Water bodies

: coastal expression in ecocinema practice

Abstract

Positioning coastal ecosystems as particularly vulnerable to severe effects of anthropogenic climate change, this thesis develops a framework for an ecocinema practice which shifts focus away from human perspectives by exploring different rhythms and scales to depict coastal places through film. Using a collaborative and practice-based methodology, I draw on critical theories from ecocinema and the blue humanities to frame my analysis of my own film practice that experiments with a range of formal and conceptual approaches to cultivating a poetic ecocinema. Through critical analysis of a series of case studies and the creation of three short films, the project argues that collaborative methodologies in poetic ecocinema have the potential to widen access to these films and give experiential context to broader theoretical discussions in ecocriticism.
The thesis is organized into three chapters. The first, Margaret Tait’s Film Poems as a Model for Ecological Filmmaking Practice connects ecocritical theories with Margaret Tait’s film poems, arguing that film poetry has the capacity to attune an audience to non-narrative qualities of a subject. The second chapter, Documentary Patience in a time of Environmental Crisis explores the potentially contradictory ideas of patience and urgency applied to ecocinema practice through examining aerial cinematography in relation to histories of colonialism, landscapes, and mapmaking. The third chapter, Underwater Place: Developing a More-than-human Perspective in Ecocinema expands on critiques of visual dominance and control. It suggests that the inherent formal qualities of cinema render it an effective tool for conveying the significance of imagination in representing nonhuman viewpoints in films.

Date of Award	30 Jun 2025
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	University of St Andrews
Supervisor	Philippa Lovatt (Supervisor) & Sarah Neely (Supervisor)