COMM12033: SPEECH AND SCRIPT

Week 9:

1. Draft Script: Consider your final assignment. Draft one page of an audiovisual script associated with your final assignment. It could be the video news release, or the news story. It should be at least the first page of the script, and deal with introducing the story. Post this on your blog. If you wish to write more, then feel free to do so.

 
2. Deliver the Script: Do a dry run of reading this page of script. Record your reading, and time this. Post your recording to your blog, and reflect on areas you need to improve on at this stage.

 
3. Review: Review your blog generally, because you will be submitting this at the end of the week. Check that all activities have been covered; that all references are included and referenced correctly.

 
4. Reflection: Finally, post a final submission post that is a reflective piece (600-800 words). In this, you should:
a. Identify the activities that you found most useful to your learning over the course of the term, and discuss why these were useful;
b. Indicate whether, at this stage of the course, you feel that your understanding of speaking and scripting writing has improved, and reasons why/why not;
c. Comment on the usefulness (or otherwise) of your blogging journey and how it has (or hasn’t) helped your learning.
d. Discuss your level of confidence in going into your final assessment at this stage of the course, and comment on how you are going to address any final issues or concerns you may have.

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Task one –

Video	Audio
Newsreader in studio.	In political news, the recently appointed member for Herston, Anthony Norris, made his first speech today.
Display infographic.	(VO) – The founder of the newly formed Banana Party, Mr. Norris is the first person in state election history to ever win by a unanimous poll.
Newsreader in studio.	The member for Herston made it clear that policy and law changes will be forth coming as he quickly settles into the role. Making it clear, he would directly go after Annastacia Palaszczuk and her lockout laws. Palaszczuk attended the speech, making these statements after a brief recess.
Annastacia Palaszczuk adjusting her bra.	‘I will not take these proposals laying down.’
Newsreader in studio.	Mr. Norris proceeded to acknowledge the crowd gathered outside of parliament, flashing that charismatic smile.
Vision of Norris talking to public.	‘A government that works for its people, is a government that works!’ (Cheering and applause.)
Newsreader in studio.	Reporting live now from Parliament House is Sean Fitzpatrick.
PTC – Outside steps of Parliament House.	“That’s correct Bronwyn. It was on these steps that the newly elected member was greeted by droves of fans. Traffic was backed up all the way to Ann Street, merely to get a glimpse of the figure. Several women were arrested for public indecency, bras and phone numbers still littering the ground. Truly an adoring public. Back to you in the studio Bronwyn.”
Newsreader in studio.	Truly a mad scene, thank you Sean. Well that is all in political news, stayed tuned for sport with Guy Cummings, here on Channel 5.

Task two –

This really wasn’t fun by any means. It’s late, there are mere hours left before the due date and I’m sick. From a more technical standpoint, the speech comes out a little disjointed due to the omission of visuals to aid in transitioning. I did enjoy writing it however…

Task four –

• Identify the activities that you found most useful to your learning over the course of the term, and discuss why these were useful;

Big shout out to my homeboy, glossary of terms for rhetorical devices on this one! Ok, I’ll stop that now, but it was a serious comment. There were 60 terms in total and I maybe had an understanding of 10 percent of them going in. Oddly it was not only perhaps the greatest help in preparing for assessment two, but one of the most enjoyable. Then again, maybe watching ‘In a world…’ was given I’m a big Demetri Martin fan (he was the love interest).

• Indicate whether, at this stage of the course, you feel that your understanding of speaking and scripting writing has improved, and reasons why/why not;

I do. I still hate public speaking and recording my own voice, both of which I will fight tooth and nail to avoid. (Admittedly, my abilities in that regard have improved if only marginally.) But as far as crafting arguments, something I have always enjoyed doing, I now have the knowledge to base them in theory.

• Comment on the usefulness (or otherwise) of your blogging journey and how it has (or hasn’t) helped your learning.

I mean, as far as a medium for assessment items, I love it. I much prefer speaking in first person and doing away with the formalities of third person. The writing becomes a process of flow, rather than a stringent robotic typing. As a result I find the tasks more enjoyable and have more confidence going into them. Blogging has also come a very long way since its simple inception. The interconnectivity between sites now allows for some very interesting work to be collated. WordPress is a cruel mistress though. Why does some of my embedding work and other parts do not? Moreover, when I am preparing the presentation the exact same way!

• Discuss your level of confidence in going into your final assessment at this stage of the course, and comment on how you are going to address any final issues or concerns you may have.

Technically I am perhaps too confident. As far as writing AV scripts which I have done a number of times I have no doubt I will satisfy the criteria. I have uncovered some very interesting data to back my argument, plus certain tasks in this assessment have aided in the preparation. And despite watching a video in earlier weeks that made a point of rhetoric not being the art of bullshiting, we will be making a political speech. I guess what I’m saying in a roundabout way, is that politicians are about as full of it as you can get. Heck, if I didn’t despise them so much, I might have even given it a shot myself.

