Current Research

Beginning in October 2014, my PhD thesis considers the representation of the projectionist in cinema. It forms one strand of research being carried out by the Projection Project, which is funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) and is a wider investigation of projection following the switch of most cinemas from 35mm film to digital between 2010 and 2012.

Most people’s conception of the projectionist, and who he is, is formed by cinema itself via filmic representations, rather than by direct encounters in the projection booth, which is a separate, hidden realm within the cinema premises. As the projectionist's role passes into history, my thesis will employ close-readings of film texts to understand his fictional constructions and meanings.

PhD studentship funded by the AHRC

Supervisors: Charlotte Brunsdon and Jon Burrows

I also have a passion for the silent era and my MA dissertation is an aesthetic account of the movies made by Asta Nielsen in Denmark between 1910 and 1919, which argues for pronounced differences in the ways in which the Danish and German film industries (and movie-going publics) accommodated the star.

 

Background

I graduated from the University of Warwick in January 2014 with an MA in Film and Television Studies (with distinction). My BA Hons in French and German Studies was gained some years previously to that, in 1998. In between I worked in communications and marketing for several public- and

third-sector organisations and have experience across the public relations mix including print and online publishing, press work and engagement events and I will use this experience to help to disseminate the Projection Project’s work in progress.

 

Contact

Email: c.e.jesson@warwick.ac.uk

Projection Project: www.warwick.ac.uk/projectionproject

Twitter: @ProjProject

Inglourious Basterds
(Quentin Tarantino, USA, 2009)

Sherlock Jr. (Buster Keaton,
USA, 1924)