Media & Environment

Dear nature enthusiast,

Eco Club of PSG College of Arts and Science (PSG CAS)  is happy to announce its release of 2012 Wildlife Calendar.

This single sheet, one side printed calendar measures 22 X 16 inches in size and can be used a poster too. It is printed multi colour on a 130 GSM glossy paper.

Contrasting shades of Light and Darkness is the central theme. It denotes Wildlife’s tolerance and Man’s ignorance.

First image is a poster created by Haripriya Krishnamurthy, a final year student of BSc Visual Communication at DG Vaishnava College, Arumbakkam, Chennai. She submitted this poster for the Wildlife Conservation Society sponsored Media training program conducted in the beginning of 2011. This image is captioned SAVE TIGER.

Second image is that of a pair of Sambar deer in Mudumalai Tiger Reserve, Nilgiris, captured in an early morning. This image is captioned SAVE FOREST.

Both the images have bright yellow light, halo lighting and darkness around them depicting the situation of our forests.

500 copies of this Calendar/Poster will be  distributed free of cost to nature enthusiasts who register their request in the Comments box below. It will be distributed on January 4, Wednesday, 2012 at N.D. Hall, SIEMA Buildings which is near Thomas Park Bus Stop ( to the left of Baskin Robbins Ice Cream Parlour and ICICI Regional Branch Office) at the eastern side of Race Course, Coimbatore from 6.00  - 7.30 pm.

Eco Club of PSG CAS  is organising a power point presentation on The Winged visitors at Coimbatore at this venue as a part of Coimbatore Vizha - 2012 organised by the Young Indians ( YI) of Confederation of Indian Industries (CII) Coimbatore Chapter. All the nature enthusiasts who attend this slide show will be offered a copy of the Calendar/Poster.

This slide show will highlight the importance and need to conserve the local and inland migratory birds which are seen in the Coimbatore Corporation controlled wetlands.

Image of the Calendar in

http://crjayaprakash.com/photography/main.php/Eco-Club/calender.jpg.html

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Eco Club feels proud to have got Coimbatore’s  master class veteran wildlife photographer Mr. Maruthachalam.K for its Bird watching session. He had been here for several occasions as a Chief Guest, but this day he was one amongst the audience. This humble personality is the Chairman of RK Photo Center too.

The advance news in The Times of India brought nature enthusiast Carla Prakash and social networking information brought in Chellamuthu and Balakrishnan.R , Apex members of Siruthuli. The New Indian Express was represented by Rajeswari.G.

Around 80 students attended this show which had presentations from Prem (III BSc Biochemistry) and Suresh Kumar ( BCA) apart from the Common Indian Birds DVD.

Earlier version

Eco Club of PSG CAS is happy to welcome you for a session on Bird watching and identification at its Sangamam Hall on Thursday, December 22, 2011, 3 pm.

An audio visual show on Common Birds of India will be  made. Run time: 45 minutes. This will help the bird enthusiasts to identify at least 50 common birds by its calls. The DVD is produced by Nature Club, Surat. Bird Calls are recorded by Mukesh Bhatt.

Another highlight in this session will be a Power point presentation of the Birds identified by Eco Club members at Perumbarai Environment Centre, Dindigul last weekend. 50 birds were identified by the team and those images will be shown to the audience by Eco Club Chairman Suresh and team.

The presentation will explain you about the exciting features in Bird watching. Rare birds like Pompadour Green Pigeon, Asian brown fly catcher, Vernal Hanging Parrot etc., were sighted by this team.

All nature enthusiasts are invited. Entry Free. Other college students are permitted to join the session if they come with their Identity cards.

Note: PSG CAS is diagonally opposite to Arvind Eye Hospital in Avinashi Road, Coimbatore. Sangamam Hall is just behind the reception in the main building of PSG College of Arts and Science.

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Nature camp at Perumbarai Environment Centre (PEC)

A must see spot for Bird watchers

You can dine with a couple of Grizzled giant squirrels, have tea in front of a dozen Vernal hanging parrots, go for a stroll to sight 60 Pompadour green pigeons.

All these are not happening in a bird sanctuary, but in a small habitat loved by the birds. The place is Perumbarai Environment Centre which is 65 kms from Ottanchathiram in Dindigul district of Tamil Nadu.