It is the performance based aspect of it all where my confidence quickly plummets. I’m simply not a chatty character! In hindsight, I should have made my political stance abolishment of all spoken word assessment items in all levels of education. Now that’s something I could really get behind…

COMM11003; Week Nine: Reflection

“Think of your last conflict. How did it start? Was it about the person or the issue? Was the conflict resolved to everyone’s satisfaction? If not, how could you have handled it differently?” (Costigan 2014).

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I hate cops. For as long as I can remember, I have never cared for them and dare say that I never will. They are the school yard bullies of the adult world operating under full pardon of the principal. While discussing bullies Costigan (2014) notes, “according to the latest research, many bullies actually have high self-esteem and feel superior to others”. So what happens when a bully is placed in a position of power? According to Beebe, Beebe and Ivy (2013, p. 46) this increased level of self-esteem can lead to self-entitlement.

Last weekend I was out with friends. On our way home we were stopped by a Random Breath Testing Unit (RBT) outside of a school on my street where they are held regularly. There were four officers conducting this operation stopping vehicles on both sides of the road and traffic was lined up.

On our slow approach through the line I noticed all four officers surrounded one particular vehicle, which was quite time consuming and bothered me. Inevitably this driver was allowed to carry about his business with no apparent infraction. (Perhaps they just liked his car, perhaps they were all old school chums?) I was agitated and felt I needed a cigarette as a result. I prepared my calming death stick, removed my seat belt, got out of the vehicle and proceeded to smoke it.

At this point I must have caught their attention and the person that was beside me unbuckled his belt as the bench seat of the ute we were in was quite a squeeze. One policeman performed an analysis on our driver, another was focused on me. He began questioning me regarding my lack of a seat belt. I thought given the fact I was outside of the vehicle it was kind of obvious. Although I had tried to explain the situation, we all received fines totalling over $900.

Compromise, concession, collaboration, cooperation, accommodation, withdrawal or avoidance (Costigan 2014), were never options in his mind. I was already visibly frustrated and was now making this known vocally, without hesitating in letting him know he was a ‘dickhead’.

“Some negotiators deliberately try to create stress as a tactic,” (Eunson 2012). As a result he threatened to lock me up for ‘public nuisance’. It’s the go to move for all cops regardless of what you are doing, right or wrong.

Final thought… Who is policing the police?

$341 later.

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References

Beebe, SA, Beebe, SJ & Ivy, DK 2013, Communication: principles for a lifetime, Pearson Education, Boston.

Costigan, L 2014, Lesson 8: Nonverbal communication: understanding yourself and others, COMM11003 Communication in Professional Contexts, CQUniversity e-courses, http://moodle.cqu.edu.au

Eunson, B 2012, Communicating in the 21^st Century, 3^rd edn, John Wiley & Son, Milton, Australia

COMM11007; Week Nine: Practical

For the purposes of the week nine Storify assessment peer review, I had chosen fellow student, Madelyn Holmes.

Who do you think is the audience?  Music and art enthusiasts; more specifically, of the Central Queensland area.

What did you learn about the event? This was the first time the event was held free of charge in it’s 12 year history. It was also held at a new location.

What else (if anything) could be included that would make the story more interesting or have more impact? This was a very brief article: More content would have been appreciated. A little background of the event’s history would have been useful. What else was offered other than music? E.g – Art work and facilities.

If the structure is confusing, how could it be improved? Key facts, such as the number of attendants and lack of entry fee should have been raised to a more introductory position.

What do you like about the story? Her Twitter hashtags were directed back to participants within the event, encouraging their own Twitter accounts to be viewed.

Ultimately I felt this was a good effort by Madelyn. However, with such an interesting event covered, some simple tweaking could make it great.

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Madelyn’s Story can be viewed here:

https://storify.com/madelynholmes/something-for-everyone-at-the-village-festival

COMM11007; Week Nine: Inquiry

Both of the presented travel website examples share a similar purpose and audience. One collating it’s information from user experience data, the other written formally by editors. However, what sets the two examples apart is a written bias by the all too structured latter of the two and the more aesthetically pleasing nature of the first.

It would be counter-intuitive of the editorial staff to not write glowing reviews on the businesses that employ them expecting to be documented in a positive light. Not only is Tripadvisor easier to navigate, but allowing for negative reviews from the user counteracts the implied bias and allows potential customers to be more aware of what it is they are paying for.

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The websites discussed may be viewed via their respective links provided:

http://www.tripadvisor.com.au/TravelersChoice-Hotels-g1

http://www.cntraveller.com/awards/the-gold-list/gold-standard-hotels-2014

COMM11007; Week Nine: Quiz

Although this was one of the more seemingly easy tasks, it made it all the more embarrassing to not receive full marks on the first attempt scoring eight out of ten. I misspelt the word minuscule. (Spell-check is now telling me that “misspelt” is not a word and i should be using “misspelled”. Even after getting a perfect score on the second time around, it appears I’m yet to master the art of simple spelling.) My other issue with this quiz came from question nine where in my haste I confused the meanings of principal and principle within the context of the sentence. I think this performance deserves a wine, although I’m unsure whether in celebration or defeat.