Orphans Assignment

2004 MIAP Intro Class

Orphans Assignment -- Research Context of Historical news clips: In groups of 3 or 4, you will be given a 4-15 minute VHS clip of nonfiction footage from the late 1920s or early 1930s from the collection of the NewsFilm Library at the University of South Carolina. You will also have access to a temporary cataloging record for the clip by searching the catalog of the NewsFilm Library. Your assignment is to research the context of this clip.  All these clips are in the process of being restored, and the restored versions will be screened at the Orphans Film Symposium in early 2006. What you find out about the clip will likely be presented there as well, as was much of last year's student work.  You will need to turn in both a written paper (both the paper and word-processed version) and a Powerpoint presentation (which you will present in class and hand in the file to Alicia).


MVTN 9 433: Television Pictures (1931)   18 mins.
A set of outtakes showing research into television at the GE facility in Schenectady.  Dan Streibel, Director of the Orphans Symposium, will be your contact person on this set of clips.


MVTN 15 301: "Congorilla" Opens at "Winter Garden Theatre" (1932)  11 mins.
This clip is from the Osa and Martin Johnson ethnographic collection, and revolves around one of their trips to Africa.  You will be able to seek assistance from probably the world's expert on this collection, ethnographer and film scholar Karl Heider (but be careful about taking up too much of his time; he's currently Associate Provost and Dean of Graduate Students at University of South Carolina).


MVTN 4 326:  [John] Dewey on Education (1929)  4 mins.
Craig Kridel is in the Educational college at Univ of South Carolina, but doing a sabbatical in NY and even doing archival research at NYU.  He has great interest in this Movietone News piece featuring John Dewey.