Literary Genre Advertisements/Video Presentations

Offered in Methods of Literary Study

Professor Monika Giacoppe

Spring 2020

Please choose one or two other people to work with, and please send me (soon!) a list of three of the topics listed below that you would be interested in presenting on.  (If there is some other topic on the syllabus that you would really like to present on, please ask me about it.)   I will try to meet the preferences of all the groups.  Presentations are due on the nights they are scheduled, unless absolute calamity intervenes. 

  • Enlightenment (February 11)
  • Gothic (February 25)
  • Romanticism (February 25)
  • Mary Shelley (March 3)
  • Postmodernism (March 24)
  • Franz Kafka (April 7)
  • Magical Realism (April 14)
  • Gabriel García Márquez (April 14)
  • Graphic Literature (April 21)

Each group will produce a 3- to 5-minute video promoting the excellence of their subject and explaining the value of that subject (literally, what it’s “good for,” and perhaps how it is better than the competition – however you might choose to frame that). 

Additionally, videos promoting particular literary movements should include references to at least 4 authors (and some of their works) typically related to or considered representative of the movement.  They should also comment on how the movement is connected to at least two elements outside of itself.  (So, if you were presenting on Romanticism, you might mention Gothic and the Enlightenment as two elements outside of Romanticism – but Mary Shelley would not count as one of those elements, because she is considered a Romantic.)

Videos promoting particular authors should reference at least 3 works by that author and at least 4 other elements that are relevant to the author.  (Those could be historical events, literary movements, other authors, etc.)

Please prepare the script for your advertisement carefully; the script itself will be an important part of the grade for this project.

Please make sure that your ad incorporates voice-over narration, other audio (music, sounds), and of course visuals. 

Please also take care to acknowledge the materials you use, in credits at the end, much as you would do with the works cited at the end of an essay.  (This will include images, but also possibly text, and even sounds, such as some of those available at freesound.org)

Ad / Video Presentation Tips & Checklist

Contact me if you have questions.  I’ll be glad to help. 

  • Write your script first.  You may want to do some research while you’re writing the script, to see what kinds of images and sounds are available to bring your script to life – but the script will be your foundation, and it will set your timeline.  Everything else will be keyed to the script.
  • Does your video run 3-5 minutes long?
  • Does it focus primarily on the person, period, or movement you’re assigned to do?
  • If you are promoting a particular literary movement or period, does your ad mention at least 4 authors typically considered representative of that movement
  • Does it also comment on how the movement is connected to at least two elements outside of itself?  (For instance, Realism as a backlash to Romanticism, or Magical Realism as it is related to Surrealism . . .)
  • If you are promoting a particular author, does your ad reference at least 3 works by that author and at least 4 other elements that are relevant to the author?  (Those could be historical events, literary movements, other authors, etc.  For example, if you were advertising Charles Dickens, you might pick 3 of his novels, Realism, Wilkie Collins, his friend and fellow-author, and All the Year Round, a literary magazine he founded.)
  • Does your video include sound? 
  • Does your video include a good variety of still (and, potentially, moving) images?
  • Does your video include credits for all the material you used, as needed?  (This may be necessary for sound, images, and text.)

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