Final reflection essay

The Project
My biggest struggle during this project honestly was being able to meet with everyone as often as we did. I went home a couple weekends through this semester because I live so close. We met often and a couple meetings I had to miss because of this. I'm really proud of the way our team was able to work together through the project and enjoy our time. This was a group that I feel we are all friends. We had a lot of fun together and we got along through the whole time, no arguments or anything. I couldn't have gotten luckier with another group of intelligent and happy people. I learned a lot about the filmmaking process and definitely gained a lot of respect for people who work in that field! If I could change anything about our documentary, I wish we could've been able to get to meet a family that a service dog was placed with. I feel like that would've been really touching and would've added a whole new dimension and feel to the documentary. But I'm still very proud of what the five of us came up with.
As for what I was personally responsible for, I was behind the camera most of the time. Most of the footage we used, minus a couple of b-roll shots or the interview with Ally (we used the media depot's camera), was with my direction and angle. I was responsible for getting the angles right and the shots thought out. I was a visual person and worked with Betsy, who was the main editor and worked through the computer with the Premiere program, to get the shots to look right. I was also in charge of making sure we had the equipment we needed such as the camera, the tripod and the SD card that those images and videos went on.
With our group, there really was no effort needed to keep the group work peaceful and stress-free. We worked well together. We met for lunch to discuss the documentary, met at the library and in the media depot, had a group chat on facebook to keep up with everything. Everything with us was very amicable and, as I previously mentioned, I couldn't have gotten luckier with a better group to work with. I feel like we all did our equal share of the work, except maybe Betsy; she was a superstar and edited the whole film. I wish I could have been at all the meetings we had and I wish the footage I got was better quality and wasn't so shaky at times.

The Class
In this class I learned a lot about film. I learned a lot about the time and effort that goes into making a film. We made a five minute video and it took us umpteen hours of filming, meeting and editing. I could not imagine the struggle that movie makers and music video producers have to deal with. As much fun as it was, the time consumption was a lot more than I expected. I definitely gained a new respect for filmmakers and will never again question why, if there's a trailer out for a movie, that I have to wait another 4-6 months for the actual film to be ready for viewing. As for how I view campus, I can definitely see how many different groups there are that cover their own little sphere on campus and how they impact different individuals in different ways. It's kind of crazy to think about. Makes you think about just how diverse our campus truly is.
Public speaking has always been a fear for me. Always. In this class, I learned just how insecure I show everyone I am when I speak to a class. I look at the ground, I'm quiet, you hear the shake in my voice and even when I think I'm using effective hand gestures, I am still fidgeting. The public speaking made me rethink my major actually. I was going to try to go into Law but now, I'm not so sure how well I'd do arguing in front of a judge and another lawyer. I guess we'll have to see. I suppose I'm more of an essay person but I appreciated the experience, no matter how nerve wracking it was and how much I hated it. (sorry.)
I feel like you were an excellent instructor. You really know your stuff and you portrayed it in a way that was easy to understand. The work load worked and the class was enjoyable. I don't think you need to change anything in the way class works. But if I could change one thing about the course, I would probably not do those on the spot speeches because those are terrifying and I have never been so nervous in my life. Especially since I apparently read my situation wrong.....

Thank you so much for a great semester!