Here are a few tips on writing production journals.

 

The journal offers a way for you to reflect on the process of making a film, and your role in it, throughout its different phases of development. In addition, the journal asks that you relate your film project to the various course materials--i.e. screenings, readings, and discussions--on a weekly basis. Used effectively, the journal can help you formulate and articulate what it is that your film is "about," while at the same time providing a safe space for you to comment on the inevitable strains of working in small groups, living and studying abroad, using new technology, and so on.

 

Focus your comments on the weekly activities that you undertake in preparing your film--which includes reading, screening, and participating in class discussions. Try to record your ideas and comments as a personal diary. As you write, you might consider some of the following questions, which are meant not to be answered mechanically, but simply to help you start writing--esp. if you find yourself in need of a prompt:

 

·  What issues did you confront this week either individually as a group?

 

·  How will you try to resolve those issues, or what needs to be done if anything?

 

·  What is your role in the group, and how has it changed over time?

 

·  What do you find interesting about this week’s course material?  

 

·  What questions do you have about the material, or what’s been unclear to you?

 

·  How does what you are learning in class inform or shape your thinking about the film project?

 

·  What do you want to learn more about, and what steps can you take to do so?

 

·  What have you observed about yourself since you’ve started working on your film?

 

·  Where in the larger process has your group been successful, and where do you most need improvement?

 

·  Which part of the process has been most difficult, or enjoyable, or rewarding--and why?

 

·  How would you describe the group's dynamic, and how has it changed over time?

 

·  What is it that makes the dynamic so productive--or unproductive? And what might you propose in order to make it even better?

 

·  What is the next step that you need to take, either individually or as a group, in order to advance your project?

 

Assignment: Please write a minimum of 2 pages (i.e. 500 words) each week. Entries must address not only the process of filmmaking in the narrow sense, but also the selected films, readings, and discussions. Personal experiences of “being abroad” are appropriate topics, but cannot substitute for discussion of course materials. The idea is to develop through the act of writing a personal, “holistic” approach to the program as both an intellectual project and a lived experience. Journals will be evaluated at four different times throughout the quarter, as indicated on the schedule.