20 Eco Club students of PSG College of Arts and Science made a three day trip to Perumbarai Environment Centre (PEC) which is credited for organizing the first South Indian bird watcher’s fair in the year 2004. In a survey conducted in 2006, 160 species of birds were recorded and the number has increased to 176 in 2010. PEC is located at an average elevation of 1000 MSL.
. “PEC is an area thickly populous with birds and the population here has never declined. This is because there are large number of trees which bears fruits and these fruits are sold only after the birds consume enough of them,” says N.Arun Sankar, Secretary of PEC.
The bird watching trip involved a trek to Vellarikarai, Thariyankudisai and Pullaveli. “Bird sighting is a matter of chance,” says Arun.  Around 50 species of birds were spotted during the three days of stay by  Eco Club students at  PEC.

Some of the interesting birds are Asian fairy blue bird, Coppersmith barbet, Pompadour green pigeon, Plum headed parakeet, Lorikeet or Vernal hanging parrot, Crested serpent eagle, etc.

 “Bird watching is one of the best habits we have acquired from foreigners. It is essential to learn about birds or any species for that matter to feel the need to preserve them,” says M.Rameshwaran, Program coordinator and bird watching guide.
In addition to bird watching, the students also got to watch bird videos and learnt a lot about the bird sounds. Bird watching turned out to an exciting affair when two high resolution spotting scopes were carried to the field. There are about 65 species of resident birds and twice the number of migrant birds in the area. The guides Rameshwaran and Pandy were experts in identifying the birds with their sounds. Malabar Parakeet has one of the strongest voices amongst all birds and the Drongo mimics 26 varieties of birds. Myna is another bird that mimics various other birds. Rameshwaran says that these birds are diverse in terms of vocalization. Male birds sing well to attract the females and this occurs mainly in the breeding season. It advertises itself mainly through its voice.
“Apart from their sound, prey birds are identified by the shape of their wings, the elevation in which it flies, shape and size of the body, the colour of it’s under wings,” adds Rameshwaran. For instance, the semi circles under the wings of male Crested serpent eagle are distinctively seen. They hunt on snakes and are well known for their sharp vision.
There are very limited bird watchers in the South and it is merely for leisure and one can’t expect monetary benefits out of it. But conservation is quintessential for all. “Western Ghats is one of the key centers of Bio diversity and there is tremendous need for conservation. The concerned authorities should take responsibility and guide the conservationists for better results,” says Joe Homan, founder of PEC. He feels that everyone is doing their own thing but without meeting up. The idea of beginning the process of environment clubs suddenly hit upon him 45 years back when he came to India.
Joe Homan says that the main idea is to use PEC as a conservation area and also to use it to create awareness. “Indians are quite open to the aspect of conservation but implementing it seems to be very difficult. Training students and making them environmentalists would reap rich results,” added Homan.
PEC though controlled by Boys town society, also founded by Joe Homan, is an independent body. It has tie ups with renowned nature conservation research institutes like The Bombay Natural History Society. Field trips are arranged every two months and students get to enjoy this at very subsidized rates. Coffee, pepper, orange are the major cultivating crops with bananas being grown in some areas. Poaching is minimal here. PEC’s future plan is to create a butterfly park by planting lots of butterfly host plants and opening it commercially to the public.
The six hour long journey from Coimbatore had interesting aspects like the silent stream which remains soundless even when it rains. Annalakshmi mess, opposite to BSNL office in Ottanchatiram where day one lunch was arranged is worth a mention. And needless to say, the food at PEC is almost homely. Economical room rent is another advantage. A strict no to alcohol, smoking and loud music inside the premise is one of the reason that the enviro centre remains bird friendly.

The three day trip was a breathtaking experience for the youngsters. Any bird seen by the Eco club members after the trip would certainly remind them of PEC.

Here is the list of birds spotted in and around PEC from December 18 - 20, 2011

Images can be seen in the following link

http://www.crjayaprakash.com/photography/index.php/Eco-Club/Perumbarai-Environment-Centre

1.Asian Brown Fly Catcher
2.Grey Headed Canary Flycatcher
3. Jungle Babbler
4. White Breasted Kingfisher
5. White Breasted Water Hen
6.Small Blue Kingfisher
7.Oriental Magpie Robin
8.Red Vented Bulbul
9.Red Whiskered Bulbul
10.Great Tit
11.Jungle Myna
12.Hill Myna
13.Malabar Whistling Thrush
15.Crested Serpent Eagle
16.Jungle Owlet
17.Little Spider Hunter
18.Velvet Fronted Nuthatch
19.Spotted Dove
20.Rufous Tree Pie
21.Oriental White Eye
22.Pompadour Green Pigeon
23.Shikra
24.Drongo Cuckoo
25.Greater Flame Backed Woodpecker
26.Jungle Crow
27.Racket Tailed Drango
28.Bronzed Drongo
29.Eurasian Sparrow Hawk
30. Greater Coucal
31.Ashy Wood Swallow
32.Malabar Parakeet
33.Pond Heron
34.Common Flame Backed Woodpecker
35.Yellow Browed Bulbul
36.Long Tailed Shrike
37.White Cheeked Barbet
38.Asian Fairy Blue Bird
39.Common Tailor Bird
40.Plum Headed Parakeet
41.Large Cuckoo Shrike
42.Common Rose Finch

