Title

Paradise Entertainment's Feature of the Week: Splint

Author

Brittney Callahan

Date of Award

Spring 5-2018

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

MFA - Master of Fine Arts

Department

Photography

First Advisor

Christopher James

Abstract

Watching television has been part of my daily ritual since childhood. Every time it was turned on, I was able to enter into new worlds that were exotic compared to my house. Each story on the screen filled me with hope, inspired me with passion, and took me to a place where everything, no matter how terrible, seemed to have a purpose, an arc, and an end. These visual narratives birthed the idea of an equational life, one that seemed simple and mathematical. After I realized that life couldn’t be firmly calculated, I decided to invent my own alternative realities of which I could control through photography and video.

My primary interest is in self-construction, how identities and personalities are formed, how they manifest and shift, and the characterization of “self”. With my current work, I am utilizing the techniques of cinema and theater to construct a fictitious reality, that emulates the surface of a world that I have long-envied and idolized: Hollywood. The process of performing in my designed space is cathartic because, instead of being a passive spectator to someone else’s constructed narrative, I create my own and actively participate in it.

Paradise Entertainment’s Feature of the Week: Splint is my first attempt at structuring a parafiction that allows me to embody the roles of those in the film industry who fuel my addiction. In this documentary-featurette-interview hybrid, I play the entertainment host, Meghan Trolly, who gives her viewers an inside look at the making of a new Netflix series called Splint, on her network, Paradise Entertainment.

Recommended Citation

Callahan, Brittney, "Paradise Entertainment's Feature of the Week: Splint" (2018). MFA in Photography and Integrated Media Theses. 2.
https://digitalcommons.lesley.edu/mfa_photo_theses/2