As the semester comes closer to its end, I find myself looking back and evaluating my experience at the Virginia Ball Center. Coming into this semester, I was very excited to have an out-of-the-classroom learning experience. I was a bit nervous about the different type of workload...one semester-long project that cannot be finished by simply cramming at the library the last week of classes. I was also anticipating the diversity of the group of people I would be working with.
My parents kept telling me that this would be a very challenging experience, but completely worth the time and effort. I actually slightly disagreed with them because I knew we had at least 15 people in our group...how challenging could it be if all the work was split up between us!?
The semester started off as good as I could have imagined. Our group got along from the start and soon developed inside jokes and positive group dynamics. I thoroughly enjoyed our class discussions that usually involved gender issues, which is one of my all-time favorite topics. I would leave our daily meetings feeling intellectually fulfilled.
As our semester progressed and we broke off into committees, the stress level of the project increased. It became my number one priority to work with the narrative committee. Many days I found myself feeling completely bogged down and full of stress from trying to develop skills and creative ideas to help produce a narrative for the film. At times, I would feel as if we were making tremendous progress...only to run into another one of the various speed bumps along the journey. Discouraging...
Finally, Finally! A skeleton narrative was produced which was followed by a storyboard. At this point, I could feel our project starting to really come together...there was an end product in sight and we would successfully accomplish our goal.
We have had to place together interview clips/voiceover, visuals, and narration to fit into our storyboard. This required the time-consuming process of going through each and every reel of footage (85 discs to be exact) and recording timecodes for each clip. When I saw the rough cut of the documentary last week, I felt very proud of our work... and thankful that I had been motivated enough to sit at my computer for 13 hours straight the previous day/night in order to give the editors more clips.
I saw clips throughout the documentary that I had personally chosen and it made me feel great inside. It really showed me that all of our hard work throughout the semester has been worth it. If I felt that incredible sense of accomplishment from seeing the rough cut, I cannot wait to feel the sense of pride when we show our final product on Dec. 6!
To sum up this semester in one sentence...
This semester has been the most stressful and challenging educational experience of my life thus far, but the development of skills and sense of accomplishment have been completely worth the time and effort.
Looks like my parents were right...again!
Showing posts with label gender. Show all posts
Showing posts with label gender. Show all posts
Monday, November 26, 2007
Monday, September 17, 2007
Victory!
Burris Dominated...
From Prepvolleyball.com:
Class 2A top-ranked Burris won all four matches to win the Ben Davis Invitational. The Owls defeated Zionsville 25-10, 25-14, McCutcheon 25-18, 25-13, Jennings County 25-17, 25-13, and Martinsville 18-25, 25-17, 15-12. Taylor Unroe topped Burris with 38 kills and 26 digs.
For me, these scores show that Burris is in control of the court. They play at a highly competitive level throughout nearly entire tournament and dominate other teams. The determination to win and play at such a high level of intensity is a major reason as to why Burris wins state championships.
The fact that I get to follow such a competitive and accomplished team is very rewarding because my high school volleyball played the same way. There are not many opportunities to see high school girls working so incredibly hard and putting forth so much effort. Volleyball is definitely a sport where you can see true dedication and intensity.
These girls have pressures in all areas of life (school, what to do after high school, parents, friends, social pressures, appearance, etc...). On top of everything that goes along with being a high school female, this group of girls dedicate hours upon hours to practicing and playing volleyball.
In my opinion and from my own experiences, it takes a huge amount of dedication and determination to stick with this sport at such a competitive level. If you are not playing to achieve high goals then you should probably get out. I cannot compliment the Burris girls and others teams enough for pushing themselves to the limit in volleyball.
From Prepvolleyball.com:
Class 2A top-ranked Burris won all four matches to win the Ben Davis Invitational. The Owls defeated Zionsville 25-10, 25-14, McCutcheon 25-18, 25-13, Jennings County 25-17, 25-13, and Martinsville 18-25, 25-17, 15-12. Taylor Unroe topped Burris with 38 kills and 26 digs.
For me, these scores show that Burris is in control of the court. They play at a highly competitive level throughout nearly entire tournament and dominate other teams. The determination to win and play at such a high level of intensity is a major reason as to why Burris wins state championships.
