Special Screening

Submitted by Jocelyn Rish on April 22, 2013 - 7:56am

My theme for the Blogging from A to Z Challenge is contronyms. A contronym is a word with two or more opposite meanings, making it its own antonym. Click here to find out more about these quirky words.

Here we are at the start of week four and letter S of the A to Z challenge. Not surprisingly, the letter S has a large selection of contronyms to choose from, probably the most so far. So which contronym did I decide to feature? It's a word I use fairly often: screen.

Screen - show; project on a screen

~ or ~

Screen - hide; conceal from view

Since I make short films, I often use the word screen in the showing context, as in screening a movie for an audience. Here's a non-fiction example: My short film High Heels & Hoodoo will screen at the Reel Shorts Film Festival in Canada on May 4th. Whoo hoo - we're so excited! Click here for more information.

As for the hiding context, here's another non-fiction example: During the Q&A session after a screening of my short film Saying Goodbye, I got emotional talking about my grandmother and used a program to screen my crying face from the audience.

Since Saying Goodbye also starts with the letter S, I'd like to screen it for you now. It's only sixteen minutes long and has won several awards at film festivals. If you enjoy it, please pass it along to family and friends. We'd be most appreciative - thank you!

If a cat predicted your death, how would it change your life?

Are you familiar with contronyms? Can you think of examples of other ‘S’ contronyms? How Sleepy is Chloe with her letter S?

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Comments

Submitted by Nancy Jardine on April 22, 2013 - 5:45am.

That was a 'new' word for me, Jocelyn! As a teacher of 11-12year olds for decades we used to have class competitions to see who could access the dictionary the fastest and find a particular word meaning- word especially chosen since I probably did not want the 'first' meaning listed. (practice in using a dictionary properly) A fun post! Good luck with your screenings.

Submitted by Kellie on April 22, 2013 - 6:55am.

I never knew what a contronym was! What an interesting and quirky theme for the AtoZ...I'll have to take a look back at your earlier posts to improve my vocabulary!

Submitted by eileen ludwig on April 22, 2013 - 8:23am.

Film and writing are interesting match and a good place to be for the future of online Visiting for A to Z Challenge

Submitted by Sheethal on April 22, 2013 - 8:40am.

I knew the words, but never have used the hidden meaning screen much. Guess, should try using it.

Submitted by Patricia Lynne on April 22, 2013 - 10:00am.

Another word I knew both meanings of but had no idea that meant the word was a contronym.

Submitted by John Wiswell on April 22, 2013 - 8:17pm.

Seems like the comments are working now... At least the page is loading.

Lost most of my thoughts from before, other than that the middle of the video was difficult for me to watch having lost a family member in a similar position to what she was in there. It's just not material that can be used on me in video entertainment yet.

Submitted by Penny the Jack Russell dog and modest internet superstar! on April 22, 2013 - 9:05pm.

Greetings human,

Ah yes, and even though it isn't the letter "S", you make short films. Of course, "film" is a contronym. I started watching your film, but upon seeing a cat, well....

Pawsitive wishes,

Penny :)

Submitted by Susan Taylor on April 22, 2013 - 9:25pm.

Jocelyn, I can only imagine what it must feel like to see your story come to life in a film. Well done! Thank you so much for sharing this on your blog today. I will be sharing it on Facebook. I don't know how many people are willing to click on a 16-minute video, but I can tell you I am glad I did so.

SiouxsiesMusings

Submitted by Susan Taylor on April 22, 2013 - 9:27pm.

And I have no idea what I would do if a cat predicted my death, but that is some kind of creative idea you had. Also, thank you for having the "Share" button, which gave me the HTML I needed to put it on my own blog. Marvelous film!!!

SiouxsiesMusings

Submitted by TaMara on April 22, 2013 - 9:57pm.

I had never heard of a contronym before today. We use screen (hide) a lot when discussing soccer at my house.

Submitted by Mary on April 22, 2013 - 10:31pm.

Thank you for your post. I hadn't heard of a contronym before, but very interesting!

visiting from the A to Z Blogging~
Mary

www.maryeagius.com

Submitted by Joanne Moss on April 22, 2013 - 10:56pm.

Really interesting, loving reading the other blogs too, thanks!

Submitted by Rinelle Grey on April 22, 2013 - 11:26pm.

I hadn't thought about the opposite meanings for screen. In fact, I'm quite surprised at how many words do have two meanings that are completely opposite to each other. Fascinating topic for A to Z.

Rinelle Grey

Submitted by Medeia Sharif on April 23, 2013 - 2:36am.

Great film. I remember seeing it when you first posted it or shared a link awhile back.

Submitted by Jocelyn Rish on April 24, 2013 - 1:43am.

Nancy - Thanks! I wonder with all the technology today, do kids even know how to use a dictionary?

Kellie - Thanks, I'm having a lot of fun with it.

Eileen - Novel writing and writing for film are very different, but I love both of them.

Sheethal - Yeah, I don't use the hidden one much either.

Patricia - I've been surprised by most of them, too.

John - I'm sorry for your loss. I wrote the story not long after my grandmother died in a nursing home to work through some of my sadness. But I still get teary most times I watch the movie.

Penny - We talked about making it a death-predicting dog instead because the cats were so hard to work with on set.

Susan - It was pretty amazing. I teared up the first day on set when we shot the first scene. Thank you so much for the kind words and for sharing it!

TaMara - The athletic uses of the word screen are completely lost on me. :-)

Mary - Thanks, and thanks for stopping by!

Joanne - Thanks, glad you liked them!

Rinelle - I was completely shocked too. That's why I've had so much fun doing it for the A to Z challenge.

Medeia - Thank you!