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Research {United States.ppt} Research forms:Documentary: types
2. The products that will result from my work will be a collection of scenes that satirize American politics. These will be shown during my presentation and will show that I understand the nature of political saitire.
3. In order to complete the project I will spend the remainder of the first marking period writing my scenes. After that I will cast the various parts in my show and I hope to wrap up filming early in the third marking period. From there, I will edit the scenes into my presentation in a way that is insightful and engaging.

Research forms: Documentary:forms:Documentary: types of developments in politics. 1.politics.1. What I
2. The products that will result from my work will be a collection of scenes that satirize American politics. These will be shown during my presentation and will show that I understand the nature of political saitire.
3. In order to complete the project I will spend the remainder of the first marking period writing my scenes. After that I will cast the various parts in my show and I hope to wrap up filming early in the third marking period. From there, I will edit the scenes into my presentation in a way that is insightful and engaging.
4. In order to complete my project I will need to utilize the High School Stage and as well as several of the props that are currently on the stage (such as podiums, desk, flag etc.). I might also need to utlilize the resources of Mr. Meder's television production room for the movie editing, as the program on my computer might not be well suited to this task ( I intend to discuss this with him shortly). I will also need a cast of about 5 to 10 students, who will audition for roles in the scenes.
Thanks for being detailed!
<a href=http://wists.com/everyone/generators/8066cccf24714a6297ef2384eb558d8f><img src=http://cache.wists.com/thumbnails/0/3a/03a70c0b4bd9bf949bcf810a675b2779-med border=0 /> </a>
Avatar made with the "Simpsonize Yourself" creater

11/21/10
Since movie marker just deleted most of my first research product and is not loading right now, I guess I should work on my scenes. I'm currently writing the final scene which deals with the origins of the tea party. The ending is pretty funny, but I'm not sure how to make the rest of the scene laughable. I also need to work on the the narration that will tie the scenes together. I'm meeting with my mentor on Wednesday, so I should get the okay to start casting the show immediately afterwards.
Please note. I have many journal entries that are not published on this wiki, but do exist in word document format. I will post these, but many contain major grammatical errors, so I proofread them and hopefully have them on the wiki by the end of the week.
12/22/10
Final Journal
So far this year, I have been working on my scenes for the show. I finally have the script finalized and I have recently begun rehearsals. In casting the show I’m giving the more experienced actors larger parts, but I’m trying to ensure that the number of lines each person has to memorize is kept to a minimum, since many people are involved in both my show and the spring musical. The majority of my time up to right now has consisted of writing, revising, corrections, mentor feedback, and more corrections. Needless to say, I’m very glad to have the script done, and now I can focus primarily on the staging and blocking my show. I’m a little disappointed in myself that it took me so long to complete the script. I’m sorry to say that I had a fair amount of writer’s block while working on these scenes. In particular, the “Obama and I” song gave me a lot of trouble as I needed to find words that fit my purpose but also kept within the pacing of the song itself. In addition, it took me a while to correct all of the grammatical errors that I made. Nevertheless, I am confident that the numerous conferencing sessions with my mentor dealing with both content and grammar have helped this script grow into something that is good enough to be presented to the students of Springfield Township High School.
We still have a lot of work to do in rehearsals, but I am confident that we will have everything read for the performance. I’m working with a very talented group of actors and actresses, and I am fortunate to have such a great cast. Today (12/22/10), we had our first major read-through of the entire show and everyone seemed really enthusiastic. As the rehearsals progress, I hope to work on their characters, and also get some good feedback on my portrayal of George W. Bush. For the next few rehearsals, I will focus on getting the blocking down for the scenes, and I will also work on memorization. I hope that everyone will have their parts memorized by the end of winter break, because as Mrs. Thornton says, “You cannot work on character with a script in your hands.” I have to admit that I am a little jealous of all of the people who have finished their projects by this point, but I know that I need to focus on my own project right now. It will get done as long as I work hard.
I realize that this is supposed to be my final journal entry, but I think it would be best if I continued to update it regularly. There is still a good portion of my project that needs to be done, and I feel that it would be unwise to simply predict what will happen in this entry. In that respect, I will continue to update this journal until the day when my project is presented.