43.Black Hooded Oriole
44.Coppersmith Barbet
45.Purple Rumped Sun Bird
46.Golden Front Leaf Bird
47.Scarlet Minivet
48.Ruby Throated Bulbuk or Ruby Throated Bulbul

49. Vernal Hanging Parrot

Interested in spending couple of day’s birding at PEC, then contact Mr. Arun Sankar in +91 73582 05310.

Field trip write up by Tanzeela Wajid ( II MA Communication).

Bird’s list by Subathra.M ( II BCom)

Initial version of the write -up ( Before the camp)

Eco Club of PSG CAS is organising a nature camp at PEC from December 16 -18, 2011. 21 members of Eco Club including its staff coordinators Jayaprakash and Ramaraj are participating in this camp.

The journey to PEC starts at 10 am, PSG CAS on Friday, December 16, 2011. A 21 seater minibus will take the team to PEC via Singanallur, Palladam, Dharapuram, Ottanchathiram and Perumbarai. The total distance is around 180 kms from PSG CAS.
PEC is located in Kongappatty Village, Attur Taluk of Dindigul district. It is 65 kms from Ottanchathiram. PEC is run by Boys Town Society under the supervision of Joe Hoeman ( 83) a UK nationalite. Joe Hoemen has the credit of organising South India’s first Bird Fair in 2004.

Places of Interest around PEC: Located in the Middle of Palani Hills ( Kodaikanal hills), Thariankudisai, TNAU’s Horticultural field station, Thandikudi and Pannaikadu are worth a visit. These are interesting places for Ornithologists.

Contacts: Joe Hoeman; [email protected]
Phone: 04542 224308.
The camp will be guided by Palni Hills Conservation Council (PHCC), Kodaikanal Executive Committee Member Arun Sankar. Mob: 73582 05310.

Participating team:

1 -2.
Staff: Jayaprakash & Ramaraj.

Students:
3 - 21.
P.Suresh Kumar III BCA (P)

Sowmiya Rani III BCS (P)

Kanthazhi III BCS (P)
T. Sathish Kumar III BCA (P)
R.Sathish III BCA (P)
M.Subathra II BCom
Tanzeela Wajid II MA Communication (P)

Surendran, II MA Communication (P)

Jaffer Ali III BCA (P)
K.Prasanth III BCA (P)
Sujinesh I MSc Electronic Media (P)
Balakrishnan II BCom (P)

Mahesh III BSc Biochemistry (P)
Prem Kumar III BSc Biochemistry (P)
Priya Ram I BSc Fashion Design (P)
Prasanth III BA Sociology (P)

Karthik III BA Sociology (P)
Radhakrishnan III BSc Biochemistry (P)

Wait list:
Saravanan ( Video Editor) II BSc Vis Comm.

Shivaram II BCom

Must bring items for participants:

1. Foldable umbrella
2. Blanket
3. Water bottle (One litre)
4. Small torch light with adequate batteries
5. Small shoulder bag (to be used for trekking)
6. Medicines, Fruits and Nuts (according to ones needs)
7. Sneaker shoes with two pairs of socks
8 Salt packed inside a cotton cloth ( for Leech treatment)

9. Jacket or Shawl for warmth.

10 Clothing - Green/brown/grey - Eco friendly colours only.

The second trek for other members of Eco Club will be organised in a month’s time. (Preference will be given for members who have attended 6 or more events of the Eco Club).

Mini bus will start from the College exactly by 10 am. Those who miss the timing will have to fore go the amount paid.

Comments/suggestions welcome

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Eco Club of PSG CAS, Coimbatore

is pleased to invite you for the screening of the short film

“The call in the Rain Forest”

at its Sathyam Hall on Thursday, December 8, 2011, 3 pm.

This 18 minute film is made by Sabyasachi Patra of India Wilds. com
This film narrates the plight of endangered ( IUCN) Lion tailed Macaques in Anamalai Tiger Reserve.

Entry Free. All nature enthusiasts are invited.
There will be another screening soon after this short film

The second film is The King Cobra and I produced by Harry Marshall of IKON Films, UK.

This 45 minutes film tells the importance of King Cobra and Romulus Whitaker’s works on conserving them. Interestingly this film also has ‘take’s from Anamalai Tiger Reserve.

