Love and Death (Woody Allen)

Today, we will watch the film Love and Death. As you watch, please pay attention to the camera shots Allen is using to tell his story.

Additionally, the use of farce, hyperbole, mistaken identity, and absurdity are rampant in the film. Notice how these comedic techniques are used in the film. You, too, can use these techniques in your own writing! Wow!

Woody Allen is parodying various famous films. Here's a few clips of shots that he is taking directly from famous films:
Ingmar Bergman Persona
Ingmar Bergman Seventh Seal
Sergei Eisenstein's Battleship Potempkin
Sergei Eisenstein's Alexander Nevsky

Eventually, you are going to be asked (again and again) to write film reviews. Most newspapers utilize film and theater reviewers. If you learn the basics, you may have a future career. It all starts here in 10th grade.
Advice about writing a film review.

HOMEWORK: Please read A Streetcar Named Desire. Conduct a play review for this play (due Jan. 5). In your review, use a hook or grab our attention, research enough of the play and its history to explain to your audience its place in history. When was it written, who first produced it and where? Then go on to discuss the characters, setting, plot events, and theme. Your review should be about 5 paragraphs in length (2-3 pages, double spaced, for example). Use details from the text to support your opinion about the play.

Camera Shots (Vocabulary)

Please learn the following basic film vocabulary.

Shot: How much subject matter is included within the frame of the screen.
In general, shots are determined on the basis of how much of the human figure is in view. Additionally, a shot is also an unedited strip of film, recording images from the time the camera starts to the time it stops.

Types:

1. extreme long shot - taken from a great distance, almost always an exterior shot; shows much of the setting or locale. They serve as spatial frames of reference. Used where locale plays an important role. (Historical, epics, westerns, etc.)

2. long shot (proscenium shot) - About the distance one would be from the theatre stage to the audience. Usually includes complete human form to a distance less extreme than the ELS.

3. Full shot - Fits the whole human form in the frame of the camera.

4. Medium shot - Usually contains a figure from the knees or waist up. It is useful for shooting exposition scenes, for minor movement and for dialogue.
A. Two shot (two people in the shot, usually from waist up)
B. Three shot (three people crowded in the shot)
C. Over the shoulder (focal point is the person the viewer can see, shot over another character's "shoulder" to show POV

5. Close up - Usually a person’s face (or neck and shoulders). Concentrates on a relatively small object. Elevates the importance of small details, often symbolic.

6. Extreme close up - Focuses on a very small item. The item usually fills the frame. Used to elevate importance of small details; again, often symbolic.

7. Deep Focus Shot (wide angle shot) - A long shot with many focal distances. Shot captures objects at close, medium and long ranges simultaneously.

Camera Movement Shots

8. Pan, panning shot: (short for panorama), a revolving horizontal movement of the camera from left to right or vice versa.

9. Tracking shot, trucking shot, dolly shot: A shot taken from a moving vehicle. Originally tracks were laid on the set to permit a smoother movement of the camera.

10. Crane shot: A shot taken from a crane (mechanical arm) which carries the cinematographer and the camera to move in any direction, vertical or horizontal.

A Streetcar Named Desire (notes)

Streetcar Named Desire is one of those standard classics that you can use on a Regents exam, as well as learn good playwriting from Williams. What follows is a little help in unlocking the enigma of the play.

A Streetcar Named Desire can be described as an elegy, or poetic expression of mourning, for an Old South that died in the first part of the twentieth century.
The plot of A Streetcar Named Desire is driven by the dueling personalities of Blanche and Stanley (protagonist and antagonist).

1. Light is used as a motif and symbol in the play. Consider what its presence or absence indicates. Particularly, what does it mean as a personal symbol for Blanche?
2. Williams uses sound as a dramatic device. When and what does Blanche hear music? Look for this sort of symbolism throughout the play. Music helps create tone, as well.
3. Mitch is different from the other men in the play. He is a contrast to Stanley's brutishness. Williams uses Mitch as a complication for Blanche, and a contrast to Stanley.
4. Likewise Stella contrasts her sister Blanche.

The two most complex characters in the play are Blanche and Stanley.

Blanche DuBois

"When the play begins, Blanche is already a fallen woman in society's eyes. Her family fortune and estate are gone, she lost her young husband to suicide years earlier, and she is a social pariah due to her indiscrete sexual behavior. She also has a bad drinking problem, which she covers up poorly. Behind her veneer of social snobbery and sexual propriety, Blanche is an insecure, dislocated individual. She is an aging Southern belle who lives in a state of perpetual panic about her fading beauty. She does not want to belong in this setting, but she fits in quite nicely to our image of New Orleans as a cesspit and ancient behemoth. Stanley quickly sees through Blanche's act and seeks out information about her past.

In the Kowalski household, Blanche pretends to be a woman who has never known indignity. Her false propriety is not simply snobbery, however; it constitutes a calculated attempt to make herself appear attractive to new male suitors. Blanche depends on male sexual admiration for her sense of self-esteem, which means that she has often succumbed to passion. By marrying, Blanche hopes to escape poverty and the bad reputation that haunts her. But because the chivalric Southern gentleman savior and caretaker (represented by the ideal Shep Huntleigh) she hopes will rescue her is extinct, Blanche is left with no realistic possibility of future happiness. As Blanche sees it, Mitch is her only chance for contentment, even though he is far from her ideal.

Stanley's relentless persecution of Blanche foils her pursuit of Mitch as well as her attempts to shield herself from the harsh truth of her situation. The play chronicles the subsequent crumbling of Blanche's self-image and sanity. Stanley himself takes the final stabs at Blanche, destroying the remainder of her sexual and mental esteem by raping her and then committing her to an insane asylum. In the end, Blanche blindly allows herself to be led away by a kind doctor, ignoring her sister's cries. This final image is the sad culmination of Blanche's vanity and total dependence upon men for happiness."

Stanley Kowalski

"Audience members may well see Stanley as an egalitarian hero at the play's start. He is loyal to his friends and passionate to his wife. Stanley possesses an animalistic physical vigor that is evident in his love of work, of fighting, and of sex. His family is from Poland, and several times he expresses his outrage at being called “Polack” and other derogatory names. When Blanche calls him a “Polack,” he makes her look old-fashioned and ignorant by asserting that he was born in America, is an American, and can only be called “Polish.” Stanley represents the new, heterogeneous America to which Blanche doesn't belong, because she is a relic from a defunct social hierarchy. He sees himself as a social leveler, as he tells Stella in Scene Eight.

Stanley's intense hatred of Blanche is motivated in part by the aristocratic past Blanche represents. He also (rightly) sees her as untrustworthy and does not appreciate the way she attempts to fool him and his friends into thinking she is better than they are. Stanley's animosity toward Blanche manifests itself in all of his actions toward her—his investigations of her past, his birthday gift to her, his sabotage of her relationship with Mitch.

In the end, Stanley's down-to-earth character proves harmfully crude and brutish. His chief amusements are gambling, bowling, sex, and drinking, and he lacks ideals and imagination. His disturbing, degenerate nature, first hinted at when he beats his wife, is fully evident after he rapes his sister-in-law. Stanley shows no remorse for his brutal actions. The play ends with an image of Stanley as the ideal family man, comforting his wife as she holds their newborn child. The wrongfulness of this representation, given what we have learned about him in the play, ironically calls into question society's decision to ostracize Blanche." (both taken from Sparknotes)

Mitch and Stella provide Stanley and Blanche with appropriate foils. They complete the possible futures for Stanley/Stella and Blanche/Mitch.

There is a lot in this play (as in all Tenessee Williams' work). Characters are complex, plot is driven by the desires of its characters, conflict is nicely supported through characterization, setting is significant, and literary devices such as symbolism run rampant through its pages. No wonder the world knows this play. It is fine play writing. Read it. Learn.

10 Minute Play Script Draft Due! & Tennessee Williams

During period 7, please complete your 10-minute play scripts. Have a partner read your script during period 7 and correct any formatting or spelling/punctuation/grammar problems before turning in. Print and turn in.

Period 8: please collect A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams. When you arrive back in class, please read and take notes on the link above. We will begin a look at Streetcar in class today.

10-Minute Play Script Draft

Keep on truckin' er writin'. Today please continue working on your 10-minute play. You should be almost done (if not completed) by the end of today's class. The play draft, however, is not due this evening.

Amiri Baraka Visits RIT. If you go to this event, write a short response to your experience and you'll get extra credit!

10-Minute Play Script Draft

Today please work on your 10-minute play draft #1.

Your play should have:

1. At least 2 characters. Limit your cast to 5 or 6 at the most. This is a short play. Each character should have a purpose and reason to be on stage. Give your characters motivation.
2. Your play should have a title. Title your play the feeling, emotion, or concept you chose for your theme.
3. Include a cast list with a short (1-2 sentence) description of each character.
4. Your play should open with a short description of the setting. Only include the most essential props or set design. It is custom to give your characters SOMETHING TO DO when you introduce them. Give a character some action at the beginning of the play.
5. Format your script properly. Use the links and format described on the previous post (or follow the format found in your Woody Allen books).
6. A 10-minute play is roughly 6-12 pages in length. The more monologues and speeches your characters give, the longer the play. Short dialogue runs a little quicker.
7. Keep your play in one setting. Keep the momentum of the play moving! No changing scenes!
8. Write dialogue the way people talk. Avoid overusing: "well," or "um", or "so", or "like." Allow the actor to throw these in if he/she needs to. Write in SHORT DECLARATIVE SENTENCES or FRAGMENTS.
9. If a character interrupts another, use an em-dash to indicate this. Pauses are traditionally inserted as "pause" or "beat" -- the time it takes a short exchange of dialogue between two characters. Ellipsis are used for trailing off...

Also: Coffeehouse tonight! Use SOME time in lab to prepare your piece if you are performing.

God & Woody Allen Comedy Script

Today we will be reading the script God by Woody Allen.

