Happy Motivator
How to write a press release 1. Who do you want to read the news in your media release? Write to a specific target audience. 2. Is your story newsworthy? A media release is not a sales document. You are not selling information. It is a means of giving information to a journalist who can write an article about it. For example popular things in the news at the moment would be about the environment, the race to the white house with Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton from the Democrats who are newsworthy in politics through to Paris Hilton and Britney Spears in entertainment. If it is a local paper you want to get your news into make sure you are talking about people who live there or businesses from that town or village. 3. Great Headlines turn heads! The first thing a person reads on your press release is the headline. If it is a breaking news story it will be very interesting for people to read. College student flashes on campus. A headline on a more serious side would be - asbestos exposure increases mesolthelioma patients. Journalists or readers may think - what is mesothelioma? and want to read further. Keep the headline simple but enough to grab a journalist's attention. If the story is great hopefully it will be headline news. 4. Remember the five W's and an H. Newspapers work with an inverted pyramid policy in mind. That means that if they don't have enough space for your article an their page that they will start chopping your article from the bottom until it fits. It is therefore VERY important to get all your main facts in the first sentence or paragraph of your media release. This can generally be achieved if you are able to answer the following questions about your news. 5. Give a quote from a person of authority. Fashion Guru Fernando Martinez, hairdressing champion for North America for the last four years commented, " I am outraged at this fashion crime!" 6. Images If you are able to send an image with your press release it makes the media release even more likely to get printed as the readers will have something to look at. A picture is worth a thousand words and after reading your news they will want to be nosey and see the product or guilty person you are talking about in your media release. 7. Include notes to the editor - is used to give the editor some background about your news story. A paragraph maximum and use bullet points if you have a number of things to say. It can also be used to insert the caption and people in the images if you are sending images with your press release. 8. After the notes you put down your name and contact details for the journalist to contact you if they need any more information. I hope this helps you in making a start in writing press releases and getting them in the news. They can be fun to do and getting the right words on the page and being creative enough to grab a journalists attention can be like playing a sort of word soduko. When it is done right and you see your words in print it can be very satisfying. ;-) Have fun!
To write a great media release you need to ask the right questions.
> Who? > What? > When? > Where? > Why? > How? Journalists need to see quickly what your event or story is all about, so don't hide this information away! You might want to repeat it at the bottom of the release, too, perhaps in a box to make it easy to find. So if you are wanting to tell people about an event like the dodgy hairdresser who is being prosecuted by the fashion police you need to think like a journalist who is concerned about telling readers news. Who is the guilty hairdresser and what have they done? Where do they work and when did this crime to fashion occur? What is happening at the moment and why?
“Dealing with a problem is a bit like eating a frog – it’s best to do it straight away as staring at it for an hour only makes the situation harder to deal with. And if you have three frogs it’s best not to start with the smallest one!” -
Andy Pausch
How to Write a Film Review
Writing a film review can be fun and a way of giving your opinion about a particular film. It will also broaden your appreciation of films and help people from wasting money on a bad film. If you are lucky you might even get the chance to have your reviews published and get paid for it.
The stepping stones towards writing a film review
Step One
Watch a film. Even if you think it will be bad. You don’t just want to see movies that you know you are going to like. How will you be able to compare the good and bad movies then?
Step Two
Write down some things to remember during the film or do some online research – www.imdb.com has a lot of information about most films. Write down the names of the stars, director, screenwriter and the year it was made. Note how long the film is and give it a rating.
Step Three
Take time to soak in the film. Think about it for a few hours before you begin writing. Let your appreciation or distaste wear off a bit so you don’t write too emotionally. At this time you should think about the set were the costumes well made were the characters believable?
Step Four
Who do you think this film is aimed at? Will this be enjoyed by children, university grads or is it a date movie? It is the general public who will be reading a newspaper review, not a group of film freaks wanting you to dissect every inch of a film.
Step Five
Start with the introduction. Most film review readers like to be entertained by the review, so think up a good line to hook the reader or a theme for your review.
Step Six
Start writing the review. Include the basic plot of the movie and cover the major events but do not give away the surprise ending. People want to know about the film but not told everything. You almost want to entice people to go if it is good and keep them away if it is bad. Movie reviews are typically 250 to 500 words.
Step Seven
Discuss relevant parts of the film. Include your opinion of the direction, script, actors and photography.
Step Eight
Writing a movie review is perfect for blogging
An Example of a movie review by Jonathan Mason
Rambo (2008) - 
(three out of five)
If there was an Oscar for the most deaths in a movie then Rambo would win one hands down. John Rambo is a character I have come to love while growing up however in this latest version Sylvester Stallones’ age really comes across on screen and I was left thinking how can this old guy seriously do all theses things that a 20 year old might battle doing? The story takes place in Burma where Rambo has to rescue some Christian aid workers who have been captured by a ruthless local military unit. For those of you who watch the TV show Dexter you will recognise Julie Benz who plays Sarah Miller, an aid worker. Rambo escorts some mercenaries into Burma to rescue Sarah and some of her colleagues. Fans of Rambo will not miss out on the almost expected high death toll in these.
The fighting sequences are realistic and quite gruesome in some places. This film is particularly violent and comes across as too realistic and not just another Hollywood movie where people just fall over and play dead. There are also times when watching the action I got a bit confused as to who was actually killing who? In places it almost seems like a killing frenzy with a prize for the most number of violent and bloody deaths.
The film is directed by Sylvester Stallone and runs for 91 minutes. After Rocky ending and now also Rambo I do wonder if there will be any more Sylvester Stallone films or if we have come to the end of an era. (264)
Copyright . Jonathan Mason. All rights reserved.
