Graphic Design // Communications Thesis

In 2012 I received a double Master's degree from San Diego State Univeristy in Graphic Design and Communications.

The Communications thesis was a dissection of the development of visual effects in three films that hallmarked a cinematic revolution. Film is a medium that has been widely discussed, analyzed, and critiqued within professional, academic, and social spheres. What much of this debate has centered on is the visual experience, the narrative, the thematic ideology, or the ability to immerse. However, what has been largely overlooked is how these things are interwoven with each other, functioning together to create an ideological whole. My thesis provided a thorough evaluation of the visuals, the developmental process, and the critical and thematic reception of three films: George Lucas' Star Wars: A New Hope, Steven Spielberg's adaptation of Jurassic Park, and James Cameron's Avatar. As a method, the study used a visual analysis to understand how the special effects function ideologically in the films through different levels of visual integration and how this contributes to the audience's immersion. The analysis demonstrated that the special effects sequences within film functions as a rhetorical communication tool, advancing ideological points while leading the narrative forward.
Read the paper at SDSU

The Graphic Design thesis focused on the development of visual effects in movies and how they were tools used to effectively communicate ideas to the audience. The foyer of the SDSU Art building served as backdrop for a timeline of visual effects as well as infographics about the three films I wrote about in the communication portion of my thesis. These installations were printed with invisible watermarks that had Augumeted Reality experiences when scanned with the HP LinkReader mobile app.