When we have completed the play reading, please go back to your brainstorming notes.

Choose the best concept, human condition, or feeling (see previous post) and write a 10-minute play (about 6-10 pages) in script format. Your play can be any topic or style, but you should have a central theme that speaks to your chosen concept.

NOTE ABOUT FORMATTING A PLAY SCRIPT:

There are generally two different types of play script format. One is preferred over the other, although some literary managers will accept either.

Please link to this website for advice and examples of correct script formatting. You may also look at how the script is formatted in Woody Allen's book. This is also correct.

Death & Last Day

This is the last day of the marking period.

Today, before we continue reading: please brainstorm in your journal/notebook a human condition or feeling. Make a list of these: for example: life, God, death, love, justice, gluttony, etc.

Let's continue reading Death. After completing this play, please work on updating your portfolio with your fiction or revising your Hemingway stories. These are due by Monday, Dec. 6.

Death

Today, during 8th period we will begin reading Woody Allen's "Death." Please select a character to read aloud. You get participation credit for paying attention and/or reading in class. Slumping in the corner or not gathering with your peers as we read grants you NO credit for participation today.

HOMEWORK: You may revise and correct your Hemingway drafts for a higher grade. Due Friday. Keep reading the fiction/parody stories in Woody Allen's Without Feathers. No need to read the plays yet.

1st Period

Please revise your Hemingway stories.

2nd period, please refresh this blog for more info.

Woody Allen's Without Feathers

Please read the collection: Without Feathers by Woody Allen. Information about Woody Allen is posted on the link on the side of the blog. Look here for a short bio.

Much of Allen's humor requires a little knowledge about form, content, or knowing a little bit about his life (or the life of a Jewish New Yorker intellectual). To help you, please refer to this page for explanation of the allusion and humor in Woody Allen's book.

The title: Refers to Emily Dickenson’s poem: “Hope is a thing with feathers.” Ergo, if you have no feathers, you have no hope.

Selections from the Allen Notebooks & The Early Essays: Both these essays parody the publishing industry’s love affair with memoir, creative non-fiction, and publishing a well-known author’s private writings after they have died. Hence, the humor of these weird insights into the famous “Woody Allen” journals. Traditionally, creative essay form always used the same form: the word “ON” and then the subject of the essay.

Examining Psychic Phenomena: The supernatural is always a good subject to parody. In this case, a review of a newly published “non-fiction” book on Psychic Phenomena. Look up Psychic Phenomena on the internet to see the sort of thing Allen is parodying.

The Guide to Some of the Lesser Ballets: When you attend an opera or ballet, inside your program you often get the story synopsis. Since opera is usually in another language, and ballet is hard to follow if you don’t know the story, these sorts of program notes are helpful in interpreting the performance. Allen, of course, is poking fun.

The Scrolls: A few years before the book was published, the Dead Sea Scrolls were uncovered. In the early 70’s this sort of thing caused a lot of controversy between religious scholars and scientists. They wondered if these scrolls were part of the Bible. Allen is also Jewish, so the humor relates to this fact as well.

Lovborg’s Women Considered: The playwright Henrick Ibsen is the bane and love of many literary scholars and theatre students. Woody Allen is poking fun of the field of literary criticism (scholars who write about books, authors, and their “private” lives).

The Whore of Mensa: Allen is parodying the hardboiled detective novel made popular by writers like Dashiell Hammett (The Maltese Falcon). Think of Humphrey Bogart as the narrator and you’ll have the idea. Mensa is a national program/club – entry into which is based on I.Q. The idea then of whores who intellectually stimulate their johns is a very funny idea.

Death, A Play: Allen was a philosophy major in college. He is also interested in psychology. The two main philosophical ideas this play refers to are existentialism and Nihilism. Existentialism is a type of writing or the study of answering the question: what is the meaning of life? Existentialism tries to explain what the meaning of life is. Some people believe we are alive for a reason, others are Nihilistic and say that there is no point in our existence, that there is no purpose to our lives. Kleinman is representative of everyman. He represents all of us. We sometimes don't know what our purpose in life is (Kleinman doesn't know his purpose in the play, for example). By the way, we are all being "stalked" by death, just as Kleinman is being stalked by the maniac. Death is the great equalizer. All living beings are going to die. Along with LOVE, DEATH is one of the most common themes in literature.

A Brief, yet Helpful, Guide to Civil Disobedience: People were protesting the Vietnam War when Woody Allen wrote this book. Even this serious topic is humor-fodder for writers. The allusion to The Trojan Women is referring to a Greek Tragedy (see: God) about the women of Troy banding together to protest the Trojan War.

Match Wits with Inspector Ford: In the 70’s books such as 5-Minute Mysteries were very popular. The idea was that the author gave you a very short mystery or crime. The answer to the “riddle” was in the back of the book. A fan of whodunits will enjoy this parody.

The Irish Genius: This is a parody (similar to Lovborg) but dealing with the poet William Butler Yeats. Yeats was an Irish culture fanatic and wrote “Irish” lyrics celebrating Gaelic and Irish legends. His poems drip with allusion and Allen plays around with this idea by providing fake “footnotes.”

God, a Play: Poking fun at Greek Theatre, Allen is also joking about writers and the process of writing a play and the challenges of performing it. Allen was a playwright before he became a film writer. So you can assume the Writer character is partly autobiographical. Of course, the character of “Woody” is also Allen’s alter-ego in the play. Enjoy the absurdist ideas of the piece. By the way, the machine reference in the play is a reference to: Deus Ex Machina (or God from the machine) referring to a contrived ending of a play (a God comes down and fixes the characters’ problems).

Fabulous Tales and Mythical Beasts: Bestiaries were an old fashion (Medieval) form of the nature guide. They were all the rage in the 1500’s.

But Soft, Real Soft: There is a scholarly debate over who really wrote Shakespeare’s plays. Many critics say that Marlowe (another Elizabethan playwright) wrote Shakespeare’s work. Others say Queen Elizabeth or Francis Bacon wrote the plays. Probably, odd as it may seem, Shakespeare wrote Shakespeare’s plays. The title refers to a line from Romeo and Juliet.

If the Impressionists Had Been Dentists: The Impressionist painter Van Gogh kept close correspondence with his brother Theo. Later a song and a movie were made from Van Gogh’s private letters. The title tells the rest of the joke.

No Kaddish for Weinstein: Kaddish is a Hebrew prayer of mourning usually recited at a person’s grave. Woody Allen often jokes about Freudian Psychoanalysis or therapy. He is using a comic technique of the non-sequiter (or surprising a reader by saying something unrelated to its subject or something that makes no sense or is nonsensical.)

Fine Times: An Oral Memoir: Another parody of a book review and autobiography of a fictional character. This one is about Flo Guinness, a speakeasy owner in the 1920’s. Alcohol was prohibited (illegal) in the early 1920’s and later repealed. Guinness is the name of a popular beer. Allen references many famous 1920’s musicians and people.

Slang Origins: The English language has so many weird expressions and sayings. Allen pokes fun at them in this “essay.”

11/23

Today, please do ANY of the following AFTER we have read Allen's Notebooks together.

A. Please submit a poem, short story, or essay to Lambent.
B. Please revise and correct any fiction drafts you have written this marking period.
C. Write new lyrics appropriate for an Improv audience to a holiday song. Keep rhythm and meter the same, just change the words and topics.
D. Complete any of the setting exercises from the previous handout.
E. Read Woody Allen.

HOMEWORK: Please read the SHORT STORIES/ARTICLES in Without Feathers. DO NOT READ the plays (God & Death) yet.

Wilderness Tips & Setting Exercise & an alternative

Please take 10 minutes to prepare for the quiz. After the quiz (or when you finish) please do one of the following tasks:

A. Choose one of the setting exercises depicted in your chapter on setting. Pick one of the 12 of these exercises and try one.

B. Choose a Traditional holiday, Christmas, or Hanukkah song and rewrite the lyrics. Our Improv troupe needs your writing abilities for their show: Dec. 3.

C. Prepare and submit work to Lambent--our literary magazine.

ANNOUNCEMENT: WE HAVE A COFFEEHOUSE DECEMBER 8 AT 7:00. We'd love to see you there. Spread the word!

Reading/Writing Workshop & Setting

Today get into groups of 3-4. Together in your group, please do the following in any order, but keep track of time:

1. Read the Article on Setting (this is part of your homework and next class's exercise.) As you read together, help each other understand the article. Note questions so that you can ask me to clarify.

2. Please discuss the stories in Wilderness Tips together. Look at such things as plot, character, theme, and setting. If you were to write a similar story, what would you do differently? Where would you set your story? What character/plot changes would you make? What style of writing or genre would you use?

3. Print out a copy of your Hemingway or character story (only the most current draft). Together in your groups share your writing with your peers. Take turns to read and discuss your story with your workshop group.

HOMEWORK: Complete Wilderness Tips. Please bring your texts to class next class for the test. You will be tested on this book 11/19.

Hemingway Project Due & Nancy Thorp Poetry Contest

Please turn in your homework (response to one story regarding characterization and one story regarding setting--see below)

Note the following:

1. Your Hemingway drafts (all four of them) are due today. Please turn them in by the end of class. Work not printed and turned in today will be considered late. Please put draft 4 on top, draft 3, 2, and 1 on the bottom. Paperclip the drafts together please.

2. The Nancy Thorp Poetry Contest deadline is today. Please consider submitting 1-2 poems (of the many that you wrote). You can get information about the contest at the link. Use this link to submit your poem when you have proofread and revised it.

3. Work on your portfolio. Revise your character story or Hemingway story concentrating on SETTING.

4. Read: Wilderness Tips (all stories) Today, for homework or in the lab, please read "Wilderness Tips" and "Hack Wednesday."

Homework: Complete Wilderness Tips. For one of these stories please answer: How does POV (Point of View) and verb tense affect the writing style of one of the two remaining stories. What does writing in present tense do to us as a reader. Why is Atwood using this tense form? How does Atwood use POV effectively in the story?

