Assignments to Explore Creativity in Composition

An assignment that I find most interesting is the photo essay, and I would add this assignment to my syllabus because it combines the ideas of collaboration and technology for a FYW class. Students can group together to choose a story that interests them, decide what major elements should be addressed to their audience, and figure out how they’re going to present it. And they also need to consider their limitations because the assignment will call for them to use only ten photos to make up their story, just so it forces them to be stricter with their choices. I also would like to offer a challenge to the assignment by adding the disposable Kodak camera idea, where students have to really think about the shot they take, making them consider what the right angle should be and where they should position their characters. It gets students to consider the five canons of rhetoric as they compose their photo essay, and then they can learn to apply those choices to their own writing.

If not a photo essay, I’ve considered doing an assignment that uses the element of film, where students can compose a five to ten minute video over a commercial or story.

To choose the story option, I think they should attempt to compress a story within at least ten minutes (we can even extend this to fifteen, if needed) that include the beginning, middle, and end while also focusing on the major elements of the story they choose. They can present this like a skit or at a serious cinematic level. If a story option seems too intense then they may attempt to do a commercial, where their main focus is to create a product and try to sell it. They need to consider who their audience is and what the purpose of their product is. Students need to make sure to point out the most important elements of their product and need to decide what tone fits best to advertise their product—should it have a serious approach or a comedic approach?

Also, if film is hard to come by, students have the option to perform these pieces live. They can perform their commercial like a skit or they can pitch their product to the class as if they were in a professional meeting.

  

I think, whatever choice they pick with the film assignment, they should write a response about the choices they make and why they chose them. Then for the other students who watch these films or performances they can write a response on what they thought was working and if they were convinced to buy the product or convinced in the story.

Both the photo essay and the film/performance assignments can play with creativity and innovation when it comes to composition. It also approaches the five canons of rhetoric, audience and purpose, and those further decisions we make to aid in our art of persuasion.