Brandeis

University
First-Year Video Project Competition 2017



First Prize is $100


The purpose of this project is to provide you with an opportunity to communicate in Japanese,
demonstrate your ability to create natural communication and your understanding of Japanese
culture, and share your work with students who take other foreign languages in Brandeis
University.

This project has to be done in three or four (absolutely no more than four) people per group.
You must find partners in your own section.

Grade: 6 %
1st draft with English translation: 1%
Final draft with English translation: 2%
Movie with English subtitles: 3%

Topic: The topics for the films are absolutely unrestricted. Here are some examples of topics:
1. You are a journalist traveling in xxx and asking people about their lifestyle. Pretend you are going
from North to South and ask pre-determined questions so that people can express different views on the
same topics. At times during this trip you may find yourself in trouble because you do not know the
customs of the people of the country you are visiting well.

2. You and your partner are going to xxxx for your honeymoon but you have different ideas about almost
everything. Consider the following: Ask the travel agent about destination/transportation,
reservations, tickets etc. You are also curious about the culture, so try to incorporate important cultural
elements studied in readings and films this semester.

3. A game show. Trivia about the country of your target language.

4. Getting lost in translation: You are a host family in the country of your target language and you are
hosting an American student. Teach him/her about your culture, as he/she finds very difficult to adjust.
His/Her habits are different in every possible way from yours.

About the script:
1.Prepare a written script (5-6minutes) which incorporates most of the grammar and culture we have
studied in 10A and 20B.
2.Each student will have the (almost) same number of lines and cannot read from the script while
filming. Please count the number of lines for each participant.

About the video:
1.Just as in in real cinema, you can do different takes before your final edit.
2.Be sure the quality of the audio is good (AHEAD of time).
3.There should not be any background noise (such as wind when filming outside or other people
talking when filming in public places), and your voices must be clearly audible.
4.The videos should have English subtitles (add English translation in your script, too).
 5.Your film must be submitted through a working YouTube link.

Requirements for the videos
1.Each film/video must be at least 5 minutes long (but no longer than 7 minutes).
2.It must be made only in the target language.
3.There should not be any dead silence or music fill-ins in the video.
4.Only your group members should appear in your video.

Competition criteria
Films will be evaluated based on
1.Use of language
2.Linguistic and cultural information
3.Cohesiveness of the plot
4.Some points may be allocated for the artistic qualities of the video and for acting.

Timeline for spring 2017

STEP 1: Forming a group of 3 or 4 students. Be sure to have at least one person who has computer
skills such as taking a video, editing a movie, using subtitles, uploading the movie to YouTube.

STEP 2: Thinking of your topic/situation/culture.
Brainstorming Due Date: February 15, Wednesday

STEP 3: Writing the 1st draft of your script with English translation (computer version).
Write the total number of each persons sentences
Due Date: March 6th , Monday

STEP 4: Getting your instructors feedback and editing your script.

STEP 5: Finalizing your script. Due Date: March 20.

STEP 6: Creating your video and editing it.

STEP 7: Submitting your video to your instructor. Due Date: April 20.

STEP 8: International Video Competition : April 25, Thursday, in the afternoon