Eason, Shane

Mythological stories are more than stories. They are important because they give context to our world, our literature, and our own beliefs and carry forward cultural values and tales over generations. So many efforts have been made to pass mythological stories from generation to generation through various forms including traditional storytelling, songs, and films. This thesis explores if learning mythology can be more immediate and fun by instructing it through an immersive, interactive game known as an Escape Room. Riddles of the Gods is an Egyptian theme-based Escape Room that uses the medium of Virtual Reality. It creates an interactive, educative, and entertaining experience for participants. It also provides an opportunity to contribute towards keeping traditional and cultural values alive, in a more expressive form using the latest technologies such as Virtual Reality which are relatable to the current and future generations.

Avatars are growing in popularity and presented in many computer-mediated communication environments like social media, virtual 3D worlds, and augmented reality applications. With its incredible success in the Asian market, followed by the latest rapid increase in popularity for digital avatars in the Western market, it is necessary to look at the avatars' roots and their newfound use as celebrities. Virtual celebrities or influencers are digital characters consumed in digital mediums, with a given personality, background story, and the first-person point of view of the world, accessible to different social media platforms. These virtual celebrities are now being used for various entertainment industries, with game companies currently leading the way in building their metaverse by attracting audiences to virtual experiences, fueled by the need to sell live content during the Covid-19 pandemic. This paper traces the complex history of the Hindu avatara to a digital representation. It will explain how it has been affected by the context of literature, virtual gaming worlds, films, and new trends, moving away from a God-centered culture to one centered on humans. This effect is caused by the need for people to create a virtual presence and express themselves in virtual environments. Since its early beginning, avatars have filtered into the mainstream, and different brands have taken advantage by adopting them to represent their values to attract more customers and appear more reliable. This adoption led them to partner up with the entertainment industry creating virtual avatars, virtual concerts, and merchandise all tied in the metaverse.

Fessenden’s Worlds: Biosys is a short film inspired by the 1937 short story “Fessenden’s Worlds” by Edmond Hamilton.
The first chapter situates the original story in science fiction film and media, and in wider folklore. Parallels and contrasts within the storylines of the original “Fessenden’s Worlds” and the Biosys short film are discussed.
The second chapter examines all production techniques used to create Fessenden’s Worlds: Biosys. Aspects of filmmaking include storyboarding and previsualization research, production design and prop building, and filming for green screen compositing.
The post-production software techniques used to create Fessenden’s Worlds: Biosys are discussed, including hard surface and organic 3D modeling in Maya; texturing in Substance Painter; rendering in Arnold; particle and geometric procedural visual effects using Trapcode Particular, Mir, and Shine; and motion graphics design for device displays in Adobe After Effects.

Foam fighting is a form of Live Action Role Playing (LARP) that focuses on mock
combat and recreational battle, with role-playing aspects taking a less prominent role. It is
sometimes referred to as a “poor man’s martial art”.While there does not appear to be any
clear documentation concerning the origins, research on foam fighting suggests the sport
began in Maryland in the 1970’s and slowly spread throughout the United States.
This research will illustrate how the sport of foam fighting demands a level of
critical thinking that takes both the participant and audience beyond the sight of a
swinging stick. I plan to show how this sport provides an outlet for high levels of
creativity, social interaction and strategic planning skills. It is a hobby that has had a
great impact on the daily lives of many of its participants and continues to grow and
evolve.