It is finished. With this last blog, I will be officially finished with this class until July 4, 2011 when I receive my grade. I was honestly starting to sweat over that class but thank God it's finished.
In all honesty though I'm having mixed feelings about leaving.
I will admit I did enjoy this class immensely (and that's rare for me). Sure I had some serious challenges when it came on to concentrating and kept losing focus when the facilitator went a tirade about what is what in WrItInG 4 e-MeDiA. She did however have a contagious attitude, and was boundlessly enthusiastic about what she was teaching, which was really the saving grace for me since it was a lot of information to absorb. So in light of your immeasurable help especially for the final assignment, thank you miss and a token :-).
I have enjoyed this blogging experience and I believe that I MIGHT continue to do this. It was fun, but all good things must come to an end. And so I say:
"So long, and may the fates be kind to us as we part. Until we have again I bid you blog, blog, blog."
All my scripts are finished and handed in. The radio script was the most challenging to complete since I had to listen attentively for every minute detail in terms of audio (a task which surprised me with the various background noises that are present that even after watching the same scene for 5 times still had to watch it further to get them), but I persisted and it paid off.
HOWEVER, after I diligently ensured that I completed my assignment to meet the deadline, the class facilitator changed the due date...After I had uploaded it. I didn't mind though, I believed I had done as much as I could and was satisfied with my results. BUT to my utmost despair, I found out that the system kicks the documents out if teh teacher makes a change whether or you you had done final submission.
Imagine my absolute horror when on my way to a stress free lunch (@ 12:00 pm) a fellow classmate told me that was what happened to her, but she had realized before 9:00 am (the new due date) so she had gotten to resubmit her assignment. I had not looked back at my assignments since last night.
Well talk about an abrupt end to a good day. I was saved somewhat though because the system evidently automatically resubmits the assignments once they were not downloaded from my account but it tags them as late. Hiss teeth, after 4 years I'm just finding that out...In my culture they say "Bad luck wos dan Obeah." and today I was inclined to believe that.
Still I won't complain the class will be officially over after the facilitator receives one last piece of document from me (an exam permit) and it will be home free and no more of this class, and who can argue with that?
Today is SUMMER SOLSTICE . The official beginning of the Summer season and the longest day of the year. And what am I doing on this beautiful sun shiny day??? Assignments, yes I am yet to finish my final e-media assignment.
Seriously this is just ridiculous. The first one (the screenplay adaptation) took me way longer than I had anticipated to complete. The double column script is on its way but I'm getting worried about the radio script. It is moving slower than a snail. It requires much listening and concentrating on the audio aspect of the film, not easy to do when I keep getting caught up in the visual.
If that's not bad enough TODAY is the DUE DATE. Yes today at 11:59 pm I must have already upload this assignment or my derriere will be be on fire.
Even though I hate to be in school on such a fine day, I am having mixed feelings. On one hand I am happy this is the longest day of the year more time before 11:59 am (not really it just means that the sun rose earlier and will set a little later), yet sad that I am still stuck doing this assignment. I am a bit worried but I'll try my utmost to get it finished for later.
I'm telling you laziness is an intolerable sin. But I cannot seem to muster the will power to make anymore progress on this final assignment. Today (well in all honesty since last night). I just haven't been feeling like it. Don't get me wrong I understand the importance of this assignment and I know I must get a move on, but I keep forgetting that I'm supposed to be compiling a script and keep falling back into the movie and watching it.
If I were ever in doubt about my concentration problems this has confirmed it. I am not focusing on the task at hand. I wonder where I can get some ginkgo biloba to help me complete this assignment this weekend?
On a more positive note, thank God for facilitators who pay enough attention to their students and will take the time out (like my poor facilitator did) to advise their stubborn students, and assist them even after they claim they do not need help. I was extended some much need leniency from my facilitator and to say the least even if I am not (ONLY CURRENTLY IT MUST DISSIPATE) in the mood to do the assignment, I am still in a pretty grateful mode.
Man this is proving to be a little more difficult than I had anticipated. This just teaches me that I don't know as much as I thought I did. In all honesty I sincerely thought that a scene is a change of scenery, but as it turns out, a scene is really a change of LOCATION.
Check out an ENTIRE scene from a movie that I found quite funny.
And these are beautiful pictures of scenery (an example here).