much about it'sits history on television.
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The creative project changed over time.Fortime. For the creative come to fruititionfruitarian given my didn't tie togther.together. However, as month of Janurary.January. I am Beck and LimbuaghLimbaugh exaggerating the building projects occuringoccurring in New opinion that occuredoccurred during the to be satircalsatirical without being Democrats, Tea Partyers,Partiers, but rather with the philosphyphilosophy of shows consider something offensive,offensive and altered particular joke. Ultimatly,Ultimately, I believe end, that judgementjudgment will not playing Rush Limbuagh,Limbaugh, I personally role of GerogeGeorge W. Bush, my mentor Mrs. Marlene Thornton times, and havehas always pushed me to creatcreate the best helped me immensly,immensely, and I am very greateful.grateful. I would the scenes warrant alotwarrants a lot of movement people once rehersalsrehearsals for the taught me alota lot about boththe creative writing, work reach it'sits full potential. the Republican party.Party. Effective political confusions, illnesses, tehnicaltechnical problems, and my work. I will take these lessons with me as I attend college and look for a career.

This has been a very interesting semester. I had always intended to do a project focusing on politics, but I wasn't exactly sure from which angle to approach it from. While watching a video of Tina Fey as Sarah Palin, it hit me that that I should do a project focusing on political satire, and I'm glad I did. I don't think I've ever laughed so much while researching a project before. I had no idea about how great the impact of political satire was, and I have learned so much about it's history on television.
ForThe creative project and the goals I had for it changed over time.For the creative the script. Right now my goal is to perform my show during C Block at some point during the month of Janurary. I am confident that I am on track to meet this goal, and I am excited to present my project.
In addition to presenting my show, another one of my goals was to apply some of the lessons I learned while researching political satire to this project. I worked to make, to the best of my abilities, that provided a reflection of American politics, albeit humorously. For example, the scene dealing with Beck and Limbuagh exaggerating the stories they read in the paper, has roots in the controversy over the ground zero mosque. Originally, the story was simply part of the day-to-day building projects occuring in New York. However, a blogger took the story and blew it out of proportion. Other people responded to this story and soon it was national news. In addition, the Obama-worshipping aide is an exaggerated representation of the way that many people felt about Obama when he was first elected, and the dramatic turnaround of opinion that occured during the healthcare debate. Both of these issues are serious issues that faced the nation, but it is my hope that I was able to put them in a humorous light. Another goal I had was to create scenes in the style of shows such as SNL, but not copy them. Some of my scenes have their roots in SNL skits, but while the theme may be the same the outcome and the jokes are different. That being said I did include several direct references to the show, such as when George W. Bush tells Sarah Palin that he can't see Russia from her house. My last goal was to be satircal without being openly offensive. This being parody, there is a high probability that someone will find it offensive, but I hope that I make more people laugh then I make angry. I went about this by not focusing on one specific group. My show does not simply make fun of Bush, Obama, Republicans, Democrats, Tea Partyers, but rather the American political climate as a whole. In keeping with the philosphy of shows such as Family Guy I am making fun of everyone and using that as a justification. That being said I took the opinions of both Mrs. Ward and Mrs. Thornton into account while I was writing. If they felt that the audience might consider something offensive, and altered or removed that particular joke. Ultimatly, I believe that I have achieved, or am on track, to achieve my goals. In the end, that judgement will not be mine to make, but I am inclined to hope.
I finally completed the script in mid-December. I had already cast some of the parts, but upon the completion of my script I finalized the rest of the roles. My cast is made up entirely of drama club members. This was done to ensure that everyone would have had some experience with the theater, and would have an easier type learning and memorizing the blocking of the show. For my cast, Sean Vermiere will be playing Joe Biden/ Bill Clinton, Erin Agnew will be playing Hillary Clinton, Eliza Burkelbach will be playing Christine O'Donnell, Ben Jaffe will be playing Glenn Beck, and Matt Tsui will be playing Rush Limbuagh, I personally took the role of Geroge W. Bush, because he had a lot of lines, and I didn't want to burden anyone too much. My actors and actresses took time out of their busy schedules and I needed to make sure that I was a flexible and understanding as possible during the rehearsal process.
