Historical Feature

 

THE ASSIGNMENT

Students and adult amateur filmmakers can submit a 1–3-minute video that addresses one of the prompts below.

Feature stories should bring focus to an individual, community, group, or concept by creating a personal connection for the viewers/watchers who can be moved emotionally by the overall storyline and production quality.

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.

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SUBMISSION

You will submit your entry to the Joplin History and Mineral Museum by sharing through Google Drive.

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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 2023 and March 2024.

• Feature entries must be no longer than 3 minutes in length.

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

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

• Your submission must include your name, your school's name (if applicable), and the title of the entry. You must include all team members’ names if working in a team.

• All scripts should be submitted to the Joplin History and Mineral Museum for review. Email: Joplinmuseum@gmail.com All sources should be cited.

• Prizes will be given to winners. All videos, regardless of prompts, are regarded as entered into the contest to win a prize.

  • One first-place video receives $250

  • One second-place video receives $125

  • One third-place video receives $75

• 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 and 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

• The deadline for submission of scripts with cited sources for approval is February 1, 2024. Allow 2 weeks for script approval.

• The deadline for submission of completed video work is midnight, March 4, 2024.

 

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

 

PROMPTS

 

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

  • Charles Schifferdecker

  • Lena Beal

  • John Beal (Blaidune)

  • Elliott Moffett and John Sergeant

  • Patrick Murphy

  • John C. Cox

  • William Tingle

  • Rev. Harrison G. Joplin

  • Dorothea B Hoover

  • W.B. Patton

  • Robert (Bob) Cummings

  • Dennis Weaver

  • Percy Wenrich and his music

  • James Mercer Langston Hughes and his poetry

  • Charles McPherson and his music

  • Irish 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)

• How Route 66 impacted Joplin

• Crystal Cave

• Connor Hotel

• Stockyards

• Children working in the mines (laws to protect mules, not miners)

• Hard rock mining

• Ham radio operators during the Joplin Tornado 2011

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

• Joplin Spook Light

• Early miner’s lives (pre-1920s)

• Changes in downtown Joplin - urban renewal in the 1960s

• Joplin getting electricity (before NYC)

• Black soldiers in the Civil War (from Joplin) Rader's Farm

• Underground Railroad - Rothenberger House

• Black soldiers camping at Baxter Springs (not allowed in the Fort)

• Ambush at Rader’s Farm

• Battle of Carthage

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

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

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

• 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

• History of the segregated cemetery

• Businesses that have served Joplin for over 75 years

• Bonnie and Clyde from the eyes of a police officer - Jim Hounschell