As much as I was not looking forward to class on Tuesday I was ridiculously grateful when our facilitator showed up. I had tried working on my final project but man, it was not progressing at all. I had the most problem distinguishing where one scene ends and another starts. I will humbly say thank you to my facilitator for showing up (even against the protests of her students) and clarifying even though most of us (that means all but one person from class) really didn't want to have class at all.I was getting really worried about those scripts (still am to be honest).
Seriously though folks with the way things are going (exams are around the corner and I swear I'm not getting anywhere with my work) I just hope I can get this done properly by the deadline.
You know what they say "So said so done". Yeah, that's exactly what happened. Generally I love being right, EXCEPT when it is about something negative about myself, and I hate being proven wrong.
I had decided that I would wait until the end of the week-end to focus on my final project for the course:
Finally Sunday evening as I took a look at the posted assignment, I identified immediately that I would have to make contact with my facilitator to clarify whether the first scene starts after the title of the movie comes up and whether the part where he is driving and there are multiple change of scenery are all considered as separate scenes. This means that I have been proven wrong. In the words of my lecturer
"Mark my words you guys will want to meet with me
after today to ask lots of questions, so don't be so
thrilled that this is our last meeting. You guys wil be
the ones begging to meet."
See in my head I was like:
"Yeah, yeah, yeah. Right like we'll need to run to you every second. I'm soooo glad that we don't need to meet anymore."
Have you ever been bolstered about something and then let down fast? Well I have.
That what happened to be me. So class yesterday what we did was wayyyyy fun. We watched a movie "Kissing Cousins". You can image my excitement when at the beginning of the class our facilitator announces that we will spend the class time watching a movie that would be related to our final assignment.
I'm a TV nut. My happy place is in front of a screen with a remote or some means of controlling the movie pictures that show up if you click a button.Invariably I tuned out after she started to talk about anything else I just wanted to start watching the movie. So last night when she mentioned that she was just buttering us up to lay the final blow, my selective hearing was in control.
So imagine my absolute horror,when this morning I realize that to accompany the movie she has tasked us with rendering two scenes from the movie into the screenplay, double column, and radio script format.
Talk about a crash landing. I was on high yesterday after class no to be confronted by this. I fear for this assignment since my concentration span will have me forgetting what my task is as I try to move from each scene without getting distracted by the movie itself.
Needless to say this class was sooo awesome until this morning. I mean we don't have to go to an actual classroom, teacher can't reprimand us if we don't pay attention and you can get away with murder in class. BUT no miss had to go and spoil it by giving this assignment. Oh well can't have it good all the time. Lets just see what I can make of the rest of this class.
Yes there is a difference with writing for the internet and writing for any other media. Yes it looks simple but it isn't, but it can be.
For our class last Tuesday, our facilitator had us go through our blogs again as she expounded on the principles of writing for the web.To be completely honest I tuned out for most of the class. I have a short attention span and this class is ON-LINE. Needless to say I was busy surfing websites and only paid attention to a few of the things she said. I can however say that I was browsing through wonderful examples of what she was mentioning as she spoke of how individuals use the net and the elements that make a good website.
In addition:
Your styles must be visually stimulating - use eye catching fonts and colours but ensure that you pay attention to your colour wheel and headings do not over crowd the content.
Be consistent - humans are creatures of habit. When folks get used to your site and style on the web they don't really want it to change every time they see it.
Make use of other media formats (videos, images, links) to say what you want.
On the web less is more. Folks are busy, they need to get what they want and go. Make it easy for them to find what they want by being concise.
I'm sure we have all learned something today.
Blogging is by far one of the easiest and most accessible form of internet writing and it is open to anyone. So to help those who would like to try their hand at being an internet writer here's some more helpful information http://mindbloggingaffair.blogspot.com/2011/06/help.htm.
Go forth, my children and blog, blog, blog (crazy mad scientist laugh).
This child had the right idea and I have to admit was felling like doing the same this past weekend with my E-media homework. Our facilitator had us make corrections to the dialogue to screenplay assignment, to change that same conversation observed into a double column script for television and also a radio script. Now for the most part I was paying attention to what we had been discussing in class, note I said for the most part.
