BLS 347 (LN 7852):

History of American Documentary Films

Spring 2003

Documentary Film Proposal

 Due no later than 5:45 p.m. sharp on Thursday, May 22

The Goldstein-Shirley Foundation

Loot for your shoot.™

c/o Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences
18115 Campus Way NE
Box 358530
Bothell, WA 98011-8246

April 15, 2003

Dear Sir or Madam:

We understand that you are on your way to earning a bachelor's degree at the University of Washington, Bothell. We know that the graduates of that institution are consistently bright, well-rounded, thoughtful, perceptive, and creative (perhaps partly as a result of the outstanding professors there). We therefore believe that you have all the makings of an excellent documentary filmmaker. We are prepared to offer you $100,000 to make a fifty-minute documentary film on a topic of your choice (the only limitation is that the film cannot be about you) if we select a proposal that you submit. Please carefully review the attached documentation. We look forward to reading your proposal.

Sincerely,

David Goldstein-Shirley, Ph.D.

Founder and President

The Goldstein-Shirley Foundation

INSTRUCTIONS FOR PROPOSALS

Download the application from the BLS 347 Blackboard area at <http://bb.bothell.washington.edu>.

Submit your proposal in the Digital Dropbox in Blackboard absolutely no later than 5:45 p.m. sharp on Thursday, May 22. Late proposals will lose five rating points if received no later than 5:45 p.m. sharp on Friday, May 23, and will lose ten rating points if received no later than 5:45 p.m. sharp on Tuesday, May 27. No proposals will be accepted after that. Deductions will be applied after revision if a revision is submitted (i.e., you cannot reduce the impact of a late penalty by submitting a revision, although you can try to improve the baseline grade of the paper itself; I will average the two baseline scores and then deduct the late penalty). Keep a copy of the completed application. I expect to return proposals, with my comments, within a week to provide the maximum time for the optional revision (except that I will grade late poposals only when I have a chance to do so).

Please use an MLA-style header (T12 in "Tips for Better Prose" at <http://faculty.washington.edu/davidgs/Prose.html>) and title (T20 in "Tips for Better Prose"). Please double-space everything throughout the paper.

To submit your paper online, carefully follow these instructions exactly:

1. You must have an electronic copy of your paper on the computer that you use to submit the paper electronically. That means the paper needs to be a Microsoft Word document located on your computer's hard drive (if you have Internet access at home or work) or on a floppy disk or Zip disk that can be inserted into a computer on campus. Allow time for that. (If you do not own Microsoft Word, you sometimes can purchase a deeply discounted copy through ASUWB <http://depts.washington.edu/asuwb/> or else use one of the campus computer labs.)
2. Name your Word file exactly in this format: LastnameFirstinitialP1. For example, if you name were Mary Husky, your filename would be "HuskyMP1" (but without quotation marks). Note that there is no space between the last name and the first initial or between the first initial and the "P1" (which stands for Proposal, first version). Your file name cannot have a space in it.
3. Log onto the BLS 347 Blackboard area at <http://bb.bothell.washington.edu>.
4. Click on the "Tools" button.
5. In the "Tools" area, click on the "Digital Drop Box" button.
6. Click on the "Send File" button (not the "Add File" button). The "Add File" button puts the document into your own Digital Drop Box, but not into mine, so I will not receive it or know of its existence. Make sure you use the "Send File" button.
7. In the box labeled "Title," type your last name (with only the first letter capitalized), then a space, then your first initial (capitalized), then a space, and then the word "Prop1" (capitalized but without the quotation marks). For example: "Husky M Prop1" (but without the quotation marks). Note that for this title, you need to use spaces, unlike the name of your Word document, which cannot have spaces in it. To reiterate: Your file name (document name) cannot have spaces in it, but your document title must have spaces in it. It is important to name your document and title your submission this way so that I can keep track of the hundreds of documents in the Digital Dropbox. Invariably, some students will disregard these instructions, vexing me greatly, so I will deduct two points for incorrectly named or titled documents to provide incentive for careful submission.
8. Use the "Browse" button to find your computer file that contains your paper. Leave the "Comments" box blank (unless, for some reason, you need to tell me something about your document).
9. Press the "Submit" button. You should then arrive at "digital receipt" page. I strongly recommend that you print and save this receipt page. Check the receipt to make sure it says that the file has been sent to the instructor. If it does, you can be sure that it is available to me in the Digital Dropbox, and you do not need to ask me whether I received it. The receipt is your proof. If the receipt says that the file has been submitted to the Digital Dropbox, but does not say that it was sent to the instructor, then I did not receive it and you should resubmit it, paying special attention to #6 above.
10. After your document is submitted, log out of Blackboard and close the browser window to protect your Blackboard account.

Be sure to allow some time for unforeseen problems with the electronic submission or other unforeseeable circumstances like illness or computer malfunction. I recommend trying to post your first submission at least a day or two early. I use electronic paper submissions because they form an archive that I can use if I need to (e.g., if I misplace a printed copy of a document).

All of the ideas and writing must be your own, except when you cite the contributions of others (e.g., using the ideas or words of a published author). You may--and are encouraged to--use the Writing Center at your institution.

All proposals will be evaluated and rated on a scale of points as follows:

Completeness (responds appropriately to the requirements)	20 percent
Depth of response (quality of detail and support; sophistication of ideas and argument)	70 percent
Quality of writing (organization; spelling, grammar, diction, punctuation)	10 percent
TOTAL	55 pts.

Although the mechanics of the writing account for only a small percentage of your grade, you should do your best to make your paper mechanically sound. After you produce a draft of your analysis, read "Tips for Better Prose" at <http://faculty.washington.edu/davidgs/Prose.html> and edit your paper accordingly. I recommend printing that document, and, after you finish writing your paper, check the items off one by one as you check your paper. Although the mechanics of writing are less important to me than the ideas expressed (which is evidenced in the proportion of your grade allocated to each of these aspects of your essay, as described above), the mechanics inevitably improve the effectiveness of your communication of ideas, which, after all, is your ultimate goal with each piece of writing that you do.

You may, if you wish, revise your proposal and re-submit it as part of your learning portfolio. The revised proposal will be graded by the same criteria above, and the new grade will be averaged with the original grade. Instructions for submitting your revision will be included in the learning portfolio assignment sheet.

Thank you for preparing this application. We look forward to eviscerating evaluating your proposal. Our Department of Application Viability and Importance Determination (a.k.a. DAVID) will return its evaluation of your proposal, with carefully considered comments, about a week or so after you submit it. If your application is approved, a check for $100,000 will be attached to the returned proposal. In the event that no check accompanies the returned application, we hope that the chance to think about why a film should be made and what its purpose would be, in the context of American documentary tradition, has been a worthwhile exercise anyway.

This page last updated May 9, 2003.

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