Students are working on the following assignment:
Beowulf Documentary-30pts
Your assignment is to film/produce/edit a documentary film chronicling the heroic exploits of Beowulf or a hero of your choice, using the Flip cameras provided by the English department. Your film should honor the hero. To complete this you must include the following elements of documentary films:
• Interviews
• Cutaways
• Chill footage
• Process footage
• Archive
• Narration
-Interviews
You must create people that can speak about the hero, his exploits, and the legacy he has left. This includes: experts, friends, strangers, subjects, girlfriends, etc. You will be these people. Questions and answers must reflect your knowledge of the text, genre, time period, and relevance of everything to modern culture.
-Cutaways
These are stand-alone shots, similar to still photography.
-Chill footage
Film your subjects doing normal things. They should pretend you are not there. For example, film someone writing or walking down the hall.
-Process footage
Film the making of your documentary. You will combine the behind-the-scenes footage with the actual documentary footage.
-Archive
These are old videos and footage of your subjects. A regular documentary uses footage that the creators did not film, however, you will film all of it. Still photos work. You will have to create some of your own archival footage of the hero.
-Narration
When interviewees are not speaking, someone must be explaining important information about the hero using voiceover narration. What important information do we need to know that was not revealed by the participants?
*You may edit your film using either Flip software or Windows MovieMaker. Your finished film should be between 3-5 minutes long.
Rubric
