and shows that this acquisition will help Comcast catch up with Disney's leading position in the animation and entertainment industry. Dreamworks animation has good quality Intelligence Property however it is lack of its own distribution channel leads to higher risk of profit loss. After the merge, Dreamworks will be integrated into NBC Universal Pictures. It can greatly reduce the risk of movie box office instability.

碩士
玄奘大學
大眾傳播研究所
102
In Taiwan region, average spending on wedding is between NTD 600 thousands~ 1.2 millions .Based on the statistic from Ministry of Interior on December 2011, the number of marriages were 165,327 pairs and has no significant change in recents years, indicating the economy has less susceptible impact on marriages. In view of Taiwan’s wedding photography has matured and sophisticated, the industry has expanded the market to China and Southeast Asia. At the same time, couples from different countries Hong Kong and Malaysia will specifically come to Taiwan for wedding photography. Whether the its key success factors are assured warrant for more in-depth research, as well as explore the lacks of wedding photography from employees perspective. Research processes use documentary analysis, in-depth interview, and participant observation, to research on Taiwan wedding photography industry’s production development. The main conclusions are as following: 1.Employee will standardize and rule the wedding based on the category and characteristic. 2.The dress department will adjust service processes according to customer needs. 3.Photographic department will adjust service processes according to customer demand. 4.The styling department will adjust service processes according to customer needs. 5.The narrative method is an important strategy of marketing. However, the methods of marketing are a lot, under the competitive environment of customization, the customers would have no definite opinions easily. The only thing we are sure is that the importance of the narrative method cannot be overemphasized.

A presente dissertação consiste numa abordagem/estudo daquilo que se considerarão “personagens atípicas” no cinema de animação, através da análise das suas personalidades, comportamentos e movimentos. Foram analisados seis personagens de filmes de animação, possessores de anomalias, de modo a compreender a influência das suas deformidades no modo como vivem. “Dumbo” (1941) de Samuel Armstrong e Norman Ferguson, “Finding Nemo” (2003), de Andrew Stanton e Lee Unkrich, e “The Hunchback of Notre Dame” (1996) de Gary Trousdale e Kirk Wise, introduzem, respectivamente, as personagens Dumbo, Nemo e Quasimodo com anomalias físicas inatas. O outro tipo de anomalias é definido como anomalias físicas adquiridas, que são obtidas posteriormente à nascença. Para este tipo analisaram-se personagens como o Hook do filme “Peter Pan” (1953) de Clyde Geronimi e Wilfred Jackson, Fergus do filme “Brave” (2012), de Brenda Chapman e Mark Andrews, e Hiccup do filme “How to Train Your Dragon2” (2010), de Dean DeBlois e Chris Sanders. Estas personagens têm em comum amputações de membros. Todas estas personagens são diferentes desde a sua personalidade ao modo como se movimentam, pois cada uma se comporta de maneira diferente perante a sua atipicidade, adquirindo comportamentos que se traduzem de uma forma característica dada a sua anomalia. Embora existam dois tipos de anomalias físicas a serem estudados, em ambos os casos as personagens comportam-se irracionalmente de forma protegida, ou seja, o seu comportamento é influenciado pela anomalia em questão. Após uma ligação do tema da presente dissertação com o projeto final de mestrado, estudou-se o desenvolvimento da curta-metragem “Ao Relento” (2015) de Joana Dias e Ricardo Pinheiro, formou-se uma conclusão sobre a dissertação.
In this dissertation we will study the meaning of atypical characters in animation cinema through the analysis of their personality, behavior, and movement. Six disabled characters from different animation movies were analyzed in order to better comprehend the influence of their deformities on their way of living. Samuel Armstrong and Norman Ferguson’s Dumbo (1941), Andrew Stanton and Lee Unkrich’s “Finding Nemo” (2003), and Gary Trousdale and Kirk Wise’s “The Hunchback of Notre Dame” (1996) give us three characters with congenital physical deformities: Dumbo, Nemo and Quasimodo. As for acquired physical deformities, defined by appearing after birth, we analyzed Captain Hook from Clyde Geronimi and Wilfred Jackson’s “Peter Pan” (1953), Fergus from Brenda Chapman and Mark Andrews’s “Brave” (2012) and Hiccup from Dean DeBlois and Chris Sanders’ “How to Train Your Dragon2” (2010), which all possess limb amputations. All these characters have different personalities and movements, since they behave differently according to their handicap. Although there are two types of physical deformities being studied, both show that characters behave irrationally self-protective as a product of their specific deformity. After connecting this dissertation’s theme with the Master’s final project – an animation short film: Joana Dias and Ricardo Pinheiro’s Ao Relento (2015) – we will further analyze the development of said animation short film and summarize the whole dissertation into a conclusion.

