Please record and prepare your audio script files for your documentary projects. Upload your audio file, gather your JPG's or video footage, and organize your documentary. These projects are due Friday.
When you finish the documentary, please upload your file to Youtube and send me the URL in the comment section below.
For those of you ready to move on (or if you need a diversion) our next projects in the biography unit are as follows (also, see HOMEWORK below):
A
biography is a detailed description or narrative story of a person's life. Unlike what is called a
curriculum vitae (or resume) that just lists what someone accomplished during his/her life, a biography focuses on the subject's life
story: highlighting (like the human interest column in
Journalism) what forces drove that person or what obstacles the person had to face--and usually succeeded, until the end of the story.
So biographies tend to analyze a person's life and key moments that helped create the person as the person you are writing about. Some writers focus on the subject's personality, while others usually break their biographies into "ages": including...
- birth & childhood (often discussing the environment in which the subject grew up or social events that helped shape the subject become who he/she becomes)
- Youth & education (these golden years you are living at the moment...enough said)
- Early work & adulthood (formative years focusing on career and profession & society)
- Adult years & social consciousness (how the subject engaged in the social/political world)
- Mature age & end of life (how the person dealt with the inevitable...)
Biographies often point out how the subject struggled and overcame a conflict (or several conflicts), made an important decision in his/her life, and/or often focus on what the person is known for in history--what did the subject accomplish? Most biographies are written in a positive tone. Biographers usually represent their subject matter positively. But what happens when you are writing a biography about a monster? Let's find out.
TASK ONE: Representing the Other
Step 1: Choose a subject from the list below.
An approved list of some of the worst people in history:
- Pol Pot
- Idi Amin
- Mao Zedong
- Robert Mugabe
- Heinrich Himmler
- Vlad the Impaler
- Ted Bundy
- Charles Manson
- Che Guevara
- Leon Trotsky
- Josef Mengele
- Elizabeth Bathory
- H.H. Holmes
- Attila the Hun
- Nero
- Jim Jones
- Caligula
- Ivan the Terrible
- Talat Pasha
- Adolf Eichmann
- Maximilien Robespierre
- Kim Il Sung
- Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini
- Emperor Hirohito
- Genghis Khan
- Leopold II of Belgium
- Tomas de Torquemada
Step 2: Research this subject. Try to find out details about the person's early life, environment or situation, what is the person known in history for 'accomplishing', what was the person's life like growing up, what did the subject do for a living, what major events happened in the person's life to move them toward being on a list of the worst people in history, what was their ending like, etc. Take notes and collect information as you research. See handouts/graphic organizers if you need them.
Step 3: As you research, keep track of your sources (you will need to cite these and attribute your sources!)
Step 4: After you have taken notes (notes will be collected), comb through the notes and structure your essay (750-1,000 words approx. in length). I suggest a chronological sequence (from childhood to maturity), although you can choose a narrative structure that fits your style. You may find writing an outline to be helpful.
Step 5: As you write, consider how to represent this subject in a positive light (if possible). Biographers generally have a positive tone for their subject matter. You may find it helpful to try to explain
why these people did the horrible things that they are reported to have done.
Step 6: You may include dialogue and all the elements of good writing and storytelling. Your aim here is not academic scholarship, but biography. Entertain your reader using your subject to do it. Focus your "story" or human interest feature on the most interesting part of your subject's life.
Step 7: Include at least 1 picture or graphic with your subject. Your graphic should have a short caption. Remember to include your picture/graphic on your works cited page!
Step 8: Include a works cited page for your resources.
Look here for assistance if you need it.
Step 9: Give your project a catchy title. Proofread. Prepare. And Print!
Your job is to
represent the best of these people in a well-researched biography of 750-1,000 words in length.
TASK TWO: Biography Photo Series
Step 1: Choose a subject for a photo series. This should be someone you can follow around or someone who you have some normal contact with. It can be a friend, a relative, a community member, or even yourself (selfies!), etc. I suggest someone that is ethically good (as opposed to the subject matter in Task One).
Step 2: With your cell phone or a camera, shoot 5 photos that you will arrange to communicate some artistic message to the world. See previous Photo Analysis assignments for assistance.
Step 3: Arrange your photos for class viewing. This could be a
Prezi, a
Google Presentation, or a
Padlet.
Step 4: Give your photo sequence a title.
Step 5: Write a brief 100-300 word explanation of your series. What are you attempting to show and/or comment on through your photography? Most photographic series have a point or comment about society, the subject, or humanity in general. What's your message? Explain it.
HOMEWORK: Please read the human interest feature article on Kim Jong Un. Note the example and format of this kind of media/journalism article. In your next biography project you will need to choose 2 subjects (unlike this article which just uses one): one, an infamous horrible person from history that you will research (see TASK 1) and another subject for your photo series (TASK 2). This article is a model for the sort of thing I'm looking for.
