Response #2 for class 2-7-11

In the following post you will read my responses on two seperate readings about Professinal Writing Stories. Both responses answer the question:
"How will the reading help you tell your Professional Writing Story using a narrative tool?"

Response to "What exactly is script?" & "What makes a good story?"
#1”What exactly is Script?” and “What makes a good story?” response:
Having worked with script writing in a high-school photography class, I had a small understanding of the importance of flow and visual aid in the outline. This reading did reiterate the key aspects of a script mentioning the importance of showing versus telling. Movies are meant to captivate and draw some sort of connection or emotion with the viewer through visually stimulant. In the first section of the reading, “What exactly is a script?” the author explains why script is important. Doing this by explaining that every member of the film process must be on the same page and having an outline of directional clues visible makes it easier for all to make adjustments they sit fit. With the changes in the film being made in an outline versus actual production, will allow the film makers to save money, time and at the same time keep the theme behind the film in visually available. This reading also helped me keep in mind that my written story is a story, and even if my flow isn’t the same or the characters change, as long as the underlying theme is shown then my message will still be clear.
The second section of the reading goes more in depth with the idea of story and visually telling one. It explains the concept of a “hook” for the story, similar to the “hook” of a good song. This meaning, what is the underlying thing that the story teller wants the viewer to remember. It tells that a good way to think of this “hook” is as a “what if?” kind of a thing and go from there. This helped me to have a better focus on how to effectively tell my story by showing. I used the “what if?” concept to create my “hook” of: “What if a drug addicted parent realized that they have lost their child, and are once again all alone, due to their personal addiction and the addiction they have led their adolescent too?”
I feel this reading helped me get in the movie writing and showing mode, giving a general, yet well explained overview of showing versus telling. Also by reminding me of the notion of genre and fitting my production into a category. Do I want to have my short story be a comedy, a drama, a thriller or make it horrific? I came to the conclusion that my story will best be told and received in the general drama category, allowing me to draw viewers in and relate without making a mockery of the underlying message of drug addiction.
#2 “Engaging critically with texts” response:
With this layout, the highlighted points were “how can you convince your audience that you are worth taking seriously?” and “what’s your point of view?”. Each of these raises very good points and allows for a wonderful starting point for this assignment. Other great ideas the outline brought to my attention were “what do you want to communicate?” and “what is your most important goal?” both helped me in that they narrowed my thoughts leading me to answer the questions specifically to better focus my message. The point of view for the story is important and helps take my detailed written message and create an effective and reliable story through a smaller narrative and more visual aid. My point of view in the written story came more from the child’s point of view, where my visual story will have to point of view through the mother and an outsider. I felt that this would be the best way to convey the story in the brief amount of allotted time. Changing the point of view for a story is sometimes necessary when switching mediums in order to make sure that the message is still heard and not overlooked by all the outside detail. Thinking of how I can prove my worthiness to my audience was a more difficult question for me. I feel that the honesty and emotion that will be conveyed in the message will be my selling point with my audience. Since my audience is focused on currently addicted parents, I feel that a sincere and emotional message is best, since I can relate to them and pull the necessary feelings out of them to make them think. This paper helped me to really narrow down my new view of the story and lead my mind in the direction it needs to go so that my message won’t get lost in the new view and will be taken seriously. I also liked the comparison of the outline, showing what is important as the reader versus the writer, allowing me to look back and forth and compare what I feel may be important versus what the audience needs to get from the entity.