99 Francsa presentation by Nathan Horowitz

based on a film by Jan Kounenbased on a novel byFrédéricBeigbeder

I’m creating this PowerPoint presentation in order to introduce an

assignment to my FH St Pöltenstudents and fulfill a challenge set for

me by one of my FH bfi students.

First, FHSP.

The FHSP assignment is that for the individual presentations, I’m setting a

special task related to the film “99 Francs.”

The task is that I want each of you to make a PowerPoint presentation

whose topic is a five or six minute section of the film.

Each person will be assigned a particular section of the film. All together, the whole film will be

covered.

On presentation day, the whole story of the film will be told through a series

of presentations by the whole class.

As far as I know, this has never been done before.

You can find the video at vimeo.com/40175950

or just google99 Francs vimeo.

I’ll post a link on e-campus, too.

So you’ll watch the whole film, then focus on your segment of it. You’ll try to figure out what the characters are saying. That might not be easy. The

film is in French with Spanish subtitles. You’ll translate as much as you can

into English.

For the translations, use whatever tools you need—online dictionaries,

Google Translate, whatever.

If you get stuck and don’t understand something, ask me or your Spanish

teacher or your Facebook friend from Barcelona.

I must confess there were a few things I couldn’t understand or translate,

myself. But not many.

And you’ll take screen shots that show what’s happening in the scene or

scenes in your segment of the film. Analyze the characters. Analyze the action and the words and the body language and the surroundings and

the political dimensions and the colors and the music and and and….

And then make a really smart presentation that will fit into a series

of presentations that together analyze and tell the story of the whole movie.

Why did I pick this movie? Because it’s about advertising, and because I think it’s a pretty good movie. Not perfect,

but pretty good.

I wish there were less sex and drugs in it, but I think it reflects, fairly

accurately, a certain segment of the advertising world, and so the sex and

drugs in the film are justified.

(A documentary about the 2008 banking crash argues that one of the

causes of the crash was bankers’ abuse of cocaine … drug abuse is a real topic

in the world, and it’s one thing that educated people need to know about.)

If you feel like the sex and drugs are really too much for you, write me an email and I can give you a different

assignment.

Next: the FH bfi challenge. What is it?

The FHbfi challenge is that I should make a PowerPoint presentation of

myself giving a PowerPoint presentation and then give the second

presentation without speaking; everything should be understandable

without my saying anything.

That’s why I’ve asked to be photographed: the photos of me

performing the FHSP presentation will become the basis for the Fhbfi

presentation.

I realize this is confusing. But I really can’t make it any clearer. Life is

confusing. We accept it.

The next words you read will not be those of your teacher, but of the main

character in the film.

Ciao for now. N.

“Everything is for sale: love, art,Planet Earth, you, me … especially me.

“Man is a product like any other, with an expiration date.

“I’m an advertiser. One of those people who make you dream about

things you’ll never have.

“A permanently blue sky, women who are never ugly, perfect happiness

retouched by Photoshop.

Do you think I make the world a better place? Wrong. I make it worse.

“I’m the one who decides what you’re going to want tomorrow.

Deforestation by soya farmers in Brazil.

Photo by Greenpeace, 2004.

“I dru

g you

with

no

velty.

“I spend my life manipulating you for 11,400 euros per month.

“I make sure you’re always frustrated.

“I’m the one who penetrates your brain….

“…and ejaculates in your right hemisphere.

“Your desires are no longer your own.

“I impose mine on you.”

99 Francs.

Thanks for your attention.