Historical Feature

 

THE ASSIGNMENT

High school student filmmakers can submit Category A: 2-5 minutes or Category B: 5-10 minutes videos that address one of the prompts below.

Feature stories should focus on an individual, community, group, or concept. Videos should create a personal connection for the viewers/watchers. The overall storyline and production quality should emotionally move viewers.

Features can incorporate music, natural sound, interviews, and visuals to share non-breaking facts and perspectives. Features should have a clear message with a definitive beginning, middle, and end. Submissions with voice-over should have video complementing the script.

High-quality videos will be shown at the museum, added to our website, and posted to our Facebook page and YouTube.

 

SUBMISSION

You will submit your entry to the Joplin History and Mineral Museum by sharing through a Google Drive which will be given to the teachers at each participating school.

 

SPECIFICATIONS

Participants may compete as an individual or as a production team.

The entry must be uploaded to the appropriate Google Drive according to these specifications:

• All work must be student/amateur produced between October 2024 and March 2025.

• Feature entries must be no longer than 10 minutes in length without written permission of the Joplin Historical Society.

• Video files must be submitted in an MP4 or MOV format. 

• There are no limits to entries per person or school.

• Entries must be from the prompts provided by the Joplin Historical Society. Ideas for any other subject must be approved by the Joplin Historical Society no later than September 30, 2024.

• Each submission must include student name(s), school name (if applicable), and the title of the entry. All team members’ names must be included if working in a team.

• The end of the video credits must include:

  • Students’ names who worked on the video

  • School name

  • Year of production

  • Sources of information and any photos used (bibliography)

• All dialog scripts should be submitted to the Joplin History and Mineral Museum for review no later than November 30, 2024.

• Email: Joplinmuseum@gmail.com          

• All sources must be cited.

• All scripts must have been edited using https://app.grammarly.com to help with grammar, punctuation, and spelling.

 

• Prizes will be given to winners. All videos submitted by the deadline are regarded as entered into the contest to win a prize.

• Each category has a minimum of two awards:

• Category A – 3-to-5-minute videos

  • One first-place video receives $200

  • One second-place video receives $100

• Category B – 5-to-10-minute videos

  • One first-place video receives $250

  • One second-place video receives $125

• The Joplin Historical Society reserves the right to issue additional prizes based on the quality of the videos submitted.

• By submitting the video, you give the Joplin History and Mineral Museum and the Joplin Historical Society permission to use the video in a public forum for use in the museum, on social media, and in advertising for the museum.

• Submission of a video in this contest does not preclude the creator from entering the video in other competitions.

• Archival records and photographs belonging to the Joplin History and Mineral Museum are available for use in research and video production.

 

DEADLINES

• Submit any topic outside the prompts for approval by September 30, 2024. Allow 1 week for notice of approval or disapproval.

• Submit dialog scripts with cited sources for approval by November 30, 2024. Data scripts can include interview questions and a variety of follow-up questions based on the expected interviewee's response. Allow 2 weeks for script approval.

• Resubmit dialog scripts requiring updates by December 31, 2024.

• Submit completed video work by midnight, March 21, 2025.

Failure to follow these requirements and deadlines will result in disqualification.

 

Note to teachers:

Questions or discussion of any special circumstances should be directed to Kelly Reddin, Video Chair. InspiringYourCreativity@gmail.com or 803-603-8768.

 

 

PROMPTS

• Famous Joplinites (choose 1 or 2, if partners)

  • Charles Schifferdecker

  • Lena Beal

  • Elliott Moffett

  • Patrick Murphy

  • John C. Cox

  • John Sergeant

  • William Tingle

  • Harris Joplin

  • Dorothea B Hoover

  • W.B. Patton

  • Percy Wenrich and his music

  • James Mercer Langston Hughes and his poetry

  • Charles McPherson and his music

  • Johnny Copeland and his boxing career

  • Lonnie Chapman and his films and TV appearances

  • Gabby Street  and his baseball career

• How the towns in and around Joplin began and changed with mining

(Oronogo, Duenweg, Joplin, Webb City, Carl Junction, Galena)

• Route 66

• Jefferson Highway

• Ham radio operators during the Joplin Tornado 2011

• Lawmen who faced Bonnie and Clyde during their visit to Joplin

• Crystal Cave

• Joplin Spook Light

• Early miner’s lives (pre-1920s)

• Changes in downtown Joplin

• Joplin getting electricity (before NYC)

• Black soldiers in the Civil War (from Joplin)

• Nurses’ lives during World War II – Especially Gola B Fuller

• Mercy Hospital – Joplin’s first hospital started by Sisters of Mercy started 1896

• Freeman Hospital – Joplin’s second hospital started in 1922

• Battle of Carthage

• Lives of Joplinites, especially women, during World War II

• Junge Bakery

• Firefighting changes from early Joplin bucket brigade to beginning firetrucks

• House of Lords – focus on early town life, not on debauchery

• How horses and mules were used in mining

• Streets and Parks named after famous Joplinites and why – a survey of Joplin

• Joplin men who served in World War I, World War II

• Ambush at Rader’s Farm

• History of the segregated cemetery

• Businesses that have served Joplin for over 75 years

 

We suggest that students look at the videos on the Joplin History Museum website or YouTube to see the quality of the video that has been completed for use at the museum.

www.joplin-museum.org