Throughout this project, my mentor Marlene Thornton has been a great help. She has edited my draft many times, and have always pushed me to creat the best creative project that I could. Her advice and expertise has helped me immensly, and I am very greateful. I would also like to thank Mrs. Monica Femovich for providing me with an instrumental version of "The Wizard and I" for use in the scene where Joe Biden sings, "Obama and I."
Currently, my group is beginning to rehearse my scenes. Everyone seems very enthusiastic, and I'm hopeful that we can have the lines memorized quickly. I'm purposefully going to keep the blocking to a minimum due to the scarcity of time, but also because I don't feel that the nature of the scenes warrant alot of movement (the exception being the John McCain vs. Bush brawl in scene 3). I'm going to schedule as many rehearsals as possible during the Christmas break to avoid overburdening people once rehersals for the spring musical start.
This process has taught me alot about both creative writing, political satire, and producing a show. I was unprepared for all of the revisions I would need to do, but I know realize that only through constant revision can a work reach it's full potential. It's also important to know one's audience. Since I will be performing this piece for teenagers, I need to make sure that there is some humor that they will get, thus the Harry Potter references in the Christine O'Donnell scene. I also learned that it is much easier to write political satire on Republicans then it is for Democrats due to the many colorful characters associated with the Republican party. Effective political satire must be insightful, yet entertaining. If it becomes too complex then the meaning is lost on the audience. Finally, in order to stage a show one must be flexible when it comes to the schedule of one's actors. Everyone has other commitments and a good director will be able to allow for such commitments while still arranging for the actor to get in the necessary amount of work to prepare himself for the performance.
The biggest thing I've learned about myself is that I might want to have a future in either political satire or analysis. I've had so much fun writing these scenes and learning about the political issues that are associated with them. Whether or not the quality of my writing would warrant a career in political satire remains to be seen, but satire is a kind of analysis so I figure if I'm not funny then I can stick to the serious side of the political analysis. I also learned that one must plan for the unexpected. I my original schedule had me finished the writing of the script by the beginning of November. However, delays, confusions, illnesses, tehnical problems, and other issues prevented me from finishing the script until mid December. In the future, I will need to be able to foresee and work around these delays and insure that they do not negatively impact the quality of my work.

This has been a very interesting semester. I had always intended to do a project focusing on politics, but I wasn't exactly sure from which angle to approach it from. While watching a video of Tina Fey as Sarah Palin, it hit me that that I should do a project focusing on political satire, and I'm glad I did. I don't think I've ever laughed so much while researching a project before. I had no idea about how great the impact of political satire was, and I have learned so much about it's history on television.
to type upup, edit, and finalize the show. For my cast, Sean Vermiere will be playing Joe Biden/ Bill Clinton, Erin Agnew will be playing Hillary Clinton, Eliza Burkelbach will be playing Christine O'Donnell, Ben Jaffe will be playing Glenn Beck, and Matt Tsui will be playing Rush Limbuagh, I personally
Throughout this project, my mentor Marlene Thornton has been a great help. She has edited my draft many times, and have always pushed me to creat the best creative project that I could. Her advice and expertise has helped me immensly, and I am very greateful. I would also like to thank Mrs. Monica Femovich for providing me with an instrumental version of "The Wizard and I" for use in the scene where Joe Biden sings, "Obama and I."
Currently, my group is beginning to rehearse my scenes. Everyone seems very enthusiastic, and I'm hopeful that we can have the lines memorized quickly. I'm purposefully going to keep the blocking to a minimum due to the scarcity of time, but also because I don't feel that the nature of the scenes warrant alot of movement (the exception being the John McCain vs. Bush brawl in scene 3). I'm going to schedule as many rehearsals as possible during the Christmas break to avoid overburdening people once rehersals for the spring musical start.

For the creative project, I had originally intended to write a musical about the 2008 election. After realizing that such a project would never come to fruitition given my poor writings skills and the length of the semester, I instead decided to simply write a collection of scenes in the style of SNL. Originally, I had no intention of ever performing these scenes, and I wrote them on a variety of topics that really didn't tie togther. However, as I wrote more and more, I really wanted to perform my scenes. So I tied them to together as political highlights from the last two years, and added George W. Bush as the show's narrator. The biggest hurdle that I had to overcome while typing up these scenes was my busy schedule. This meant that it took me longer than expected to type up and finalize the script.
