Ph.D., Antioch University, 2022, Leadership and Change
Because of the gatekeeping practices of the Hollywood film industry, and the high cost of both filmmaking and distribution in general, Afro-American filmmakers have struggled to produce films with “global reach.” This study visits the possibility of Afro-American filmmakers using alternative technologies and infrastructures to produce high-quality films, thereby bypassing the high cost and exclusionary practices of Hollywood studios. Using new 21st-century digital technology, this study involved the creation of a small geographically dispersed virtual film production team. The study's foundational framework was a constructivist qualitative research paradigm, using Action Research, and supported by 24 months of triangulated data from field notes and a Likert-type end-of-study survey, both of which were then addressed in an end-of- research online group discussion using the Zoom platform. The research question was, What are the most effective leadership and team-building practices/processes for creating a virtual geographically dispersed Afro-American film production team, with the intent of producing digital films, using new digital technology, social media, and the default global infrastructure of the Internet? The major conclusion of the study was that it is possible for a small virtual team to produce broadcast quality digital film using only consumer-level computers and cameras, audio and lighting equipment, and readily available software. This dissertation is available in open access at AURA (https://aura.antioch.edu) and OhioLINK ETD Center (https://etd.ohiolink.edu).
Committee: Jon Wergin PhD (Committee Chair); Philomena Essed PhD (Committee Member); Christine Acham PhD (Committee Member)
Subjects: African American Studies; African Americans; American History; Black History; Black Studies; Cinematography; Communication; Film Studies; Mass Communications; Mass Media; Motion Pictures; Multimedia Communications; Systems Design; Technology; Web Studies