Final+Proposal

Recently, well, as recent as the past eight years we’ve been at war, American media has been using American ignorance as entertainment. Jay Leno, David Letterman, and other late-night hosts are known for their comical walks around New York City, but is the public really aware of this growing problem, or are Americans still laughing at other Americans and saying “oh, that’s not me!”? I am going to follow this idea with the question: Why are Americans growing more culturally, politically, and historically ignorant? When I first had this idea for my topic, I had a vision of being able to create a video to spark my friends and fellow students into action to learn more and work on developing a knowledge base outside of American pop culture. Personally, it makes a difference to me in the realm of learning. Throughout my research thus far, I have expanded my knowledge base of politics and cultural issues exponentially. In making a video that expresses the current knowledge base of the American population, I hope to convey the importance of having this knowledge to my audience. I intend the final product to be a well developed mini video showing interviews with various people answering questions about politics and American culture. I also intend to have an interview with a global studies teacher to splice images and facts from an expert in between video clips of subjects. For the span of this course, I have developed five goals that I would like to accomplish:
 * Make a productive video that is free of bias and effective in aiding my project. I would consider it to be an effective video if I can get enough footage to accurately portray American’s attitudes towards politics and culture. I hope my video will serve as a microcosm of the American population and prove to the audience the current epidemic of American apathy towards political issues.
 * I hope that trough the course of this project and paper, I will be able to hone in on and develop my work ethic. In all honesty, I feel that my work ethic could use some definite improvement – and I hope the deadlines for this course and project will help me get a grasp on that part of my personality. I need to learn to take more initiative and follow through on ideas and tasks that I must complete – I hope that working through this class will help me improve my initiative-taking skills.
 * I am setting a goal for myself to have this project done in a timely manner. In reference to my work ethic mentioned in the bullet before this, I want my initiative to have improved enough so that I will not have any of this project and paper left to the last minute.
 * To amass a base of critical knowledge that is substantial enough so I can talk about my topic fluently and sound intelligent.
 * By the end of this course I hope to have done an excellent job on my project and paper, and put enough time and thought into them to receive a sufficient and worthwhile grade.

To make sure I successfully complete my project, I need to make sure that I leave enough time to edit my video efficiently. As for materials, I have already used a video camera, scripted questions, and images of important political and cultural figures. Looking towards the future, I need to have access to video editing software – most likely available in Mr. Meder’s room. I have had him for many classes already and I am positive I will be able to spend time in his room editing. I hope to finish the video editing right around the time I am beginning the paper writing process. It should only take a net time of a few hours to splice together all the clips I intend to use. I also still have to get footage of an interview with a topic expert. By the time the video editing is done, I should have enough research and a strong enough knowledge base to successfully write the course paper. My mentor for this project is Mr. Meder – he is a digital video, communications, and language arts teacher here at the high school. So far, he has assisted me in ideas for filming my project, and also assisted me with the mechanics of the filming. For example, I knew I would have to get people to consent to me using their image for the project, and Mr. Meder helped me develop ways of recording my subjects’ affirmations. As for a topic expert, I do not have an official signature. I do plan, however, on requesting an interview with Dr. Dwyer, the high school’s global studies teacher. After having class with him, I know that he has a wealth of knowledge on the topic of American apathy and ignorance. So far, I have not communicated with Mr. Meder nearly as much as I should have, and I have not yet approached Dr. Dwyer about an interview. I do plan on keeping Mr. Meder very up-to-date with my editing and video as I will be working in his room. I also plan on asking Dr. Dwyer to see if he could take a look at the final project to see if I have effectively avoided bias and to see if I have done a good job of addressing the topic. Personally, this project means more to me than just a graduation requirement. As a teenager who is dying to travel and leave the states, I have spent large portions of time absorbed on the BBC webpage and following international news. In doing so, I learned a lot about America’s image in the international spotlight. Over time I realized that a lot of countries disown American because of our actions, or lack thereof, since 2000. Stereotypes have been developed about American ignorance and knowledge, and via this project I hope to point out these stereotypes and make my audience aware of them. I plan on building strengths in the areas of time management, work ethic, and focus.