Hope to meet you on Thursday 3 PM, at Sathyam Hall,

PSG College of Arts and Science, Coimbatore.

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An information from Kolkata…

Inviting you to send  an abstract for a UGC-Sponsored National Seminar on
Journalism in The Age of New Media organised by Department of Journalism
and Mass Communication, Surendranath College for Women, Kolkata in
Association with Department of Journalism and Mass Communication,
University of Calcutta on January 10-11, 2012.
I am attaching a formal call for papers.

*UGC-Sponsored National Seminar on** ***

*Journalism in the Age of New Media*

Organized by: Department of Journalism

& Mass Communication,

Surendranath College for Women

24, M G Road, Kolkata 700009 (India)

In Association with Calcutta University

January 10-11, 2012

*Call for Papers*
Abstracts Due: December 12, 2011
Full Papers Due: December 27, 2011
Seminar Dates : January 10-11, 2012

Registration Fee: Rs 500.

Venue: Gitanjali Auditorium, Kolkata

Mail: [email protected]

Introduction:

This national seminar will explore intersections between new media,
journalism and technology in order to enhance our understanding of the
influence of information and communication technology, specially internet
technology on traditional journalism. Are new media fundamentally changing
the practice of democracy? Recent years have seen a significant transition
in the role computer mediated communications play in the political sphere.
A technological revolution driven by economic and market forces is
undermining settled practices, established institutions, and traditional
communications norms.
The digital revolution in information and communication technologies has
created the platform for a free flow of information, ideas and knowledge
across the globe. The new media (internet) has been able to incorporate all
other means of communication the newspaper, magazine, radio, television,
cinema, photographic image, and video. The consequence is the Internet
divergence from mass communication. Not only has it led to normative
rethinking on the traditional role of the press, it has also led to the
adaptation of publication roles. Apart from the more apparent evolution of
the content in mainstream mass media, it has also led to a rethinking of
the role of the media professionals.  Added to this is the greater
’interiority’ and also ‘interactivity’ of the audience , which is no longer
regarded as a passive entity.

The hyper-local media is now accessible on the international platform. New
media outlets have now made it possible for highly differentiated local
discourse to be available to a wider transnational media. Interest groups
now easily access alternative voices that were hitherto available only to a
smaller community audience, across national boundaries. Apart from a
plethora of content available for dissemination, new technology also makes
it possible for patterns of similar events and issues to be associated
across various societies. Solutions to local problems are no longer
restricted to the community themselves but are picked up by interest
groups, the world over and projected as exemplars.

Classical theories of mass communications are being reworked for the new
media, because of its structural differences. The new media has also
removed passivity among the media audience by enabling simultaneous
reception, alteration and redistribution of cultural objects. It dislocates
communicative action from the posts of the nations, provides instantaneous
global contact and inserts the late modern subject into a machine apparatus
that is networked.Marshal McLuhan had first associated technology with
content in his celebrated treatise. He outlined four different media
cultures. The first was the ancient culture of oral communication,
exemplified by many of the old Sanskrit texts followed by a literature
culture using the phonetic alphabet and a handwritten script which
coexisted with the oral culture. The third progression, according to
McLuhan described as ‘The Gutenberg Galaxy’ was that of mass-produced
mechanical printing. Finally we are in the midst of what is known as the
culture of the ‘electric media’ — radio, television and computers.

But as we have seen earlier, computer mediated communication provides a
separate media culture altogether. The important characteristics of the new
media are that media texts are dematerialized in the sense that they are
separated from their physical — newsprint — form. The data can be
compressed into very small spaces and it can be accessed at very high
speeds in non-linear ways.

The seminar, in addition to the usual program of contributed presentations,
posters and invited presentations, the main conference will include a
selection of keynote talks from prominent media educators and
professionals.

*Suggested topics* for papers include, but are not restricted to, the
following:

Alternative journalism
Analyzing the relationship between new media and mainstream media
Best practices in online journalism
Business models for news
Challenges to journalism education

Changes in journalists’ professional identity

Changes in the relationship between journalists and the public

Changes in workflows and news production routines

Changing relationship between editors and reporters

Citizen journalism

Conflict of Interests in Journalism

Democratization of Communication

Digitization and journalism practice

Doing more with less resources

Education, ICT and Media

Ethical and legal issues related to globally accessible journalism

Ethical Issues in Journalism

Globalizing tendencies of Indian journalism

Human computer interaction; social media tools

Innovative news formats

Inter-Media Rivalry

Internet and Participatory culture

Marketization of news

Media Ecology

Media and Education

Media Literacy

New social media applications; interfaces; interaction techniques

Participatory journalism

Political Economy of ICTs

Politics of access and transparency in E-Governance

Psychological, personality-based and ethnographic studies of new media

Qualitative and quantitative studies of new media

Social media (Facebook, Twitter, blogs, etc.) and news

Soft news, infotainment and political life

The commoditization of news

The effects of the changing nature of journalism on democracy

The impact of new technologies on reporting

The Implications of Cross Media Ownership

Transnational journalism in India

ONLINE SUBMISSION OF ABSTRACTS

Please submit your abstracts and papers via the conference management
system, EasyChair.

