Film review editing and publication

Introduction

As you proofread and prep these articles for publication, make notes on what the writer is doing incorrectly. These notes will help us give good feedback to the writer.

Note: You should use Firefox as your browser.

Logging in

Log in to the back end of KDHX.org

kdhx.org/administrator

Click on Items

Sort the Select Category field to Film Reviews. Click on the film review you want.

Check title, tags and extra fields

Check the title. Make sure it follows AP Style. If the single quote marks look curly, remove them and type in straight quote marks. Good titles/headlines will have the name of the film and a strong verb phrase:

'The Zero Theorem' probes existential questions Playing games trumps 'Video Games: The Movie' It's worth finding 'A Most Wanted Man' 'Land Ho!' meanders, adrift without a plot

Check the Tags. There should be tags for director, actors and actresses and genre. If you notice any misspellings, delete the tag and retype it.

Check the Extra Fields. Make sure all values are filled out properly.

Introtext

Check the Intro Text (the lede). Lede should be 50 words or less. If it is significantly over 50 words (20-30 words), consider cutting a sentence or two and moving to first paragraph of Full Text window. But only do so if you can make the edit simply and gracefully. Don't butcher the lede just to make it shorter.

Check the Full Text window. Make sure paragraph breaks are correct. If you see an extra space between paragraphs, you will need to close it up. Click on the Source button in the WYSIWYG. You should see simple < p > and </ p > before and after each paragraph. If you see < br > there is likely a problem.

Linking

Highlight the name of the director and/or an actor or two's name in the Introtext (or Full Text if that's where it appears) and use the link icon in the WYSIWYG to insert the raw URL for a tag. Use this URL:

index.php?option=com_k2&lang=en&tag=name&task=tag&view=itemlist

Replace name with the name of the director etc. following this convention: terry+gilliam marlon+brando

Metadata

Make sure the Introtext is pasted into the Description filed under Metadata Information. Make sure there are no quotation marks in this box.

Make sure there are Keywords: actor and director names, film title, film, review, film review, movie review, genre, kdhx, author name

Image

Locate a good image from an official site related to the movie. Official Facebook sites can be good resources. Crop the image to 600x400. Upload it through the image tab. Make sure to include a credit in the credit field. The credit should be the short version of the website where you found the image: universalpictures.com starwars.com facebook.com/casablanca

Media

Include embed code for a trailer to the film if you can locate it on an official site. Click on the Media Source > Embed tab and paste in the code. Adjust width parameter to 516.

Proofreading

Read all the text slowly and carefully. Correct any grammatical errors. Do not rewrite for the sake of rewriting.

Double check the spellings of all names, especially if the names look peculiar. Google should help you there.

Check for AP style issues. The most common AP style issues are:

Numbers: one-nine are spelled out. 10 and above are figures. No Oxford comma. Commas and periods inside quotation marks. Double quote marks for names of movies, plays, novels, albums, songs, TV shows. City names must include the state with them in text, unless the city is unique and well-identified by name: Chicago, Atlanta, St. Louis

Check for tone. If the review is negative, make sure the review is not slamming or attacking the director or the film in an extreme fashion. If you feel the tone is extreme, contact Ann for advice.

Preview and saving

Finally, if you are happy with the way the article looks, save as Special under Access Level on the right side, make sure Start Publishing is set to current day and time (or earlier), Click Yes by Published and click the Apply button in the upper right.

In a second tab, go to KDHX.org > Film reviews. Locate the review, click on the link and view it. If everything looks good, go back to the content editor tab, change status to Public, click Yes for Featured and Yes for Published. Make sure the "Creation date" and "Start publishing date" are set (or reset if you changed it) for the date the review can be published. Some reviews cannot be published until a very specific date, so make sure this is correct.

Click the Save icon in the upper right. You are done! You may now prep another review or you may log out of Joomla by clicking Logout in the upper right.

If you run into any issues, don't hesitate to contact Ann.