Reflection Essay

            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.