I can tell you now not paying attention in the class especially on the radio script did not serve me well. I had a whale of a time trying to figure it out. But can I tell you, in light off all that I had previously posted about writing for the electronic media in regards to radio and television. Radio is much harder. You are tasked with being able to help listeners to clearly visualize what is happening in your scene, simply by the use of the ear. NOT AN EASY TASK. To make a radio drama program successful the dialogue must match the sound effects used, each should compliment the other and assist the other in telling as complete a story as possible. I used to stay up late to listen to a radio drama that BBC radio had as entertainment. This was my form of entertainment and I can appreciate now how difficult it is for these broadcasters and radio producers to ensure that the program is sufficiently written so as to keep one's attention so that we can keep tuning in for the next episode.
If you don't believe me check this out for what a radio drama is like ...
and this for a regular book reading...
and you will appreciate the genius behind radio drama. See the difference??? I knew you would come around to my way of thinking.
The rules of grammar are sometimes very puzzling to me. It is interesting how an extra letter can throw off the entire meaning of a sentence or phrase.
So my last post (they were actually three different posts on the same day to make up for my lackadaisical behaviour of my actually posting three separate posts on different occasions as required by my facilitator) has a glaring mistake that upon sighting it I am gravely ashamed to call my self a mass communication student (good thing my major is psychology ;-). SFX does not mean special effects (or as I have it in the blog speecial effects). SFX refers to sound effects. I have made the less apparent grammatical corrections but kept this one to show that I am but human and therefore fallible. However, in my translation class (yes I also take courses in french) my teacher always makes a point about getting the correct special and so has my teacher for this course even when we are typing in the online forums.Why is this necessary? It is tacky and will turn off your audience. Writing for electronic media requires that you keep the tone of your work consistent. Therefore if you are doing standard English with minimum slang, do not deviate into complete colloquial terms or dialects.
Improving Your Grammar
With the advent of the internet it is easier than ever to learn how to do it correctly. Here are a few sites I found helpful.
This is a more modern radio story program (you get the idea this thing was not uploading as only an audio file so click the link and then click on any of the stories and you will hear a modern radio/audio story).
I don't know about you but I'm a sucker for radio. I love how exact and descriptive it is. I especially love the improvements that have occurred when we look at the special effects that are now accompanying voice in audio productions. Our class Thursday was focused on the radio script. I honestly wasn't paying much attention. But from what I did manage to glean the radio script generally has two columns and the action element is generally denotated by sfx or better known as speecial effects. Animated screenplays are similar, it is the sound that makes the world of difference. We get the idea of how to write a script so for further clarification here's a sample page from a radio script.
So class Wednesday went over the time again. It was ridiculously rainy and I wasn’t looking forward to class and we went into more detail on writing ascreen play continuing from last week. Just so we are clear though on theelements of a screenplay here is a nifty example that I found useful as a model/guide to writing your own.It provides the primary elements as well as general formatting guides.
So that's the screenplay but who could tell that television uses a different script format?
Specifically the double column script format. So called because it has two columns (talk about obvious), one for visual and one for audio. So the primary elements of a screen play are also present in the double column script. The idea is that all visual elements such as the action, parentheses and character are placed in the left column, while the dialogue, parentheses and the character goes in the audio column which is the right column. A very important point to note is that character and parentheses are placed in both columns because these elements can be represented both visually and in audio formats. So that you can get the drift, here is a sample page from a double column script.
It's Summer session which means that classes are held four times per week for 2 hours, however on-line classes (such as this one) are usually held less frequently. This course is usually scheduled for Tuesday and Thursday 7:00 pm - 8:00 pm. HOWEVER our facilitator has decided that for this week we would have classes form Tuesday to Thursday 7:00 pm - 8:30 pm. That was not the only sad news I was under the impression that I would only have to blog one per week but Miss clarified that too. Oh no, sireee we have to blog at least 3 THREE time per week.
Three times a week. Really??? I don't dislike this but...Not sure I want to get so intimate with it.
Anyway class Tuesday lasted up to 9:30 pm. Oh yes an hour over. That is a bad omen of things to come for the next classes. I have to admit though that I really enjoyed the class we went through each others blogs in an effort to help to make them better. Mine is most wordy (seems like I'll never change this has been the perpetual complaint of teacher since I was in grade school). It was interesting to see hoe my fellow mates designed theirs. In our discussion there was a lot of reference to writing for the web. The most important thing I can remember about that is say it in less (I need to refine that art), and make use of other media. people are not scanning these things they are skimming so the point is to catch them first generally by visual means and keep them by being concise.
