Week 5: Journal 1

Module 1 Writing Activity

Pick one of the four topics listed in the Week 5 writing assignment and choose the topic that most appeals to you for your final, peer reviewed paragraph. Once you’ve made your choice, start with the first step of the writing process, inventing, and try a few of the methods to develop your ideas.  If you find that the topic does not seem to be working, try developing another topic. Once you’ve developed some good ideas for your paragraph, move to the second step, organizing, and construct an outline that you can use for drafting your paragraph.  

Topic #1 
Discuss at least four (4) short term and/or long term effects that finishing Crafting an Effective Writer: Tools of the Trade will have upon you personally, academically, and/or professionally.

Topic #2 
Identify and describe a favorite activity or interest and provide at least four reasons why this activity or interest holds your attention and/or is enjoyable to you.

Topic #3 
Identify and describe at least three (3) ways a person, male and/or female, is recognized as an adult in your culture.

Topic #4 
Identify and describe a traditional ethnic food from your culture. Provide at least four reasons why this food has remained an essential, primary food in your culture. While you may include the recipe, this topic asks you to discuss the importance of the food in your culture.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Topic #2: Filmmaking and the sense of fulfillment

Quite recently, after a long history writing songs and playing music in public, I discovered how enjoyable it is to create films. All this procedure, from the conception of the idea to the final exporting of the movie file, let me mentally exhausted but absolutely satisfied, with the soul-cleansing thought that I used my time creatively and that's one of the most important things I can think of. Video is a great medium to express one's ideas and messages, but also one of the most complicated ones, since many people are involved each time, even for the simplest ones. There has to be absolute discipline and everyone must respect the decisions of the director, who is the absolute boss and, even if some ideas can be discussed, eventually the director is the one who will have the final word and the rest of the crew has to follow. The director's responsibility is great, because he/she has to manage all the people in the crew, including the actors, ensuring that everyone works in a sane and pleasant environment, with respect for each other and having in mind that there always something non-predicted may happen, that will change the plans and will make the team to search for new props or even a new location at the last moment. Of course, after the shooting is over, there's still a lot of work to be done, with the editing being a major part of the creating process. This is where a good editor can make miracles, with or without the help of the director, but disaster may occur as well, like, e.g, in the form of unusable footage because of a visible cable or an actor that may look at the camera for a brief moment. This is where good directing and good editing make the difference. And if the work has been correct, the edited video will always leave a joyous feeling of accomplishment to the whole team, making all the efforts and tiredness worthwhile. So, to recapitulate, the expression of ideas, the disciplined and respectful teamwork, the challenge of the huge responsibility of the director who will take all the blame in a possible failure, the way the editing turns a bunch of scattered video clips into a movie and the sense of fulfillment while watching the complete movie are great reasons to make someone begin making films.