I think the
biggest struggle our group faced for our project was developing a thesis. We
didn’t even realize this was a problem until we were given feedback on our
podcast. We couldn’t think of any major issues that the AcoUstiKats faced,
besides them trying to get their name out more in Lexington. This didn’t seem
all that interesting alone, so we decided to group this with stories from some
of the members about their experiences with the group. We wanted to catch the
more emotional side of these experiences and how the AcoUstiKats affected each
member in a specific way. We also faced a slight problem in terms of deciding
what to film. We needed something that would be interesting to our audience,
but by the time we started filming the AcoUstiKats for our documentary, all the
major performances had been done for the year, and we were worried that we
might not have enough footage to keep the audiences attention. As it turns out, I think the practices we
filmed were enough.
I think
what our group did best for the documentary, what I’m most proud of, is that we
had a variety of different footage, the quality of the shots were great, and
the editing was well done to produce the final product. In terms of editing,
Chloe did an excellent job of voice-overs and transitions that really made the
film look professional and organized.
If I could
change one thing about it, I would’ve seen if we could get a few more funny or
emotional stories from the members of AcoUstiKats, just to enhance audience
interest.
If we had 6
months to do this project, rather than just a few weeks, I think we could’ve
definitely gotten some better footage. While our shots were good quality and we
had a good variation of shots, one of our biggest regrets was not being able to
film major performances, or interviewing audience member reactions. Although we
weren’t necessarily rushed with the project, we could’ve made the film more
interesting had we had more interesting footage.
When I first
heard that this project was a group project, I had mixed feelings. Having made
a documentary for WRD 110 class last semester, I knew that it was not an easy
task, and I was happy that it would now be done in a group, because I think
that definitely contributed to a better film, than if I had done everything
myself. However, I—just like everyone else—has had their fair share of
frustrations with past group projects in high school. But after our first group
meeting for the podcast, I was reassured that we would all do our part. It
seemed like everyone in my group was in dire need of a good grade in this
class, which reassured me. We all assigned different roles that each of us
would do for the last several weeks, and everyone was good about keeping up. I
interviewed the AcoUstiKats members for the film, Jenna and Muhannad were in
charge of filming everything, and Chloe was in charge of editing. We all were
very organized from the start and that definitely paid off in the end.