Well I hate to state the obvious but Judgement Day has yet to arrive, and hopefuls like myself (don't worry I didn't believe him) are going to have to wait until October 21, 2011 (how disappointing I was hoping not to have any class today :-( Oh well ). Well just for good measure the facilitator for this course; Writing for the Electronic Media, gave us an...INTERESTING albeit puzzling assignment for our Labour Day project (which had to be done and handed in by midnight Sunday prior to Labour Day).The assignment was to transform a real life oral conversation that was observed into a short screenplay utilizing writing methods and techniques for screenplay and employing the five primary elements of a screenplay (Screen heading, action, character, parenthetical and dialogue). Sounds like fun right?
Well let me tell you, it is not as easy as it sounds. What were my challenges?
It was hard to observe a conversation without looking like you were eaves dropping - at which point the conversers (if that's not a real word I'm coining it for the purpose of this conversation) will go quite or throw you very dirty looks and comments.
It is really hard to remember verbatim what is being said in a conversation when it starts to get juicy and you get engrossed - at which point you start to either laugh out loud, get angry on the behalf of the persons speaking or expressing your disgust by hissing your teeth. This inevitable leads you back to number one since the speakers will notice if you exclaiming loudly with out an audience to suggest that you are not psychologically disturbed.
However, I am happy to report that I was able to observe and record a very interesting conversation and convert said into a screenplay. But you know Murphy's Law, yep I got caught up in that on Sunday afternoon when I wanted to hand in my assignment. I ensured that the first thing I did after devotion was to complete the assignment, however I had no internet at home. After showering to go to school since the labs were open, I began to rain, really really hard. I kept waiting for it to stop or at the very least get to a drizzle. However each time that happened as soon as I grabbed the umbrella and was through my gate it came again harder than before. When it slowed enough to walk and I decided I would not be thawed my umbrella got stuck, in an effort to open it I pulled too hard and dismantled the thing. I ended up walking with a bent out of shape umbrella on the long route since the short cut was at that point pools of mud and no taxi seemed to be willing to pick up the semi-drenched young lady. Did I mention i was walking with loud clashes of lightening and roaring thunder? The lightening was not flashing until I went outside and that is potentially my greatest fear. When I did arrive at school and at the computer labs about 3 minutes to 7 the lab technician was just about to close the grill. I really was on the verge of tears then, but the grace of God was with me nevertheless and the lab tech seeing the drenched wet rat look that I was sporting coupled with saucer sized wet eyes and lashes decided to have mercy on me and allowed me to post my assignment (it didn't go through until the third try).
I'm not generally a negative person and I am always up for a good challenge, but last Sunday and this assignment has me drawing for my Rambo wits in an effort to try as best as possible to ensure that I can not only outsmart but defeat the barrage of other assignments and bad luck days that this course has in store. i'm putting my battle face on - I have class this evening.
N.B. - I would love to post the attachment of my assignment for you but I can't seem to find an attachment button. Guide me to it if you know where it is. Thank much.
Sooo... Hello. It's not my first time, so I won't act like an innocent. I've done this before but this will be my first time going all the way. But I am excited and I want to do it so bad so this is a great time to start...Writing for the Electronic Media. This is our first class and I have to say I like the on-line class business and the teacher isn't too bad ;-). So the idea is that over the next 6 weeks we will be taught the most effective means of writing for electronic media (yes 6 weeks to learn the awesome art of keeping the interest of fickle beings on the magnificent media of TV, radio and the internet...I think I'm starting to hyperventilate). But I'm not worried (that is an absolute lie) I look forward to all the wondrous (and definitely overwhelming) things that makes our favourite sites the ones we always go back to and how is it that one radio program can so aptly hold my interest but another can't and how is it that Hollywood greats such as my personal favourite Quentin Quarintino write their scripts to enthrall their audience. It's only been two classes so far but I am soooo excited!!! Well until next time (oh shucks that's next week...well that's if judgement day doesn't come.)
It is finished. With this last blog, I will be officially finished with this class until July 4, 2011 when I receive my grade. I was honestly starting to sweat over that class but thank God it's finished.
