Affective scripts : gesture, atmosphere, and narrative collapse in user-generated short-form videos

Abstract

This thesis consists of a written component and an artistic project developed in dialogue. The artistic component, Signaling is a one-minute looping video installation projected in a black box. Drawing on post-apocalyptic cinema and mainstream trailer aesthetics, it constructs an emotionally saturated atmosphere that resembles narrative without offering resolution. Through repetition, interruption, and the use of archetypal figures, the work simulates legibility while destabilizing affective investment. The written component takes Signaling as its point of departure and conceptual engine. In dialogue with affect theory, atmosphere theory, and media studies, it examines how user-generated short-form video reorganizes attention through gesture, repetition, and mood. Emphasis is placed on the reciprocal relationship between practice and theory, with the artwork functioning as both method and object of inquiry.