Mitchell Cram holds a BA from University of Toronto and a PhD in English from Johns Hopkins University. His dissertation, "Special Affects: Digital Effects Labor and Science Fiction Cinema After Hollywood's Digital Transition, 2009-2019," examines the aesthetic and economic consequences of the so-called "digital turn" of the 1990s, when digital filmmaking and distribution tools increasingly replaced older analog systems and jobs. His research interests film and media studies, special effects studies, political economy, and science fiction.