SAC Honors Program

Honors Deadlines        

February 22 - Initial Proposal for Faculty Advisor Approval
March 15 - Final Proposal to Faculty Advisor


Please read through the handbook for instructions on how to apply for Honors.


 
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The Department of Screen Arts & Cultures Honors Program is open to Screen Arts & Cultures concentrators who meet application requirements including those students who have not been in the LSA Honors Program in their freshman and sophomore years.

The SAC Honors Program is highly competitive and admission is based on a minimum GPA plus a rigorous and competitive review process that takes into consideration the following: performance in past courses, sample work from previous Screen Arts & Cultures courses, completion of specific course work, the student's Honors Proposal, and faculty recommendation(s). Application to the SAC Honors Program is made in winter term at a deadline typically in mid-March. 

Students accepted into the SAC Honors Program gain the opportunity to carry out the independent work required to complete an honors thesis, screenplay, or film, video, television, or digital production. SAC Honors is expected to be a rigorous year-long experience devoted to research and writing, the production of an advanced video, film, digital, or television project, or the writing of an original feature-length screenplay or teleplay equivalent.

Students accepted into the SAC Honors Program also become members of the Honors Program of the College of Literature, Science, and the Arts. As members of the LSA Honors program, they gain access to a variety of special services such as possible financial support for their honors work. In addition, SAC Honors students may also apply for competitive scholarships administered by the Department of Screen Arts & Cultures to help with costs associated with their SAC Honors project.

Upon successful completion of the SAC Honors Program, students may graduate with Honors, High Honors or Highest Honors in Screen Arts & Cultures, depending on the evaluation of their thesis, screenplay or project. SAC Honors designation appear on their diploma and transcript, along with any University or LS&A Honors designations they earn from their overall grade point.

Honors Concentrators 2011-2012

Christiana Botic
Iron Works (film)
Primary SAC Faculty advisor: Chris McNamara

Emily Bozek
Puckett and the Prince (screenplay and film trailer)
Primary SAC Faculty advisor: Jim Burnstein

Ashley Harrison
Imogen the Elephant and Her Friend Cartier (film)
Primary SAC Faculty advisor: Candace Moore

Perry Janes
Zug (film)
Primary SAC Faculty advisor: Terri Sarris

Barbara Twist
The Mother's Visit (film)
Primary SAC Faculty advisor: Sheila Murphy

Wednesday April 18, 2012: Michigan Theater screening at 6:00 p.m. of the Honors films.

Honors Concentrators 2010-2011

Joshua Bayer: a film, Self-Help

Joshua’s Honors project, Self-Help, deals with Clifford, a pot-smoking, stuck-in-the-sixties, 29-year-old experimental filmmaker who revels in “sticking it to the man." One fateful morning, a Bluetooth-sporting female business executive named Deus supernaturally materializes in his one-room apartment, challenging his bohemian existence. When Clifford is unreceptive, Deus subjects him to a nightmarish “self-help” program, teleporting him through a series of cliché Hollywood scenarios in which he must “become the hero” by accomplishing death-defying feats— unfortunately for Clifford, this particular rehabilitation program seems to be rigged against him.

Connie Huang: a film, When It's All Been Done Before

Connie's Honors project is entitled When It's All Been Done Before (A Con Artist Musical) and the working title of the film is Art & Angst. In the film, artist and filmmaker Haley, struggles with the feeling of being stuck creatively. She enters her own mind as she visualizes her fears and neuroses about the creative process. Haley enters different rooms and surreal settings that express her anxieties. This eventually builds to a climactic musical number where she confronts them.

Liann Kaye: a film, Slash Fiction

Liann's Honors project, Slash Fiction, is the story of a young librarian who is left feeling alone and out of place in her cookie-cutter world. By taking on the personalities of others, Penelope eventually finds her voice in what may seem to be an unexpected venue.

Jacob Mendel: a 3-D Film, Train of Shadows

Jacob's Honors project, Train of Shadows, is a 3-D film with a non-linear narrative
centered on a train’s journey through a landscape of a character’s lost memories. He explores a set of themes dealing with temporality, which are theoretically, dramatically, and formally inflected: the virtuality of memory, loss and renewal, the constitution of subjectivity in time, and the narrative imperatives of that subjectivity.

Noah Stahl: a film, It's In The Handwriting

Stahl's Honors project has two working titles: It's In The Handwriting or It's Not Just You Bobby. His project is a Woody Allen-inspired comedy about a college student coping with his doubts about romance in the wake of being dumped by his girlfriend. It is highly subjective, with many a wacky psychological projection impeding on the narrative.

Evelyn Sherbenou: a thesis, Battlestar Galactica: Creating a Franchise Through Fans. 

In Evelyn's thesis, entitled Battlestar Galactica: Creating a Franchise Through Fans
and Paratexts, she argues that to identify oneself as a fan is to reveal an aspect of one’s identity,
to share it with others, and to be judged for it. Fandom activities differ from the activities of a casual viewer; fans develop a deeper connection to the text than most casual viewers. She states that an investigation into the Battlestar Galactica franchise, which has had a dedicated fan base since 1978, supports her argument that a franchise could not be successful without the support of its fans.

Ellen Flaherty: a thesis, The Place of the Musical Conglomerate Media. 

Ellen's thesis aims to determine the place of the musical genre in contemporary, convergent media. She is researching the history of the film musical, its connection to the recent birth and
popularity of the television musical (American Idol, Glee), and the various forms both film and television musicals take when their content is recycled and put on the Internet. This recycling can be done by fans looking to merely engage with the musical material, or by corporations hoping to use the musical form in order to advertise/promote a commodity. Ultimately she is interested in determining whether all this convergence is positive for the genre, or if it is causing a loss of integrity.