Draft #1

Sorry this blog came so late, got caught up doing a paper for another class and things kind of slipped my mind. Anyway, here's where I'm at.

So last week Pinedo pushed our meeting back so she could fully get through my paper. During the middle of the week I got an email with comments on my paper and some thoughts about what still needs to be put into it. I suspected that I would get most of the comments that she gave me, which range from needing a better transition between paragraphs and wording things awkwardly (I was ready to shoot myself while getting through that first draft so after a while everything became a jumble). Also, I could use better sources, which is where I come into a bit of a problem. Most of my film sources come from Rue Morgue, a horror movie magazine. Pinedo commented that more sources might be needed and I agree, it would be extremely useful to get some scholarly pieces into the paper, however, there hasn't been much written on the films I'm looking at (which is why I'm looking at them...) I guess I'll figure something out.

Also, something else which scared me is that when I got the paper back with comments through e-mail, the format was changed to single spacing, which made it only 11 pages. I REALLLYYY hope that the paper doesn't have to be in single spacing because that would mean rather than adding an additional 5-10 pages, I'd have to add an additional 10-20. Psh. Fingers crossed on that one.

Some of the major things I still need to add in the paper are the movies perception in America and France and how High Tension brought French Horror into the American mainstream (I put that in my outline I just couldn't place it correctly in my draft). I can work out placing High Tension into my paper with little difficulty, but once again as Pinedo pointed out, since I'm not fluent in French it's going to be kind of hard to find reviews and statistics. I'm trying to learn French right now through the Rosetta Stone I got for Christmas (My only gift because it was so absurdly expensive) but I had to kind of put my Rosetta Stone lessons on hold due to school picking up and working full time. If anyone knows any sources for finding out how much profit these films grossed domestically it would be greatly appreciated.

Anyway, I meet with Pinedo today and am pretty sure its going to be kind of rough. Tough love kids. Tough love.

What's this all about?

As most of you are probably in my Intro to publishing class, and therefore already know what this blog is about I apologize for being repetitive. For anyone else who stumbles upon my blog, I am to use this blog to motivate me and keep me on point to help me finish the honor's thesis I am currently working on, with hopes of publishing this research paper and eventually using it as a thesis to apply for NYU's PhD program. My research paper explores the connection between the 2005 riots in the French suburbs and connects them to the increase of violent French horror movies since the riots. I have researched demographic statistics, public policy in France and news accounts of the events that took place before and during the 2005 riots and have found that there is a history of racial tension in France between the white elites and individuals of French suburbs who are mainly of North African descent. The movies I am connecting the riots to are Frontier(s), Inside, and Martyrs, all of which either directly show footage from the 2005 riots, or have a deep political statement.

Over the last three days I have spent over 24 hours working on this paper and completing a first draft. I want to push myself further and really make something great out of this but am having some technical problems in connecting the statistical information about the riots and transitioning it into the film analysis in my paper. I keep re-writing the same sections over and over again and it is extremely frustrating. I meet with Professor Pinedo on Wednesday and am hoping to get some suggestions and feedback from her. I currently have 21 pages done of this research paper and plan to extend it to at least 25 pages. Although I am excited that I finished my first draft, I am worried that what I am doing is not going to be good enough to get me published/ into NYU.  I need to make this AMAZING to have even a chance of getting in.