Ibn Battuta: The Man who Walked across the World Video Recording Film Review
(THIS SHOULD BE A SCRIPT FOR A VIDEO RECORDING OF FACE TO FACE PRESENTATION OF THE TOPIC)
Part 1: of Movie https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b1d5qcVP7ig
Part 2: of Movie https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hdOBbopxVME
Part 3: of Movie https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VSVVSCQ6qDM
For this assignment, all students must record a video analysis based on the film Ibn Battuta: The Man who Walked across the World (Ibn Battuta Part 1Links to an external site., Ibn Battuta Part 2, Links to an external site. and Ibn Battuta, part 3Links to an external site.) Since we do not meet in person this semester, it is helpful for me to hear you speak and orally explain your views on historical topics. This film analysis is your chance to do so, much as you did earlier in the semester for Rise of the Black Pharoahs.
Ibn Battuta was a North African Muslim scholar who travelled across much of the world from Africa through Southwest Asia (the Middle East), Southeast Asia, and all the way to China and East Asia between 1325 and 1354. He wrote about in a large work of travel writings titled Travels of the Ibn Battuta. In turn, the documentary filmmaker and scholar of Middle Eastern history, Tim Mackintosh-Smith, made the film Ibn Batutta: The Man who Walked across the World (2007) where he followed in Ibn Battuta’s footsteps travelling across the world. In particular, Mackintosh-Smith connected the travel writings and history of Ibn Battuta with his direct experiences of travel for the documentary in the 21st century.
For your video analysis of the film Ibn Battuta: The Man who Walked across the World, you must do the following:
Start off by reading the short introduction of Ibn Battuta in your textbook (p. 424)Links to an external site. and the very short excerpt of his Travels book listed under the title “The Holy Sites of Jerusalem (c. 1360) on pp. 426-427Links to an external site..
In your recording, briefly summarize this reading on Ibn Battuta in the textbook, addressing the following two sets of questions:
What do you make of Ibn Battuta’s itinerary? What sites does he visit? What, and how, does he learn about the history of each site?
How does Ibn Battuta describe mosques? Churches? What do you think accounts for the differences in his descriptions?
Watch at least one of the three parts of the film Ibn Battuta: The Man who Walked across the World (part 1Links to an external site., part 2Links to an external site., OR part 3Links to an external site.). NOTE: You do not need to watch all three parts of the film. In the three-part documentary, Tim Mackintosh-Smith basically re-traces the steps Ibn Battuta took from 1325 and 1354, visting places from Morocco to Egypt, from Turkey to India and China. Watch the part of the documentary with the places/travel destinations you find most interesting.
Focus on Mackinstosh-Smith’s journey to TWO (2) specific locations/cities/nations. How did Macintosh-Smith incorporate Ibn Battuta’s writings and ideas into his discussion of a specific place? How did Mackintosh connect Ibn Battuta to what he saw in his own experiences and travels in the 2007 documentary film?
Conclude by reflecting on how watching a documentary and seeing Mackinstosh-Smith’s visit in the recent past (the first decade of the 21st century) helps you better understand the significance and impact of a 14th century traveller and writer like Ibn Battuta.
Filming a Video — Style/Length/Technical Issues
Your recorded video film review should be approximately five to six minutes in length.
Record your film review on your personal laptop/PC/Mac. Save the film file, and then upload your film file to Canvas. Here are tips on how to record on your webcam on your PC or Mac.
Your film response can be informal and does not require a written-out script. Speak more conversationally and even in a stream-of-consciousness or impromptu fashion.
However, you should still give some thought and structure to your conversational video. Make sure you have a strong understanding of what you’ll be discussing before recording. You might want to make some notes on note cards or paper about the major points/issues you wish to highlight.
Do not worry if you stumble, stammer, say “um” or otherwise get momentarily confused. It’s okay! I will not take off points for pauses, stammers, or other delays in your speaking. Your video does not need to be a perfectly smooth and seamless recording/production like you see on television or popular YouTube channels. You do not need to record over and over again until it’s perfect. The only person who will see it is me — Dr. Gedacht!
Let me know if you have any questions about any of this!
