The meeting last week last week was pretty successful as we were able to finalize the characters that we hope to have in the movie. We pretty much know what they're gonna do, and we've made some very good progress on the script, and hopefully will be done with it soon. As the ideas behind the characters have been finalized and they seem rather solid. We also finally named our main character, and we wanted him to have a relatively common name, but not so common it's cliche. So we settled on Jack. And we were sure we didn't want him to have a last name, because we felt that a last name would merely give the character too much of an identity, when the whole point of the story was to keep his identity fuzzy and keep him questioning everything. We want the whole situation to somehow have this unreal sense to the whole thing, and to sustain a feeling of mysteriousness of the whole experience.
I feel that I have grown tremendously through this experience, as I have definitely learned much more about movies and film through this process, though there is undoubtedly still room for improvement. I also feel that I can look at movies in a different way now.
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
Creative Writing 3/17/10
I was able to present my story last week, and got lots of feedback, and recommendations on how to improve my story. I think I've got the plot line now, and how it'll eventually end, but it's not certain as of now. But as for the meeting last thursday I felt I got sufficient feedback to improve the story. I feel that it's come along pretty good. Obviously there is still room for improvement, but I like how it's going. The ending I have may seem a bit harsh and maybe a bit depressing, but I think that's how it has to end. It's not supposed to be happy.
The part that I put forth at the meeting last week began with a flashback, something I think will be integral to this story, because he is being hunted by his past. The majority of the story takes place in the past, and what he's doing now as a result of that past and how he's dealing. I feel I have grown as a writer over this period, and my writing has definitely improved, although there are areas I could work on, and there are still time's when it's hard to get the audience to connect to the story, but overall, I am a better writer for it.
The portion I submitted for review for the meeting last week:
The part that I put forth at the meeting last week began with a flashback, something I think will be integral to this story, because he is being hunted by his past. The majority of the story takes place in the past, and what he's doing now as a result of that past and how he's dealing. I feel I have grown as a writer over this period, and my writing has definitely improved, although there are areas I could work on, and there are still time's when it's hard to get the audience to connect to the story, but overall, I am a better writer for it.
The portion I submitted for review for the meeting last week:
And the bullets struck. Moving in slow motion he toppled over backwards, blood spurting from his wounds, falling, falling…
He woke up shaking, sweating. He hated it. He hated having to relive hell every time he slept. He hated it all. Sometimes he hated living.
After work later that day, he decided that he didn’t want to go through actually making himself dinner, and despite his misgivings, ended up at the same fast food joint he’d eaten at the night before. The night when Gerald paid him a visit.
“You never used to be this predictable”
“Your term’s run over.”
“So?”
“Your task force is supposed to be disbanded.”
“Supposed to be? Really?”
“I already said no.”
“I’m telling you that you can’t.”
“Watch Me.”
“You know, I would’ve been able to find you at any restaurant, but coming beck to the same one, that’s just making it easy.”
“You’d have found me either way. Might as well get it over with.”
“You always were stubborn.”
He didn’t respond. He didn’t know what he was doing. He remembered what he’d done. And yet there was an eerie thrill that his missed. The idea that somebody wasn’t coming home. The thrill he hated. The addictive air of danger. He wasn’t normal. He didn’t know what normal was. But he hated it as much as he longed for it. And he couldn’t do it any more. Couldn’t tear his soul apart any more. He didn’t care if he lived or if he died. He just didn’t want to torture his soul anymore. And then Gerald’s voice cut into his consciousness.
“You’re a journalist now. Never pegged you to have the writer in you.”
“You’d be surprised.”
“So, how long you been working there?”
“Oh, cut the crap. If you found me, you know what I’ve been doing. Hell, you probably know what I’ve had for breakfast, lunch and dinner for the past six months. So don’t screw with me. Now, if you don’t mind I’m gonna leave. And if you follow me I’ll kill you.”
Gerald just smiled as he walked away. Bastard.
What was he thinking? Why’d he go back there? He didn’t get it. He didn’t want to go back to that. He walked across the kitchen, shaking his head, took a glass from the cabinet and filled it with water. Why’d he go back? He drank some of the water. What the hell was he thinking? What good could possibly come from it?
“GOD DAMN IT!” He shouted and threw the glass against the wall. He looked at the broken glass on the ground. “God damn it.” What now?
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
Creative Writing 3/9/10
I submitted the second passage of my story, and hope to receive some feedback Thursday, so I'll be able to further improve this story, as I've already gone over the first passage and it seems better, and hopefully I'll be able to see if I need more work on this piece, and thereby be able to include these suggestions in further passages of this work and others.
Overall I feel that I've been able to grow as a writer over my time in this club, as I've been able to identify areas where I may need to pay more attention, as well as having possible trouble areas pointed out to me by other members of the club. This has led me to become better aware of my strengths and weaknesses as a writer, and allows me to best utilize my skills as a writer to produce a story that can resonate with the reader and stick with them.
This second part of my story is, I feel, a better first draft than the original draft of the previous part. It is more concrete, and as I have established the general idea of the story, and, at least in my opinion, the whole story therefore flows better and smoother than the original piece at first try, although there is undoubtedly room for improvement. As a whole, the story still has a long time to go, and I've already written out the next part, although that part is not finalized, it should be ready by the meeting after this Thursday's, and I will hopefully be ready to submit it this weekend. I also hope to be able to combine parts 4 and 5 and submit them together, and hopefully those five will turn out to be the first chapter.
