Class Photos!

What a great semester!

2pm Class

3:30pm Class

Semester Final Reflection Essay

In class on Thursday (12-11) you will write a short essay response to the following questions. Although we will work on these in class, you do not need to post your essay to your blog until the Friday of exam week (12-19).

Please frame your answer in complete thoughts and paragraphs (not as a bullet-point list). Feedback is essential to helping me shape this course in the future, so I appreciate your honest responses to these questions.

Please answer every question in detail:

The Project

• What was your biggest struggle during this project?
• What aspect of the documentary makes you most proud?
• What aspect of the documentary would you have changed?
• What aspects of the project were you personally responsible for? Please be specific as possible.
• We can all agree that group is frustrating. What did you do to try to promote a healthy group atmosphere? What more do you wish you had done to help the group?  Do you feel like you contributed a fair amount to the overall project?

The Class

• This course is designed to help you hone your critical thinking skills. Did any of our readings or films cause you to think about your world differently? Did the project cause you to think about the campus community differently?
• Another goal of this course is to challenge you with new technologies and communication techniques. How did your public speaking ability change this semester? Did you enjoy learning about how different styles of communication function, or would you have preferred writing 4 essays?
• My goal as an instructor is to help draw out the abilities you already possess, and focus them into new applications. Was my style helpful? Would you have preferred more lectures? More discussion? More homework?
• What can I do in the future to make this class better?
• If you could change one thing about this course, what would it be?

First Cuts Day 2

The Main Event

Hockey

Study Abroad

Bodybuilders (Callie, Savannah, Randi)

Bodybuilders (Chase, Jon, Alex)

First Cuts Day 1

Tattoos

Chili

Dodgeball

Keeneland

4PAWS

Eventing

First Cut Presentation Time

Thursday
Tattoos
Chili
Dodgeball

Keeneland
4Paws
Eventing

Tuesday
Hockey
The Main Event
Study Abroad

Bodybuilders (Callie)
Bodybuilders (Chase)

First Cuts and Documentary Guidelines

Each Film Must have:

• A title (not "WRD 111 Documentary" but an actual title)
• 5 minutes of footage
• End credits (each group member's name and primary responsibilities)
• Citations (interview subjects; any footage, sounds, or images you took from somewhere else). Use the Purdue OWL as a guide for citing sources.

Each First Cut Presentation must:

• Feature a full-length, finished documentary video. This is not a "rough draft"
• Feature a brief spoken element from each group member (how you divide this task is up to you)
• Cover most or all of the questions below in the span of three minutes, and include a Question and Answer segment. Each group will paired with another group who will ask questions.

Questions to consider for your First Cuts presentation:

• What is the thesis and focus of your documentary? 
• What is the scope (why did you choose to focus on certain elements and ignore others? How did you decide what to cut and what to keep?)
• Who is the audience for your documentary? What do you want your audience to leave with intellectually and emotionally?
• What rhetorical choices we talked about in class did you incorporate in your film?
• What areas do you feel work best?
• What areas do you feel need improvement?
• What types of feedback would like? In other words, on which sections or elements of your documentary should we focus feedback?
• What were some elements or shots you wanted to get but couldn't? This will help us to not suggest shots that you've already considered.
• If you had an extra six months to work on this project, what would you have done differently? This is a fun question to talk about, because it lets us see the ideas you had that never made it to the documentary because of time constraints.

This is not an exhaustive list, nor is it a strict guideline; rather, use these questions to give you an idea of what your First Cuts presentation should cover.

You will also be assessed on your presentation skills. Taking into account the feedback you received from me on your Shark Tank Proposal, think about how to improve your:

• Tone, volume, and projection
• Eye contact, posture, and hand placement
• Pacing, spacing, usage of the room, and movement