So today, it is time to discuss your FINAL PROJECT. You will have three options of what you may turn in as your final project. This is the Primary (Default) version of the paper.
Civil Rights Project Instructions
Default (Option 1): Primary and Secondary Source Analysis
Overview of the Assignment:
For the DEFAULT version of the project, you will write a 5-7 page analysis of a 5-10 minute segment from one of the Episodes of EYES ON THE PRIZE. This may be one of the episodes you have already seen for discussion boards or a different episode from either series I or II. (All of series I is available through the link you used to see Episodes 1-4 of series I through the library.)
Your paper will consist of two sections.
Section I will be a breakdown of the documentary’s sources by time stamp, where you list what elements the documentary used to tell its story over the 5-10 minutes you have selected.
Section II will be an analysis of how the documentary used its different sources – primary and secondary – to craft the story. You will be given a set of possible analysis questions to answer in order to help guide your discussion of the topic.
SECTION I Instructions:
Section I will look like a list of time stamps (documenting where in the episode a clip was and how long it played) and the sources used over that time period. There is a specific format I will ask you to use and I am going to give samples below.
For each source used you must include:
A Timestamp
Identify the type of source. For example, documentaries often include items such as “Talking Heads” (Experts or Interviews of people who were there), film clips, pictures from the time period, drawings, newsreels, documents, voiceover narration, background music, or even “Dramatic Recreations.”
Identify if the source is a primary or secondary source. Or, if it not a “source” but a piece of art or music used simply as ornamentation (done to evoke mood, a transition graphic, etc.) identify it as such.
Give a short description of what the purpose of the source is.
Below find two examples of two very different styles of documentaries. First, a sample minute from five minute Documentary uploaded to Youtube and how you would document it as an example:
Life Aboard a Slave Ship
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PmQvofAiZGA&list=PLHlTZpb3iP-UyHjIwtRe4iKgZsXmtjCzA&index=8&ab_channel=HISTORYLinks to an external site.)
[0:00- ] Voiceover Narration (unseen Narrator, Secondary Source) – Unnamed female voice is the narrator of the documentary, telling the story of slaves’ journey on slave ships.
[0:00- ] Background instrumental music (most likely ornamental) — The music sets the mood of the documentary. While there is some drumming to suggest an African theme, it is not clear this is music from the time period and seems to be selected to set the ominous and serious tone of the documentary.
[0:00-0:08] Line Drawing (Recreation, Secondary Source) – picture of slavers taking slaves.
[00:8-0:16] Historical Map (Primary) Animated text (Secondary) — The map and slave ship animation highlights the journey, and numbers how facts on how many slaves were moved.
[00:16-0:35] Historical architectural drawing of slave ships and slaves (Primary) accentuated with animation (secondary) — This image shows the layout and the numbers of people cramped into a ship.
[0:35-1:02] Cutouts of historical drawings (primary) animated or done only in part (secondary) – To tell the story of slaves being forced onto the ships, the documentary takes historical line drawings and makes a form of digital animated collage. The individual images are primary sources, but the fact they are being used selectively (like cutouts), some are selective colored versus black and white, and animated are the secondary components.
And for a very different kind of Documentary, more traditional in many ways, here is a sample from UK Channel 5’s documentary series on British royals:
Queen Victoria’s Reaction To Prince Albert’s Death
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CxBcwBs-BnE&list=PLN-GuLUgIqK1HNkLR_PtbTDxF5a5ftiKT&index=35&ab_channel=Channel5Links to an external site.
[0:00-0:47] Voiceover Narration (Unseen Narrator, Secondary Source) – Female narrator will later be revealed as Professor Jane Ridley, who wrote a book on Prince Albert.
[0:00- ] Background instrumental music (most likely ornamental) — The music sets the mood of the documentary. Sad violin music sets the tone of a discussion of someone falling ill and dying. Does not appear to be from the time period.
[0:00-0:14] Video Clip of Windsor Castle (Recreation, but primary location) – the video shows shots of Windsor Castle, where the events took place, but is footage from the modern day.
[0:15-0:25] Historical Painting (Primary) — The painting show Prince Albert ill in bed, family surrounding him. One assumes from the large number of people there may have been some embellishment on the part of the painter.
[00:26-0:32] Talking Head Expert (Secondary, historian) — Professor Jane Ridley is shown as a “talking head.” Identified her by her title and the book she published relating to the topic.
[0:33-0:46] Historical Recreation (Secondary) – Actors are used to suggest the ill Prince and his caretakers, but heavily blurred so it is more an impression rather than a strict historical recreation.
[00:47-0:51] Talking Head Expert (Secondary, historian) – narration is taken over by Professor Kathryn Huges
[0:51-1:11] Historical Recreation (Secondary) – Actors recreate the deathbed scene as shown before, narration returns to Professor Ridley. At 1:11, the recreation continues with an unnamed male narrator taking over.
