It's now that time of the year when everyone is rifling through course handbooks looking for their preferred subjects for the semester, and enrolling before all the places are taken. Some will follow on to complete their majors, and some will pick up something completely new for a fresh start.
For me, however, in my final semester of this course, I have to force myself into other subjects in order to avoid the notoriously critical course, Script Editing. I had my first taste of it last semester when I had to do a compulsory workshop for script writing. I wrote a piece about a middle-aged, married and retired man who is faced with the unfortunate death of a love affair. He revisits past memories prior to the funeral and reflects on his relationships between himself and the affair, himself and his wife.
In all honesty, I don't really know why I came about to writing a story about a man who is in his mid-life crisis, with a wife who he has been married to for 20 years, and who has a love affair with another younger woman during his marriage. All of these ideas were spawned from nothing but books that I have read, movies that I have watched, and who knows what else. The fact is, I promised myself after leaving school that I would never write stories about situations I have never experienced myself, and it was for a very logical reason. Yet, I did here.
How can one write about something they have never experienced before?
I guess the primary answer to that would be to research your subjects well. In my case, or in any other high schooler's point of view, this could be deemed pointless. Unlike professional writers who actually spend countless time and energy on a story and who research their subject's every nook and cranny, it isn't something I can afford to do when I want to write about a character who is of the opposite sex, lives in a mid-life crisis and is both married and unfaithful.
Nevertheless, I thought just for the sake of this course, I would drop all my beliefs and go with whatever I felt like writing about. And what a mistake that was. On some days, I would walk into class and the script's draft would be received well with some positive and hopeful remarks. On other days, I would walk into class (mind you, with a script that has been edited to suit the last given advice) and the script would not receive more than comments such as "That's unrealistic" and "It's not believable."
I was so discouraged after writing about how the wife respected her husband's privacy, and was told by the tutor that in any shared household, if there is unopened mail regardless of who it is addressed to, it will be opened by either parties. In my household, however, that doesn't happen. I had to argue my point with the entire classroom including the teacher. I wasn't basing the wife on them. I was basing her respect for her husband's mail on myself. They unfortunately failed to understand and accept that.
I guess that makes me a coward. I've had some bad records with my written work and have grown into a shy creative with ideas I believe in but think that no one will ever understand in a million years. Yes, I am completely aware that I am in the industry where ideas are gold, and no matter how ridiculous or babble-like they are, they are always worth something. Sure, but that will never get me back into script writing, or script editing for another six months of my life.
Back from the above's extended tangent, I decided to go with the editing side of things, over script editing, cinematography, production design and documentary. I decided to go with the After Effects and Pro Tools courses, both of which I've been advised, would be good for an editing job later on. I thought, yeah, I enjoy sitting infront of the computer all day long tweaking little things, playing with sound, learning about creative editing programs. In other words, I looked for many logical reasons to avoid confronting script editing again. On top of those two editing courses, I elected a Directing course as well. Hopefully with a line-up of subjects like this, the semester will bring me much enlightenment. Surprising enlightenment.
Perhaps from reading this entry, you may (or may not, and if so, thank you) understand why I have written such a horrible review on Jason Reitman's Up In The Air, or my other blog entries in general. I'm a harsh self-critic, but it's nothing I haven't heard before so I manage to carry on with entries like these for you to read. So may this be a note to you: please excuse my horribad writing style. I'm awfully embarrassed about it, but I enjoy blogging so much it's in this moment that I don't care.
For me, however, in my final semester of this course, I have to force myself into other subjects in order to avoid the notoriously critical course, Script Editing. I had my first taste of it last semester when I had to do a compulsory workshop for script writing. I wrote a piece about a middle-aged, married and retired man who is faced with the unfortunate death of a love affair. He revisits past memories prior to the funeral and reflects on his relationships between himself and the affair, himself and his wife.
In all honesty, I don't really know why I came about to writing a story about a man who is in his mid-life crisis, with a wife who he has been married to for 20 years, and who has a love affair with another younger woman during his marriage. All of these ideas were spawned from nothing but books that I have read, movies that I have watched, and who knows what else. The fact is, I promised myself after leaving school that I would never write stories about situations I have never experienced myself, and it was for a very logical reason. Yet, I did here.
How can one write about something they have never experienced before?
I guess the primary answer to that would be to research your subjects well. In my case, or in any other high schooler's point of view, this could be deemed pointless. Unlike professional writers who actually spend countless time and energy on a story and who research their subject's every nook and cranny, it isn't something I can afford to do when I want to write about a character who is of the opposite sex, lives in a mid-life crisis and is both married and unfaithful.
Nevertheless, I thought just for the sake of this course, I would drop all my beliefs and go with whatever I felt like writing about. And what a mistake that was. On some days, I would walk into class and the script's draft would be received well with some positive and hopeful remarks. On other days, I would walk into class (mind you, with a script that has been edited to suit the last given advice) and the script would not receive more than comments such as "That's unrealistic" and "It's not believable."
I was so discouraged after writing about how the wife respected her husband's privacy, and was told by the tutor that in any shared household, if there is unopened mail regardless of who it is addressed to, it will be opened by either parties. In my household, however, that doesn't happen. I had to argue my point with the entire classroom including the teacher. I wasn't basing the wife on them. I was basing her respect for her husband's mail on myself. They unfortunately failed to understand and accept that.
I guess that makes me a coward. I've had some bad records with my written work and have grown into a shy creative with ideas I believe in but think that no one will ever understand in a million years. Yes, I am completely aware that I am in the industry where ideas are gold, and no matter how ridiculous or babble-like they are, they are always worth something. Sure, but that will never get me back into script writing, or script editing for another six months of my life.
Back from the above's extended tangent, I decided to go with the editing side of things, over script editing, cinematography, production design and documentary. I decided to go with the After Effects and Pro Tools courses, both of which I've been advised, would be good for an editing job later on. I thought, yeah, I enjoy sitting infront of the computer all day long tweaking little things, playing with sound, learning about creative editing programs. In other words, I looked for many logical reasons to avoid confronting script editing again. On top of those two editing courses, I elected a Directing course as well. Hopefully with a line-up of subjects like this, the semester will bring me much enlightenment. Surprising enlightenment.
Perhaps from reading this entry, you may (or may not, and if so, thank you) understand why I have written such a horrible review on Jason Reitman's Up In The Air, or my other blog entries in general. I'm a harsh self-critic, but it's nothing I haven't heard before so I manage to carry on with entries like these for you to read. So may this be a note to you: please excuse my horribad writing style. I'm awfully embarrassed about it, but I enjoy blogging so much it's in this moment that I don't care.
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