{"id":70,"date":"2014-08-06T03:16:09","date_gmt":"2014-08-06T07:16:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.noendofneon.net\/photowriting\/?page_id=70"},"modified":"2014-08-06T03:17:19","modified_gmt":"2014-08-06T07:17:19","slug":"assignment-4-documentary-writing","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"http:\/\/www.noendofneon.net\/photowriting\/assignments\/assignment-4-documentary-writing\/","title":{"rendered":"assignment 4: documentary writing"},"content":{"rendered":"

Length: \u00a0<\/strong>1200 words<\/p>\n

Due Dates:<\/strong> \u00a08.7.14 (rough draft<\/em>), 8.11.14 (final<\/strong> draft<\/strong>)<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

We’ve made a great deal of the binary\u00a0between surface and depth in this class, and of how photography and the visual image in particular suggest the space between surface and depth. \u00a0In this assignment, we will continue to rely on this binary as a way of describing the gap between what is seen and not seen about a particular subject. \u00a0There are many ways of articulating this gap: \u00a0the public face vs. the private face, the exterior vs. the interior, the revealed vs. the hidden, the performance vs. the performer, the perception vs. the reality, and so on. \u00a0Whatever version of this binary most clarifies your particular topic, the essential task here is to document and reveal the hidden or unseen side of some person, place, phenomenon, or issue\u2014the side that a casual observer likely would not be familiar with.<\/p>\n

We have a number of models by now of what this might look like. \u00a0It might be an expos\u00e9, revealing the seamy underbelly of some issue, the dark side that’s obscured from public view\u2014as in Rachel Riederer’s “The Teaching Class.”<\/a> \u00a0Or it might be a human interest profile, showing the human side of some public figure\u2014as in Onward State’s profile<\/a> of PSU’s “squirrel whisperer,” Louis Theroux’s documentary<\/a> on the Westboro Baptist Church, or the various<\/a> profiles<\/a> of costume-clad street performers. \u00a0Maybe it reveals the largely unknown history of some common commodity<\/a>. \u00a0Maybe it reveals an insider perspective on a job<\/a>, or an identity category<\/a>, or a socioeconomic class<\/a>. \u00a0Maybe it unpacks and reveals some phenomenon<\/a> about which very few people have thought.<\/p>\n

Whatever your topic and approach may be, the goal here is to get\u00a0inside<\/em>\u00a0your subject in some sense, to make visible the hidden depths or the unseen reality of that subject for some audience. \u00a0As we’ve discussed, this kind of writing\u2014whether it has an “agenda” or not\u2014often has powerful rhetorical effects, as when exploring the complex social obligations of baristas causes readers to interact differently with service industry employees, or when a sympathetic first-person account of poverty shifts our beliefs on meritocracy or the welfare state. \u00a0Even if you can’t put your finger on the definitive rhetorical effects your documentary writing produces, it’s worth considering the question. \u00a0Usually when something has been hidden, unnoticed, obscured, or inaccessible for a long time, the revealing of that thing has some real-world effects; rare is the revelation that has no rhetorical effect on its audience. \u00a0(Think about moments when you’ve revealed a secret: \u00a0there are always effects to this, whether on you, on the person to whom you revealed the secret, or on the person the secret is about. \u00a0Usually all of the above.)<\/p>\n

On some level, your ultimate task here resembles the task of the rhetorical description essay<\/a>: \u00a0you should transform your readers’ understanding of your subject, whatever it is and whatever you reveal about it. \u00a0A reader should come away with a different sense of what it is to be on welfare or to work at a coffee shop or of why a fringe family church might spew venomous bigotry with no regard for persuasive effects. \u00a0This will likely mean that you take advantage of the skill set you developed during the rhetorical description unit: \u00a0the careful attention to detail, the thoughtful choosing of what to show and what to conceal, the concrete sense of how\u00a0descriptive choices lead your audience to have a particular impression of your subject. \u00a0Notice that many of the pieces we’ve read in this unit feature some very vivid descriptive passages, within which the hidden side of a subject is made to come alive for a reader. \u00a0The analogy to photography is useful here too: \u00a0think about what’s revealed in this image<\/a> from the\u00a0NYT<\/em> story on costumed street performers, about how visually depicting the man inside the Elmo costume goes a long way toward changing our perception.<\/p>\n

Possible approaches here vary widely, depending on your topic. \u00a0You may have to depend heavily on research, as “The Messy Business of Tacos”<\/a> does. \u00a0Or you may depend on interviewing someone<\/a> and quoting their words. \u00a0Or you may depend on direct, experiential knowledge<\/a> of something. \u00a0Maybe you’re uncovering the hidden side of some issue via analytical writing. \u00a0Whatever the case may be, you should think seriously about what body and kind of information you’re drawing upon to substantiate your depiction of your subject’s complexities.<\/p>\n

Though it isn’t required, it may very well be appropriate to include photos or visual images of some sort in your essay. \u00a0Consider whether doing so would enhance your documentary writing or distract from it (and, of course, whether you can take or have access to pictures that would be useful in your essay).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Length: \u00a01200 words Due Dates: \u00a08.7.14 (rough draft), 8.11.14 (final draft)   We’ve made a great deal of the binary\u00a0between surface and depth in this class, and of how photography and the visual image in particular suggest the space between surface and depth. \u00a0In this assignment, we will continue to rely on this binary as […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":35,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-70","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.noendofneon.net\/photowriting\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/70","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.noendofneon.net\/photowriting\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.noendofneon.net\/photowriting\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.noendofneon.net\/photowriting\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.noendofneon.net\/photowriting\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=70"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/www.noendofneon.net\/photowriting\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/70\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":73,"href":"http:\/\/www.noendofneon.net\/photowriting\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/70\/revisions\/73"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.noendofneon.net\/photowriting\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/35"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.noendofneon.net\/photowriting\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=70"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}