I finally completed the script in mid-December. I had already cast some of the parts, but upon the completion of my script I finalized the rest of the roles. My cast is made up entirely of drama club members. This was done to ensure that everyone would have had some experience with the theater, and would have an easier type learning and memorizing the blocking of the show. I personally took the role of Geroge W. Bush, because he had a lot of lines, and I didn't want to burden anyone too much. My actors and actresses took time out of their busy schedules and I needed to make sure that I was a flexible and understanding as possible during the rehearsal process.
could. Her advice and expertise has helped me immensly, and I am very greateful. I would also like to thank Mrs. Monica Femovich for providing me with an instrumental version of "The Wizard and I" for use in the scene where Joe Biden sings, "Obama and I."

This has been a very interesting semester. I had always intended to do a project focusing on politics, but I wasn't exactly sure from which angle to approach it from. While watching a video of Tina Fey as Sarah Palin, it hit me that that I should do a project focusing on political satire, and I'm glad I did. I don't think I've ever laughed so much while researching a project before. I had no idea about how great the impact of political satire was, and I have learned so much about it's history on television.
For the creative project, I had originally intended to write a musical about the 2008 election. After realizing that such a project would never come to fruitition given my poor writings skills and the length of the semester, I instead decided to simply write a collection of scenes in the style of SNL. Originally, I had no intention of ever performing these scenes, and I wrote them on a variety of topics that really didn't tie togther. However, as I wrote more and more, I really wanted to perform my scenes. So I tied them to together as political highlights from the last two years, and added George W. Bush as the show's narrator. The biggest hurdle that I had to overcome while typing up these scenes was my busy schedule. This meant that it took me longer than expected to type up and finalize the script.
I finally completed the script in mid-December. I had already cast some of the parts, but upon the completion of my script I finalized the rest of the roles. My cast is made up entirely of drama club members. This was done to ensure that everyone would have had some experience with the theater, and would have an easier type learning and memorizing the blocking of the show. I personally took the role of Geroge W. Bush, because he had a lot of lines, and I didn't want to burden anyone too much. My actors and actresses took time out of their busy schedules and I needed to make sure that I was a flexible and understanding as possible during the rehearsal process.
Throughout this project, my mentor Marlene Thornton has been a great help. She has edited my draft many times, and have always pushed me to creat the best creative project that I could. Her

Scott Vierick
Graduation Project
Outline Research Product #2 Political Satire and its impact on the way Americans view their government
1. Topic: Political Satire on Television
2. Essential Question: To what effect (if any) does political satire on television have on the way Americans view politics?
3. Thesis: Dissatisfied with the mainstream media, Americans are increasingly turning to political satire as a way to keep themselves informed on developments in politics.
Paragraph #1 Nixon on Laugh-In
I. Transition Topic Sentence #1: The 1968 was marked with a general dissatisfaction with politics. The Camelot era of Kennedy had long ago faded into myth, presidential candidate Bobby Kennedy lay dead in a hotel kitchen, and the Vietnam continued to rage across Southeast Asia.
A. Reason #1: American’s were dissatisfied with regular politicians, Herbert Humphreys was considered to be just another Lyndon Johnson.
1. Example #1: Assassination of front-runner Bobby Kennedy hurt the democratic party. Poll numbers for Jonson and Humphreys were at an all time low.
2. Example #2: Protests against the government were mounting over the unpopular war in Vietnam; some predicted the end of American society.
B. Reason #2: Nixon was frequently portrayed as the uncool candidate, who was lame and out of touch. Appearing on Laugh-In allowed him to reverse that image.
1. Example #1: Image in the public’s mind was him visibly uncomfortable on camera during the Kennedy debates.
2. Example #2: Many saw him as a relic of the McCarthy Era. Seen ax paranoid and suspicious.
C. Reason #3: While it will never be known for sure if it helped Nixon win the election. A group of people involved in the election maintain that it did.
1. Example #1: Won by a narrow margin. Humphrey later claimed he should have appeared on the show.
2. Example #2: Show’s creator and Nixon both said it won him the election. The Show’s creator (a liberal) said he never forgave himself for that.
