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Abstract
The Movie Analysis Project (MAP) Database will be used to study American feature films as cultural products both in the classroom and for research purposes. When fully developed MAP will consist of a pool of the most widely shown films since the inception of the industry, which will be able to be sampled for various analytic purposes. The first stage of this project was to construct a database of the top twenty grossing films from each year, beginning in 1930 until the present; use it for sampling representative films; and test its utility as a research tool. I was able to complete the first two aspects of the proposal but was unable to use it in the classroom as I would have liked, with students using it interactively for their research projects. This latter aspect will be implemented this coming fall in my First Year Seminar on Film and Society; it is currently being used by a student in the preliminary phases of a senior seminar research project.
A.
Report:
The function of MAP is simple and the same for researcher or student
alike: to provide a vehicle for selecting and analyzing representative
films. The database will initially consist of a file with a record
for each of the top grossing films in the years since 1930. Each
record will include the name of the film, the year it was released,
and the amount of money it grossed in the first year it was released.
In time more fields will be entered into the data base, which
will permit the student to identify more narrowly targeted samples
(e.g. films of a given genre).
As constructed MAP will actually consist of two databases that
will be linked on a server. This will enable researchers (students
or otherwise) to assemble research findings and materials of value
to a fuller analysis of each film and have it be linked to the
original database. Not only will MAP provide a vehicle for individual
research projects, but over time it will result in a growing database
that can be used by other students for more ambitious projects.
B.
Strategy:
The two databases that compose MAP were constructed using File
Maker Pro 4.0 software. The first, entitled "U.S. Feature
Films Box Office Hits" is a file that currently has more
than fourteen hundred records. These include the top grossing
fifteen to twenty films from each year since 1930. When fully
completed, the file will include background information about
each of the films. This file, which cannot be modified by anybody
other than myself, is linked to another file "The Movie Reaction"
file, which permits the students to enter information of the film
that is either not readily available or is the result of their
own analytic work. I have enclosed a printed copy of the Layout
screen for each of the databases.
The sort command permits the researcher to identify subsets of
the database and so it is flexible enough for a variety of purposes.
Currently, Brenda Molden and I are trying to determine whether
or not it is possible to devise a function that will random sample
the database or some subset of it. In any event, it will still
be possible to provide a set of instructions for doing that manually
by using a table of random numbers.
While I don't choose films for my freshman seminar by strict random
sampling, I still use a purposive sample drawn from the database.
I did successfully use the database last year for this purpose
and will be doing so again this coming year.
C.
Assessment:
Even the process of finding lists of top-grossing films - which
I did last summer in the periodical rooms of the Boston University
and Brandeis University libraries - and entering them into the
database has proven to be an eye-opener. The simple listing of
these films significantly broadens the canon of film scholarship
and has led me to discover quite interesting films that are rarely
analyzed by film scholars. It is clear to me that the MAP database
is quite valuable as it is, and will become even more so over
time as it is expanded and modified. It is also clear to me that
students will find it useful next semester, as their individual
contributions will create a database of films that they can draw
upon for their final course papers.
Last updated
on 6/22/99; 2:01:08 PM
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