Sunday 6 November 2011

ESSAY DRAFT: First Paragraph

Theatrical entertainment, and to a more specific extend film, has been around ever since man learned to act and tell stories. With the invention of film came the widespread use of special effects, meaning, subliminal messages and memorable scenery. These aspects of film can make or break a production at the box office and when done right they can yield stunning results.

Such films as King Kong in 1922 were enormous technological advancements in terms of special effects and was also the cornerstone of the King-Kong franchise. It was and still is one of if not the most memorable western monster movie to date. The film tells us subtle messages about us as humans and compares us to the untamed nature of the wild and it also, in a way, asks us what it is to be human.

Peter Jackson directed a remake of this film in 2005 which was praised as his best work to date, pushing the limits of CGI to the maximum of that time. It had strong messages and memorable scenes of the original King Kong remastered on an epic scale. It even implemented some cut scenes from the original. In the remake, Peter Jackson gives Kong a lot more personality, feeling and emotion. I, for one, actually felt a lot more sorry for Jackson's Kong than I did the original and, at times, he even seemed more human than beast. Some say it was better than his previous Lord of the Rings trilogy, which brings us on to those films.

The Lord of the Rings is one of the most well-known fantasy sagas out there.
Originally a series of fantasy novels written by J.R.R. Tolkien, the rights to the Lord of the Rings was bought by Peter Jackson who made them into a trilogy of stunningly epic films.

2 comments:

  1. Hey Tom,

    You need some evidence to back up what you're saying.

    Secondly, the subject matter seems a bit wishy washy. I mean, you go from talking about the 1932 King Kong, to the 2005 remake and then on to Lord of the Rings, without much content in between. Is this the introduction? If so, you should clearly outline your intentions of the essay first of all. What are you writing about?

    Try to distance yourself from the subject matter, you love these films, that's fine. But essay writing calls for the ability to break down these films with a critical eye based on the criteria of the essay brief.

    I suggest you write about a single one of these films and look hard at the what the brief is asking of you. It will yield you much stronger results and make your life a lot easier, trust me!

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  2. Also - you need to write introductions to academic assignments in a very particular way; an 'introduction' means something specific in this context. I want you to look at the criteria that is on the brief under the written assignment question - it begins by telling you what the emphasis should be and what an 'evidence-based', 'content-rich' discussion should include. Look, Tom - there is so much information made available to stop first years wasting time writing content that is not going to satisfy the standards set for academic writing at undergraduate level. Before you go any further, I want you to go to the 'Rough Guide to Written Assignments' available on myUCA/Space/Unit Materials and I want you to take the time to read the example essays it contains - and pay close attention to the job that the introduction in that essay does. I also want you to read and understand the 'Dos & Don'ts' style guide in the Rough Guide - the advice in there comes from your tutor having read 100s of first year essays - bad ones! - Please, take the time to get better at this particular element of your degree studies - that's the point of your reviews and your assignments - you need to improve, you need to practice, and you need to grow in confidence. Use the help already available to you.

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