Paragraph #2 Clinton in the 2008 election
II. Transition Topic Sentence #2: The wife of a former president, Hillary Clinton was presumed to be the democratic front runner in the 2008 primaries. However, it seemed to many that the media seemed to favor candidate Barack Obama. When Clinton brought this up in a speech, SNL responded with a parody in which the Obama is pampered by the media.
A. Reason #1: Put SNL in the spotlight and helped improve Clinton’s numbers.
1. Example #1: Clinton referred to the sketch in a speech
2. Example #2: Polls showed an increase in Clinton’s numbers following the sketch
Paragraph #3 Sarah Palin and Tina Fey
III. Transition Topic Sentence #3: While Clinton ultimately lost the 2008 democrat primary, SNL was not quite done with her just yet. Upon the arrival of upstart Republican VP candidate, Sarah Palin, into the race a caricature of Clinton with Tina Fey as Palin was run, and a pop culture icon was born.
A. Reason #1: The line between Palin and Fey was blurred
1. Example #1: “I can see Russia from my house” line- attributed to Palin, actually said by Fey
2. Example #2: Palin appeared on SNL and it was difficult for people to tell the difference
B. Reason #2: Palin’s popularity went down as a result
1. Example #1: Popularity in polls declined after Fey began her portrayals
2. Example #2: Image of Palin as a ditzy, out-of-touch governor caused many people to perceive the real Palin as such
C. Reason #3: The success of Palin’s portrayal lay in part to Fey being easy to skewer
1. Example #1: VP Debate: Opening lines came directly from quotes that Palin said
2. Example #2: Katie Couric interview spoof had most of the lines quoted from the actual sketch, except now with a laugh track
Paragraph #4 Faking the news: Daily Show and the Colbert Report
II. Transition Topic Sentence #2: Arguably the most growing market for political satire is the recent growth of fake news shows
A. Reason #1: Many news shows (Fox, MSNBC) are considered by many to be increasingly biased, and many comedians are taking advantage of it
1. Example #1: Glen Beck/ Bill O’Reilly= Stephan Colbert
2. Example #2: Jon Stewart mocks the news in general. Has recently been taking shots at Beck
B. Reason #2: People are seeing the Daily Show as a better source for news
1. Example #1: Pew Report: More people see Daily Show as credible then Fox News
2. Example #2: Not limited in the same way that other news sources are_
C. Reason #3: Rally to Restore Sanity
1. Example #1: Higher turnout then the rally to restore honor
2. Example #2: Caused Oberman to change the format of his show
PARAGRAPH 5
II. Transition Topic Sentence #2: Animated programs
A. Reason #1: The Simpsons has provided a chronicle of American politics for the past 50 years.
1. Example #1: Info from Simpsons video clip
2. Example #2: Mayor Quimby as the archetypal corrupt career politician
B. Reason #2: Family Guy attracting prominent politicians
1. Example #1: Rush Limbaugh appearing on the show
PARAGRAPH #6
II. Transition Topic Sentence #2: Many politicians are now joining the satire bandwagon in order to show that they can take a joke and appeal to a wider audience
A. Reason #1: John McCain was using SNL to appeal to a wider audience.
1. Example #1: Appeared on the show several times before the 2008 election. He was willing to poke fun at himself and was very popular.
2. Example #2: Returned during the 2008 election in order to boast his poll numbers. He did see some increase in his ratings (but not much). Sarah Palin also appeared on the show.
B. Reason #2: Appearances on SNL, Colbert Report, Daily Show, Late-Night Talk shows is now essential to run a campaign.
1. Example #1: Assert pop culture credibility and show that they can laugh at themselves. (Like Nixon with Laugh-In)
2. Example #2: Candidates now announcing their candidacies in talk shows- Barack Obama was one example.
C. Reason #3: Candidates can boast ratings by appearing on shows.
1. Example #1: Research has shown that candidates can influence the opinions of people with less strongly formed opinions by appearing on political satire shows (Nisbet).
2. Example #2: People are more likely to talk about shows such as SNL, Colbert Report etc. Therefore a politician can improve his chances of getting his name out there by appearing on such a show (Nisbet).