Off-Topic

I want to make my high school research paper about a topic directly involving film. The thing is, it has to be structured from two different parts - theoretical and practical. The first one is made based on materials found (books, articles etc), the other one is a survey plus an analysis of it. I started making one on "The Portrayal of Criminal Groups in Films and TV", but hit a wall when I started thinking about the practical part, as there were no real questions to ask. Anyway, I'm starting a new one. Can any of you guys sugest a topic with which I could make both parts, not just the theoretical one? I'm kind of stuck here.

@DreDavis: I took a module in "Crime and Law in Film" in my Criminology degree and I had to write an essay on the portrayal of the law (court, lawyers, judges etc) in movies, and a presentation on the death penalty in movies. It was interesting stuff. We watched movies like Judgment at Nuremberg, 12 Angry Men, Philadelphia, And Justice For All, Inherit the Wind, To Kill A Mockingbird and Adam's Rib.

How many questions will your survey have? If you like the sound of the Law one you could ask questions about whether or not the legal system looks realistic in movies, you could talk about racism and the law (To Kill a Mockingbird), do people base their opinions of the police on what they have seen in movies? Etc etc.

Anyway, it's an idea!

I'm starting to think that I might make it about police work in movies. As you said, I could ask questions asking, do people base their opinions of the police on what they see in movies. I could try to find out if there's a difference between what do the movies portray and what's the reality like. Explore the history of cops in movies. Then on the survey side, find out what do people think of the police in general, is their opinion effected by the movies and does their idea of police work differ from reality. Then again, I started my previous attempt just like this. I knew what I wanted to research with the practical part, but I just couldn't think of any good and useful questions, of which there probably should be at least ten.