User:Colling
From MediaStudies
Welcome!
My name is William Colling and I am a Senior at Pomona College majoring in Media Studies with a focus on production. I am also a Music Minor and study classical guitar. Media wise my interests include Documentary Film, Screening Writing, Music Production, and Film Theory. Prior to attending Pomona College I lived in Shanghai, China where I attended Concordia International School. In the Summer of 2007 I returned to Shanghai working under the music production house ArchAngel East where I did extensive research on mainland China's music market. Last summer I went to the Milwaukee Bartending School and Bartended at the Grand Geneva Resort in Lake Geneva, WI.
I also a Media Studies liaison so feel to contact me anytime.
Phone: (909) 267-5502 E-mail: Wjc02005@mymail.pomona.edu Dorm: CLARK V room 21
Psycho Analysis in film: Repression
Goal:
The ultimate goal of the project is to write a screenplay the underlying theme of which is Freud’s concept of repression in psychoanalytic theory. Method:
The project will be in two parts:
In the first part, I will write a research paper that discusses Freud’s concept of repression and pre-1970’s psychoanalytical film theory and then examines three films that textually address the concept of repression. The films will be Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho and Marnie, as well as Harold Remis’ Analyze This. The screenplays of these three films will also be read as well. In the research paper, I will analyze the methods in which Hitchcock and Remis incorporate the theme, as well as gauge the success of their methods.
In the second part, which will, I hope, be executed in the Spring Semester, I will take what I have learned from my research and write a feature length screenplay in which the concept of repression is the underlying theme.
Rationale:
There are two reasons why I think this project holds importance. First, I think that it will be extraordinarily useful as a personal writing exercise. As has been suggested to me by many professors, a standard tactic in creative writing is to write a piece and then to extrapolate themes and build upon them. I would like to turn this idea on its head—select a theme or theory and build a story around it. I believe that the strength of this idea depends on doing extensive research on the theme and the theory behind it. Second, although Freud’s theories are now viewed as passé, it is clear that they had a large impact on film and television, which can still be felt today. Many successful films and television shows (The Sopranos, Analyze This) have taken inspiration from Freud. I believe that there are Freudian theories that can be translated into meaningful and powerful scripts.
Initial directions:
An initial reading of Freud’s case histories and a viewing/reading of Psycho, Marnie, and Analyze This have revealed an interesting pattern. In all three films, the text unfolds much in a manner akin to a mystery novel—people act in a suspicious or confusing manner that clearly has some sort of unknown logic. The answer to the mystery is revealed in the unearthing of a repressed or latent memory, which fully explains their odd behavior and thinking. In Psycho, Marnie, and Analyze This, this sense of mystery is used as a method of creating tension in the story, and there is always a payoff. In light of this observation, I would like to eschew this practice and think of another manner in which to use latent or repressed memories in my own screenplay.
Films/Scripts
Psycho
Marnie
Analyse This
Texts
Introductory Lectures on Psycho-Analysis (Freud)
An Outline of Psycho-Analysis (Freud)
The Freud Reader (Freud)
The Basic Writings of Sigmund Freud (Freud)
The Oxford Guide to Film Studies
Film Theory: An Introduction (Stam)
