Program: Featured Lecture, Praying the King\u27s Prayer (Remembering the Prayers of Three Old Testament Kings).

Program for the Thirty-Third Annual William M. Green Distinguished Christian Lecture Program with featured lecturer Dr. Tim Willis, Chair on the Religion Division at Pepperdine University

Finding an audience: Evaluating the production and marketing of low budget British films in the iFeatures production scheme, 2009 - 2014

This thesis explores the first iteration of iFeatures, a grant-aided low budget production scheme in Bristol, UK, from 2009 – 2014. The scheme encouraged and trained filmmakers to develop digital marketing and distribution strategies to enable the three feature films, In the Dark Half (2012), Flying Blind (2013) and 8 Minutes Idle (2014) to compete in the market place against bigger budgeted films. Little original research on low budget marketing and distribution has been carried out which this thesis attempts to rectify. The research captured a specific period in history in which digital marketing and distribution was regarded by the UK Film Council (UKFC) and other stakeholders as techniques that would allow the low budget sector to find its audience, and overcame the century-long problems of how to sustain indigenous feature film production. The research findings are based on multiple data sources that collectively fill a gap in original research. Unprecedented access was obtained to major stakeholders including the iFeatures creative teams, BBC Films, the UKFC, sales agents and distributors. The in-depth interviews uncovered motivations and attitudes to marketing and these were analysed using Pierre Bourdieu’s framework (1986, 1996, 2001, 2003). In a separate chapter, conceptual approaches underpinning digital marketing and distribution, and the emerging strategies are also analysed. The three films are presented as case studies to show how each film adopted different strategies using digital and traditional marketing techniques. These case studies drew on unique data which captured the impact and scope of the online marketing, and over a thousand surveys from cinemagoers which showed the relative persuasiveness of both digital and traditional marketing. The thesis argues that iFeatures’ objectives were not achieved. Training filmmakers to become marketers did not account for their attitudinal dissonance nor the importance of symbolic capital. Also, coherent marketing strategies were lacking that understood and deployed the principles of marketing and emerging paradigms and logics. The case studies showed that digital marketing is only effective for defined audiences and when manipulated by expert personnel, and that traditional techniques should not be ignored. These results suggest that, as the commercial returns are so small, low budget filmmaking should exist to take creative risks and to develop talent and that its future may best be supported within a television business model

Organic amendment increases arbuscular mycorrhizal fungal diversity in primary coastal dunes

Plastic pots were inserted beneath seedlings of a shallow-rooted C4 grass species, Ischaemum indicum, with and without a root-impenetrable nylon sachet filled with organic matter (OM) amendment, at seven stations along an interrupted belt transect in which plant community and soil chemistry had been previously surveyed. The transect was perpendicular to mean high-water mark (MH-WM) across a primary coastal dune system in Goa, India, where summer monsoon is the predominant weather feature. The Quadrat survey of plant frequency was made in stations when the above-ground biomass was estimated to be highest. Arbuscular mycorrhiza fungal (AMF) spore density and diversity were determined morphologically in amended and control pots soils, and in OM sachet residues, after host-plant desiccation when monsoon rains had ceased. Twenty-seven AM fungal spore morphotypes were isolated from the pots containing OM amended rhizosphere soils, 19 from controls and 14 from OM residues in the sachets. Gigaspora margarita proved to be the dominant spore in all treatments. Eight morphotypes recovered from amended pots were not recovered from the controls. There was an increasing trend in species diversity in amended pots away from MH-WM. Spore recovery from the three regimes showed variable distribution that indicated differing AMF species strategies

Primary sand-dune plant community and soil properties during the west-coast India monsoon

A seven-station interrupted belt transect was established that followed a previously observed plant zonation pattern across an aggrading primary coastal dune system in the dry tropical region of west-coast India. The dominant weather pattern is monsoon from June to November, followed by hot and dry winter months when rainfall is scarce. Physical and chemical soil characteristics in each of the stations were analysed on five separate occasions, the first before the onset of monsoon, three during and the last post-monsoon. The plant community pattern was confirmed by quadrat survey. A pH gradient decreased with distance from the shoreline. Nutrient concentrations were deficient, increasing only in small amounts until the furthest station inland. At that location, there was a distinct and abrupt pedological transition zone from psammite to humic soils. There was a significant increase over previous stations in mean organic matter, ammonium nitrate and soil-water retention, although the increase in real terms was small. ANOVA showed significant variation in electrical conductivity, phosphorus, calcium, magnesium and sodium concentrations over time. There was no relationship between soil chemistry characteristics and plant community structure over the transect. Ipomoea pes-caprae and Spinifex littoreus were restricted to the foredunes, the leguminous forb Alysicarpus vaginalis and Perotis indica to the two stations furthest from the strand. Ischaemum indicum, a C4 perennial grass species adopting an ephemeral strategy was, in contrast, ubiquitous to all stations