Right now the main thing that is holding me back is mainly just my inability to make decisions. I have a lot of different options and ideas about what direction my thesis could go in, but no certainty what I am going to do. I have been pivoting between many different decisions for months now, switching between feeling sure and very lost. So this blog post is my effort to finally cement one of the decisions I have made. The theory is that by putting it online for people to read, I will feel obliged to fulfil their expectations of my thesis. Objectively, this would never work because first of all, maybe about two people are ever going to read this far (thank you at this point) and second of all, no one will be so invested into my thesis topic as to actually form any huge expectations. But I am a notorious people-pleaser who is deadly afraid of letting people down, so for me this method will work just fine.
Full disclosure: for the following information on the thesis structure as well as the exact formulation of my research question, I have used ChatGPT to help me find something suitable.
The Topic
At my talk with Roman last week I presented him with the options I had narrowed it down to in my last blog post, with the sole goal in mind to walk out of that room with a decision for my topic. I’ll admit, that was a fairly ambitious plan, but although I didn’t have a fixed title, research question and structure ready by the end of our talk, it was really helpful in deciding what to explore further. I decided to somehow combine the notion of convincing people to travel more sustainably via a visual media, and the question of how documentary filmmakers’ audiovisual and ethical decisions on how to portray contrasting viewpoints can change the viewers’ perception.
I then explained my ideas and intentions to ChatGPT, asking him to come up with an appropriate research question. The following is the option that resonated most with me and that I felt like represented best what I want to do with my thesis.
“How can the design of a documentary—through audiovisual style, narrative structure, and ethical framing—be leveraged to fairly present conflicting viewpoints while effectively motivating audiences toward more sustainable travel behaviors?”
The Title
Well, this one is still a work in progress, but ChatGPT and I have come up with some options that I already like the sound of:
“Seeing Fairly: Ethical and Audiovisual Strategies for Persuasion in Sustainability Documentaries”“Representing Conflict Fairly: Ethical Documentary Design in the Context of Sustainable Travel Communication”
“Influencing Perception Ethically: Documentary Media Design for Sustainable Travel”
“…: Ethical Documentary Strategies for Fair and Persuasive Sustainable Travel Communication”
One idea I have had for a while now is for the title of my documentary project, which I would like to call Only Planet, as a reference to both the travel guide company Lonely Planet and to the fact that Earth is the only planet we have and we have to take better care of it. When I asked ChatGPT about its associations with the name though, it immediately jumped to a connection with Only Fans, so before I make a final decision on the name, I might test it out with real people in my life to see which association they would make first.
The Methods
For my research on documentaries and how different filmmakers approach the task of portraying contrasting viewpoints as well as treating the topic of sustainability, I want to both interview experts in the field, who can tell me first hand how they would deal with such issues. Furthermore, I would like to develop an informed framework for analysing different documentaries myself and categorising them within my thesis. For writing about the current state of research, I will rely heavily on scholarly literature on the topic.
The Structure
The following would be a rough outline of how the thesis might be structured to properly deal with the topic. While a lot of this will most likely still change throughout the course of the next few weeks, for now it is a good starting point to know what chapters I will definitely have to write, and to be able to prepare literature and also excerpts for my thesis. Once again, the structure was provided by ChatGPT after I had prompted him with the topic, research question, and methodology of my thesis. I then added some comments of my own for what I might want to write about in certain chapters.
1. Introduction
1.1 Background and significance
-> talking about sustainable travel as well as documentary filmmaking and viewer persuasion
1.2 Research problem
1.3 Research question + sub-questions
1.4 Methodological overview
1.5 Structure of the thesis
2. Theoretical & Conceptual Framework
2.1 Documentary Theory & Styles
-> talking about the theory behind documentary filmmaking, what types and styles there are, how to categorise
2.2 Media Design for Persuasion & Behaviour Change
-> talking about persuasion through media in general, empathy, sustainability persuasion specifically
2.3 Fairness, Credibility & Trust in Visual Media
-> the ethics behind it, how fairness is perceived
3. Methodology
3.1 Research Design
-> explanation and justification of used methodology, also how literature, research and practice tie together
3.2 Data Collection
-> describing criteria for which documentaries to analyse and which experts to talk to
3.3 Analytical Procedure
-> creating the framework for film analysis as well as the set of questions for expert interviews, also considering ethics and viability
4. Analysis & Findings
4.1 Content Analysis Results
-> how the documentaries analysed conflicting viewpoints, ethical considerations, common techniques
4.2 Expert Interview Findings
-> describing the expert’s answers, methodologies and approaches to documentary filmmaking, conflicts and ethics
4.3 Synthesis of Findings
-> see whether there are common themes in analysed films and amongst experts, see how different results might be combined
5. Practice-Based Component (max. 1/3 of thesis)
5.1 Project Description
5.2 Application of Findings
-> how theoretical findings can be applied to my own practical work / what I could have done better
