Last Junior Final: Self-Reflection

Angie Torres

HR.7

My junior year in e-Communications is what I would call productive. I thought it was going to be less busy and maybe less time consuming but I was wrong. My year went like this:

   Football season started and I got b-roll for each home game. I was happy to do so as  I spent time watching the game as well as interacting with my friends. It went fun and because I filmed got b-roll the majority of the games, I had time to experiment with Final Cut. I figured out what each button did and got the hang of fading and fixing the lighting on videos that were off. I also learned how to work the tripod which I honestly haven't had the chance to actually work with it. It was useful for when I filmed soccer because other sports like football or baseball I used my hands. I also learned how to do voiceovers. They weren't the best, I can say for sure, but I improved since the beginning and I can say I'm satisfied because I know how to do them and I know what is expected and that will make my future senior stories much better.

   Challenges along the way would include how I should've managed my time. Things don't always go as expected and with this program it is very important to make sure you're flexible and can manage the schedule without throwing a fit. Sometimes I had to do homework for classes and it would intervene with games I was put to film. Sometimes I just had to assign someone else to film a game because I couldn't make it. For next year I'm going to try to make my time in class much more productive and I will try to make the program like a job and make it a priority because at times it wasn't.

  My greatest strengths in this class would include getting shots and editing the videos. I film the sports so I got much better holding the camera steady and making sure I got interesting shots instead of the same ones over and over. My editing also got better as I cut off the useless shots and got creative with effects like fading and using the rule of thirds. My weaknesses would include writing down voiceovers. I absolutely hate doing them. I improved on SAYING them, but I'm horrible at writing them. I can never think of what to write for them and thankfully I have Catherine that knows how to do them.  I tried to improve on making the voiceovers but it went ok but it still wasn't the best.

  If there could be one thing I would change it would be to make sure none of the sophomore have access to the equipment room because there was too many times I almost didn't have a camera and I had the small cameras sophomore year so they should as well. Other than that I'm pretty ok with everything else, I understand why classes have to be split up because there wouldn't be space in the room with like 40 students.

In conclusion, junior year was fun. I made memories and I learned al to over the technology. I still hate doing voiceovers and I doubt that will change but at least I improved on saying them. At least tried to. Can't wait for next year!