There will be a quiz on this book on Friday. Please complete the collection by then.

For those of you who cannot enter Nancy Thorp (Hollins University) Poetry contest (or those who can), check here for another opportunity. Oops, this a pay contest with an entrance fee. Don't do it.

A Look at Setting

Setting is the when and where your story takes place.
Apart from Character and Plot, Setting is one of the most important elements in your writing.

Setting includes:

• Artifacts or Props (the things characters use)
• Clothes (the things characters wear)
• Time of day, conditions of the weather
• Geography and location
• Trees, animals, and nature
• Inside and outside sounds, smells
• All physical and temporal objects

So that means setting refers to:

• The location (locale) or place the story is set
• The weather (including the season)
• The time
• The time period (historical period)

In short: setting refers to all the places and objects that are important in the work, whether natural or manufactured.

Types of Settings:

1. Natural
Nature shapes action and directs and redirects lives.

2. Manufactured
Manufactured things always reflect the people who made them.
Possessions often enter into character motivation and development.

3. Interior: locales INSIDE. Symbolically often refers to private/domestic issues.

4. Exterior: locales OUTSIDE. Symbolically often refers to societal issues.

What is a regional writer?
• A regional writer chooses to set all of his/her stories in one general place or time period. This place usually reflects how the author grew up.

Regional writers include (just to name a few):
• William Faulkner
• Stephen King
• H.P. Lovecraft
• Flannery O’Connor
• Bharakti Mukerjee
• Eudora Welty

Function of Setting:

1. Setting as Antagonist.

• Settings can cause problems/conflict for characters

2. Setting as reflection of mindset or ideology of one of your characters (often your protagonist)
3. Setting as character portrait

• Settings reflect or contrast character’s wants/desires, goals

4. Setting as quality of narrative vision

• Setting establishes trust between storyteller and audience
• Description of setting helps reader visualize the fictional world

5. Setting as reflection of theme or idea
6. Setting as reflection of conflict
7. Setting as mood or atmosphere
8. Setting as foreshadowing of plot
9. Setting as beginning and ending (establishing and closing shot…or frame)

Wilderness Tips & The Hemingway Story Project

After our quiz, we will discuss the two stories: True Trash & Hairball. After that, please continue to work on and complete your drafts.

Your 4 drafts are due at the end of class today. If you do not finish all four drafts, please complete this work for Monday, Nov. 15.

HOMEWORK: Please read Isis in Darkness, The Bog Man, Death By Landscape, Uncles, and The Age of Lead for Monday, Nov. 15. Choose one of these stories and discuss Atwood's use of characterization. Choose another one of these stories and discuss Atwood's use of setting. Each response should be a paragraph or two in length and specifically refer to the text and writing.

Hemingway Project - Draft Four

Make sure you have completed Draft Three before attempting Draft Four. As always, please indicate the draft # on your heading.

Draft Four: Sentence length & Grammar

1. Keep your sentences short and declarative in your non-flashback section of the story. Remember dialogue sounds more realistic when you speak in short sentences or fragments.

2. In your flashback scenes, find moments where you digress and create long, complex sentences. Use em dashes (--) to indicate digressions. Use semi colons (;) to connect related clauses (but don't over use these). Use commas to make a simple sentence into a complex one. Use an ellipsis … to indicate trailing off. Use repetition of phrase (anaphora) to expand a comment.

Ex: Anaphora: “They knew who had shot their fathers, their relatives, their brothers, their friends…”;

Use conjunctions to add phrases to your independent clauses (and, or, but, etc.)

3. Try to find a rhythm in your writing. Most paragraphs start out with short sentences. This allows for a certain length of speed. Then as your sentences get longer and more complex, you can slow or speed the eye of the reader. Usually, you want important information to be delivered slowly. The use of repetition helps create a meter and rhythm for your sentence structure.

4. Spell check and proofread your work. Make sure the last draft is as complete as it can be (this version will be graded).

Turn in all four “drafts” of your story by Wednesday, Nov. 10.

HOMEWORK: Write enough to turn in ALL your drafts Wednesday. Check out and read Margaret Atwood's first two stories: True Trash & Hairball for next class. There will be a quiz on these stories.

Hemingway - Fiction Draft #3

Today in class please continue to complete the second draft of your Hemingway Project. See below for details. This should already be done, but if you needed more time or you procrastinated, do it now.

When you are ready to move on to the next draft, please see the instructions below:

Draft Three: Stream of Consciousness

1. Examine your flashbacks. Find moments where your character can include digressions, get stuck on topics, trail off, etc. You are trying to replicate or reproduce how the character’s mind works. See The Gambler, The Nun, & the Radio (end paragraph on opium) and A Clean Well Lighted Place (the ending paragraph on nada or "nothing")
2. Write these flashbacks using stream of consciousness.

Hemingway - Fiction Draft #2

Most of Hemingway’s stories have simple plots revolving around the theme of death or alienation. Two characters usually do not have the same world view (or opinion) and their conversation or relationship is strained by miscommunication (or the fact that a character cannot explain him/herself to another human being.)

In your first draft you should have chosen a situation, written a story that focused on the here and now--a single moment or a limited time period in one location. You were instructed not to get into the minds of the characters yet. For further details, please refer to the assignment below this post.

By now you should have a completed draft #1. If you do not have a complete draft #1, please complete draft #1 and label it as such before you continue.

Complete? Then go on to these instructions:

Draft Two: Flashback

1. After you complete the basic story. Write a second draft including the following:

• a. Find moments in the story for your character to think about his/her past. Select these moments and for each one, develop the inner dialogue of your protagonist.
• b. This “flashback” should reveal personal opinions, reflect on the situation, and/or connect ideas and people with your character’s past. Your character’s past should be detailed with much verisimilitude.
• c. You may cover years or many days or a great length of time for your flashbacks. You may also change scenery or setting. 

2. Separate your flashbacks by italicizing them.

Complete your draft #2 today in the lab. Please label this draft, draft #2!

During period 8, please gather in your workshop groups. Share the character poem or other story drafts you have created. Discuss and analyze (take notes for the upcoming test) on the stories we have read so far in the Hemingway collection.

HOMEWORK: Please read and record on your note sheet information about these stories (pg. 65-94): "In Another Country", "The Killers", "A Way You'll Never Be" for Friday. 

Hemingway, Closing, Opening, Character quiz

Please take five minutes to study. You should know the titles, basic plot and character names in Hemingway's collection, types of openings & closings, character vocabulary, etc.

After the quiz, please begin working on the Hemingway Exercise below.

Hemingway Exercise - Fiction Draft #1, Short Story #2

1. Most of Hemingway’s stories have simple plots revolving around the theme of death or alienation. Two characters usually do not have the same world view (or opinion) and their conversation or relationship is strained by miscommunication (or the fact that a character cannot explain him/herself to another human being.)

2. In your journal, brainstorm a series of situations that you might write about. These situations should be simple and able to be described in one or two sentences.

Ex: A man dying of gangrene remembers his youth while trying to convince his wife that he really is dying. Or: Two waiters watch an old drunk man one evening. One of the waiters sees himself reflected in the old man.

3. Pick one of your best situations or one you would like to work with.

4. Use one of the techniques of opening a story. Select one you want to work with. Hemingway often used dialogue as an entrance into the story and plot.

5. Tell only this story for the first draft. Your first draft doesn’t have to be an epic length story. It should simply record the events and dialogue. Keep your action within one day or a short amount of time (an hour, a minute, etc.)I'd suggest trying to write 1 full page or 2 pages at most. Write quickly. Don't worry about getting into the mind of your character/protagonist yet.

Short Story Endings

Endings can be:

Circular: The beginning and the end reflect upon one another, often using the same situation, setting, characterization, or even repeating the same line or idea presented in the opening. This provides a sense of parallelism in your story structure. It is best used when suggesting that the past and future of a character/story is similar.

Matching vs. Nonmatching: similar to a circular ending, the first image is transformed, and is repeated at the end. This is most like the pattern in music: theme and variation. The first image of the story foreshadows or suggests the last image. Sometimes this is obvious, othertimes the image is subtle.

Surprise ending: Often an ironic ending, or an ending that surprises the reader. The American writer O.Henry was a master of this kind of ending. It is often found in horror/suspense or mystery fiction. The "surprise" needs to be planned by the writer, who should include details that prepare the reader for the surprise, instead of "shocking" the reader, who usually resents this strategy.

Summary ending: A summary of the outcome of the story – this kind of story wraps the plot up very tightly, suggesting the future for the characters. No loose ends. This sort of ending has fallen out of favor lately, so use it at your own peril.

Open ending: used largely in contemporary fiction, the story doesn’t end nice and neatly (like the summary ending). Instead, it leaves an important question posed to the reader, so that the reader must interpret the ending. Caution: this can sometimes confuse a reader. It is best used for subtle effect.

Ending with an image/idea: ending a story with an important detailed image or idea that reflects the theme of the story can "stain" the idea or image in the mind of the reader.

Short Story #1 Draft

Today, please turn in your homework and continue writing the first draft of your story. Try to complete your first draft by the end of class.

There will be a test on Hemingway's collection, character vocabulary, and tips about opening and closing a short story Thursday.

Character

Character is key. Readers read to recognize themselves in stories. Plot grows from effective character design. What happens in a story is largely dependent on how well a writer knows his/her character.

What does this mean for you? Know thy character as thyself.

Here are some very important character tips and vocabulary that you should know by heart.

Character:

Hero/Heroine: The main character of a story

Villain: The character who opposes the main character

Antihero: A normal, ordinary character

Protagonist: The main character of a story

Antagonist: The opponent of the protagonist

Foil: Either one who is opposite to the main character or nearly the same as the main character. The purpose of the foil character is to emphasize the traits of the main character by contrast, and perhaps by setting up situations in which the protagonist can show his or her character traits. A foil is a secondary character who contrasts with a major character but, in so doing, highlights various facets of the main character's personality.

