1. Be prepared to absorb
everything you hear.
You are presenting your work to your peers to
receive their feedback. To do this you must
be prepared to take the good with the bad.
It is best to come to the meeting prepared to
hear things you may not have considered or agree
with. The best way to handle criticism is
to listen to everything said, write it down
regardless of whether or not you agree with it,
and be an active listener. When you have
the chance ask the group questions to seek
clarification.
Take what you want from the criticism.
Clearly, not everything you hear will be useful
to you. Some of the feedback you get will
not take the script in the direction you want to
go. The advantage of writing is everything
down is that you can give yourself days to think
about what everyone has said and make a decision
on its relevance after the fact. Sometimes
what you originally thought was a bad idea can
turn out to be a great one.
2.
Take ownership for the criticism you receive.
When you come to the meeting you must should have
a clear idea of what it is you intend to gain by
presenting your work to your peers. This
could mean submitting a list of areas you would
like to have the group focus on with your
script. Eg: A specific character, scene, or
theme. This will allow the readers to focus
their comments in the direction that will
maximize their benefit to you.
Prepare a list of questions you would like to ask
the readers. You will have up to 30 mins to
ask questions of the readers so make the most of
this time by preparing focused questions that
will benefit you.
GUIDELINES FOR
GIVING CRITICISM
It is important to remember that writers put
alittle piece of their soul in each word they
write. Most writers become personally
attached to a piece they've written and for this
reason it is very important that everyone
interested in attending Afcoop's work group read
these guidelines and make every effort to respect
the writer and his/her work.
1. For criticism
to be constructive it must be delivered from an
objective observer. This means that neither
personal sentiment towards the writer nor the
subject matter of a script should have a bearing
on the criticism offered.
Eg; The subject of a script is a painter and it
follows the process the painter uses to arrive at
the final product. Perhaps you find the
topic uniteresting, you have no interest in
painting or painters. For you to offer
constructive criticism you must push your
personal lack of interst to the back of your mind
and look at the script for what it is and base
your criticism on what it is trying to
accomplish. Questions to ask yourself
are: Does this script accomplish its
goal? How can the structure of the story be
improved? It's not for you to judge whether
or not a story is worth telling.
2. Don't
limit your remarks to "what's wrong with the
script." Include suggestions with your
criticism. for every problem, there is a
solution.
3. No one wants to
have their work ripped up by their peers or
anyone else. There is no such thing as a
script that has no positives. It's just as
important to identify the specific strengths of a
script as it is to indentify its
weaknesses. Always identify 2 strengths in
every script.
4. Focus your
criticisms, strengths and weaknesses.
General comments can only serve the writer in a
limited way.
Eg; A general comment like, "I really liked
the main character, I could relate to her,"
doesn't offer anything concrete. A
statement like this won't allow the writer to use
the strengths you've found in the character to
the advantage of the whole piece. The
following comment would be more useful.
"You made it possible to relate to the main
chracter by allowing her to explore her fears and
weaknesses. When you let us see what's
behind her hard facade we as the audience can
understand the actions she takes."
PROCEDURE FOR
CRITICISM - criticism is present in a 5 min
(approx) verbal presentation
1. Identify at least 2 strengths in the script.
2. Identify the
areas where you feel there is room for
improvement. Include suggestions for how
these areas may be improved.
3. Summarize your
views of the script. This would be the time
when general comment would be most appropriate.
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