Firstly, I want to draw attention to the fact that, what i thought i knew about cinema, is part of a minute theory that attempts to explain narrative. From engaging in the weekly reading I find that there are multitudes of theorists out there that attempt to explain the narrative, all in the hope of perhaps understanding its structure. I’ve always been caught up in the story and plotline whilst remaining ignorant of the fact that, the narrative in itself, exists as part of a much larger process involved in the creation of media works. In reading Robin Pickett’s, ‘Getting an Idea’ I found that you cannot separate the narrative from the medium that will ultimately realise it, the medium that will bring it to life. You have to consider the best possible manner in which your story could be told. For instance, imagine you had constructed a narrative in which a pair converse for 20 minutes without interruption. Within this conversation you include pauses, long silences, changes in tone etc. Now, my opinion is that, if the conversation was realised on radio, the audience would perhaps lose interest, or become distracted whilst, if realised in a film, changes in shots, physical characteristics, scenery and other visual elements combined with audio would result in a much more compelling and engaging scene.

I tend to find myself blank or trapped as I sit and try to conjure up a storyline even when I am not inspired by any kind of story. I had always been told that one has the capacity to gain inspiration from anything. However, I felt that as I’m writing a narrative, I needed to just sit, pull myself together and imagine a story. Once again, my naive knowledge proved exactly that: naive. Pickett quotes Polanski who, when writing with Gerard Brach decided to write the kind of elements they would like to see on screen, the type of character attribute, the kind of emotions and so on. This concept perfectly manifested itself in class where we were offered a sheet of paper on which we created a character and all their unique attributes. Using such attributes as my foundation, I created a story. For instance, if my character were high maintenance, that inspired me to create conflict in which her high maintenance personality was challenged and so on.

This really opened my eyes to my capacity as a writer. How can you understand your capability as a writer when you haven’t attempted alternative ways to write? I know this concept has already expanded my capability.