Characters can be either major or minor, round or flat.

Major characters are characters who are important to the conflict and plot of the story. They often have motivations linked with the main conflict

Minor characters are characters who are not necessarily important to the story. They often are used to develop the main characters or to provide rising action or complications to the plot.

Round characters have a distinct motivation and personality or “voice”; Often they are complex and dynamic (they change through the conflict of the story)

Flat characters are characters that do not change significantly through the conflict of the plot. Sometimes the reader knows or cares little about them because of lack of detail or purpose.

Stereotypes: Characters who are generally recognized as a “type”; These characters lack individuality and often can be boring because we already know how they will act and why.

Ways to develop character:

Characterization: Physical characteristics and personality characteristics which develop the individualization of a character.

Motivation: reasons for the character to act in the story

Dialogue: What characters say helps to develop them
What other characters say about a character also helps develop them

Action: Describing the actions of a character helps develop them (allows writer to show not tell)

Today in lab: After our discussion on Hemingway and character, please continue to write your 1st draft stories.

HOMEWORK: Please read: The Killers, A Way You'll Never Be, Fifty Grand, The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber. For each story, choose one character (not necessarily the protagonist) and identify what type of character Hemingway has created (see above) and give a few examples as to how he characterizes or develops the character in the story.

Fiction: First Line & Fiction Exercises

Today we will conduct a fiction exercise. Follow the steps below for your exercise:

1. Create a character name.
No ideas? Use your middle name and combine it with the last name of your neighbor, a distant relative, or your mother's maiden name.

2. Describe your character's personality in a few sentences. What kind of person is this character? Focus only on the spiritual, mental, or emotional traits of your character--do NOT focus on physical characteristics.

3. Considering the character's personality, describe your character's physical characteristics or traits. Make sure you give your character at least one physical flaw. No one's perfect.

4. Describe your character's social or family life.

5. Give your character a long-term goal or desire.

6. Now that your character is shaping up, create 3 premises or situations that your character can find herself in. Your premise should be a very short (1-3 sentence) summary of a potential story. You may change genre or tone. Do not necessarily write three connected scenarios. Each scenario or premise should work on its own.

7. Combining the first sentence exercise with this one, choose or alter your character and first line to start a story.

8. Write a first draft. For the rest of class, please write a 1st draft of a short story (1-5 pages).

NOTE: Hand in Hemingway homework (see post from Monday).

Homework: Please read the article on Character.

First Line Exercise

Write 10 different first lines. This is an exercise. Try using the Beginning a Short Story post below to come up with different ways to enter a story.

Try to write these lines fairly quickly. We will take 10 minutes to do that. That's one minute per opening line. If you finish early, feel free to write another 10 or another 10 or another 10. Write as many first lines as you can in 10 minutes. DO NOT CONTINUE THE STORY. Just grab your reader's attention. Ready, set, go!

After this exercise, we will watch the basic elements of Fiction. Please take notes as you watch the video. This is participation credit. Please hand in after watching.

After watching, we will continue with our next fiction exercise.

HOMEWORK: Please read the short stories: The Gambler, Nun, & the Radio, Fathers and Sons, and In Another Country. To turn in: identify the TYPE of short story you think best describes the story & what technique does Hemingway use to OPEN his story. See blog posts for notes.

Beginning a Story

Beginning a Story

A beginning promises more to come. It should hook our attention, allow us entrance into the world of the story. Beginnings need to be full of potential for the characters (and the reader). Some simple ways writers do this is the following (taken from The Fiction Writer's Workshop by Josip Novakovich)

Setting: setting sets the stage and raises our expectations, introduces us to location, time, and supports character, tone, mood and POV.

On the pleasant shore of the French Riviera, about half-way between Marseilles and the Italian border, stands a large, proud, rose-colored hotel. Deferential palms cool its flushed façade, and before it stretches a short dazzling beach. Lately it has become a summer resort of notable and fashionable people.

Ideas: While this can sometimes be dry or essay-like, it can also characterize a speaker, a place, an important motif or tone of a story.

“Now, what I want is, Facts. Teach these boys and girls nothing but Facts. Facts alone are wanted in life. Plant nothing else, and root out everything else. You can only form the minds of reasoning animals upon Facts: nothing else will ever be of any service to them…”

Imagistic or Strong Sensations: Imagery invites your reader to experience your narrative, giving you a good start. It also helps establish setting, usually.

1956. The air-conditioned darkness of the Avenue Theater smells of flowery pomade, sugary chocolates, cigarette smoke, and sweat.

A Need or Motive: Need is essential for all major characters. It is usually what drives the
conflict and characterization, also the plot in a story. Starting off with a motive or need is
the fastest way to learn what characters want.

On his way to the station William remembered with a fresh pang of disappointment that he was taking nothing down to the kiddies. Their first words always were as they ran to greet him, “What have you got for me, daddy?” and he had nothing.

Action: Action catches our attention.

The pass was high and wide and he jumped for it, feeling it slap flatly against his hands, as he shook his hips to throw off the halfback who was diving at him.

Scene: Usually in one sentence, combines action, setting, and character.

Card-playing was going on in the quarters of Narumov, an officer in the Guards.

Symbolic Object: Describe an object that has significance to your story, characters, plot. Usually a reader will recognize the importance of an object if mentioned in the first paragraph of a story.

An antique sleigh stood in the yard, snow after snow banked up against its eroded runners.

Sex: Sex sells. It also gets our attention.

After I became a prostitute, I had to deal with penises of every imaginable shape and size.

Character portrait: Introduces a reader to your protagonist or an important character.

The girl’s scalp looked as though it had been singed by fire—strands of thatchy red hair snaked away from her face, then settled against her skin, pasted there by sweat and sunscreen and the blown grit and dust of travel.

Character’s Thoughts: Like a portrait, this one’s internal.

If I am out of my mind, it’s all right with me, thought Moses Herzog.

Question: A direct way to motivate the reader, who often wants to know the answer to a posed question.

“Well, Peter, any sign of them yet?”

Prediction: Creating an ominous tone, a prediction foreshadows or hints at the ultimate ending of a story.

Neither of the Grimes sisters would have a happy life, and looking back it always seemed that the trouble began with their parents’ divorce.

Anecdote: an anecdote (a short story) can introduce an important idea or theme, create a symbol, or set a particular tone.

The village of Ukleyevo lay in the ravine, so that only the belfry and the chimneys of the cotton mills could be seen from the highway and the railroad station. When passers-by would ask what village it was, they were told: “that’s the one where the sexton ate up all the caviar at the funeral.”

Activity: In your journal write a variety of "opening lines."

Using the best opening, begin a short story. With the rest of class, write. See where this opening takes you. Call this Opening/Hook Exercise - Draft 1.

The Different Types of Short Stories

“The best guide on how to write short stories is to read those already published by any good author, and the best way to discover your own talent, if you have any, is not to talk about the stories you find swimming about in your head, but to write them down, and keep on writing them…the only way to find out if you are a writer or not is to write.”

Types of Short Stories:

• The Traditional Story

o The goal of the traditional story is to tell a simple story.
o Usually unsophisticated or simple, the author usually draws experience from his/her own life or similar experience.
o Traditional stories may use any genre (sci-fi, fantasy, western, romance, realism, action-adventure, horror, suspense, etc.) but, again, the focus of the story is on telling a simple story, usually to entertain.
o Usually the story is written in a realistic style.

• The subjective story

o The author has found his/her voice.
o The author discovers that his own personality can play a large part in a story.
o Usually these stories use first person POV and gets into the mind of its protagonist.
o The focus then of the subjective story is development of character.
o The story can be written in a realistic style, but may also begin to move toward a more complex subjective narration.

• The objective story

o The author is able to suppress his/her own feeling and view of things for the sake of a more objective presentation of his/her story and characters.
o The author’s personality or life is not found consciously in the story.

• Experimental and symbolic story

o These stories fool around with the structure of fiction.
o They are often experimental or symbolic, pushing the boundaries of what “fiction” is.
o These stories are often less obvious, more subtle in their meaning, characters, plot, etc.
o These forms play around with fiction convention, they often break the “4th wall”, may use multiple subjective narration, tell a story backwards, break fiction convention rules, etc.

• Complex story

o The author utilizes techniques from the first four groups here: (traditional, subjective, objective, experimental), combining the best techniques from all these forms.

• Universal story

o The skilled author hits upon certain human truths.
o The universal story form is similar to the complex story, except that it transcends the form to become “classic” short fiction.
o The universal story is often found in novel; many authors at this stage find novels more to their liking.

Hello Fiction...

Goodbye poetry. For now. You are free to continue writing poetry. You are free to continue revising and working on your poetry. But let us take our focus to another genre. Welcome Fiction!

Writing exercise in 5 minutes. Write a 100 word story. Your story should be exactly 100 words--not 99 or 102, but 100. Write quickly and in the next five minutes tell a story to your reader.

To start off we are picking up our first collection of short stories: The Snows of Kilamanjaro & Other Stories by Ernest Hemingway. When we get back upstairs, there's a bit of work you need to do before we read a few of these collected stories.

For one, take a few minutes to research Ernest Hemingway. Learn a little bit about him. Then we'll talk.

Then read this advice:

Stories are divided into scenes. One scene written after another creates a sequence of events (plot). The best scenes connect, one causing action to further complicate or move the story along.

Poetry Unit Quiz Today!

Today, please take 5 minutes to look over your notes, then prepare for the exam. After our test, please do the following:

A. Write a short story draft of 100 words exactly.
B. Revise any further drafts of your poetry cycle or character poem.
C. Complete your segue poems drafts.

