WRD 110 Fall 2014: October 2014

Thursday, October 30, 2014

Class Canceled

Class is canceled today (October 30). Your storyboards are still due on your blog by this afternoon. Your only homework for this weekend is to begin filming. Have a safe weekend!

Tuesday, October 28, 2014

Filming and Editing Tips

Here are three tips to think about as you begin filming.

A storyboard is a way for your group to outline and visualize your entire project before you begin filming. The outline will help you construct and follow the narrative of your story and think about which scenes you need and where they will go.

The storyboard, however, contains more than just an overview of your story arc-- it contains specifics about shots and transitions as well.

Student Documentaries

Puppies for a Purpose

Paintball Team

Mathews Garden

Thursday, October 16, 2014

Homework for 10-16: Born Into Coal

For the weekend, please watch and respond to the documentary short Born Into Coal. In particular, pay attention to the narrative style. Is this Human Interest? Standard Narrative? A mix of both?

Pay attention to specific shots. I would like you to break down AT LEAST one shot in detail. You can/should screen capture this shot (so we can see what you're talking about) and embed it in your post. Explain why you chose this shot, what made it stand out to you, and how it works in the larger context of the film. Is this a shot you could re-create?

What is Documentary?

Documentary is a subset of the non-fiction film genre. There is no one documentary film style, which means that it's not possible to talk about what documentaries "look like." It is also not possible to talk about how long a documentary is supposed to be, how in-depth the research needs to be, nor what narrative style frames the film.

MAJOR PROJECT 2: Research Memo

Research Memo

Your next major project is the Research Memo. As this project is simply a compilation of information and planning, you will only receive a credit/no credit score. Each group needs to submit each entry only once.

Homework for 10-14

For Tuesday, I'd like you to write a 350-500 word blog post in which you consider Visual Rhetoric. Visual Rhetoric is simply the application of our rhetorical model onto visual spaces. The follow websites construct an argument, using visuals, about the death penalty.

Avoiding the actual issues (your beliefs on the morality of the death penalty), discuss the rhetorical choices each author made. Do you find one presentation more or less compelling? What other presentations may have been possible? How does each author's aim/goal affect how he presents the images and text? Are there any other elements besides the photographs that contribute to the visual presentation (think text, color, layout)?

No Seconds
The Last Meal Project

Understanding Film Terms

Below are some key terms and explanations (with examples) of key film concepts and terms.

Groups

For Thursday, I'd like to put you all into groups for the rest of the semester. I will continue to update this post as people email me, but here are the groups so far:

The Main Event
Mike Eilerman
Taylor Hamilton
Caroline Alexander
Shannon Stauffer

Dodgeball
Jared Smith
Justin
Brian

The Great Chili Cook-off
Sidney Forester
Beth Harper
Sabrina Walker
Lina Miscia

Study Abroad
Anna Montero
Monique Thomas-Whitehurst
Rana Ghazala
Emma Njuguna

Tattoos
Alex Hamilton
Shelby Napier
Elizabeth Brooks
Sam Heiser

Ice Hockey
Zack Flynn
James Holt
Mason Lubay
Seth Adams

4 Paws 4 Ability
Lynsey Bates
Betsy Evans
Alyssa Hiser
Gabriella Passidomo
Reacheal

Horse Eventing
Kaelyn Chick
Ben Lu
Shelby Vaccariello
Najwa Abu-Taha

Bodybuilders
Randi
Savannah
Callie
Justin

Jon
Chase
Alex
Leon

Keenland
Jimmy
Oakley
Megan
Noah
Daniel

If you do not yet have a group, you have two options:
1. Before class, you need to email me and tell me which group you're interested in joining
2. Come on class on Thursday and get put into a random group

Speech Reflection

For Thursday, please compose a 250 word response to your Shark Tank proposal. Try to assess yourself honestly-- what did you do well? What do you need to work on? What is something that you were unaware of as you presented? Was your presentation what you expected? Did you perform better or worse than you anticipated? Similarly, you can respond to my comments. Avoid discussing grades so much as my comments at the bottom of the rubric. How can you improve on the issues I raised? What do you want to do differently next time?

Thursday, October 2, 2014

Thursday, October 2 Speeches

Below, please find the speeches from today's class.

Homework for Tuesday, October 7

On Tuesday, we will be heading to the Media Depot for a quick tour of the facilities. For Tuesday, please read Chapter 3 of our course textbook, The Town Branch Writer. Chapter 3 starts on page 71. There is no blog post required for this reading, simply read the chapter.