When writing for a blog, there is a pretty large number of “rules” for what you should and shouldn’t do. These are put in place to help your blog be readable and easily accessible to everybody. In this post, I will explain how I can apply the practices to my own blog and how they can also apply to a career in the film industry.
There is a wonderful article written by Brian A. Klems titled, The 12 Dos and Don’ts of Writing a Blog that lists (and explains) good and bad practices when writing for a blog. While every item on this list should be considered, I will be discussing a select few that I feel are of the utmost importance in relation to my potential industry.
How can I apply the “dos and don’ts” to my blog posts?
- Links are a powerful tool to use when writing a blog, as they can be helpful to the reader and the credibility of the content. When used correctly, links can act as a deeper look into the topic at hand, an aid to something complex, or even a portal to a web page that better suits the reader’s needs.
- Images are important to any blog, because readers “need to be stimulated visually,” according to Klems. By adding images in areas that complement the text, it will increase the satisfaction of the overall experience and make for a more immersive read.
- Grammar, similar to CGI in movies, is something nobody notices unless it is bad. Ignoring grammar will make you seem unprofessional, uneducated, or just purely careless. By correcting any grammar errors, you can help to guarantee that your blog will be taken seriously. It will also reduce the chances of viewers giving up on the read because it is difficult to follow or understand.
The two images below show how even the smallest details will go noticed if they are missing. The first image, while it looks like a doughnut, is clearly not real because it lacks detail and looks too “smooth.”
The second image is of Thanos from Avengers: Infinity War, which looks like a real-life being that you could touch, but is not real at all.
These are three of what I consider the most important tips to writing a successful blog in a classroom setting. Next, I will discuss a few more tips that I believe better relate to blog writing in the film industry.
How are blog tips supposed to apply to the film industry?
- Share, share, share to any and every medium that you can. Posting to social media sites, such as Twitter and Instagram, is necessary to reach the largest audience possible. People are constantly being bombarded by posts, links, promos, etc, which makes it easy for plenty of articles and blogs to get pushed “under the fold” of any particular medium. Reaching an audience is a prime goal of film and failing to utilize every available source could result in a fantastic blog with only a handful of viewers (if any at all).
- Keep it short, sweet, and to the point when writing for film. Over the years, less has become more in the industry, as people are more apt to want more if they are left wanting more (redundant, but true). this can be better understood by watching movie trailers from the 70’s and 80’s compared to trailers today.
As you can see above, the trailer for the original Star Wars (1977) is wordy and explains a good bit of what to expect from the movie. While this is a decent trailer to a fantastic movie, it doesn’t catch my attention as much as the trailer for Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015) seen below.
This trailer catches my attention from the start, it draws me in to the story and makes me want to go see the film, but best of all, it hardly says anything! It leaves me with questions that I want answered and only gives me enough to crawl back for more.
Now that I have gone through some tips and tricks I have learned to successful blogging, it’s time I explain what steps I will be taking to ensure that my blog posts are worth the read.
What will I be doing to make you like my blog?
Each week, I will work towards curating and customizing my blog page to be simple to navigate for any and everybody. I will do this by utilizing grid formatting to organize my site and including handicap accessibility. This will help make sure I can obtain the largest audience possible while I find my focus.
As I fine-tune my focus, I will thoroughly research my topics so that I am able to give reliable, credible information without chance of misleading my audience. I also will attempt to make every topic as fascinating as I can by allowing my incredibly vast interest in film to seep into each and every blog.
Sir Cinema 