Figurative Language

Metaphor
Simile
Personification
Symbol

Metaphors and similes are the backbone of many poems.
• A simile is a comparison between two objects (nouns) connected by like, as, or than or a verb like resembles.
• A simile expresses a similarity, a connection between two things.
• The art working here is that the two things are not normally thought of connecting or going together logically.
• The more dissimilar the objects being compared the more interesting and challenging the reading/listening process.

A simile equation looks like an analogy:
X:Y (x is to y)

By leaving out the connective (like, as, than, etc.), the result is a metaphor. Metaphors are more direct, making the connection deeper and more significant.

• One goal for a poet is to extend the metaphor, thereby prolonging the effect of the comparison.
• By selecting words which recall or connect to the metaphor being made, we can extend the comparison.

A metaphor equation might look like this:

X = Y (x is equal to y)

To extend a metaphor, choose the Y and list words which come to mind when thinking about Y.

Example:
Love is a bird.
X = Y

Bird associated words: peck, fly, feathers, worm, beak, hawk, egg, etc.

Love is a flightless bird
An ostrich with its head in the sand.
What sharp beak pecks my heart
In search of the green worm?
What comes first to this lonesome nest—
The egg or the chicken?

Beginning a Poem

One thing to remember is that when beginning a poem, your real "poem" may not appear until later in the draft. Often the first few lines we write are the turning the key in the ignition, the release of the brake, the shifting into gears, the checking of the rear-view mirror, until pulling out of the driveway and getting onto the road. We may be far down the road before we realize we forgot our luggage.

In other words, the REAL opening of the poem, may not be the first line we write.
An opener, just like fiction, should grab our attention and provide us with information regarding what the theme or meaning behind the poem is, provide the reader with a setting, a speaker, and an occasion for the speaker to speak.

There is no one way in which to write a good poem.

Getting started can be difficult. If you have one of these problems consider the solution:

Writer's Block: lower your standards. Just write through it; you may have to cut a lot afterwards, but you'll at least have something written. Don't let writer's block be an excuse. Poets write hundreds of bad poems to write one good one.

Busy: Set aside time to write. Make this time sacred. You are fortunate in that you have 40 minutes everyday set aside for you to write. Use it!

Not sure what to write or what your subject is: try automatic writing, freewriting, brainstorming, etc. Use your journal to come up with ideas. None of these have to be good to start off with. But by the time you have crafted your work, it should be presentable and good enough to share.

Not sure what to write or what your subject is: try reading other poems. Then borrow ideas or subjects. Don't copy, but borrow words and put them in different order, steal a subject, a setting, a conflict, etc. Then write it your way!

It may help to answer these questions BEFORE you begin:

1. Who/What is my subject?
2. Who is my speaker (or voice)?
3. Where is my setting (where is my speaker speaking)?
4. Who is my speaker speaking to? (audience)
5. Why is my speaker speaking? (motivation)

Poetry Unit Quiz

Thursday, you will take the poetry unit test.

What should you know?

The Complete Writing Process: brainstorming/generating ideas, composing a first draft, editing, revision (drafting), publication.

How to begin a poem
Imagery: the five senses, simile, personification, metaphor, allusion, universal images or symbols.
Figurative language
Elements of sound: onomatopoeia, assonance, consonance, alliteration, euphony, cacophony,
Line: length, metrical lines (particularly pentameter, tetrameter, and alexandrine.) Iamb, trochee, dactyl, anapest, spondee, caesura, enjambment stanza
Meter
Open form; Closed form

Segue Poems & Diversions

Please work on your segue poems today in class. When you get stuck or need more inspiration, take a look at these poets reading their poems. Pay attention to the sound of the poem. How do the words build and connect or create an overall tone?:

Mary Oliver's Wild Geese read by a woman in a car.
Mary Oliver's Something read by a busy woman.
Mary Oliver's Sunflowers read by a woman whose battery is low.
Mary Oliver's God at Work read by a woman who is worried about her ovaries.

Draft and revise your character poem and your poetry cycle.

POETS: some advice about your poetry:

--Many of you overuse participial phrases and gerund phrases. You add adjective clauses to almost every sentence. Please don't. Poetry often sounds better when you state ideas clearly.
--Present tense is stronger than past tense.
--Choose interesting and active verbs over blah, passive, or neutral verbs. (looking is a weak verb as opposed to stare, peep, glance, or inspecting for example.)
--Again, you need to use punctuation in your poetry. You are not e.e. cummings. Fragments are NOT okay in poetry. They are confusing.

Segue Project & Drafting

Please continue your segue projects. You will be required to have three turns for each "cycle." That's six poems completely.

When you have written your poems put them together with your partner. Keep them in order and give your cycle a title and author credit to you and your partner.

You may also spend your time in lab revising and drafting your previous poem and poem cycle. For the poem cycle, you may take any of the poems or all of them and create a second draft. Keep track of the # of drafts each time you work on a draft.

Drafting schedule (suggested):

Character poem:
1. Compose first draft
2. Correct punctuation/grammar/syntax by putting it into prose
3. Add imagery
4. Add line breaks
5. Add sound elements/meter/rhythm

Poem Cycle:

1. Compose cycle
2. Choose any of the following crafting elements to focus on: line, sound, rhythm, imagery

Segue Poem Cycle:

1. Drafting

Sound & Poetry

Today, we are going to cover sound and rhythm in poetry. There's a lot here and many terms and literary devices you will need to know. I'd suggest you pay close attention (even with computers nearby) as you will be tested on this soon.

After reading Mary Oliver's discussion about SOUND, please look at the following links (you may use your headphones). For each, try to notice sound imagery, rhythm and cadence.

Robert Frost: The Sound of Trees
Robert Frost: Nothing Gold Can Stay
Edgar Allan Poe: The Bells

After viewing, please continue to work on your segue poems. If you have not yet turned in your poem cycles, please do so. You may also work on second-fourth drafts of your poems, paying close attention to imagery, punctuation, stanza use, line length, word choice, and now, sound devices. Make sure you note changes in your draft #'s.

Fascinatin' Rhythm: Music in Poetry

Prosody is the study of sound and word choice in poetry.

Poems originally emerged from songs and music. Lyric poetry, for example, started as a "poem" spoken with the beautiful plucking of a 3-stringed harp called a lyre.

We hear poetry sung or spoken daily when we listen to the radio or to our favorite band.

Poems often have a distinct rhythm or pattern to their rhythm.
The rhythm of poetry includes: beat or syllable count, meter, and something called scansion

Rhythm (also called beat, metrics, versification, etc.) is the comparative speed and loudness in the flow of words spoken in poetic lines.

Words in poetry are selected, not just for content, but also sound or “musicality” of a line. Placement in a line is also important.

Large units of words make up sentences and paragraph in prose; smaller units make up phrases or cadence groups. In poetry this is metrical feet.

Words are not read in isolation, but in small groups (cadence groups).

Ex. When lilacs last// in the dooryard bloom’d
And the great star// early droop’d
In the western sky// in the night.

Metrical Feet:

Two classifications of poetry: open forms; closed forms.

A closed form (traditional poetry), cadence groups form a pattern.
An open form (free verse, mainly), cadence groups do not form a set pattern.
Poetry in open forms tends to stress meaning over versification.

Syllables: individual units of rhythm in a word or line.

Stress: this class. Also, the emphasis placed on a syllable in a word.

Unstressed: lighter stress, not so heavy as the stress above.

Metrical feet:

1-foot = monometer
2-foot = dimeter
3-foot = trimeter
4-foot = tetrameter
5-foot = pentameter (the meter used in sonnets and blank verse lines; very common)
6-foot = hexameter
7-foot = heptameter
8-foot = octameter
9-foot = nonameter
10-foot = decameter

2 Syllable Feet:

Iambic: stress is on the second of two syllable words: ex. reTURN, beCAUSE, atTACK, etc.

Trochee: reverse of the Iambic, stress is on the first of two syllables: MOTHer, SISter, BORing.

Spondee: Both syllables are stressed.

3 Syllable Feet:

Anapest: stress is on the last syllable of a three syllabled word. Ex. Chevro-LET, rockandROLL

Dactyl: stress on first syllable followed by two non stressed. Ex. BU-da-pest, FOR-tu-nate

Other lovely poetic terms you need to know concerning rhythm & line:

Caesura: (plural: caesurae) a pause separating cadence groups (however brief) within a line. If the pause is a result of the end of a line pause, then this is end-stopping.

Enjambement (enjambment): If a line has no punctuation at the end and runs over to the next line, it is called run-on or better yet, enjambement (enjambment).

The Poetic Line

A quick and easy guide to line breaks:

The longer the line, the slower the action or the movement of the poem.

Use longer lines when you want the reader to slow down or the speaker in the poem is taking time to breathe.
Longer lines can also indicate ranting

The shorter the line, the faster the action or movement of the poem.

Use shorter lines when you want the reader to speed up or the speaker in the poem is in a hurry or excited.
Shorter lines can also indicate a simple mindset or persona.

Combine line lengths to speed up or slow down. When combined, the shorter lines become heavier and weighty with meaning. You are putting emphasis on the shorter lines because they stand out on the page from the longer ones.

This works the same way in reverse. A longer line will have emphasis in the midst of a lot of shorter lines.

LINE BREAKS and SPACE

The ends of your lines will emphasize the last word in the line of poetry.
Usually, the last word in a line is a noun. (Most lines end with nouns.)
Poetry without punctuation usually has nouns as end words in their lines so as not to confuse readers. (Most readers stop at the end of a line.)

In poetry that HAS punctuation, make sure you read to the period--do not pause at the end of a line or you will be confused.

Lines can also often end in a verb.
(lines ending in verbs stress the action happening in the poem)
Or an important word that the poet wants to stress

Space, in general, is used to show ‘emptiness’, scattered or fragmented thoughts, parenthesis, and pausing.

Seque Poem Collaborative Project

Seque poem draft:

Write a poem about absolutely anything. So far we have focused on the importance of character (your persona or mask), imagery, and now line. Consider these issues when writing your poem.

