Introduction: formal proposal

1. Introduction

     The basic idea behind my scholar's project is to synthesize two of my main interests: film and philosophy. Inspired by thinkers like Debord, Althusser and Žižek, I plan to explore and examine how various films explore the concept of ideology. This does not necessarily mean ideologies in particular, but rather I am utilizing a more Althusserian conception of ideology as something present in all societies that arises both from the human consciousness and material conditions. This does not mean the various films cannot advocate for a specific ideology, as I plan to utilize films like Battleship Potemkin for my project, but I will also use films that explore ideology in a more metaphorical or symbolic sense. The end result of the project will be a detailed analysis written in essay form with various subsections on each particular film and the presentation will use various film clips and segments to underscore arguments from the essay and to demonstrate exceptionally clear examples of ideology in film.
     This whole project interests me because it combines two interests I have pursued outside of my academic life (continental philosophy and cinema), and the idea of both watching and formally analyzing films is certainly appealing to me. Coming into this project, I have already been exposed to a decent amount of both philosophy and film, as I have explored both of these topics in my spare time, but I am hardly an expert in either and I know that I will learn a lot over the course of this project. By the time I have finished this project, I will have watched dozens of films (many of which I will have never seen before) and analyzed them both individually and as a group.

2. Work and goals

     To accomplish this project, I plan to watch and analyze approximately one to three movies per week (this will obviously depend on my work load, but there will be weekly updates no matter what), with blog updates on a set day of the week. The project will not necessarily be split into certain stages or segment, but at a certain point near the due date I will stop watching movies and compile all my analyses into a final product. Each film viewing will probably be one or two hours long, but some movies may go longer. The analyses will vary in length depending on the movie, but will probably only take a couple hours per analysis. Overall, this will be a lot of work, but because it is split into many small, manageable segments it becomes a very doable workload. This means that my time frame for the project is very flexible, as the number of films to watch is not set in stone and can be adjusted depending on my schedule. Assuming no significant problems arise, the project will span approximately six months in order to avoid last-minute cramming.
     Most of the work I plan on doing will be located out of my home, but I may go to film festivals or various theaters to see newer movies. Materially, this will require me to purchase many movies on DVD or digitally, but other than that do not foresee requiring anything else. In terms of finding a mentor for my project, I have not yet found anyone and I am unsure of where to look for one. Because of this, my biggest initial goal for the project will be to find a suitable mentor, preferably someone academically involved with either film or philosophy (or both).

3. Managing challenges

     I do not see any major obstacles or issues that could arise during this project. In case of some technical malfunction, I have multiple devices that can play DVDs or stream movies, and I have many different ways of storing the written analyses. The biggest problem that could present itself with this project would simply be laziness on my part instead of something material. Because the project is spread across many months, my workload is not very dense and can be more easily managed, which would help me avoid procrastination. This also means that I can easily judge my progress throughout the project, as I can quantify the number of movies and analyses I have completed. Once the project is finished, I can determine the quality of my work based on both the number of films I have seen, as well as the depth in which I go into them and the quality of my overall analysis. Like any other essay, the quality of the arguments and the strength of my writing will determine how much I have or have not succeeded with the project.

4. Conclusion

      Since film is such a visual medium, I can use various clips from the films I analyzed to make my presentation interesting and engaging for an audience that may not otherwise be interested in the material I am presenting. The clips would help supplement the verbal and textual aspects of my presentation, which would probably be me speaking about a PowerPoint presentation that summarizes the final essay. The clips would be interspersed throughout the presentation, but because PowerPoint allows for users to imbed movie clips, I do not think I would need anything other than a laptop or iPad and a projector to share my presentation. Ultimately, I would hope that people would learn from my project that film is an excellent medium for cultural commentary because all its elements, from the cinematography to set design to dialog, convey a certain message to the audience. While some may not notice a film's message immediately, I hope to show how various elements of a film can be interpreted and analyzed to form a cohesive message that often comments on some aspect of the human condition.