Writing For The Media Professional focused on journalistic writing. The class also discussed the “hero’s journey”, writing for the web, and writing screenplays. I learned so much during this class. One of the main skills I think I have now is writing structures like the delay, 2-3-1, kabob, and the hourglass. I also learned what to look for when writing journalism like conflict and characters. I also learned how to recognize character archetypes and steps of the hero’s journey.
When I wrote my news feature I decided to write about mental health because it’s something I think about a lot. I decided to interview members of CAPS and Active Minds. Then I wrote the news feature with the suggested “kabob” style. I wrote the lead first then the source information and interview quotes. After that, I went back to write the “nut graph” with information from the research portion of the project. I realized that I didn’t have quite enough relevant information so I went back to do more research. After having Ben edit my paper I decided to read the entire thing out loud. Reading it out loud actually did help me fix a lot of things because sometimes when I’m writing I skip words.
When writing my screenplay I had a couple of ideas of what to write about. I designed characters in the past but I never wrote stories for them. Although I couldn’t find my notebook I did remember some vague details about the characters. I read the first 10 pages of the GLOW pilot and Lady Bird screenplay to understand the formatting. Once I started writing the screenplay I really tried to envision that I’m watching some indie movie. When writing dialogue I don’t think it’s always important to make them sound super realistic because a lot of the dialogue is exposition and plot driving. Writing out plot points and character bios help me with the direction of the script.
I actually enjoyed writing the screenplay more than any other assignment in the class. I’ve tried to write screenplays in the past but it’s been hard to be motivated. Considering we had a short time limit to write a screenplay I really felt inspired to write. I think I will look into taking the Screenwriting class even though I was hoping this would be last writing class I would have to take. I was very nervous to take this class overall I think it went really well.
felea's blog 