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Who wants to throw me some ideas for my history project?
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Okay, so essentially we have to interview a person from the WWII era (my grandma) and ask them select questions. I was really hoping to do a video, but I just cannot figure out how to do it. I had originally planned on a 1-on-1 sit down interview like you'd see on the news, 20/20, 60 minutes, etc. However, I felt that it would grow redundant and felt it would be extremely bland. Then, I considered taking actual footage from the era (hopefully finding it on YouTube) and narrating over it, talking about what my grandma said and adding on some other commentary. I can make the video anywhere from 5-10 minutes and have 14 questions on the era, which vary in how much can be answered. Unfortunately, I only have a GoPro or point and shoot digital camera to work with since my friend could not come through for me. So, throw me some ideas, NS. I really want to do something outside the box instead of just writing a damn essay on it.
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Redub Band of Brothers, splice in extra footage from Full Metal Jacket.
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Is that you John Wayne? Is this me?
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First off, sweet thread, this should be fun.
My suggestion would be to use your first idea, but tweak the interview in an unconventional way.
Often times projects on WWII era focus solely on questions regarding the war itself (i am assuming your grandparent served). I think your class would be enlightened by hearing an interview which centers its questions on the effect the war effort had on the homefront.
If you know of someone who may have been of comparable age to yourself during the period ('41-'45), this could provide an insight for your classmates into what life may have been like for them growing up during the war.
What was school like? Did you guys have air raid drills?
How many friends' brothers/sisters/cousins did you know were serving? Any brothers/sisters/friends of your own?
What was the rationing of supplies like? Did you miss certain foods?
How were your parents during the war? Would they talk often about loved ones serving?
Did you and your friends help out at all in the war effort?
See where I am going with this? I dont know how old you are, but say you are 17. Try and figure out what the war time period was like for a 17 year old. If you can find someone like this to interview, and can ask the questions that open them up enough and get them to elaborate on their experience, it could be one heck of an interview and something everyone your age would appreciate listening to.
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Well, that's the thing, we can interview someone who served or was back on the home front, like my grandma. My grandpa caught the tail end of the war served in the South Pacific but passed away 11 years ago. Fortunately I have countless letters he wrote to his mother while in the Navy and my grandmother has plenty of stories of his that she can share. My grandma was born in 1930, so she's going to be a few years behind me (by the way, nice guess on 17). I like some of those questions you suggested, I'll have to add those into the required question. It's funny you mention food rationing because when I talked to her about the project, she said, "Well, I don't know how much I can remember, but do you just want me to talk about food rationing and stuff like that?" Anyway, thanks a bunch, sorry for the butchered response, and 10/10.
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you should cartoonize everything your grandma has to say
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This is the way I'm leaning. I really think it would help keep it from being so bland if I just kind of alternate between the two.
Does anyone have a good tool to download videos from YouTube?
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.this is a great idea, if you can incorporate this into what im about to say you will absolutely get an A.
i think those letters your grandfather wrote are a true goldmine. ideally your project would "jump" the best if you could find certain letters that might pertain to the personal experiences your grandmother would then have had back on the home front.
i.e.
"the Red Cross is a godsend, often we return back to base camp to find more fresh donuts and orange juice then we can handle! "
[and at the same time in the interview with your grandmother she said something like...]
"my friends and i were jealous of the older girls who were able to serve for the Red Cross"
this is a rough example. the point is wherever you can cross reference your sources, it strengthens the overall flow of your project. just make sure when you do this the project is still heading in a general understandable direction, you don't want to bounce around with points just because you had 3 or 4 things match up, maintaining the flow is still more important so be weary when u do this.
good luck, by the sound of it you have more than enough resources at hand to put together something nice. the fact that you are posting on here about it definitely shows you care. good luck!
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Yes. That's excellent! I really cannot explain just how much I appreciate your help. Thank you so much! I have procrastinated a little, but I really do care about this project. I thoroughly enjoy US History and feel that this will be a great way for me to find more interesting stories from my Grandma and learn about how rough/different her life really was back then in comparison to mine. Again, thank you very much Grillguy!
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