Assignment Task:
Exciting news!! I've invented a time machine! The details aren't important, but let's just say by combining a flux capacitor with some other timey-wimey stuff, I was able to convert an '83 Pontiac Bonneville Safari station wagon (complete with wood panels and vinyl bench seating) into a time-traveling behemoth. The only bad news is that the Bonny only has enough power to make one trip. That's it. So, I have a difficult decision to make. Where should I go?
That's where YOU come in. Throughout this semester, you've studied a number of interesting and influential civilizations (hopefully). Each of these important cultures has something extraordinary to offer a savvy time tourist, so I need your help making this once-in-a-lifetime decision. As a reward, if I choose your suggestion, you can hop in the back of the wagon and come with me (the third row even faces backward - it's super fun back there).
I've narrowed my choices down to four main destination options: Mesopotamia, ancient Egypt, ancient Greece, and ancient Rome. Coincidentally, they happen to match up with the main areas that comprise this course - lucky for us, right? To help me choose between these four destinations, I need you to create a short 3-5 minute video, convincing me which of these destinations we should visit. As evidence for whichever culture you choose, your video should discuss at least three cultural artifacts from your chosen destination. These cultural artifacts can come from any of the subject areas we've explored this semester including literature, philosophy, architecture, visual art, drama, music, or dance. So, for example, if you think we should visit ancient Greece, your video might include as examples a visit to the Parthenon, a performance of Antigone, and a meeting with Plato to discuss his "Republic."
This will not be an easy decision because each of these destinations contains some of my absolute favorite things, from the Epic of Gilgamesh to the architectural wonders of Rome like the Pantheon and the aqueducts, so don't rely on the facts and information alone to convince me. I am a man who appreciates being entertained, so please be as creative as possible with your videos. Your creative video can take any form you like. You could create a commercial, an interview with someone from the era, an original song, a music video, a social media influencer video, a documentary, a poem, a marketing or promotional video, a scripted scene, a short play, a movie complete with special effects, a cartoon, a criticism/review, or even a snarky reaction video to another YouTuber's online review of a web series which uses puppets and modern dance to educate teens about the importance of Hammurabi's code.
Your video can be anything you want it to be, so be creative, be convincing, and have fun!
Remember, You'll need to give me accurate information from good sources, so for this project, you can use any of the videos or reading materials we have studied this semester in Canvas, as well as your textbook. Please don't use internet encyclopedias such as Wikipedia, ancient encyclopedia, or any other external websites. To this end, submitting a works cited page will also be necessary. To be thorough, please be sure to use at least three sources in your video. You may use more if you'd like.
So this your chance! Where should we go? What should we do? Dinner with Hatshepsut? Guided tour of the Acropolis? A stroll through the Roman Forum? The possibilities are endless. Look back through your weekly reflections and see which artifacts were the most interesting or impressive. Go from there to make your decision.
Final Product - Submit a 3 to 5 minute "travel" video which argues for one (and only one) of the four possible destinations listed above. Travel videos should discuss at least 3 specific cultural artifacts that come from your chosen destination. Videos will be graded based on content and creativity, so bring your best ideas! Please note - The works cited page will be submitted separately and will be worth 10% of your grade for this project - this includes evaluating the quality and quantity of sources used against the assignment requirements.
The Small Print: Travel videos may use any means available, including but not limited to: special effects, musical performance, personal interviews (with costumes of course), poetry, hard-hitting investigative journalism, YouTube-style personalities, live demonstrations, trained animals, walking tours, and . . . words (up to and including sentences). Videos must be submitted in a common file format compatible with Canvas and Microsoft (No Apple file types please). Acceptable file types include: MP4, AVI, FLV, QT, MOV, MPG, MPEG, AVI, and WMV. Submissions that cannot be played in Canvas will not be graded. There are multiple ways to submit upload and submit videos. Videos can be uploaded directly to Canvas using the assignment submission area in the "Who's Coming With Me?" Module; videos can also be recorded or uploaded using Panopto. When using this method, the "Share" link must be copied and submitted in the assignment module; videos can also be uploaded to YouTube and that link/ URL can be submitted in the assignment module. Any of these methods is fine. As long as I can view it, I can grade it! Need Online Tutoring?