Research Summary

How does an audience’s cultural storytelling traditions influence their response to a film’s narrative? In Eastern cultures (Asia), Kishōtenketsu 起承転結 is a more traditional story structure, while in Western cultures, the Aristotelian paradigm coupled with Joseph Campbell’s The Hero’s Journey structure. New research is looking at how media creators are breaking the story formula, whether East or West there are Genre formulas that must be taken into account.

Education

  • BFA, Bachelor of Fine Arts, Art, Florida Southern College, Lakeland, Florida
  • MFA, Master of Fine Arts, Art, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida. Project: Reality as the Artist's Intent
  • Ph.D. Doctor of Philosophy, Advanced Computing Center for Art and Design, Ohio State University. Project: A Physically-based Simulation Approach to Three-Dimensional Computer Animation.

Biography

Craig Caldwell, USTAR Professor, Film and Media Arts, and co-founder of the Masters in Games Program Entertainment Arts & Engineering, University of Utah.  Industry experience: Head of Creative Training at Electronic Arts, Tiburon Studio and 3D Technology Specialist, Walt Disney Feature Animation (Mulan, Tarzan, Chicken Little, Bolt, Meet the Robinsons), Burbank, CA. Academic background includes Head of the largest Film School in Australia at Griffith University and Chair, Media Arts Department, University of Arizona. Conference presentations on Story include, Mundos Digitales '13-'16,'18,'22, SIGGRAPH-Asia '15,'16,'21, SIGGRAPH '14,'16,'18,'20,'23, FMX '13-'23, View '23, GAFX '17 (Bengaluru), Kre8tif! '17 (Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia), CTNX '18, Comic-Con'18 (San Diego), Sundance '15, Anima '19 (Argentina), and IS3 '17 (Seoul, Korea). Author of Story Structure and Development – A Guide for Animators, VFX Artists, Game Designers, and Virtual Reality, CRC Publishers (on Amazon).