Jeremy Santos

English 20
Project 2 draft
The Path to Success in Film

Film has always been a passion of mine, i've always loved learning the messages and life
skills one can develop by watching a particular film. Take for example your first time watching
the movie , The Titanic, How did it make you feel? Why did it make you feel that way?
Romantic, sad, happy,or angry, what caused these emotions to stir about in this film? As a
individual I felt it was necessary to learn why and how films can affect a person on emotional
level.
These are the questions that led me to take in film as a profession that began as a
passion. Today I was able to learn and gain experience in my discourse community in the field of
film/photography. Thanks to the help of Adrian Herrera I was able to interview him on his past
experiences coming into this specific line of work. Mr. Herrera is a seasoned photographer that
takes his job seriously. With a full ride scholarship he was able to build his career from the
fundamentals and natural creativity that developed his skills at the art school known as FIDM ,
Fashion Institute of Design and Marketing. Through my interview I was able to learn the tasks
necessary to have a successful career in my profession that also relates and compare the
fundamental characteristics as told by Swales.
The first characteristic includes common public goals which breaks down to become the
the values and standards set by film professionals. A common public goal for any filmer would
be to record a beautifully composed series of shots to bring a story together and send a message
through the use of mise-en-scene. Mise-en-scene is a term used in the discourse community

describing the details of editing techniques to subliminally create a reaction for the audience
watching each scene.which leads us to our next area of characteristics, Terminology.
Terminology can be specific words or terms that only film enthusiasts may know. For example in
my discourse community abbreviations such as FPS, refers to frames per second which is how
many picture stills will be in one moving frame per second. So if i record in 24 fps, I would be
taking 24 pictures per second to emulate a moving object to simulate a video.Once terminology
is understood then you can find another characteristic , information exchange, very helpful by
Swales.
Information exchange, as described by swales, is where members of a discourse
community can share ideas and opinions, one great information exchange is in a form of a
website recognized as IMDB.com. The International Media Database a website where anyone
can learn and express their opinion about individual films, actors, production companies, and
directors. Another characteristic that helps distribute information would be a Forum described by
Swales. A forum could be the movie theaters where members of the the film discourse
community can learn about new techniques and editing skills used by today's professional
directors and artists.Swales speaks the importance of genre in a discourse community. Genre in
my particular community consists of movies with different perspectives of life. A genre could be
described as a horror, gangster, western, comedy, romantic, drama, and as well my favorite
action films. These genres can be combined to create an interesting plot of a story. Throughout
my interview with Adrian I was able to learn and grasp what it means to create and edit film.
The First question I asked Mr.Herrera What does it take to become a successful
photographer? he replied simply with Passion, hard work, and determination. He further
explains the qualities of any successful business would to learn how to network with like

minded individuals that strive to accomplish goals that may be similar to my own.Overall this
interview has covered Swales 6 characteristics Common public goals,Information exchange,
Forum, Genres , terminology, and Expertise. During his interview Adrian was able to help me
understand what a director's common public goals speccifically was. He mentioned that Each
shot must have a meaning behind it to successfully create a visually appealing scene
The creative imaginative process that goes into constructing these films our reasons why I
personally want to pursue my goal in becoming an expert in the field of film/photography.
Expertise explained by Swales can be a degree confirming I have learned and pushed my skills to
the point where I would be recognized as a professional and have a credible background.

Works Cited

"Adrian Herrera." Personal interview. 10 Mar. 2016.

Swales, John. The Concept of Discourse Community. Genre Analysis: English in
Academic and Research Setting. Boston: Cambridge UP, 1990. 21-32. Print.
IMDb. IMDb.com, n.d. Web. 12 Mar. 2016.

Lakresha Davis
Anya Connelly
English 20
10 March 2016
Peer Response
Dear Jeremy,
1. Introduction
Thank you for giving me the opportunity to read your draft. I know most people arent
comfortable with letting others read their paper or their work, so I hope I can be a good
extra set of eyes. As a reader I hope I can give you good feedback on your paper. This
is also good for me because not only is it helping you, but I also get a good sense and
other ideas that will help me on my paper.
2. Summary
In my opinion, your Discourse community is about how you want to go into the field of
film/photography. You go in depth when relating Swales 6 characteristics to your
discourse community and what it all means to you.
3. Praise
As a reader, the element I found working well in your paper was well the structure of
your essay. I really like how you went into detail with the characteristics of DCs and
related them to your community. I overall thought you did, just make it the min amount
of pgs and add you 3 sources.
4. Constructive Feedback
As a reader, the element that I found that you needed more development on was how
you should make your thesis more clear and discuss what you want to write about in
your intro. Your conclusion wasn't clear to me either. I suggest that you should take an
extra paragraph to go over what you talked about.

5. Closing Statement
Thank you for giving me the opportunity to read your draft. It was a really interesting
paper on how you want to pursue your goal in becoming an expert in the field of
film/photography.
Sincerely,
Lakresha Davis