A poem should try to say something about the human condition. Remember that the human condition is not always about death and negative feelings. There is that thing called joy as well.

Like the poem cycle "Seques" your poem will begin a correspondence between you and another student poet. Today write the first poem. When you have completed your first draft, print your poem (make sure you have a title and you # your draft [Segue Draft #1], and save).

Hand your poem to another student...someone you want to correspond with. Poets who are slow will have fewer choices in this matter. In any case, you will partner with a poet. Remember who you have sent your poem to, so this poet can give you a poem back.

What to do when you have been handed a poem:

1. Read the poem you have been handed.
2. Think about the poem you have been handed.
3. BRAINSTORM a creative response using the poem you have read as a model or jumping off point for your own ideas.
4. COMPOSE a poem in response to the poem you have been handed. Write and save your poem draft. I suggest saving it in the same file as Seque: Draft #1.

For now, that's all.

HOMEWORK/ON GOING ASSIGNMENT:
DRAFT #3 of your CHARACTER POEM:

In draft #3 add imagery. Use figurative language to make your abstract ideas concrete. Use allusion, personification, onomatopoeia, simile, metaphor, symbol, allegory, alliteration, assonance, consonance, or kenning. Don't know the word? Look it up and learn the term. After adding imagery to your poem, making sure there is a clear image that is conjured in the mind of a reader, put your poem back into lines.

Poem Cycle (1st Draft) & Seque Poem

Please complete your poem cycle today. I will not interrupt you. Your poem cycle should be anywhere from 3-9,000 poems.

FINISHED? Please do the following:

Seque poem draft: Write a poem about absolutely anything you want it to be about. Whatever you choose, the poem should try to say something about the human condition. Remember that the human condition is not always about death and negative feelings. There is that thing called joy as well. This poem will begin a correspondence between you and another student poet. For now, you just want to write the poem. Don't worry about anything beyond that.

Still finished? Please complete draft #3 of your character poem. Call it draft #3. In draft #3 add imagery. Use figurative language to make your abstract ideas concrete. Use allusion, personification, onomatopoeia, simile, metaphor, symbol, allegory, alliteration, assonance, consonance, or kenning. Don't know the word? Look it up and learn the term. After adding imagery to your poem, making sure there is a clear image that is conjured in the mind of a reader, put your poem back into lines.

HOMEWORK: Please read about LINES.

A Word About Imagery; Poem Cycle & Segues

After our discussion & quiz, please continue to work on your first draft of your poem cycle.

HOMEWORK: Please read the poem cycle: Segues for next class.

Revision, Poem Cycle & an Introduction to Imagery

Today, let's start by looking at a few poem cycles by poet Patrick Phillips. As we read, please note the way Phillips uses active and specific verbs to carry the weight of his poems. As always, look for poetic devices, particularly imagery. Pay close attention to the LITERARY definition of this word. That's the one we want.

Draft #2 of your Character Poem (poem #1): Using your character poem draft #1, do the following:
a. copy and then paste your poem after the first draft (or before it). Change the draft # to 2.
b. Turn this poem into prose. Remove line breaks, add capitalization at ends of sentences, put in sentences. You can keep you original line break capitals if you wish or indicate where you originally broke the line by adding a slash mark ( / ).
c. Correct your grammar. Remove fragments. Note whether your sentences are simple, compound, complex. Do they form a pattern or meter? Examine your syntax.
d. Comb the draft and add active verbs if you can. Remove vague, blah language with specific, detailed language.

Poem Cycle:

1. Choose a fictional, historical, or literary figure of whom you can trace a period of time (for example a lifetime). Ex. Jesus or your father. Brainstorm some options before you jump right in. Make a list of potential topics in your journal.

2. After you choose the subject that feels best for you, spend some time researching or fleshing out your character. If this is a historical or literary character google the person's bio or research a bit. If this is a fictional person, create a character sketch.

3. After completing step one of the writing process (brainstorming/generating ideas), begin your cycle. Each poem (at least 3) should pick a significant moment in the person's life and write from there. Try to capture a moment, as opposed to a long scene.

4. Compose a first draft.

HOMEWORK: Please read Mary Oliver's chapter on Imagery for next class. It is likely we will have a surprise quiz.

Character Poem Cycle Project

Please turn in your first draft of your poem that you were to complete as homework from last class.

We've been talking about poetry cycles. Believe it or not, a poet can write a "story" with the appropriate plot elements like rising action, climax, denouement. A poet usually connects their work thematically (all poems deal with one or two themes), or through a central character or setting.

Let's read Anne Sexton's poem cycles: "The Death Baby" and "The Jesus Papers."

These poems are, again, considered cycles. There is more than one poem that comprises the whole. This sort of thing allows a writer to examine different scenes, placing their characters in various locations, or dealing with separate but connected events--just like you do in writing fiction.

A good rule of thumb is that if you have more than one scene in a poem, consider dividing it into "chapters" or "scenes" just like a play script or film script. One problem for young poets is that they often try to write about too much, too broadly. Don't do that. Or use a cycle. That's their strength.

Writing: Create a character or pick a historical "realish" character. Center a group of poems around this person. Write at least 3 first drafts of a connected theme or character. Just like a fiction story, develop the plot of your cycle. Choose a poem that might be considered your rising action, climax, denouement, etc. Use Gwendolyn Brooks or Anne Sexton as models or examples of style.

Due: Friday, September 17.

Starting off with poetry; Advice in starting; Gwendolyn Brooks

Please turn in your first draft of your baseline piece. Make sure you write DRAFT ONE somewhere on the heading. Each time you add/edit or revise your work this year, you will change the # of the draft. It is important that you keep track of each draft and its development.

Where to find ideas? Let's have a discussion.

A note about beginnings:

Beginnings can be daunting to a writer. There's that blank page and a whole lot of potential. Just like a baby, your writing (story, play, poem, etc.) needs encouragement; it needs nourishment in the form of lots of words, character development, description, and ideas that help it grow. If you don't spend time with your baby, it'll never grow to be the "adult" piece. It will grow up needing therapy, and never get a job (i.e., published), sitting in your bedroom drawer or computer folder until its in its thirties. Not a good start.

Sometimes the first few lines or pages of a longer work is really just the scaffolding that holds up the idea. The REAL beginning might happen in another draft.

Don't worry: once you work with a piece, you'll ultimately find the right opening. In any case, an opening for a poem or story is a reader's "entrance" into the piece. Just like your home, you don't want your front hallway or foyer to be cluttered with furniture and junk that guests have to risk breaking their neck over. It should be an inviting space, promising lovely new sights and people to meet who dwell inside.

Enough with that metaphor.

The most important thing to remember is that writing is a process. It is a promise you are making with your reader. An opening should hook or grab a reader's attention. Poetry and fiction and scripts alike.

Today's class:

After reading this advice and taking that nasty quiz I just gave you, please get into groups of 2 or 3. Together read about Gwendolyn Brooks. She was a Pulitzer Prize winning poet. She knows what she's doing, so she's a good role model for us as young poets.

Please read the poem: "A Street in Bronzeville." OMG! This poem is made up of eleven poems! Taken together it is what we in poetry circles call A POEM CYCLE. The poems are thematically linked. In some cases, dealing with the same characters or personas.

Brooks based this poem on her own experiences and those of her family. Here's a little help with references and lines:

The Madam: Beauty schools or colleges were run by women. It was one of the standard occupations for women in America before 1980. The others were secretary, teacher, nurse, and housewife. Not a broad (forgive the pun) occupational list. Madam, by the way, also is a term used for a woman who runs a brothel.

Hunchback girl: bad posture indicated bad behavior. One's carriage, especially for young women, should be proper, straight (yes, there's another meaning there for Gwen), and appropriate. All things in their place.

Charity children: the poor. Bad woman: a 'ho. A tramp. A...you get the idea. Makeup or "paint" was used by women who wanted to attract men for some reason.

Hosanna is a prayer, a praise to God.

Lincoln: Gwendolyn Brooks was from Chicago. The community of Lincoln Park includes Lincoln Cemetary (and Lincoln Park Zoo). The cemetery is on Blue Island. It was a "black only" cemetery in Chicago.

After you read these with your partner and discuss them, let's talk about the cycle as a class.

Then: Poetry.

Write a poem. Write a poem centered around a specific character or person. Real or imaginary. Write. Create a draft. Complete the draft. Call it draft #1.

HOMEWORK: Complete your poem draft. Please read the article handout on "preparing poetry" for next class.

Baseline Piece (Writing Project #1)

Write.

You choose the format, the style, the genre. Use the guidelines below. Please note the due date for DRAFT ONE.

1. Write a poem, short story, scene/script, or creative non-fiction piece.

2. You can write about anything you want, using characters, setting, theme, plot and everything else you create.

3. DON'T FORGET ABOUT THE FIRST STEP IN THE WRITING PROCESS!
I suggest you brainstorm some ideas first. You may wish to create a character list, or list possible settings or conflicts. You may wish to draw a picture of a scene or character in a situation. You may wish to create a mindmap or use a favorite story or poem as inspiration or as a model for your own work. Use techniques we used last year in our journals to help you.

4. Length: as a guideline try to write at least 20 lines or more for a poem, 2-3 pages for a fiction or non-fiction narrative piece (double spaced), and 3-4 pages for a script (in script format--remember to skip lines between speakers or indent properly). For poems, if you finish early, try writing another (and another). Keep yourself busy writing. Remember that you have to be present to keep your date happy!

Use the lab time to complete or nearly complete your work. I will notify you about time left in class. If you do NOT complete your work today in class, you should take the file home (print or send yourself an attachment in email or copy the file to a jump drive) and complete it. Bring in DRAFT ONE as homework. We will be using what you write in our next class. Draft one due Thursday, September 9 (beginning of class).

HOMEWORK: Please read the handout about generating ideas. Review the 5 steps of the writing process (hint, hint). Complete your baseline piece.