SECTION II Instructions:
Analysis: Section II resembles a more standard formal analytical essay. Utilizing the deconstruction of sources you did in Section I, analyze why the documentary uses its different kinds of sources and how that shapes the historical narrative it is trying to tell. The following are some examples of analytical questions you can use to guide your analysis. Some questions are more complex than others (like #6) and remember you can answer your own analysis questions in addition to choosing some or all of the ones below:
What was the balance between primary sources and secondary sources used the documentary? Was there a reliance on one over the other?
What did you learn from the primary sources used in the documentary? What did they contribute to the story, and how impactful were (for example, did they set an emotional tone, ground you in the time period, illustrate historical fact, intrigue you to keep watching, or have some other function(s)?)
Consider the same parameters of question 2 for your Secondary sources.
What was the main point the documentary was trying to tell? How did its use of primary or secondary sources make the point it was trying to make?
How did the documentary use ornamental elements? (non-historical music, camera transitions, reenactments, etc.)
Imagine a racist group like the KKK from the time period wanted to make a propaganda film that was trying to argue the Civil Rights movement was evil – what we might call an argument made in bad faith. (Like the KKK propaganda version of Civil Rights.) How do you imagine they would change the narration, characterization, language, or add or omit images in order to make a propaganda film? How can we tell the difference between good use of sources and bad history? (Obviously, this question requires maturity, because you have to put yourself into the head of people with bad motives. This is NOT a required question, and if it makes you uncomfortable to be in that headspace do not feel like you have to use this analysis question.)
Select one or more piece(s) of primary, secondary, or ornamental elements from the documentary and discuss what it specifically adds to the documentary. If you removed that source or ornamentation, how would that change the impact? Would it make the documentary stronger or weaker?
Describe if you were putting together the documentary how you might add or change something from the time frame you chose to make it more impactful, make the timeline clearer, or otherwise improve the documentary.
What kinds of sources are missing? Are there any sides of the story of voices left out?
How does the documentary use sources to show different sides or approaches to Civil Rights? In what ways and with what kinds of sources does it show the people who were fighting for freedom and those who opposed them?
FORMAT
The paper will be in a standard 12 point font (Arial or Geneva are nice ones). Please make sure to have a title and your name at the top of your paper. The title should include the episode title of Eyes on the Prize you are analyzing.
STRUCTURE / GRADING RUBRIC
Section I (50 points):
Section I will have two components: An introductory paragraph explaining what time clip you chose and why you chose that particular part of the documentary and a listing of time stamps along with the identifications of different types of sources.
The introduction is double spaced.
The time stamps should follow the format I demonstrated above. Think of it like a modified bibliography or writing a screenplay. Below I present one of my examples from above and then give the generic format:
Example:
[0:15-0:25] Historical Painting (Primary) — The painting show Prince Albert ill in bed, family surrounding him. One assumes from the large number of people there may have been some embellishment on the part of the painter.
Generic Format:
[BOLDFACE time stamp in brackets] Briefly Describe the Source (in parentheses label it as primary, secondary, or ornamental) – Now write a short description of how the source was used.
Realize that some sources may overlap – particularly things like voiceover narration (which often continues over multiple images) and background music (whether ornamental or a primary source from the time period.)
Section II (50 points):
Section II will be your analytical essay component. Chose at least a few of the suggested ten questions above (and feel free to pose / answer your own questions as well) about how sources are used to tell history. This section is more like a traditional analytical essay and is double spaced.
If you would like to visualize the paper, here is what the formatting might look like:
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Civil Rights Project: Analysis of Eyes on the Prize Episode 3 [15:00 – 17:32]
Bow Tie Guy (your name here)
Here’s my introduction and oh boy are you going to love ME TAKING ABOUT ANALYZING Eyes on the Prize. And I am telling you WHICH episode and time stamp I chose and why I thought this was a good section of the documentary to discuss. Note that this section is double spaced. (Sorry, Canvas does not allow me to double space properly so you can’t see this section in its double spaced glory)
Sources Listed by Time Stamp (header, centered and bold)
[BOLDFACE time stamp in brackets] Briefly Describe the Source (in parentheses label it as primary, secondary, or ornamental) – Now write a short description of how the source was used.
[BOLDFACE time stamp in brackets] Briefly Describe the Source (in parentheses label it as primary, secondary, or ornamental) – Now write a short description of how the source was used.
Note that like a Bibliography each time stamp is single spaced with a space between each entry.
Analysis (header of start of Section II, centered and bold)
Now here I go, answering my analysis questions! Make sure to be clear which questions you are answering and if you made up your own questions to analyze the material state them clearly. Also note this section is double spaced again like a normal essay.
pick one of the choices