Overall I feel that I've been able to grow as a writer over my time in this club, as I've been able to identify areas where I may need to pay more attention, as well as having possible trouble areas pointed out to me by other members of the club. This has led me to become better aware of my strengths and weaknesses as a writer, and allows me to best utilize my skills as a writer to produce a story that can resonate with the reader and stick with them.
This second part of my story is, I feel, a better first draft than the original draft of the previous part. It is more concrete, and as I have established the general idea of the story, and, at least in my opinion, the whole story therefore flows better and smoother than the original piece at first try, although there is undoubtedly room for improvement. As a whole, the story still has a long time to go, and I've already written out the next part, although that part is not finalized, it should be ready by the meeting after this Thursday's, and I will hopefully be ready to submit it this weekend. I also hope to be able to combine parts 4 and 5 and submit them together, and hopefully those five will turn out to be the first chapter.
Monday, March 1, 2010
Film Club 3/1/10
Over break we were able to assign various duties to each member of the club, and some were to work on the script over break, whereas others would be focused on possible methods of lighting and art; possible props and storyboards. I was designated, along with three or four others, to work on the script for the movie, and we will be coming together Friday to discuss the progress we've made on the movie as a whole. Additionally we will go over the script that we've written and edit it during the meeting.
Over the break we were able to make some headway with the script, and have at least the first scene down. The script overall leaves a little to be desired, but I think we've got it down pretty good.
Over the break we were able to make some headway with the script, and have at least the first scene down. The script overall leaves a little to be desired, but I think we've got it down pretty good.
Creative Writing 3/1/10
Over the break I was able to complete two more parts of the story, although I feel they are to short to be considered chapters, I will most likely combine the first 5 or 6 parts to form the first chapter of my story. Though it is coming along nicely as there is now a clear beggining and I feel that the story is coming together nicely. I don't think I'll submit it until the meeting after next, as there are still things I'm unsure of, but hopefully they will be resolved by then and I will be able to present the story and get helpful feedback.
Also, there have been a couple stories that I never finished that I think I may be interested in starting up again, with possible revisions. One I got the beginning down, but just ended up disliking it and the other I wrote a couple pages out handwritten, but just never got around to continuing, and the final one was one that I wrote the first sentence of, and then realized I had NO idea where I wanted it to go. The first two I think I'd be able to continue, but the third one I'm still unsure of. I'd like to see it go somewhere but I don't know where that somewhere is.
Also, there have been a couple stories that I never finished that I think I may be interested in starting up again, with possible revisions. One I got the beginning down, but just ended up disliking it and the other I wrote a couple pages out handwritten, but just never got around to continuing, and the final one was one that I wrote the first sentence of, and then realized I had NO idea where I wanted it to go. The first two I think I'd be able to continue, but the third one I'm still unsure of. I'd like to see it go somewhere but I don't know where that somewhere is.
Thursday, February 4, 2010
Creative Writing 2/4/10
I have continued on the with the story that I have submitted last week, and I have written another part to it, in which I hope I've maintained the degree of suspense which I started out, as well as hopefully to widen the mystery of the story. If I can keep that suspense up I will hopefully be able to successfully pursue this story.
I have also begun a second story, and have finished it's prologue, which starts really suddenly, and rather then being really suspenseful, it lands right in the middle of a battle scene, which also, in a way, helps to build up some suspense. Hopefully this will be followed by more and will build a compelling story.
Over the time I have been in creative writing club I believe I have been able to grow as a writer. The plot of my stories seem to be more solid than they would have been 6 months ago, and my style, I believe, has improved. I write with more purpose and a greater attention to detail than I used to. I've also taken to doing something else recently. I used to begin my stories typing, but now I hand write them out first so as to better form them. It seems odd, but handwriting them actually helps, and by first doing it out on paper I am forced to read the story over while transferring it to the computer, so I edit it while typing it. It seems to really help me and improves my stories.
I have also begun a second story, and have finished it's prologue, which starts really suddenly, and rather then being really suspenseful, it lands right in the middle of a battle scene, which also, in a way, helps to build up some suspense. Hopefully this will be followed by more and will build a compelling story.
Over the time I have been in creative writing club I believe I have been able to grow as a writer. The plot of my stories seem to be more solid than they would have been 6 months ago, and my style, I believe, has improved. I write with more purpose and a greater attention to detail than I used to. I've also taken to doing something else recently. I used to begin my stories typing, but now I hand write them out first so as to better form them. It seems odd, but handwriting them actually helps, and by first doing it out on paper I am forced to read the story over while transferring it to the computer, so I edit it while typing it. It seems to really help me and improves my stories.
Film Club 2/4/10 (1/29 meeting)
Last week in Film Club we did not get much done. We determined that there would be a need for some kind of rig for our camera, but as the majority of the club was not there we got absolutely nothing else done. Hopefully tommorow's meeting will yield more results, and we'll be able to get something more significant done. Hopefullly.
We also have started the script, meaning we have a piece of paper with "script" written across the top, but no actual script as of yet. Again, hopefully we will be able to make some inroads on this in tommorow's meeting. But, as of yet, we don't have a start; we've agreed we need to start it, but haven't actually started it.
We also have started the script, meaning we have a piece of paper with "script" written across the top, but no actual script as of yet. Again, hopefully we will be able to make some inroads on this in tommorow's meeting. But, as of yet, we don't have a start; we've agreed we need to start it, but haven't actually started it.
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