Thesis title
Less is More: Exploring Emotional Engagement and Technical Harmony Through Visual Restraints of VFX in Interactive Installations and Expanded Cinema
Overview
This research investigates how restrained uses of visual effects can produce stronger emotional engagement in expanded cinema and installation-based moving image work.
Rather than focusing on spectacle or technical excess, the thesis considers how carefully controlled VFX decisions can support atmosphere, perception, and emotional response.
Core interest
The project asks how visual restraint may function not as limitation, but as a deliberate creative strategy.
This includes attention to:
- emotional pacing
- controlled visual density
- harmony between concept and technique
- the relationship between technical intervention and audience perception
Research context
The thesis sits between visual effects practice, moving image theory, and installation research.
It reflects on how contemporary VFX can contribute meaningfully to spatial and cinematic experiences when used with intention, subtlety, and conceptual clarity.
Themes
Key themes include:
- emotional engagement through visual subtlety
- technical harmony between process and concept
- expanded cinema and installation contexts
- restrained image construction in VFX practice
- the role of atmosphere over spectacle
Outcome
The research informs both my written critical investigation and my wider creative practice.
It supports a direction of work in which VFX is treated not only as a production method, but as a sensitive language for shaping perception, space, and feeling.