If you're a college student, or have been a college student in the past, you know how this next bit goes. You've known about all the projects months in advance, but ultimately it's the night before their due and you've yet to begin. Procrastination, it's something I know all to well.
By the end of the semester a fulltime college student has multiple projects due at various times of the week, every week, and each week progressively more difficult as the semester has gone on. The build up to the end is aggravating as on finds oneself caught between the thought of getting enough sleep or turning in a paper on time. But because you're in college and you're paying several thousand dollars a semester, if not more, you decide to screw sleep and get that paper done.
There's a strange satisfaction when students complain to each other about how little sleep they've had or how much they've had to do. The wish for more sleep is genuine, but one can't help but feel a sense of smugness radiating off the individual who can say they were up til three or four, and woke up less than four hours later to do more homework. It wasn't the best work that could've been done, but hey it still got done. Right? Maybe I'm just deluding myself, but I've felt this pride.
Why is it that people can be proud of the stupidest things?
Tuesday, December 6, 2011
Tuesday, November 15, 2011
The Checklist
On the note of the Red Pen, one tool I've come up with when I'm revamping a screenplay is the Checklist. I look at my past screenplay's and make note of what the professor has critiqued me on, or what I have had trouble understanding. Using that list, I mentally check each of the things as I read my screenplay, completely reading through for each problem.
In my second screenplay my trouble came in remembering to put sounds that are significant to the story of the film in all caps. Because of this when I looked over my last screenplay before handing it in, I read it through once checking specifically for that problem. On my next sweep of the script I paid close attention to how I treated the description of places and the character identification; which I had also had a problem with. While I don't literally write out a checklist and go down it bit by bit, it wouldn't hurt.
In using the Checklist I've noticed it's becomes possible for me to get hung up on the details of Screenplay formatting. In the course of editing to solve formatting problems I may inadvertently change the flow or direction of the story, which could move the screenplay away from the requirements laid down for the assignment. Future goal: always keep in mind the object of the piece even while making corrections to the format.
In my second screenplay my trouble came in remembering to put sounds that are significant to the story of the film in all caps. Because of this when I looked over my last screenplay before handing it in, I read it through once checking specifically for that problem. On my next sweep of the script I paid close attention to how I treated the description of places and the character identification; which I had also had a problem with. While I don't literally write out a checklist and go down it bit by bit, it wouldn't hurt.
In using the Checklist I've noticed it's becomes possible for me to get hung up on the details of Screenplay formatting. In the course of editing to solve formatting problems I may inadvertently change the flow or direction of the story, which could move the screenplay away from the requirements laid down for the assignment. Future goal: always keep in mind the object of the piece even while making corrections to the format.
Tuesday, November 8, 2011
Hello!
Hello all!
This is not my first crack at blogging, my last attempt petered out after only a few posts. I started off with a vague idea of what to do, and what I was going to talk about. There was nothing really concrete. This time however I have a pretty good idea of what I want to say. Basically, I'm here as a student to write about things I learn in order to make it sink in more within my brain. This is for me, not you.
I'll be venting a bit about class, assignments, and every once in awhile professors. As an Art and Film (technically called Digital Cinema) major I'm aiming to take a critical stance on alot of my own work. So, to begin.
This semester I'm taking a screenwriting class. It's going pretty well, and I've gotten some good feedback, and managed to get B's on all my screenplays so far. Yesterday I received a project back, flipped it open the first page to find... The Red Pen.
Feedback on work is always important, as an artist I know that the Red Pen is a good device for a teacher because on a black and white page it pops quite well. The first thing to remember about criticism is to not take it personally. Did I go home after class feeling terrible and indulge in a large wineglass of chocolate milk? Yes, yes I did. Give yourself some time to cool down and look at it from a less self critical point of view. It's not you that the professor is criticizing, it's your work. Remember that you can look at the Red Pen as a tool, one of the many things that an artist can use to produce better work.
So take a step back, and don't look at it as a critique of your personality. It may be cliche, but think of it as a growing experience. Life would be pretty dull if nobody chose to continue learning.
This is not my first crack at blogging, my last attempt petered out after only a few posts. I started off with a vague idea of what to do, and what I was going to talk about. There was nothing really concrete. This time however I have a pretty good idea of what I want to say. Basically, I'm here as a student to write about things I learn in order to make it sink in more within my brain. This is for me, not you.
I'll be venting a bit about class, assignments, and every once in awhile professors. As an Art and Film (technically called Digital Cinema) major I'm aiming to take a critical stance on alot of my own work. So, to begin.
This semester I'm taking a screenwriting class. It's going pretty well, and I've gotten some good feedback, and managed to get B's on all my screenplays so far. Yesterday I received a project back, flipped it open the first page to find... The Red Pen.
Feedback on work is always important, as an artist I know that the Red Pen is a good device for a teacher because on a black and white page it pops quite well. The first thing to remember about criticism is to not take it personally. Did I go home after class feeling terrible and indulge in a large wineglass of chocolate milk? Yes, yes I did. Give yourself some time to cool down and look at it from a less self critical point of view. It's not you that the professor is criticizing, it's your work. Remember that you can look at the Red Pen as a tool, one of the many things that an artist can use to produce better work.
So take a step back, and don't look at it as a critique of your personality. It may be cliche, but think of it as a growing experience. Life would be pretty dull if nobody chose to continue learning.
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