reminder: notes for doc submission

doc prep notes

Common Pointers for Revision (Doc Projects)

image by Allie Brosh (Hyperbole and a Half)

1. Be sure to use the documentary conventions discussed in class this week. That is, set up information shared from your film's chronology (timeline) with references to WHAT THE FILM DOES. More specifically, you might intro paragraphs with phrases such as "The next scene features" ... or "Animated recreation footage next reveals how Andy was 'jumped' while riding his bike across a steel bridge." Were you to use that last example, you might then go on to fill in details using present tense verbs to simply describe what the characters are doing in that scene. So, " ... across a steel bridge. Five young men appear to struggle to go through Andy's wallet, pull off his backpack, and generally rough him up." Or, "The next scene features voiceover describing Spurlock's interview with a school's cafeteria staff. Through voiceover accompanying footage from the cafeteria filled with students, Spurlock reports that many kids bring lunches but end up ordering fries."
2. Most drafts need MLA formatting attention. See the "MLA Map" and the "Purdue OWL on MLA" links for this template-driven information. You might also appreciate the "MLA Walk Thru" link, which literally walks you through setting up and formatting your MLA style paper.
3.  Avoid review/opinion and references to "we" or "viewers." Turn that into sentences that describe WHAT THE FILM DOES. The film's action (or rhetoric) is what your summary is chronicling.
4. Take your time to draft and revise ... take breathers. Give yourself space to get it right.
5. For your blog posts, be sure to focus simply on what this documentary work is teaching you and specifically what you have learned about summary writing. Refer to the "blog post" and "blog comments" guidelines infographics, linked just above the syllabus, @ right. (note, the author is Dr. Nathaniel Rivers of St. Louis University, and he has graciously allowed us to use his lovely images -- though take note that at least one colorful term appears).
6. You got this! 

let's think about this plan ...

posting a video

i am writing this text in the "Compose" field. i am setting up to tell you how to post a video. So, here goes:

1.) Find the video you want to share,
2.) Select the "share" option (often represented with this symbol "<").
3.) Copy the "Embed" code.
4.) Come to your post space, and switch to"HTML" field,'
5.) Paste in the code,
6.) Switch back to Compose mode to make changes to the layout (unless you are a code ninja, in which case, go for it).
7.). Publish!

Here is an example, offered lovingly by Alex:

The code looks like this: <iframe width="420" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Cft0pr7lIWA" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> ...

BUT WAIT. YOU ARE STILL IN THE COMPOSE FIELD. Go paste that text (code) into the HTML field, then pop back over to Compose to see how it looks and address layout. YOU CAN DO IT, and if you, we'll all be blessed (again, thank you, Alex!) with this:


Have fun. Write thoughtfully ... and consider adding an image or video to your post (see the BLOG ideas post, below).

i'll just leave this here ... have a good weekend!

image source

this is a test. a boring test. i am going to put an image here because this is so so boring without it.