Institute of Art Design + Technology
Dún Laoghaire

Eva Bernadette Kelly 

BA [Hons] Design for Stage + Screen Production Design

I am a graduating Design for Stage and Screen student with a unique and optimistic outlook on life. I am half German and half Irish and have lived around the world in places such as London, UK, Singapore and now Wicklow, Ireland. I have always been a creative spirit and have a love for art and design. One of my hobbies is photography, I enjoy coming up with different concepts and taking photos and editing them to make my visions come to life. Another one of my biggest passions is graphic design and digital illustration. I hope to go on to develop my digital art skills in the future and continue letting my creative juices flow! Check out my website to see more from me!

Major Project - A View From The Bridge

For my fourth year major project I designed Arthur Miller's iconic play for screen. I was inspired to choose this text because I had previously studied it in school and the narrative had stuck with me ever since. I was also drawn to it because the themes of immigration, prejudice and difficult familial relationships are still incredibly prevalent in today's society. In my designs I wanted to show that the apartment of the Carbone family is a typical Brooklyn tenement apartment that is lived in, crowded and a little run down however it is still well decorated and looked after by Beatrice. I felt each room should also display the emotions of the scenes that take place there.
For more information on these projects and others that I have worked on please check out my website!

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Carnal Alien: An Exploration into the Unconscious Sexual Imagery of the Alien Franchise from 1979 to 2017

My thesis serves as an exploration into the Alien franchise, created in 1979, and how all the films from the original to the most recent release in 2017 contain sexual imagery in their design. It investigates the psychology behind the decision to create a horror film that includes such graphic, carnal metaphors of gender and sex. It also delves into the root causes as to why these images trigger unconscious and subliminal fears in both original audiences from the Seventies and present-day audiences.
In the first chapter the thesis dives into theories by Sigmund Freud and his student Carl Jung. They discuss the unconscious and how it connects to one’s sexual awakening from childhood. It also investigates findings from more modern, feminist psychologists and film critics, and compares their theories on the subliminal use of sexual imagery in horror to those of Freud and Jung. It also takes a look at the original creators’ aims when designing the first Alien, and how they used these theories of psychology to add to the horror of their film. The second chapter focuses more on the symbolism of motherhood in the Alien franchise. It uses each film as a case study and explores how the creators use the theme of motherhood to increase the horror of the franchise. Finally, the third chapter is a study of the character design, done mostly by Swiss artist H.R. Giger. It dives into the world of Giger and how he was fascinated with using biological, sexually graphic aspects in his work, and how the creators of Alien knew that including his explicit, carnal designs would add to the overall revulsion and horror of the films.
In summary, this thesis is an investigation into the decisions to include themes and images of sex, gender and biology in the original Alien film, which then sparked a legendary franchise that has continued to intrigue and terrify audiences for over forty years. It is an exploration into why these subliminal, primal fears affect audiences so deeply, and truly make the Alien films successfully horrific.