WLC 307 (German Culture Through Film): Dr. Angelica Browne's Student Projects
Gradual Release
Stay Positive
Description: “This silent film is meant to highlight the importance of staying positive, even in the face of challenges. It’s easy to be influenced by those around us, especially when they are rude or thoughtless. But we become our best selves when we learn to let go of negativity and ignore those who try to bring us down. The film was inspired by the feeling that other people can often have too much control over our emotions. There’s real power in taking ownership of your life and staying in control of how you feel.” -- by SJ, Ruthie and Katie.
Second Chances
Description: “Our film is about second chances and rebuilding relationships. It follows two siblings, Mark and Sophie, who aren’t on good terms after a disagreement. Their friend Eva steps in as the middle person, trying to help them reconnect. Mark writes Sophie an apology letter, and at first, she’s hesitant to read it. But after some convincing from Eva, she decides to give it a chance. The letter makes Sophie realize how much their relationship means to her, so she goes to talk to Mark. Once they start talking, they’re able to work things out and become friends again. By the end of the film, the tension between them is gone, and they’re all close again. What inspired us to make this film was the idea that even though Germany has done some terrible things throughout their history, other countries have still given them a second chance and have helped them since. Showing us that even when things go wrong, it’s still possible to make things right. When we read that we should be bold and take creative risks with this film, we decided to make our film a silent film. We wanted to challenge ourselves to tell the story without any dialogue and see if we could still get the emotions and message across using just visuals. It wasn’t easy, but it pushed us to be more creative with things like facial expressions, body language, and camera angles. We also tried out some fun and unique shots to keep the film visually interesting. Overall, the main message we wanted to communicate is that forgiveness is possible, and it’s never too late to fix a wrong. We wanted to show that those relationships can be repaired with honesty, effort, and a little help from an outside party.” -- by Siena, Laura, and Dominic
Poly Propaganda
“Our project is about Cal Poly and the great things the school has to offer. We were inspired by Triumph of the Will and Cal Poly recruitment videos to make a propaganda film for Cal Poly. We all noticed how Cal Poly likes to appear clean and perfect when there are many issues on campus. We wanted to communicate that Cal Poly isn’t a perfect school, and it would feel like propaganda to portray it as such. We wanted it to be a lighthearted jab at many selling points our university pushes to incoming students because not every student truly loves everything Cal Poly has to offer.” --- by Sophia, Emily and Parker