4 Replies to “Russia of 2017 — from 1960 (Hannah Goldstein)”
It is really interesting to see these images because of how closely they parallel those from the United States, but also in a completely different way due to the differing political contexts. The Futurama exhibit and the Special Cinema Device I think somewhat exemplify this, as they are similar ways at looking at cities, but have completely different intentions in the Soviet Union than in the United States. You show the great change that the Soviet Union expected in the post-war, nuclear era through the expectations of trains, and the expansion into space. The concept of the accomplished Soviet Man in a utopian communist society really shows how the country strove to have a better, equal life for all of its citizens, both through technology as well as the improved integrity of their social systems. It is clear that most of this is anti-US propaganda, such as the weather control machine, as well as the telecommunications image where the child is educated on the Soviet superiority. You are fluid throughout these separate images and make it easy to understand exactly how and why their social context influenced the political and technological visions of the future, and how it tied into the bigger picture as the Soviets competed with the US through the cold war era. Overall, I think this is a really nice job.
Hannah,
Loved the music in the intro! I really wanted to do something similar to that but couldn’t figure out how without creating a hassle for myself. Props on that! I also really like your topic idea. The analysis you make of the development of communism is well done. I got a clear understanding of where the Russians were trying to go. You mentioned one of the fallacies learned in class, but it is not explained in the video. It might be helpful to add a few seconds of explanation to refresh class students, or even those who might see this video outside of class. I enjoyed how you looked at a lot of aspects of Russia as well, from transportation, utopian cities, to space travel. I also thought the Conclusion slide was an interesting idea. So far, I haven’t seen a video with a slide summarizing the ideas. Lastly, I appreciate how you ended the Slidecast, making sure that the audience is not lost in your video.
Very good job overall. The audio is clear and crisp and you use an appropriate speaking pace. I especially like the use of music for the first slide. I also really liked when you compared the future images of capitalism to those of communism and the video may have been even better if you included more comparisons. I also thought the inclusion of text to describe some of the more abstract images was very helpful for the viewer. This comic strip was an excellent choice of source material as the images were both appropriate future projections as well as eye-catching. The biggest change I would make in subsequent productions would be a greater emphasis on class topics. I think that they would be more effective if they were explained in the beginning of the video and referenced throughout. I also think that it would be beneficial to dedicate multiple slides with images rather than just one text heavy slide. Other than that this was an excellent and intriguing video.
The music at the beginning did a good job at catching my attention. I thought that the whole slide cast was compiled well. In particular I liked how you presented the futurama ride and the soviet children looking at the past on the same image. This allowed me to be able to easily understand how you were contrasting the two images and I think that it was very effective. In the future for the conclusion I would suggest that you use an image that can help reinforce your point rather than use text. Throughout the whole slide cast I felt that I understood what was happening on the comic strip as well as why the Soviet Union believed that 2017 would be as they showed
It is really interesting to see these images because of how closely they parallel those from the United States, but also in a completely different way due to the differing political contexts. The Futurama exhibit and the Special Cinema Device I think somewhat exemplify this, as they are similar ways at looking at cities, but have completely different intentions in the Soviet Union than in the United States. You show the great change that the Soviet Union expected in the post-war, nuclear era through the expectations of trains, and the expansion into space. The concept of the accomplished Soviet Man in a utopian communist society really shows how the country strove to have a better, equal life for all of its citizens, both through technology as well as the improved integrity of their social systems. It is clear that most of this is anti-US propaganda, such as the weather control machine, as well as the telecommunications image where the child is educated on the Soviet superiority. You are fluid throughout these separate images and make it easy to understand exactly how and why their social context influenced the political and technological visions of the future, and how it tied into the bigger picture as the Soviets competed with the US through the cold war era. Overall, I think this is a really nice job.
Hannah,
Loved the music in the intro! I really wanted to do something similar to that but couldn’t figure out how without creating a hassle for myself. Props on that! I also really like your topic idea. The analysis you make of the development of communism is well done. I got a clear understanding of where the Russians were trying to go. You mentioned one of the fallacies learned in class, but it is not explained in the video. It might be helpful to add a few seconds of explanation to refresh class students, or even those who might see this video outside of class. I enjoyed how you looked at a lot of aspects of Russia as well, from transportation, utopian cities, to space travel. I also thought the Conclusion slide was an interesting idea. So far, I haven’t seen a video with a slide summarizing the ideas. Lastly, I appreciate how you ended the Slidecast, making sure that the audience is not lost in your video.
Very good job overall. The audio is clear and crisp and you use an appropriate speaking pace. I especially like the use of music for the first slide. I also really liked when you compared the future images of capitalism to those of communism and the video may have been even better if you included more comparisons. I also thought the inclusion of text to describe some of the more abstract images was very helpful for the viewer. This comic strip was an excellent choice of source material as the images were both appropriate future projections as well as eye-catching. The biggest change I would make in subsequent productions would be a greater emphasis on class topics. I think that they would be more effective if they were explained in the beginning of the video and referenced throughout. I also think that it would be beneficial to dedicate multiple slides with images rather than just one text heavy slide. Other than that this was an excellent and intriguing video.
The music at the beginning did a good job at catching my attention. I thought that the whole slide cast was compiled well. In particular I liked how you presented the futurama ride and the soviet children looking at the past on the same image. This allowed me to be able to easily understand how you were contrasting the two images and I think that it was very effective. In the future for the conclusion I would suggest that you use an image that can help reinforce your point rather than use text. Throughout the whole slide cast I felt that I understood what was happening on the comic strip as well as why the Soviet Union believed that 2017 would be as they showed