Kindly create a username and a password to access the system. Save your
password since you will need it to access the system. Click the link
below to submit abstract online.
https://www.easychair.org/conferences/?conf=janm12

All accepted papers and abstracts will be published in the conference
proceedings.

Send me an email at [email protected] or call me at +919433180755 for
any clarifications. Spot registration is welcome. Local accommodation can
be arranged for Rs 300-400 per person on a twin sharing basis at hotels
close to the seminar venue. Prior booking is advised

*Kolkata*, the third largest city in India is regarded as its cultural
capital. It is the only city in India to have produced Nobel laureates.
Rabindranath Tagore, Mother Teresa and Amartya Sen are all identified with
Kolkata.  It was the capital of British India till 1911. It is regarded as
one of India’s busiest tourist destinations.

Mid-January is the best time to be in Kolkata with minimum temperatures
around 12degrees and the maximum around 25 degrees Celsius.

The seminar venue at 24, Mahatma Gandhi Road, Kolkata-9 is very close to
the Sealdah Railway station. It is a 10 minute walk from the University of
Calcutta, College Street campus and 4 km from Howrah station. The city
airport is just 15 km away. Being located in central Kolkata, access to
different parts of the city is extremely convenient.

Uma Shankar Pandey

Seminar Convenor

[email protected]

+919433180755
Sincerely

Uma Shankar Pandey

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*Seminar on *

*MEDIA EDUCATION : COPING WITH TECHNOLOGY, CULTURE AND SOCIETY *

* *

*Organised by
Centre for Electronic Media**
*School of Media and Communication
Pondicherry University  Puducherry 605014 &

*Association of Communication Teachers - Tamil Nadu and Pondicherry*

Call for Papers

Media education is at the cusp of major transition and the growth of
technologies has further accentuated the need for contextualizing our
inquiry in understanding the audience whose agential ability includes not
only interpreting text but modifying it through participatory designs.
Further to the individual’s participation, the relationship between
technology and society has become (and has remained) an interesting domain
to explore with the arrival of the Internet and mobile phones. The
conglomeration of the traditional and digital media now accounts for a
radical shift in media literacy and how we engage with it. Interestingly, in
the emerging media literacy driven by the Internet and mobile phones,
children and adults have become composers of content critically engaging
with the media to an extent that the state-civil society relationship has
changed that underlies horizontal communication. However, this optimistic
development resides only in the urban colonies and the rural populace in
India is still far away from the Internet and the information contained
therein. Even where access is privileged, the differential media ecology in
various institutions, government spaces and state apparatuses create a
differentiated user engagement with media and its text. It also sets the
ca(u)se for a contextualized approach of media use that has social,
political, cultural and moral underpinnings.

The key question that needs to be addressed therefore is determining the
direction in which we need to orientate media education. For one, the
pedagogy will require us to invest efforts in discussing the avant-garde
cultural forms engendered by the media that are not mainstream but socially
embedded in the lives of many. Everyone has a major stake in the political
and social process as the (new) media provides an opportunity to all to
engage in civic debates and collectively participate or inform the
decision-making bodies. The laissez faire approach promoted by the Internet
brings the postmodern subject to the fore establishing its moorings in a
fluid and a liberalized space for a profound articulation of the self and
identity. In this context, it would be ideal to explore the Internet in
areas of feminism, cultural geography, information architecture, queer
studies, media activism to name a few. Far more intriguing inquiries into
questions of access and transparency in technologised governance and the
veiled governmentality of institutions will provide insights into power
dynamics as opposed to the democratic potential of the Internet and the
mobile phones.

The subject of ‘subject’ and the culture of use of media began or rather
flourished during the visual regime of television. It therefore would be
ideal to explore how television and the Internet have panned out as medium
for production and consumption. There is obviously a distinct transition
from television-mediated images (text) to the Internet-driven (including
mobile phones) multimodal content comprising games, wikis, blogs, websites
etc. The newer presumptions are what does media education constitute as its
contents page has expanded with the arrival of the digital media. The
considerable popularity the media in general has gained following the
‘digitality’ of content requires us to reformulate strategies and dynamics
of media pedagogy in turn re-appraising media and its cultural products.
That having been said, behind these cultural products there is an underlying
agenda corporates push through stealthily or otherwise into the content. The
seminar will examine the political economy of technologies to gain insights
into media structures, ideologies, citizenship and democracy, governance and
articulation of power in technology mediated interactions.