Enemies of the Artistic Process & Agenda

Glad to see you back! I hope all of you had a productive, safe, and enjoyable summer. Well, gosh, let's get back to work!

After a few housekeeping details about this course and the school, we will read Mary Oliver's advice to writers. Then, after that, we'll take a look at this:

Enemies of the Artistic Process

Writing is difficult. But knowing who or what is keeping you from completing your writing can be helpful. Read about the various types of "enemies of the artistic process" and then complete the writing exercise below IN YOUR JOURNAL!

The Procrastinator
• Don’t put off tomorrow what can be accomplished today.
o He says:
• “You can just write tomorrow or the day after or the day after….”
• “You should write after you get all your other work done.”
• “You have too much to do right now to write.”
• “Write after your life gets back to ‘normal’.”
• “Hey, what’s that over there…coffee!”

The Victim
• Bottom line: stop making your lack of a creative life the fault of someone or something else other than yourself.
o He says:
• “My family doesn’t understand or appreciate me.”
• “My teachers are too demanding and fill my life with stress.”
• “My friends demand all my time and attention.”
• “I’m going through a tough time and can’t think to write.”

The Talker
• Don’t talk excessively about it until it’s done. Writing is, by nature, a lonely art.
o He says:
• “Hey, I’ve got a great idea for a story—want to hear it?”

The Critic
• Every artist (even a successful one) has to deal with this guy sooner or later.
o He says:
• “That’s a stupid idea.”
• “This is going nowhere.”
• “This sucks!”
• “You can’t write!”

The Judge
• For everything there is a season.
o He says:
• “You should be doing something more meaningful with your time.”
• “How dare you sit there and write when there’s stuff to be done!”
• “Your family and friends need you more than your art!”

The Perfectionist
• Nothing in this world is perfect. & To err is human.
o He says:
• “It’s not good enough.”
• “I’ll never be a writer!”
• “No one will like my story/poem!”
• “I can’t show this to anyone or they’ll think I’m stupid.”

ASSIGNMENT: When you write, who would you say is your biggest enemy? In your journal, write a "hate" letter to your chosen "enemy". Go ahead and "blast" them, tell your enemy that you are not going to take their "crap" anymore. Be creative!

Then believe your letter. Don't let the enemy win!

The 5 Step Writing Process

The Writing Process

All writers go through a similar writing process. The five basic steps are examined below:

1. Coming up with an idea: Generating raw material, freewriting, Journal exercises, Reading, Experience, Choosing the gem among the rocks, (expanding and exploring the idea), Getting stuck and moving on.

2. Writing the first draft: Composing and structuring, Experiment with technique, Decide on a genre, Decide on the best structure to tell the story. Write.

3. Revising: developing meaning, Rereading your work to look for a deeper meaning, Sharing your work in a readers’ circle/workshop, Getting feedback and response, Revision: transforming, rearranging, expanding, cutting.

4. Editing: Fine cutting (cutting unnecessary words and paragraphs), Line by line editing, Reviewing word choice, Proofreading for errors.

5. Publication: Preparing the manuscript for public perusal, Sending your manuscript out to publishers, The rejection letter/the acceptance letter, working with an editor/agent/publisher, Publication.

Welcome back!

Summer

To my class: good luck during finals! Have a relaxing and enjoyable summer break!

Portfolio & Final Exam

Today, please study for your final exam (see previous blog posting) and prepare your portfolio.

You will be collecting the following for your portfolio/booklet:
1. FINAL drafts of short stories done throughout the year.
2. JOURNALISM articles
3. FINAL drafts of poems
4. Play & Film Scripts/Film projects
5. A self-evaluation

Self Evaluation: Write about how you’ve grown as a writer this year, what has been easy/hard for you, what areas you feel you need more work in; reflect on your progress as a writer, a reader, and as a student. Write about each selected piece you have chosen to include in your portfolio (per genre): why did you include these pieces in your portfolio? How does the piece show your growth and craft as a writer in this particular genre? What did you learn about yourself concerning writing from this assignment or project? Discuss what you learned about the form or genre of the work as you wrote, revised and crafted the pieces, what have you learned about yourself as a writer, etc.

All work should be considered your FINAL drafts, with errors, grammar mistakes, weaknesses purged and removed through the process of CRAFTING your work. All pieces should include a title. Essentially, show me that you learned something about the Craft of Writing through your original work this year.

Screenplay Due! & Final Exam

Complete your screenplay today. Use the lab time effectively to finish your work. Those of you who finish are more than welcome to "shoot" your film using your script, if you'd like. Of course, you will need access to film recording devices and cameras. Students who complete a FILM by June 18 will receive lots of extra credit for this marking period.

Next week, we will complete the 2-parts of our final exam. The portfolio and the content test. Please prepare and study the following film vocabulary & writing tips, Poetry/fiction/playwriting terms for your final exam (this will count as 25% of your grade, so please study):

Camera shot types and angles: extreme close-up, close-up, medium shot (all types), full shot, long shot, extreme long shot, deep-focus shot, pan, tracking, Dolly Shot, Crane Shot, Zoom Shot; high/low, bird's eye, oblique angles.
Styles of film: realistic/formalistic
Film terms: Story, Plot, Narrative film, Diegesis, Diegetic sound, Nondiegetic sound, Frame, Shot, Sequence, Sound Track, Cutting (a.k.a. Editing), Invisible Cutting, Shot/Reverse Shot Technique, Montage, Synchronization, Framing, Distance, Establishing Shot (a.k.a. "Master Shot"), Perspective in film
Lighting: High Key & Low Key
Formatting a film script (see blog posts)
Screenwriting tips (see blog posts)

In addition you should know the areas we studied this year: fiction, poetry, and playwriting key terms:

The writing process: brainstorming, composing the first draft, revision (composing 2nd and subsequent drafts), editing & polishing, publication. (pg. 3-20, blog)
Types of short stories (blog), The hook (pg. 203 & blog), In media res (pg. & blog), White space (pg. 164), Ways to open a story (blog), Ways to end a story (blog), Point of View (POV) 1st person, 2nd person, 3rd person limited, 3rd person omniscient (blog), Character (blog), Characterization (pg. 156 & blog), Honest & Dishonest voice/reliable or unreliable, narrator/speaker (pg. 154 & blog), Setting (pg. 177, blog), Locale (blog), Symbols (pg. 243), Regional writer (blog), Flash forward/Flashback (pg. 234, blog), Stream of consciousness (blog) , Protagonist (blog)/Antagonist (blog)/Foil (blog), Minor, flat, stereotypical characters (blog), Dynamic, round characters (blog), Tone (pg. 216, blog), Mood (blog), Theme (pg. 270, blog), Tense (pg. 233), Conflict (pg. 231, 255, blog), Creating suspense in stories (pg. 205, blog), Dialogue (pg. 156-157, & blog), Dialogue tags: speaker, thought, action tags (pg. 158, blog), Repetition (pg. 168, pg. 189, 258, blog), Show don't tell (pg. 179), Plot (pg. 180, 189, blog entries), Plot elements: exposition, rising action, crisis, climax, denouement, resolution, etc., Short history of Drama (pg. 285), Elements of drama: character, action, conflict, language, theme (pg. 296), play script format (blog).
Poetry: free verse, line length, figurative language, imagery: metaphor, simile, personification, symbol, personification, allusion, internal monologue, found poetry, closed form: villanelle, pantoum, triolet

I suggest you look at your mid-term and review tests and notes, review the Craft of Writing text, review this blog and STUDY. Don't worry too much about terms and concepts you already know, but focus on those you don't know or understand. And, of course, ask.

Final EXAM schedule for Craft of Writing: NOTE DEADLINES & DATES!

Friday, June 4: Coffeehouse @ 7:00, Ensemble Theatre (students attending and reading will gain extra credit for this marking period!)

Monday, June 7: Study, prepare portfolio.

Wednesday, June 9: Term & Concept Test (see the explanation above to review for these)

Friday, June 11: Portfolio due! Students absent from Wednesday's test will have to take their written test on this date. The written test will likely take you about 60 minutes at least to complete. If you are absent on Wednesday, I suggest you come to class on Friday with your portfolio COMPLETED to reduce stress.

Monday, June 14: Late portfolios due. Completed but late portfolios will have a maximum grade of C+ (no B/A). Content and craft, of course, will determine the exact grade. No portfolios will be accepted after this date.

Friday, June 18: Extra Credit film projects due.

Script Writing Tips

Here are some basic tips when writing/planning a script:

1. Create interesting/compelling characters. The best characters are ones that have a specific goal or motive to be in the story. A character who is not involved in the plot, really shouldn't be in the script. Remove these unimportant or over-written parts to save money and time and to tighten up your script.

2. Constrict your protagonist by setting limits. Your protagonist should be challenged by the conflict. Conflict is what makes a story (and character) interesting. Sometimes setting limits in regards to constricting space or making a character deal with a deadline or time limit can breathe life into a story. This is why many action/crime dramas have that cliched scene where the bomb is ticking down. It creates a good amount of suspense. Time is often a way to constrict a character from saying, "well, I don't need to deal with this today," which can derail a story pretty quickly.

3. Character is established through characterization. Remember that what a character does (actions), says (dialogue), and descriptions (even descriptions of setting) help us understand WHO the character is. A character in a police uniform holding a gun is likely in law enforcement. This is immediately recognized by an audience.

4. Conflict moves a story forward. Make sure your character or film plot has an appropriate conflict for a character to deal with.

5. Remember your audience. Your film should at least excite you. If you don't like the story or the characters or the setting, the audience is likely to not care as well.

Script Project

Take out your treatments. Get into groups of 2-3. You may, if you wish, also work alone. Each member of the group should read and review each others treatment. Choose the best treatment to use to create a collaborative script. Please turn in your treatments today as homework/participation by the end of class.

Film scripts are a strange format. Please refer to the script format here.

Here are some sample scripts. Choose a few and read a little of each script. Pay close attention to where the dialogue goes on the page, how the shots are indicated, and other curious formatting.

