Preliminary Exercise 4: Analyzing Setting for National Lampoon's European Vacation

What is a case study?

A thorough investigation of a subject of analysis in order to reveal a new understanding about the research problem. In doing so, it contributes to the new knowledge of what is already known from previous studies.

The objective of this assignment was to watch the video clip from National Lampoon's European Vacation (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uQAbek0uOP0) to document and analyze the elements of setting in the film excerpt.

We were to indicate the following from the clip:
1. Place
2. Geography
3. Time period

4. Time of day

5. Physical characteristics of location
6. Culture/ moral values
7. Social and Economic values
8. Mood of scene
9. Message of scene
10. Genre of the film

What I learned:

This assignment took a lot of patience since I had to go back and forth when providing the the three examples paired with the elements. One thing that can be realized after completing the assignment is just how much information you can get from one clip. I was able to figure out the message, time, even what street the characters were in despite the actors never saying that information. It makes you think just how much thought and details are put into a single scene to make the world in the film as believable as possible.