W3-external resource about “writing for the ear”

    In this week, we focused on the tips of writing for the ear. Therefore, here are some relative articles to the course materials.

     Before doing our group project, I recommend this website, Tips on Writing for the ear to clarify concepts of writing for audio. The most I learn from this site is that it provides many valuable tips and living examples to remind us what kinds of mistakes amateurs will make most and what is the difference between writing for the eye and writing for the ear. For example, people may write a sentence like “Yesterday, following a luncheon, the Mayor delivered an address to the student body. However, for the ear, producer should transfer this sentence into “The Mayor talked to the students yesterday after lunch” to make sure that you write like you talk and keep sentences short. Moreover, do not use big words when small ones will do. This statement reminds me of a experience I had when I took TV Journalism course in the college. My professor always told us that we should talk to our grandmothers about our news script before we hand in. If our grandmother could understand what we wanted to say in the TV news, then all kinds of people will understand our content. This point is important in “writng for the ear” because audience would not have second chance to capture words if they missed. Furthermore, writers should make up their scripts. For instance, the dog growled angrily at the children. They didn’t know why he was angry, (pause) but they didn’t wait to find out. They ran! When producer speak the bold words, they emphasize on these words with tone. These useful examples let me totally understand what big mistakes I should prevent from when I write a script for the ear.

    Besides, if you have more questions when you start to write the script for the ear, maybe you can find the answers or instructions on the “Tips & Guides: Writing Broadcast Copy ”