Umgebungsbezogene Metaphern der Gefühlswelt und die Verwendung von VFX zur Umsetzung im narrativen Film

  • Vivian Denise Wolf

Student thesis: Master's Thesis

Abstract

Films are largely made up of metaphors. Experts such as Trevor Whittock argue that the
design of a movie already reflects a metaphor in itself. At the same time, visual effects
(VFX) are used extensively in today’s narrative films to support creative freedom. Emotions are expressed metaphorically through a character’s environment, mainly through
natural phenomena, colors, biomes and spaces. However, the connection between visual
effects and visual metaphors in film is still under-researched. For this reason, this thesis
examines the use of environmental metaphors to represent the emotional world of characters and the use of visual effects in narrative film. In addition to a systematic literature
review, three qualitative interviews with experts from the VFX industry and three case
studies were conducted. The results show that the environment of a film plays an important role in the representation of emotions. Visual metaphors help to depict the inner
states of the characters through spaces, colors and weather. In this way, they promote
the embodiment of emotions that go beyond mere actions and dialog. The combination
of VFX and metaphors opens up new ways of cinematic storytelling that can outlaw the
physical laws of the earth. The results can be used for further interdisciplinary research
and show the importance of environmental metaphors in film.
Date of Award2024
Original languageGerman (Austria)
SupervisorRobert Hinterleitner (Supervisor)

Cite this

'