*Suggested themes for panels, papers and other presentations include (but
are not limited to):*

Media Education for Empowerment
Political Economy of ICTs
Media Ecology
State-citizen-Corporate Relationship through the lens of Media
Technologised citizen and posthumanism
Exploring affect in media content
Media literacy: Critical and informed citizenry
Politics of access and transparency in E-Governance
Internet and Participatory culture
Democratization of Communication
Children’s participation in media
Media education and human rights perspective
Digital performances: Representation of boy, space and time
Aesthetics of digital media art and its social and cultural
applications

ONLINE SUBMISSION OF ABSTRACTS

Please submit abstracts of 300 words in English via the conference
management system, EasyChair. You may have to create an account with the
EasyChair, to file your abstract and to follow it up further. Click the link
given below to submit abstract online.
https://www.easychair.org/conferences/?conf=acttnpannualconferen

*Selection Process and Criteria Evaluation:*
The abstracts will be evaluated by a Scientific Peer Review Committee. Each
abstract will be reviewed by two evaluators, through a blind evaluation
process, considering the following criteria:
- Originality;
- Relevance;
- Proposed topic’s adequacy;
- Theoretical and methodological adequacy;
- Contribution to new knowledge;
- Clarity and meeting the formal requirements of scientific language.
Accepted papers will be announced to each participant by e-mail.

*Important Dates*

*description*

*dates*

submission opens

2011-10-27 - 2011-11-18

registration opens

2011-11-01

abstract submission deadline

2011-11-18

paper allocation

2011-11-19

reviewing

2011-11-20 - 2011-11-24

author notification

2011-11-25

online registration closes

2011-11-30

Final version deadline

2011-12-09

paper submission deadline

2011-12-09

conference

2011-12-16 - 2011-12-17

Follow the conference website for all updates :
https://sites.google.com/site/acttnp2011conference/

For online submission of abstracts :
https://www.easychair.org/conferences/?conf=acttnpannualconferen

–
S ARULSELVAN Ph D,
Reader and Head i/c,
Centre for Electronic Media
2nd Floor, Management Studies Block
Pondicherry University, RV Nagar, Kalapet, Pudhucherry 605 014
Mobile : +91 9443954850

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Story Structure

There’s no doubt about it, breaking into Hollywood as a scriptwriter is tough. Thousands of scripts are sent each year, some don’t get read, most get rejected and a few make it.
If you want your script to become a viable commodity it has to have the following.

•    A main character who is driven towards achieving a goal
•    An opposition to your main character who will hold your main character back from achieving their goal
•    A fight (literal or metaphorical) between your main character and their opposition
•    An ending which answers the questions “Can the main character achieve his goal?”
If your script can present such a story, along with a well thought out main character who the audience can relate to then you will all ready have the jump on most scriptwriters.
Remember that once you have sold your script how it is presented and portrayed is all in the hands of the director and the actors. If you want the story in your script to shine then your structure must be solid. Think of the story structure as the framework and foundation of your scipt, from which you can create a wonderful piece of architecture. It doesn’t matter how good the story idea, if your structure is weak then the story will fall flat.

Basic Script Formatting
There are three bodies of a script: Headings, narrative and dialogue. Each of these has three points to remember.
Headings:
1.Master scene headings which include:
a) Camera location - EXT. (exterior or outside) or INT. (interior or inside)
b) Scene location (LOCAL RACE TRACK)
c) Time (DAY or NIGHT)
2. Secondary scene heading
.

3. “Special headings” for things such as montages, dream sequences, flashbacks, flash forwards, etc.
Narrative Description:

1. Action
. 2. Character and settings (visual)
3. Sounds
Dialogue:
1. The name of the person speaking appears at the top, in CAPS.

2. The actors direction (AKA parenthetical or wryly). Try to avoid these as much as possible. Both the director and actor will appreciate it.

