Sarah Mae Fleming is a Film Ph.D. student in the Department of Communication Arts. Her work typically concerns the relationship between sound, music, and narrative. Some of Sarah Mae’s current projects examine puzzle films’ cognitive challenges and pleasures, the historical and aesthetic tradition of punk rock filmmaking and archiving, and the impact of technological changes on television production. Another major research interest for her is genre, particularly horror and science fiction. Sarah Mae’s CA 313 course on horror films was named a top 10 UW Madison summer course in 2024.
Upcoming and Recent Conference Presentations:
- 2025 – The Hollywood Conference, “Queer Frequencies: Reimagining Hollywood Film Scoring in Contemporary Queer Cinema”
- 2025 – SCSMI, “’No End, No Beginning’: Drunkenness on Screen”
- 2025 – MaMI, “Re(a)el Music: Fictional Bands on Screen”
- 2025 – SCMS, “Pre-Taped from New York, It’s Saturday Night!: How Saturday Night Live’s 2005 Transformation Bridged Digital Technology and Viral Sensibilities”
- 2024 – SCSMI, “From Memento to Memoria: A Sonic Inquiry into the Challenges and Pleasures of Puzzle Films”
- 2024 – MaMI, “A Reluctant Filmmaker: Sunny Singh’s Documentation of Dissent in the Hate5six Archive”
- 2024 – SCMS, “Hardcore Preservation: Punk Culture and Institutional Memory in the Hate5six Archive”
- 2023 – SCSMI, “Sonic Subjectivities: Examining the Role of Music in Accessing ‘Difficult’ Characters”
- 2023 – MaMI, “Looping into the Mind: Audiovisual Aesthetics and Narrative Comprehension in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind”
- 2019 – SCMS-U, “You see, my wife’s dad is real well off: Money Obscured in the Coen Brothers”
- 2018 – SCMS-U, “There Will Be Oil: The Celebration and Inevitability of Petroleum through Upton Sinclair and Paul Thomas Anderson”
Honors/Awards:
- Student Research Grant, 2023
- Robert J. Wickhem Award in Media Production, 2023
- Sharon Sites Award, 2022
Education:
- M.A. with Distinction Communication Arts, University of Wisconsin–Madison, 2023
- B.A. English and Film Studies, Rhode Island College, 2019
Courses:
Lecturer:
- CA 100 – Introduction to Speech Composition
- Summer 2025
- CA 313 – Horror Films from the 1960s to the Present
- Summer 2024
Teaching Assistant:
- CA 100 – Introduction to Speech Composition; Primary Instructor
- Fall 2021, Spring 2022, Summer 2022, Fall 2022, Summer 2023, Fall 2023, Fall 2024
- CA 350 – Introduction to Film
- Fall 2023, Spring 2024
- CA 355 – Introduction to Media Production
- Fall 2022, Spring 2023
- CA 467 – Cinematography and Sound Recording
- Fall 2024, Spring 2025
- CA 609/659 – Advanced Motion Picture Techniques and Production
- Spring 2025
Service:
- Submissions Editor for The Velvet Light Trap, 2025-2026 academic year
- Editorial Board Member for The Velvet Light Trap, 2022 – present
- GSO Representative, 2022-2023 academic year