What do you do to become a better blogger/writer? Do you challenge yourself in order to grow or have you slowly gotten into the groove of things and enjoy being in that comfort zone? Recently I saw the documentary/movie The 5 Obstructions and it inspired me to create a new blogathon which will start very soon.
What is the movie The 5 Obstructions about?
If you have not heard of this film, let me give a short summary of it:
Director Jørgen Leth got the assignment from Lars von Trier to remake one of his movies (The Perfect Human) a total of 5 times. Each time there were rules he had to adhere to (for example: the movie has to be set in Cuba and the maximum length of a shot is 12 frames or the movie had to be animated). The idea behind it was to challenge the filmmaker, forcing him to come up with something worth watching with those restrictions in place. It has been announced that Martin Scorcese will also do the same thing in The Five Obstructions: Scorsese vs. Trier, which will finish shooting this year.
So what is the 5 Obstructions blogathon about?
This is not a blogathon where you write one post and you are finished. This is a blogathon for which you have to write 5 posts (1 per month) with 1 restriction in place each time. The goal? To challenge yourself as a writer and force you to get out of your comfort zone (hopefully) resulting in lessons learned to improve your blogging in various ways. If you are worried, I have some fun obstructions in mind which I think you will enjoy.
So how will this blogathon work?
At the beginning of each month I will post the obstruction for that month and you will have the whole month to write your post. You can do it immediately or take your time, but it has to be done before the month ends. You can send me the link to the post or leave it in the comments underneath the obstruction. At the end of the month I will check who has managed to pass the challenge and post an overview of the posts. This will be repeated for the other 4 obstructions.
When will this blogathon start?
This blogathon will kick off on June 1st, when the first obstruction will be posted.
Where can I find the logo for this blogathon?
I’ve created two versions of the logo, one with a black background and one with a white background, which can be found here.
If you have any questions, please leave them in the comments.
Wow.. I’ve never heard of this before but it sounds really interesting. Bring on June 1st!
Cool to hear you’ll be joining!
Count me in. Sound interesting.
Great to hear!
I’m in. I love that film (as I own a screener DVD copy of the film) and I like a challenge.
Nice, looking forward to it.
Sounds very interesting!! 🙂
I think it will be, so hope you’ll feel the same.
Cool. I’m in 🙂
Nice to hear 🙂
Sounds great, Nostra. I feel like doing it!
Great Andina! Keep your eye out for the post on the 1st of June 🙂
Sounds interesting. And scary!! I think I’ll have a go, whatever happens on June 1st!
No worries, you will get challenged and have to do some extra things for it, but nothing truly scary 😉
Looking cool! And a lot of work I assume but I’m up for it.. I think. I’m hoping my summer won’t get in a way of this thing. 🙂
Thanks Mettel. I’ve thought about that and might not do one in August so everyone can enjoy their summer 🙂
Sounds great! Interesting and challenging!
Thanks, hope you’ll enjoy it!
Cool Idea. I’m in.
Nice to hear you will also join!
This sounds fascinating. I’d like to take part. Please tell me that one of the obstructions is that we have to write a post in Cuba?! 🙂
You are welcome to join! How did you know about writing a post in Cuba? Have you been hacking into my notes in preparation for this? 😉
Ok, Count me in. Just got to decide which movie to review negatively…
Nice to hear Ben, can’t wait to see which one you’ll review. I think reviewing a movie you love negatively is the harder one of the two, but it is a good reason to rewatch a movie 🙂
Challenge Accepted!!!!
Nice to hear, interested to see what you will come up with.
An overview of all entries will be kept up to date here: https://www.myfilmviews.com/2013/06/04/the-5-obstructions-blogathon-overview/
Here goes my entry: http://themoviepencil.com/5-obstructions-blogathon-1-fast-furious-6/
I’m posting this just to subscribe to follow up comments. 🙂
OK, I’m totally game for this! Sign me up! I’ll shoot you a link once I have my review up…I’ve got a month to think this through 😀
Nice to hear Andrew, will be waiting in anticipation! 🙂
Wow count me in!
Cool, will be adding you to the list!
I don’t consider myself a great movie reviewer so I accept the challenge to better my craft.
Welcome and nice to hear you want to challenge yourself Steve.
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Count me in, sounds like an interesting challenge. It’s about time I devote more time to the community (time is my mortal enemy!).
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Okay. Challenge accepted. This sounds awesome!
Of course it is Elena 😉
This sounds awesome! I read someone’s first obstruction post and came to your site, might have to get involved! 😀
Nice to hear, let me know once the post is up and it will be added to the overview of all posts!
Oh wow, this sounds good. I’m in!
You are welcome to join Dan.
Hey Nostra,
Awesome Idea. You can find mine here:
http://www.blankpagebeatdown.com/5-obstructions-blogathon-number-1/
Thanks Shah, will be adding it to the overview!
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Was hoping to make it to the 2,000 words but ran out of things to say at around 1,500 and didn’t want to force it. Anyway, here’s my entry. http://flightstightsandmovienights.com/2013/09/24/special/
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