3. The speech.

Script Formatting

If there’s one thing that seems to put off prospective scriptwriters more than anything else it’s not knowing how to correctly format a script. There are basically two ways to do this. Either buy a piece of scriptwriting software which does the bulk of the work for you (I recommend Final Draft) or you learn how to do it yourself and use a typewriter or programme like Microsoft Word.
If a Hollywood executive comes across a script with poor formatting then he will instantly dismiss it as the work of an amateur and not bother reading it. The script could be a sure fire box office smash but without correct format it will probably never even be read.
The script that you are trying to sell is known as a spec script. This is because it’s written under the speculation it will be optioned later. At this stage it is important to avoid adding camera angles, editing directions, or anything technical unless absolutely necessary. You might have read a Tarantino or Kubrick script littered with these but that’s because they are writer/directors. If you’re selling your first script it is a lot easier to do purely as a scriptwriter rather than writer/director. Production companies are a lot more likely to take a risk on an unknown writer than an unknown writer-director.
Character Development
It’s been said that a truly great character can save an otherwise poor script. In a perfect world every script would tell a great story and be chock full of interesting characters, however this isn’t a perfect world.
Some people are great storytellers who provide a fantastical narrative to their script but the characters feel lifeless and more like props to tell the story when, in fact, in should be a cast of scintillating character moving the script along.

The Idea Factory
A lot of people come to me complaining that they’re good scriptwriters but they can never come up with ideas. The fact of the matter is that everybody can come up with ideas if you devote the time and effort to it. Brainstorming seems to be a lost art today, when people should be devoting time to drumming up these ideas you will instead find them reading their emails, playing games and many other forms of procrastination.
I know because I do it myself. It can be very mentally challenging to just sit down, with no distractions and think.
Without an idea a script cannot come to be. If you were to just sit down and attempt to write a script from whatever was in your head at the time you’d probably get about 10 pages in, lose steam and develop “writers block”
If you want to succeed as a scriptwriter than you really need to put in the thinking time when it comes to your initial script idea.
It would be no good for me to come up with a specific schedule for you to keep because everyone is creatively different. Personally I feel most creative around midnight, your best time could be when you’ve just got home from work and feel ready to vent your spleen.
What this section of the site is for is to help provide a loose structure and guide for how to create ideas with the potential to be developed into a script. Some ideas will be tried and tested (brainstorming, walking on your idea, etc) while others might be considered a little wilder (my own secret method, hypnosis, etc).

Submitted by Naneetha.R, II MA Communication, October, 2011.

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Storyboard

Storyboards are graphic organizers in the form of illustrations or images displayed in sequence for the purpose of pre-visualizing a motion picture, animation, motion graphicor interactive media sequence.

A storyboard for a Taco Belltelevision campaign.
The storyboarding process, in the form it is known today, was developed at the Walt Disney Studio during the early 1930s, after several years of similar processes being in use at Walt Disney and other animation studios.

This is where it all begins. The first step is to understand what you are trying to communicate and what your intended message is. If you don’t understand your message, no one will. Creating a script or storyboard will help ensure that you and your audience understands your intent.

Think of your video as a story. All good stories contain certain elements. When creating your story keep in mind the 5 W’s; Who, What, When, Where, and Why. This will help you fill in the main body of your story. Additionally, there are some general terms that you should be familiar with; protagonist, antagonist, plot, setting, turning point, dialog, introduction, conclusion, narration, and points of view.
There are two main styles for laying out your story - a storyboard or a script. They each have their pros and cons. Continue on to find which one best suits your needs.

Storyboard
As seen in the accompanying picture, a storyboard contains a rough sketch representation of the video. A storyboard is essentially a timeline going from top to bottom, with the top occurring first. Using a storyboard allows you to see what the scene will look like. This is one of the major advantages a storyboard has over a script. The storyboard method is also generally thought to provide a better overview than the scripting method.
Script
The script style is similar to reading a book. It is very useful for dialog intense pieces. If you do have a piece with a considerable amount of dialog, use the video side to indicate who is speaking, or what reaction the character should have. This is more in line with a traditional play script. Often your talent will benefit more from this method than the storyboard, as they are more interested in their lines than creating a story.

Submitted by Naneetha.R, II MA Communication, October, 2011.

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CHARACTERIZATION

Characterization is the method used by a writer to develop a character.
Characterization is revealed through direct characterization and indirect characterization.
Direct Characterization tells the audience what the personality of the character is.
Example:  “The patient boy and quiet girl were both well mannered and did not disobey their mother.”
Explanation:  The author is directly telling the audience the personality of these two children. The boy is “patient” and the girl is “quiet.”
Indirect Characterization shows things that reveal the personality of a character. There are five different methods of indirect characterization:
(1) Showing the character’s appearance
(2) Displaying the character’s actions
(3) Revealing the character’s thoughts
(4) Letting the character speak and
(5) Getting the reactions of others.

Submitted by Naneetha.R, II MA Communication, October, 2011.

