Looking back on my videos, I think I have improved a lot in different aspects. These aspects would be my mentality, creativeness, editing, and confidence. The first aspect I think I’ve improved on would be my mentality. I have drastically improved in this part of my performance 'because coming to this class, I didn’t even know what a VO or a VOSOTVO was. I didn’t know what the word stood for nor how to create one. So my mental state in J550 was full of anxiety, nervousness, questions, and doubt. I knew Dr. Collins expected a lot and so I knew I needed to step up and push myself to understand how to create these videos. I then became more nervous when I found out we had to create them every single week. My stress level rose a couple notches. Even though I emailed Dr. Colllins numerous amounts of times and asked a lot of questions, as well as stayed after class, I finally am now “swimming,” according to Dr. Collins. 'The second aspect that I thought I have improved on would be my creativeness. After the first two weeks of presenting, I became more comfortable with my shooting. So as a student, I tried to develop my skill set and shoot more creative shots. I wanted to get out of my comfort zone and try something new. Trying to be more creative helped my editing as well. The third aspect that I have improved on would be my editing skills. My editing was not very good in the beginning. My editing skill set began with everything else, from the bottom. 'Even though editing still takes a long time for me, I am becoming more comfortable with tools on Adobe and learning where how to navigate this website better. Getting better at editing has almost helped me advance my creativeness throughout my videos as well. The final aspect that has improved is my confidence. In the beginning, this class brought my confidence down a lot, especially as a journalist and student. But, I chose not to get discouraged and I worked really hard. I learned everything that I needed to know about VO and VOSOTVO’s within a couple of weeks. My main goal was trying to reach my classmates levels as well. In the end, being told by Dr. Collins that I am officially swimming made my day because I worked so hard. I have a lot to reflect on because I struggled so much in the beginning of this class. I didn’t think I would make it out alive! But in general, I am very thankful for the struggle because it made me a better journalist, 'student, editor, producer and writer. Furthermore, this class has taught me how to become better listener. For example, every week Dr. Collins expected us to have the “who, what, when, where, why, how” underlined and bolded for our current events. If one does not follow the rules for the current events, no points. I was one of the few who got zero points on the first current event because I did not listen properly. Being one of 'the few scared me because I was so embarrassed. It was just a simple rule to follow and I didn’t, even though I still tried. After that, never again did I miss any points on a current event. I made sure I wrote everything down exactly.
Looking back on my first VOSOTVO to my last one, I can say my mentality, creativeness, editing, and confidence have all improved. I personally liked the third VOSOTVO I did about Student mental health, only because y shots were more clear and detailed. But I think Dr. Collins liked my last VOSOTVO the best about a Costa Rican Adventure. Even though some clips in my Costa Rican Adventure were a little fast, I porously did that. Because I did not want to milk it and draw the film out o be boring. Every little thing I do in my VOSOTVO’s and VO’s in general have a point to them. My least favorite video I created was probably my video essay. Reason for this is, even though I thought it was fun and exciting to watch, I just had such low confidence making the film because I did not know what to do or how to create the video. This was the first video we made in class so my mentality, creativeness, editing, and confidence were so low.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WPq-Nrgdq4o
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eO-vYVvC27M
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ils1d4-kWhI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hu6miYkujZ8&list=UU6lzHRwpb8sRCo1TgkdHHgw&index=41
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t7dNJ3ncT_o&list=UU6lzHRwpb8sRCo1TgkdHHgw&index=106
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QxKcXiHJUqc&index=126&list=UU6lzHRwpb8sRCo1TgkdHHgw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SCq1kP0ibq0
One thought on “Reflection Blog 2- Olivia Roberts”
Olivia,
Looking back at everything we’ve done this semester, I can not agree more that you have improved! In a multitude of ways, especially in your mentality and confidence. This class is stressful and intimidating at times, but you’ve taken it all in stride and I am really proud of you and am glad to be your partner!
When I watched your most recent VOSOTVO, I think you had several strong shots. There is one in particular that I really liked where you got a close up of a person watching the movie in the dark, where the light bounces off their head and glasses and I thought, “wow I really like that.” Your shots have continued to improve and so have your scripts. I worked with you briefly on this last one, and saw that you have definitely gotten more comfortable with the writing.
I think that overall, you have turned into a great student-journalist. If you keep your composure and continue to take each project in stride, you will improve greatly with each one. You and I are in this together as partners, so we will continue to work and improve together!
In conclusion, keep up your awesome work!
-Jackson