After you are familiar how to format a script, please take your treatment that you selected and begin creating a collaborative script.

Agenda 5/27

Today, please view the class film explaining film shots and angles. Again, you should know the different types of shots and WHY THEY ARE USED or why a film maker might use the shot in a film. You will be tested on these terms.

Furthermore, please read and take notes below about other important film terms. You should learn these and be prepared to ask questions about them for the test next week.

Lastly, you are going to write a short film script in the next few classes. To begin with create a TREATMENT for your film proposal. Fill out the sheet and submit it by the end of today's class. While everyone will be creating a treatment, the film script will be a collaborative project. I'll explain details as needed.

Due today: The treatment; the vocabulary list of film terms; watch the class film on film shots.

Film Terms/Vocabulary

A few more film vocabulary terms: (look through these, take notes, and learn them)

Taken from David Bordwell and Kristin Thompson, Film Art: An Introduction (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1993):

Story:
In a narrative film, all the events that we see and hear, plus all those that we infer or assume to have occurred, arranged in their presumed causal relations, chronological order, duration, frequency, and spatial locations. Opposed to plot, which is the film's actual presentation of certain events in the narrative.

Plot:
In a narrative film, all the events that are directly presented to us, including their causal relations, chronological order, duration, frequency, and spatial locations. Opposed to story which is the viewer's imaginary construction of all events in the narrative.

Diegesis:
In a narrative film, the world of the film's story. The diegesis includes events that are presumed to have occurred and actions and spaces not shown onscreen.

Diegetic sound:
Any voice, musical passage, or sound effect presented as originating from a source within the film's world.

Nondiegetic sound:
Sound, such as mood music or narrator's commentary, represented as coming from a source outside the space of the narrative.

From The All-Movie Guide Film Glossary
(Konigsberg, Ira. The Complete Film Dictionary. New York: Meridian, 1987.):

Narrative:
A term denoting a story in any form of human expression where no single individual is telling the story.

Narrative Film:
Narrative films can include a large corpus of fiction and nonfiction films including documentaries and dramas though the genre is predominantly fictitious. Narrative films primarily concentrate on story lines and can include character development but the drama and usual fiction are emphasized.

Plot:
The events in an individual narrative and how they are arranged. Arguably the plot and the story are not the same.
{Narrative includes everything that is supposed to have happened in the "story"; plot is more concretely the scenes that are presented in the film, in the precise order in which they are
presented.

Story:
The specific unfolding of a sequence of events in a film. It includes character involvement, settings, and an order that superimposed in an arbitrary manner by the screen writer or by a parallel historical sequence through which the themes are developed. The story is general whereas the plot is specific and includes both internal and external relations to the work.

"Basic Elements of a Film"
Frame:
Frames in essence are still images that are collected in quick succession, developed, and projected giving the illusion of motion. Each individual, or still, image on motion picture film is referred to as a frame.

Shot: In the process of photographing a scene a shot refers to one constant take by the camera. It is most often filmed at one time with a solo camera.

Sequence:
Segments of a film narrative that are edited together and unified by a common setting, time, event or story-line.

Sound Track:
That portion of the sound film medium to which are recorded the dialogue, music, narration and sound effects. The sound head and film gate on a film projector are physically separated from one another. This gap is covered during the recording of a sound-film by keeping the soundtrack recording a few frames head of the photographic image. The sound passes over the projector head at the same time the photographic image passes before the projector's light aperture/lens (the film gate).

3. "Basic Manipulations, and Assemblings of the Basic Elements"
Cutting (a.k.a. Editing):
The process of changing from one shot to another accomplished through the camera or by the splicing of shots together by the cutter (editor). This is also referred to as editing, the preferred term, and includes the decisions, controls, sensibilities, vision and integrative capabilities of the individual editing (cutting) artist.

Invisible Cutting:
Editing procedures that are so well-formed that the viewer is not aware that a splice has taken place. This is particularly important in action sequences because the audience is psychologically intent on the moving images that a cut in the film -- an unobstrusive cut -- is not noticed. This can easily be contrasted with Eisenstein's technique of quick cuts and jump cuts from one scene to the next without transition so as to unnerve the audience and evoke emotional responses in them.

[From the Complete Film Dictionary:
Shot/Reverse Shot Technique: A technique of cutting developed by the Hollywood studios in which the camera switches between two conversants or interacting individuals. ... See invisible cutting.]

Montage:
In the production and editing of film this term has come to refer to a seemingly unrelated series of frames combined so that one scene quickly dissolves into the next, shifting categories, effects and settings in such a manner as to convey a quick passage of time or an abstract unity through thematic devices such as meter, rhythm, tonality, and intellectuality (viz Eisenstein). Continuity, if it exists, is not captured in a frame by frame juxtaposition but rather through an abstraction. (Also see "mise-en-scene".)

Synchronization:
Correctly aligning the photographic and audio portions of a film so that the image and sound is heard and seen simultaneously.

Framing:
Properly surrounding the subject of a shot by the edges of the actual boundaries of the film. All that is seen in the viewfinder of a camera does not always translate directly into the proper centering of the subject. Framing is a technical nuance learned in the process of photography.

[Involves camera angle, distance, and arrangement of objects and people in front of the camera (the "mise-en-scene". Important in framing is the way that the edges of the screen make a sharp distinction between what is seen and what is not seen, what is included and what is excluded, in a particular frame.]

4. "Basic Elements of the Camera Setup"

Camera Angle:
This term refers to the point of view held by the focal point of the camera when it is positioned for shooting. Included in the angle is the perspective given by the camera to the depth of focus, height and width of the particular object and action being photographed. The angle also refers to whether the shot is taken from behind, in front, from the side or from the top or bottom of the particular view. Terms appropriated for these various angles include eye-level angle, high-angle, low-angle, sideview angle and the "Dutch" angle.

Distance:
Distance refers to the amount of relational space between the audience and the character on the screen. Though the characters are two-dimensional and the audience is distinctly separate from the screen by dead space (virtual reality in the theatre has not yet been developed) the camera's perspective, in effect, attempts to provide the amount of space desired subject to the director's discretion. This space often results in the interaction and psychological connection between the characters and the audience. The connection is achieved through the dynamics and varying degrees between long shots, medium shots and close-ups.

Establishing Shot (a.k.a. "Master Shot")
At the beginning of a film, episode or scene within a film, a wide-angle or "full-shot" is photographed for the purpose of identifying the location or setting. Thus the audience has established, or been given the opportunity to surmise an orientation. It also helps to establish the distinctions between the general locale and the specific details -- from subsequent shots -- within the general context.
[The Establishing shot is a wide-angle shot and/or a long shot.]

Perspective:
Spatial relationships. In film (painting, photography, theatrical performances, et cetera) perspective refers to the accurate depiction of three-dimensional space on a two-dimensional surface. (In experimental forms of film, of course, the accurate depiction is redefined.) Height and breadth come naturally to the surface but the added dimension of depth must be constructed through cameras, lenses, sets, and designs during composition. (See "anamorphic lens" and "composition").

5. "Basic Camera Movements"
Camera Movement:
Conventional uses of the camera to obtain camera angles and various perspectives while filming include panning, tilting, tracking or zooming of the camera. These camera ploys are also known as camera movement and rarely does the camera remain static. When a movement does occur, however, the camera comes to a rest providing a smooth transition to the scene. Movements are coordinated with the action in a scene so that the camera does not go in the opposite direction of the action (i.e. action left-to-right.) Of course, many alternative and experimental methods are used in the film industry and camera movement is no exception.

Dolly:
Cameras and other equipment, such as microphones and lights, are often carried around the set on movable platforms. These are dollys and are independently moved by the dolly grip so that the technician, be s/he cameraman, audio or lighting technician, can keep their concerns focused. Dollys are often run on tracks for special dolly pans, chinese dollys, or for mere structurally smoothness. Most of the time, dollys are used for camera work and can include booms for the cameras which allows for the lowering, raising and pivoting of the camera. All of these shots can be achieved simultaneously with an horizontal movement of the camera upon the dolly track.

Dolly Shot:
A camera perspective, on a moving or stationary subject, obtained while the camera is in motion on either a dolly or a camera truck. When the camera is so mounted and moves toward a closer proximity of the subject it is called "dolly-in"; likewise, when the camera is so mounted and moves away from the subject it is referred to as "dolly-out".

{From the Complete Film Dictionary: Tracking Shot: ... So called because it is sometimes photographed from a dolly that moves on tracks, also refers particularly to a shot in which the camera follows the movement of a subject.}

Crane:
A large camera dolly that can raise the camera as much as twenty feet above the ground. The crane has the capacity to move forward and backward and is usually operated by electronic controls. Motions are generally silent and the crane allows shots to be made over a wide ranging area providing great access to cover shots.

Pan:
From the Greek "pan" meaning "all" this movement of the camera is achieved by moving the camera while turning it on a horizontal access. At least four functions are served by this technique including an all encompassing view of the scene, a device for leading the audience to a particular person or place, following a person or vehicle across a distant scene, or giving the audience the visual images and perspective as seen by a character when turning her/his head.
{A turn of the camera up or down on the vertical axis is called a "tilt."}

[From the Complete Film Dictionary:
Zoom Shot: A shot taken with a zoom lens in which the focal length of the lens changes from wide angle to long focus or the reverse so that the camera seems to move in to (i.e., "zoom in" to) or away from (i.e., "zoom out" from) the subject while the camera actually remains stationary.]

Lighting:
High Key: Lighting that is used in film (or theatre) that attempts to flood the space with light. This is usually done to affect mood. The bright effect created by High Key lighting is often used in Musicals, Comedies, and other light subject matter.

Low Key: Opposite of High key lighting, lighting in film that utilizes shadows or darkness to affect mood. The shadowy/dark effect created by low key lighting is often used in mysteries, horror films, and other dark genre materials.