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Types of Cameras

Single Use Cameras

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Single Use Cameras are the simplest cameras. They contain a roll of color film encased in a recyclable cardboard box. They have a single shutter speed and a fixed-focus lens. These cameras can be bought with a variety of features, including built-in flash and water resistance. The whole camera has to be taken to the photo finisher so the film can be processed. The camera is recycled. These cameras cost around $15 and should not be used for serious photography. They are convenient for vacations and times when you find that the other camera has been forgotten.

Compact Lens-Shutter Cameras:

Compact Lens-Shutter Cameras come in three varieties: single focal length, dual focal length, and zoom. Some have fixed focus, meaning that the focus is fixed at a point that produces sharp images starting from about 5 ft. away and continuing to infinity. Other cameras offer infrared auto focusing. Some models offer features like red-eye reduction flash and several automatic shooting modes. More serious photographers usually prefer to have more control over the pictures they take.

Bridge Cameras 
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Bridge cameras are intermediate cameras. They bridge the gap between “point and shoot” cameras and the more serious or complicated models. They have different lenses and many offer a red-eye reducing flash. There is only a limited range of lens focal length that can be used with these cameras.
Rangefinders 

Rangefinders are compact, lightweight cameras that are often used for serious photography. They offer interchangeable lenses and allow photographers to control shutter speed, lens aperture, focusing, and exposure. Some disadvantages are that it is limited in focal length (ranging from 21mm-135mm) and they tend to be expensive.

Twin Lens Reflex 

The twin lens reflex is a medium-format camera (one that uses film larger that 35mm). It is fitted with two lenses which both have the same focal length, one mounted atop the other. The lower (taking) lens focuses its image directly on the film, while the image produced by the upper viewing lens is reflected through 90 degrees by a mirror, and brought to focus on a horizontal ground-glass focusing screen. The light paths to the focusing screen and the film plane are equal, so that if the photographer brings the scene on the focusing screen to sharp focus, the image on the film plane will be equally sharp.

Single Lens Reflex 

The SLR requires one lens for both viewing and creating the photo. A sophisticated camera that offers full manual control of exposure an focus. SLR cameras will accept interchangeable lenses, add on flashes, motor drives, and other accessories. There are also AF (auto focus) SLR’s. These can be set in a number of different modes to ease picture taking. These cameras are typically used by professional photographers.
The word photography is derived from the greek words for light and writing. Sir John Herschel, was the first to use the term “Photography”. This was in 1839, the year the photographic process became public. There are two distinct scientific processes that combine to make photography possible. These processes had been known for quite some time, so it is somewhat surprising that photography was not invented earlier than the 1830s. It was not until the two distinct scientific processes had been put together that photography came into being.

The first of these processes was optical. The Camera Obscura (dark room) had been in existence for at least four hundred years. The second process was chemical. For hundreds of years before photography was invented, people had been aware, for example, that some colors are bleached in the sun, but they had made little distinction between how heat, air, and light created reactions.

In the sixteen hundreds Robert Boyle, a founder of the Royal Society, had reported that silver chloride turned dark under exposure. He believe that it was caused by exposure to the air, rather than to light.

Angelo Sala, in the early seventeenth century, noticed that the sun blackened powdered nitrate of silver. In 1727 Johann Heinrich Schulze discovered that when exposed to light, certain liquids change color. At the beginning of the nineteenth century Thomas Wedgwood was conducting experiments with pictures. He had successfully captured images, but his silhouettes wouldn’t stay, as there was no known method of making the image permanent.

Niépce successfully produced a picture in July of 1827. He used a material that hardened on exposure to light. The down side is that the picture required an 8 hour exposure. Niépce agreed to go into partnership with Lousi Daguerre on January 4, 1829. Although Niépce died 4 years later, Daguerre continued to experiment. Daguerre discovered a way of developing photographic plates. This process would greatly reduce the amount of exposure time. Instead of 8 hours it would only take half an hour. Daguerre also discovered that by dipping it in salt the image could be made permanent. The Daguerreotype was bought by the French Government and made public on Aug. 19, 1839.

William Henry Talbot had an invention called the Calotype. The Calotype produced a negative picture on paper. That means the lights were recorded as darks, and the darks as lights. The positive was made on another sheet of chemically sensitized paper, exposed to light through the negative. An infinite number of positives could be made from a single negative so Talbot’s invention and refinements of it predominated.

Photographers were like artists because they recorded contemporary events only with greater flexibility and on a much greater scale. One of the first photographic documents of history-in-the-making was also the greatest. This was the American Civil War. These were made by 20 photographers. Most of them were initially under the direction of Mathew B. Brady. They could not yet capture the action of battle with their big equipment, but their blunt views of landscapes, littered with the dead changed the popular vision of war.

Submitted by Naneetha.R, II MA Communication, October 2011.

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