Final+Proposal

//__**Senior Seminar Formal Proposal**__//
 * Background** - These past few years, I’ve really gotten into movies; //really// gotten into movies. My collection impetuous, my knowledge is impregnable, my movie taste is ferocious; I go as far as to even wanting to make movies one day. As I began to watch movies from different time periods and styles, I began to notice a trend in them. It appeared, to me at least, that troubles in society during the times were deeply reflected in movies. Sometimes, even the opposite effect was prevalent in society. When Jaws came out, people treated the water like an underfed midget leper, avoiding it at all cost. The Bond films are a prime example of this reflection, each movie having to do with the current global scare and even current movie trends. Due to my passion for movies and this intriguing notice, I have decided to make my driving question if there a connection between Society and Movies shown by the plots, characters, and messages in movies and change in human behavior in society? How so?


 * Vision** - This project will hopefully make people realize just how much movies are apart of our culture as many other expected norms are. People take movies as another leisure enjoyment as any other time passing activity would be and simply leave it as that. But people do not realize how movies have influenced society, past simply killing time for the moment. "The Graduate" was a movie about a man's venture into college and his affair with his friend's mom, but his family member's prediction of plastic being a good investment was shown to become true. Jaws started the stereotype that still lasts today about how violent sharks are and many other films have influenced our perceptions on society and fears. The project will address the driving question in cross reference research in signs of society's influence in movies and movie's influence in society. Whether it be the correlation between a big movie release and following trends or if it's a striking comparison between a current event and the plot of a movie, I will cross reference the two in how they give and go off each other in influence.


 * Goals** -

1. I really hope to get an A on this project. I really, really do. I feel awful that I haven't done better in my classes until junior year and this would be a great class to get an A in. 2. Finish the project in a timely matter. I have a horrible habit of staying up past normal teenage hours but I do get my work done. For this project however, I'd like to have a few days to breathe before it's due so I can go over any possible formalities in the project and have my presentation practiced to an art form. 3. I want my hands on project to have informative feedback and not just short and general answers. In order to have an in-depth look into the topic I'm going to need full answers that reveal effects movies have had on people, not just "this movie scared me as a kid". 4. I hope to have my power point reaches the desired time limit with real information, not simply stretching it. I also wish for the power point to be very entertaining/informative to the audience, I've seen a power point or two that have been awfully boring and it was awkward to sit through. The power points I saw got C's so i guess that explains it, but I am for mine to be nothing lower than a B. 5. I hope that my project actually has an effect on people and makes them realize the importance of movies. Most people undermine movies as simply something to pass the time and do not realize the honest effect it has had on society and their lives.


 * Products** - In order to show that I have met my goals, I aim to deliver an A to B worthy project and truely feel that I did everything I could do deserve it. I will be sure to sleep on time and have my works done early/at a fashionably early time in order to limit the stress caused by it. I will prove I have met my goals by all three products, having completed the power point, hands on, and paper on time. I will further show my progress by hopefully being able to deliver a public speech with little to no bumps during it and beign able to make the audience enjoy themselves and stay entertained.


 * Task Analysis** - I will need many things to complete my project. First I will need copies/rentals of the key major movies I wish to examine for societal influence. I will also need some type of general overview of major events throughout history, whether it be newspaper headlines or a timeline of major events. I will also need to look at the Film Registry's list of movies that they marked down for importance in order to see why they have. Many movies on the list were marked down for how they effected society or demonstrated a strong film quality in society adn thsi would help me tremendously in my project. It will pretty much go, look at the Film Registry and write down films that may have had societal influence, observe major movie releases that are still remembered to this day and find out if it's due to societal influence, then take the notes I will write during the movies and cross reference them to real events/changes in society that may have taken part in it.

__Time Line:__

BEFORE 10/29 - Research Paper Draft BEFORE 11/11 - Final Research PAper BEFORE 12/16 - Power Point Draft BEFORE Winter Break - Have hands on portion of project completed BEFORE 1/2 - Have Power Point down to an art form

All other smaller due dates will be matched accordingly, It is only the bigger due dates that I know I may stress over and therefor keep an eye on.


 * Topic Expert Analysis** - My topic expert is Rich Schaeffer, a good friend of mine. Not many people in the school are as into movies as much as I am and many teachers don't remember nearly enough movies to be able to offer insight. Rich watches many movies just as I do and is therefor able to help me in decide and ponder over which movies are truely influential to society. From Rich, so far I have learned is that my typing can be a bit too casual at times for a project that is supposed to be formal and also that my first thesis had been too general and not focused enough. Rich will help me further by doing edits to my paper and evaluating me on my power point presentation and making sure that it's informative but also entertaining for the audience. I see Rich every day at school and also talk to him online frequently so getting ahold of Rich to talk about my project is fairly simple. I plan to talk to him on every important step on the project that I think could use an outside opinion before being submitted, being large parts like my paper, powerpoint, and hands on demo. I am able to reach him on these multiple means and due to his interest in movies I am sure he will stay excited about my work.


 * Conclusion** - This project is very important to me as an avid film watcher and someone who wishes to enter the film industry. The strengths that i'm building on in doing this are my movie knowledge, public speaking, and power point skills. I watch quite a few films but I never really sit down and analyze them like this project will require for major films throught out lives. I am a very outspoken person but can still get nervous when doing presentations or standing in front of large crowds, so in doing the final project this will deffinately help me improve upon my public speaking. I tend to be a bit more apt at power point projects but it has only been for small projects in my normal classes while this project requires one to accompany a 10 minute presentation. This will most certainly help me understand how to utilize a powerpoint without using too much text but also keeping it interesting and informative. I only have one weakness that needs to be addressed and that's my time management. College has really put stress onto my life and i've been staying up some very late nights applying and worrying so this has really cut into my focus in school. I really have to do well in this project though and in order to do that I need to give myself the time I need in order to complete everything and work on it to my fullest