IFLS 003 Finals clarifications

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Hope you're doing okay during this "crunch time" (high-pressure, high stress period). Here is a long email with miscellaneous important announcements and info.

1 Assignment due dates

22 June: Final paper (revision of midterm paper)
22 June: Group paper (summary & description of movie proposal)


2 Final presentations

For your final presentations, please note the following.

  1. On the day of your presentation, please have your PPT (or Prezi or whatever) loaded and ready to go on the computer before class starts. Don't rely too much on a lot of colors or color contrasts, because the projector in our room isn't very good, and some colors may not display well.
  2. Each person should speak about 4-5 minutes.
  3. General grading criteria are in the coursebook (p. 187), but see below for revised criteria.
  4. Your proposed budget should be reasonable. For example, if you are first-time movie makers, you are not going to be able to get a famous actor and pay him/her, nor can you convince potential investors that you can do so. And it will be hard to convince investors to fund a proposed budget of over $100,000 or ₩100,000,000 for novice movie makers.
  5. Your budgets can be in won, dollars, euros, or British pounds.
  6. Trying to crowdfund your project is also an option, in addition to the possible investor types on p. 93.
  7. Some criteria on p. 92-93 may or may not be so relevant to your proposal; e.g., if you're doing a documentary, you can ignore parts about character, plot, actors, etc.
  8. You are presenting a movie proposal to potential investors, so you do not need to write a script or make an actual video (a short demo video may be nice, but you probably don't have time to make one).
  9. Whether you want to hire actors, script writers, a producer, camera person, video editor, etc., versus doing these jobs yourselves, will be your decisions, which you have to consider in your budget.
  10. While one group presents, the other groups will be the "investors," who will evaluate the other presentations.


2.1 Grading criteria for presentations

Here are the slightly revised grading criteria for the presentations. A few criteria may not be so applicable to your presentation, depending on the type of film proposal that you are making.

  1. Rationale, goals, objectives – Clear rationale & explanation of the project
  2. General contents – Sufficient contents & preparation; Sufficient details & explanations
  3. Project details – Timeline, budget, participants, etc., depending on what details are needed for your type of film project
  4. Clarity – Clear explanations, easy to understand follow; clear wording & vocabulary
  5. Organization – Well-organized and structured; clear flow of ideas; clear intro and conclusion
  6. Speaking & vocal delivery – Clear, audible voices; clear speaking & delivery; good vocal volume & intonation; the presentation quality indicates adequate rehearsal and preparation;no excessive fillers, pauses (uh, um), pauses, unfinished sentences; good pace
  7. Interaction with audience – Eye contact, body language, etc.
  8. Visual aids – Good use of PPT, Prezi, media, whiteboard, graphics, handouts, or props (Note: PPT is not necessarily required, but some kind of visual media or handout should be used.)
  9. Timing / participation – Each group member participates equally; appropriate length for your individual part of the presentation, and for the whole presentation (not too short or too long)
  10. Value, effectiveness, & audience reception – (1) Overall social, commercial, artistic, intellectual, or practical value & benefits (if relevant); (2) Creativity and originality; (3) Effective, persuasive, convincing, e.g., to potential investors, audience appeal; (4) how audience members evaluate your presentation will also be considered.

Note: The majority of your overall grade is based on your own individual performance; a portion of your grade will be based on the whole group's performance, particularly for timing / participation. To some degree, criteria #1-4 above reflect both individual and group performance.

2.2 Group project paper

In the book, p. 93-94 mention a short write-up and some follow-up assignments. You can ignore those, as we don't have time for those. Instead, I have assigned only the group paper that summarizes your group's proposal. This will make your work load lighter. As I have mentioned over the past few weeks, after your presentation, your group will email me one paper written by all the group members that explains and summarizes your proposal in at least two pages. Notes:

  • Due on 22 June by email (to both my email accounts)
  • This should summarize & describe your film proposal.
  • This is a quasi-formal paper (so the format is up to you), which counts as an essay grade. You can refer to the general grading criteria on p. 189 for this.
  • A group paper of at least two pages, written by all group members together.
  • At the end of the paper, please briefly describe which persons worked on which aspects of the project and paper, and reflect on your presentation (e.g., how you think it was, and how you had to modify your project after the presentation).

3 Final paper

By 22 June you should also email me your final paper, the revision of your midterm paper. You need to revise the contents (based on the feedback that I gave on your midterm paper); also:

  1. Grading criteria: See p. 190 for general criteria. In addition, format will be included (general essay format/form, file format, etc.).
  2. No minimum length requirements - I don't care how long or short it is, as long as you revise it as best you can and sufficiently develop your main points / ideas / arguments.
  3. Due via email on 22 June (to both my email accounts)
  4. A proper referencing style should be used, such as APA or CM (see those sections in the book).
  5. Please follow one of these examples of English-style cover/title pages for major papers (and include your ID # with / under your name): [1]


4 Extra handouts

Some time ago I mentioned some handouts for you regarding writing, word choice, grammar, and style issues. Well, here they are.

Connectors, conjunctions, and other transitional devices:

Vocabulary, style, usage:


Okay, I think that's it. Good luck on your presentations and papers.