Evolution of A Particular Concept Business Law Paper

Students in the course will create a short documentary (5 minutes) portraying the evolution of a particular concept in the law as it relates to the hospitality industry. The assignment is targeted to several relevant, but focused topics, from which students may choose. The documentary exercise requires students to track how a particular legal concept has changed, synthesize the key components of those changes, and present the current legal standards in a meaningful way.

LAW2005
Hospitality Law
Short Documentary Assignment
ASSIGNMENT DUE DATE AND TIME
This project is due Thursday of Week 7, with an Outline checkpoint due in Week 4.
THE ASSIGNMENT
Each student is expected to create a short documentary, roughly five (5) minutes long,
portraying the evolution of a particular concept in the law as it relates to the hospitality industry.
The assignment is targeted to several relevant, but focused topics, listed below, from which
students may choose. The documentary exercise requires students to track how a particular legal
concept has changed, synthesize the key components of those changes, and present the current
legal standards with an eye toward advocating whether those standards negatively or positively
impact liability for the affected hospitality-related businesses.
THE TOPIC CHOICES
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Hotel liability for guests’ property, from common law through today
Restaurant/bar liability for intoxicated patrons who harm third parties, at common law
through today
Trend toward application of Reasonable Expectation Test rather than Foreign/Natural
Test in cases involving injuries caused by objects in food
The expansion of liability for food borne illness, from negligence to breach of warranty
ASSIGNMENT COMPONENTS AND DUE DATES
Week Four: A Graded Outline (5% of Course Grade)
The Outline should identify the general organizational set up of your short documentary
project. Specifically, break the chosen topic down historically. Identify the original legal rules
related to your chosen topic, provide examples of legal milestones where those rules began to
change, then introduce the modern legal framework for you chosen topic. Included in the
Outline, students should reference any potential source materials they have identified during
their research. Students are not necessarily required to use those sources identified early on as the
project evolves, however, students should take care to find as many relevant sources as possible
at this stage of the assignment.
Week Seven: Video Documentary Project (15% of Course Grade)
Create a short documentary, roughly five (5) minutes long, portraying the evolution in of
a particular concept in the law as it relates to the hospitality industry. Using any readily available
movie making software, plan, write, film, and edit the video to explain the rule of law in its
original form, track the law’s changes through to the current rule, and opine on the impact of that
rule in contemporary business settings, that is, whether the current rule of law helps or harms the
affected business.
DOCUMENTARY GUIDELINES AND MOVIE MAKING SOFTWARE OPTIONS
Although students are free to use whatever software they are most comfortable with, below are
some suggestions:
For Mac users:
Imovie (free on Mac)
Filmora by Wondershare (free trial period)
Lightworks (free version)
Final Cut Pro (free 90-day trial)
For PC users:
Filmora by Wondershare (free trial period)
Windows Movie Maker for Windows 7 & 8 (free)
Photo Video Maker for Windows 10 (free)
Kden Live (free)
Sony Vegas (free trial available)
Online Video Making Platforms:
Clipchamp (free version)
Animoto (free)
Documentary Guidelines:
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Do not use more than 15 seconds of outside video at a time, whether from YouTube or
other video sources. Be vigilant about editing to maintain focus, to keep yourself as the
primary voice, and keep interest in your film.
Support the documentary film with a substantial amount of research to support any
claims you make.
Be clear about your persuasive purpose—what the position/claim is and what you would
like the audience to know about it.
Do not put yourself, or others, in any dangerous situations in the making of your film.
Do not show any illegal activity or potentially incriminate others in the making of your
film.
Do not use video/images/language that is not suitable for an academic setting and
discourse community. Remember that your film will be shown in class and could be
shown in wider venues at the end of the semester.
Once the documentary is completed, upload your video to YouTube. Once you upload it, make
sure your link is set to Public or Unlisted. The YouTube link for your finished project must be
submitted in ulearn in two places. First, submit the link in the Documentary Project Discussion
Forum, where the class can view and comment on submitted videos. Then, submit the YouTube
link for your finished project in the Documentary Project Assignment Link in the Week 7 folder
for instructor grading.
LAW2005
Hospitality Law
Outline for Short Documentary Assignment
The Outline should identify one of the four topics offered in the Project Instructions posted in
Week 1. Then, provide a framework for the general organization of your short documentary
project in outline form. A suggested approach is:
1. Starting with the topic introduction, the outline should break the topic down historically
with reference to the earliest known legal rules (either in the U.S. or at English Common
Law) of your selected topic.
2. Provide examples of where those legal rules began to change.
3. Introduce the modern legal framework for the chosen topic.
4. Indicate whether changes in the law have a negative or positive impact on exposure to
liability in the relevant industry.
Included in the Outline, students should reference any academic source material identified during
preliminary research. Note, students are not necessarily required to use all early identified
sources. And additional sources may certainly be added as the project evolves. It is important,
however, that students take care to engage in fairly comprehensive research in order to craft an
outline and organize the topic at this stage. The more steps taken to prepare and organize now,
the smoother the creative aspect of the project will go as the due date approaches.
Finally, though not required, at the outline stage, students should be thinking about visual aids
that will illustrate the chosen topic. In framing the project as suggested above, include
descriptions of any images that you anticipate using in the final project.