Thesis (M.A.)--York University, 2005. Graduate Programme in Communication and Culture.
Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 105-114). Also available on the Internet. MODE OF ACCESS via web browser by entering the following URL: http://gateway.proquest.com/openurl?url%5Fver=Z39.88-2004&res%5Fdat=xri:pqdiss &rft_val_fmt=info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:dissertation&rft_dat=xri:pqdiss:MR11772

This thesis demonstrates how eight participants in two dreamgroups, meeting over six years, explored aspects of self-identity, change and transformation in the context of their own personal dreaming and shared dreamgroup processes. The thesis provides a rationale and argument for engagement with group dreamwork processes, as an appropriate medium of critical social/cultural inquiry, as well as for personal psycho-spiritual exploration. An initial pilot project involved four women in a short-term eight week dreamgroup process. Subsequently, two dreamgroups made up of mature-age women, who had experienced a long-term marriage, were formed. The guiding questions of the study were concerned with exploring what kept the participants in marriage or what prompted the urge to remarry? How did the participants reflect on the choices they were making? How were the experiences of the participants similar or different? To what extent did the women consider cultural conditioning as having been prescriptive or valuable? The participants also considered how they would create change, and how they would locate their visionary selves? The study is grounded in a qualitative research conceptual framework. The methodological approach used within the study is a blended heuristic and organic method of inquiry. The heuristic component is based on a personal, imaginal phenomenological method of inquiry. The organic approach draws on feminist fields of study, phenomenology and co-participatory research. The focus in the organic inquiry approach is on narratives and the ‘telling of stories’. It becomes both the method and subject of inquiry. The narratives of the dreamgroups recount the personal dreaming of individual participants. In these dreamgroup narratives, the personal stories, dreams and emergent themes and symbols are interwoven with the group story. Four central themes emerged through the personal and group work: letting go: restor(y) ing the feminine; integrating the masculine and feminine; living through image and metaphor. These themes are discussed and reflected upon, in relationship to the transformative potential for the participants, and personal and social relevance. As a means of reflection and creative synthesis, a questionnaire and a series of semi-structured interviews were conducted with participants.

This dissertation examines the avant-garde as one of the last significant cultural manifestations in Latin America that attempted to offer an alternative to capitalism in the twentieth century. My study redefines the avant-garde as a global critique of modernity whose emergence can only be explained from a geopolitical perspective. During this time, the world order dictated that metropolitan areas like Western Europe be engaged in a mutual economic dependence with peripheral regions such as Latin America. Consequently, a revolutionary socialist impulse originated from within secondary economic areas in the world like Russia and Latin America. Movements such as Dada and Cubism conveyed the necessity for art to break from the autonomous status attributed to it by the bourgeoisie; but ultimately, these aesthetic projects did not address an essential component of the changing social picture, namely the articulation of collective fantasies directed at the emerging masses. The avant-garde was able to articulate these dreamworlds only after art intersected with socialism. With this convergence art claimed a different kind of autonomy, one not based on innocuous insularity but on a socially conscious critical capacity. The revolutionary discourse that resulted from the combination of political and artistic realms aimed at addressing the masses as an integral part of a new modern society. The chapters include muralism (Diego Rivera), periodicals (Amauta), and poetry (Vallejo). Building upon local and global geopolitical perspectives, these works constructed socialist dreamworlds, expressions of utopian desires to transform the world, against the backdrop of art's tendency toward new modes of production and aesthetic sensibilities in the early twentieth century. Sifting through the ruins of these cultural artifacts, I discuss topics such as the figure of the intellectual and the history of radical ideas in Latin America; Marxism; public art and state sponsorship; iconography of revolution and spectrality; and the autonomy of art at the intersection of politics and aesthetics.