Oh what I've learned...

I came into this class hoping I would develop more skills and better my abilities, and I did. I am mostly self taught in the editing/shooting arena and I love that I can now take classes and learn from those who have done this for a while and see other people's techniques. The open classroom was an excellent part of the class and I only hope that future classes will allow me and others to express opinions and get immediate feedback.

I have a tendency to fight against what I'm not good at. I lack in the storyline area, and that is one of the reasons I take these classes is to push myself to do things differently. I like flashy, crazy stuff; I want to work for a company like Red Bull or video X-Games or do commercials. But while these classes I am taking at UT better me in what I'm not good at, none seem to address what I am good at. Most classes focus on the individual filmmaker and that is great for most, but sometimes I have to ask myself why the hell I'm even in a film school if I don't want to well...make films. This doc class has been the best so far at trying to help me gain knowledge at what I'm not good at as well as somewhat addressing my strengths.

As for my documentary...it fell short of my expectations this semester. I began the semester with a great idea and ended it still chasing that idea. With more time and less problems outside of the project I could have attained that goal, I know it. But other classes got in the way, my family is going through problems, the house I'm renting needs serious foundation work, my surgery problems resurfaced, and the list goes on and on. With the project itself I lost time when my car was down and I missed a key event I was going to shoot at; thats why there was little footage of me driving. Everyone always seems to be plagued with having too little time and that was true for me, but I had planned on that and compensated, but I couldn't have planned for as many things to go wrong elsewhere.

But even though the doc did not live up to my expectations I'm not giving up now that the semester is over. The whole experience making it was excellent. I learned more about sound and image, got experience with different styles of interviews and learned to work around equipment and location issues. There is always something to be learned whether the outcome was wonderful or a total bomb.

In the end the class was a positive experience. We all worked hard on our docs and very few had to be abandoned. I learned from my experience and in the end that is what matters