Institute of Art Design + Technology
Dún Laoghaire

Ruairí O’Neill 

BA [Hons] Film + Television Production

I am a final year student in Film and Television Production, specialising in Screenwriting. During my four years in the course, I have written a number of projects, including a feature film, a number of shorts, and a sitcom that was adapted and recorded by a variety of different students in the TV Studio. I am also experienced in many other aspects of filmmaking, including directing and script supervision, but my passion is in writing, particularly in writing for television.

Attachments



Paranoia, Politics, and Pod People: The Ever-Present and Ever-Mutating Paranoia in American Film and Television

I wrote my thesis this year on paranoia in American film and television, particularly during the twentieth century. Conveyed in a number of ways in different films, paranoia is one of the most enduring themes of cinema, be it through the lens of real world events like the Cold War, or through the concept of alien invaders. The main periods I delved into were the 50s, the 70s, and the 90s, which I linked through the fact that each of these decades had an adaptation of Jack Finney’s novel, The Body Snatchers. The Body Snatchers is a classic paranoid tale, and is used as an allegory for different fears depending on the period.