Smith College / Smithsonian Institution Internship Program
Research Project Proposal
Name of Supervisor(s): Betty J. Belanus
Department or Office: Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage
Phone Number: 202/633-6582
Email Address: BelanusB@si.edu
1. Please provide information on your research and/or the work of your office:
The Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage produces the annual Smithsonian Folklife Festival, a tenday outdoor cultural event on the National Mall. This research-based Festival features U.S. states,
regions, foreign countries and themed programs each year. Preparations for the Festival include field
and library research, and follow-ups on past Festivals include the creation of educational materials,
exhibitions, and videos. For more information see www.festival.si.edu
The supervisor is a Festival curator and education specialist with over 20 years’ experience at the
Smithsonian Institution, and is also a Smith College graduate. She is currently working on research for
two future Smithsonian Folklife Festival projects.
2. Describe the project (include duties, nature and scope of the work), and indicate any particular
academic background or specific courses needed as preparation:
Intern will help with research for a Smithsonian Folklife Festival program, currently slated to be part of
an emphasis on the state of California during the 2015 Festival, on the occupational culture of the film
industry. The program, tentatively titled “Working Magic: The Occupations of the Film Industry” will
follow the whole process of feature film making from pre-production through post-production.
Occupations to be explored include: location management, producing and directing, scriptwriting, set
design and fabrication, cinematography, lighting, special effects, make-up, costumes, special effects,
sound production, stunts, animation, and more. The program will provide an interactive, behind the
scenes view of these occupations. Some emphasis will be placed on older, “lower tech” techniques as
opposed to computer-generated techniques and effects. Internship will: 1. Become familiar with the
Smithsonian Folklife Festival and its method of presentation of occupational programs through web and
written materials and discussions with the supervisor (who has served as a Festival curator for over 20
years), 2. Conduct background research via the web and libraries in the Washington, DC area. 3.
Review and partially transcribe interviews with various film workers, 4. Conduct face to face or phone
interviews with film workers.
A student with a strong interest, possible relevant practical experience, and coursework on American
film history and/or production would be best suited for this project.
3. Please describe possible research products an intern might develop, either from the project or the
work of your office, to fulfill the academic requirement of the Smith College Program:
Depending on intern's interests and academic emphasis, a project would either consist of a research
paper, a multi-media presentation, video, and/or website component using findings from primary and
secondary sources, on a specific film-making industry occupation. For instance, if the intern is
particularly interested in design, she could focus on film art or costume design; if she is interested in
cinematography, she could research the careers of one or more cinematographers, etc. It will be strongly
suggested that this research include one or more fieldwork interview(s) conducted by the student. The
supervisor will work with the student to shape an appropriate research product that will benefit both the
student and the Center's planning of the Festival program.
In addition, preliminary discussions with the Smithsonian National Museum of American History's
public programs staff indicates a possible series of related cooperative programs utilizing the museum's
Warner Brothers Theater, which the intern may become involved in helping research/organize.
2012 Smith Intern Julia Fernandez created a series of podcasts, introduced with blogs, the first of which
was posted on January 14, 2013 on our Festival blog at www.festival.si.edu 2013 Intern Arielle
Petrovich researched music composition, scoring and editing for her project and combined four
interviews into one narrated podcast (blog and podcast pending final edit for our web site). Such
creative use of the interviews for the project is encouraged and every effort will be made to see that such
products become part of our web site.