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This assignment involves telling the story of you and your family from a sociological perspective through the medium of film. You will use some sort of digital media construction (e.g., Microsoft Movie Maker, iMovie, etc.) to create a digital movie of no more than six (6) minutes in length to introduce you, your family, and how you see them both being tied to social factors to the class. You will share your digital story with the rest of the class. Pictures, movie or TV clips, songs, quotes, or anything else you can think can get your point across can be used.

For this assignment, you MUST and video/scripts that dont will not be given credit answer the following questions:

  • Why is it important for us to view your family using the SOCIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE?
  • Who are the MEMBERS of your family that are married, divorced, remarried, adopted, etc.?
  • What STATUSES and ROLES do you occupy in your family?
  • Who are the members of your FAMILY of ORIENTATION (and procreation, if this
    applies to you)?
  • How did you get to be who you are today (e.g. SOCIALIZATION) because of the family
    you were born to?
  • What SOCIAL FACTORS (e.g., race, gender, and social class) influenced who YOU
    have become?
  • What SOCIAL STRUCTURES (e.g., government, healthcare, education, economy, etc.)
    influence your family?
  • What impact does your SOCIAL ENVIRONMENT (e.g., your neighborhood, city,
    community, etc.) have on your family?
  • Which SOCIOLOGICAL THEORY (e.g., functionalism, conflict theory, symbolic
    interactionism) would best explain the past, present, and future of your family in society?
    You must address all of the above questions in your movie or you will lose points. Your paper/script must be organized. Your final script draft must have at least FIVE in-text citations (three can be from the textbook). You will create a video story of your family with particular emphasis on social factors (family, group interactions, socialization, media, social structures like religion and education, socioeconomic status, gender, and other factors we have covered in class) Note: this is an analysis of your family using a sociological lens, NOT a biography of your family. This can and should be as creative as you like. You will lose points for lack of creativity. This assignment should be a reflection of a semesters worth of work. If your assignment looks like it was started the week (or night or morning) before it is due, it will show and your grade will reflect this.
    I will be looking for:
  1. Purpose Make it clear that you know why you are doing this.
  2. Script/V oice
    1. Script Is the script well written? Make sure your script flows well.
    2. Audio Is voice quality clear? Is music used to enhance your story? Does the
      music enhance? Dont let music drown out your speaking!

This assignment has been adapted from Family Video Project by Dr. Krista Cline and Dr. Benjamin Drury as found on ASA TRAILS.

  1. Content Do you include detailed discussion of how SOCIAL FACTORS influence the past, present, and future of your family? Remember that this is a sociology course. Everything you talk about should come back to the social factors that determine who you have become. Its great when students integrate a quote from the book or lecture.Integrate sociology terms. An A story will also integrate theory and do so correctly! THIS IS ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT POINTS YOU WILL BE GRADED ON!
  2. Images Images are used to illuminate important ideas. They are appropriate for the message you are trying to get across. Images of you, public images, pictures you have taken, video clips, movie clips… be creative!
  3. Proofreading Grammar/spelling issues will take points off of your grade. Be sure you look at this before you show it to us.
  4. The time limit is six minutes. If you go over the six minute limit, you will receive a penalty.
  5. Be sure your file is in MP4 format and uploaded to either YouTube or Vimeo. Videos that are submitted that do not meet the formatting requirements are severely penalized.
    Do not just submit the file directly to Blackboard. You need to submit the link
    from YouTube or Vimeo to Blackboard.
  6. You should think about what youve learned over the course of the semester and integrate
    it into the project, but your personality should also come through! Be creative, have fun,
    and show us what you know! Have fun with this assignment!
  7. You must submit a draft of your script on April 9 or you will receive a zero on your quiz that week.
  8. On the day of the presentations, you must submit a final draft of your script, or you will be unable to show your film and receive a zero on this assignment. Your script should be 4-5 pages double-spaced and include a title and bibliography. Be sure to cite ALL sources in-text and by completing your bibliography.
    In order to cite in-text with the script, you will need to say something like According to Cohen… or The Society for Family Stability Foundation says… if you dont say it verbally, I cannot tell you have citations.