The fact that I get to follow such a competitive and accomplished team is very rewarding because my high school volleyball played the same way. There are not many opportunities to see high school girls working so incredibly hard and putting forth so much effort. Volleyball is definitely a sport where you can see true dedication and intensity.
These girls have pressures in all areas of life (school, what to do after high school, parents, friends, social pressures, appearance, etc...). On top of everything that goes along with being a high school female, this group of girls dedicate hours upon hours to practicing and playing volleyball.
In my opinion and from my own experiences, it takes a huge amount of dedication and determination to stick with this sport at such a competitive level. If you are not playing to achieve high goals then you should probably get out. I cannot compliment the Burris girls and others teams enough for pushing themselves to the limit in volleyball.
Sunday, September 16, 2007
The Stories of Don Shondell
My interview with Don Shondell on Thursday the 13th was quite an eye-opener. For nearly four weeks we have been researching, discussing, and filming from a distance. However, we knew we were missing the key human aspect of our story (in the making). Interviews were to be the next step. Don Shondell was a perfect choice for the first of the interviews. He took me through fifty years of his volleyball experience. His stories ranged from coaching in the army to watching his three sons play announcer at pretend volleyball games to his seven granddaughters volleyball successes. (The eighth granddaughter is too young to play yet, but given the Shondell history, one can assume volleyball is in her future!)
I found Don’s take on gender in sports one of the most intriguing parts of the interview. Men’s volleyball has had a rocky history that continues still into the present. Issues range from a reputation as a “hit and giggle sport”, as labeled by Don’s first athletic director, to facing serious threat of being cut in very recent years despite the program’s overwhelming history of success.
However, the biggest stressor for the Men’s Volleyball program seems to have stemmed from Title IX, the piece of legislation passed in 1972, providing that no state-funded program can discriminate on the basis of gender. In trying to accommodate that, many less acclaimed sports got pushed aside in the effort to equally fund women’s sports. Don talked of scholarships being cut from the men’s teams as well as reoccurring threat of cutting the sport altogether. Obviously as a long time coach and lover of the game, this has been extremely difficult to swallow for Don and so many others. Yet, he spoke of it with no bitterness in his tone. He also mentioned more than once how great it has been for females to finally get their chance, including his granddaughters. In summation, he noted realistically and calmly that he could only do his best and work with what he had, no matter the situation.
My own conclusion was that only a true lover of the game could not only handle turbulent times but prevail during them. Interviewing Don was a joy. I only hope we manage to capture his enthusiasm in our film.
I found Don’s take on gender in sports one of the most intriguing parts of the interview. Men’s volleyball has had a rocky history that continues still into the present. Issues range from a reputation as a “hit and giggle sport”, as labeled by Don’s first athletic director, to facing serious threat of being cut in very recent years despite the program’s overwhelming history of success.
However, the biggest stressor for the Men’s Volleyball program seems to have stemmed from Title IX, the piece of legislation passed in 1972, providing that no state-funded program can discriminate on the basis of gender. In trying to accommodate that, many less acclaimed sports got pushed aside in the effort to equally fund women’s sports. Don talked of scholarships being cut from the men’s teams as well as reoccurring threat of cutting the sport altogether. Obviously as a long time coach and lover of the game, this has been extremely difficult to swallow for Don and so many others. Yet, he spoke of it with no bitterness in his tone. He also mentioned more than once how great it has been for females to finally get their chance, including his granddaughters. In summation, he noted realistically and calmly that he could only do his best and work with what he had, no matter the situation.
My own conclusion was that only a true lover of the game could not only handle turbulent times but prevail during them. Interviewing Don was a joy. I only hope we manage to capture his enthusiasm in our film.
Thursday, September 13, 2007
The First Interviews
Sept. 12th- Dr. McGee & Mr. Dawson
After spending my entire summer interviewing members of my hometown community, I can honestly say I was itching to get back into interviewing. My interview with Dr. McGee actually followed Aaron L.'s time with Mr. Dawson, and I feel they both went really well. My nerves had settled after learning my way around lighting setup and sound checks.
Both interviewees were really positive about the community of Burris as a whole and that kind of optimism is contagious. Seeing a group of people rallying around something so rarely seen in "society at large," in this case a girls' volleyball team, is invigorating and motivating. You want to do all you can for them and it's difficult to maintain the balance between objective documentarian and wanna-be member of this mass of positive energy.
I think it's definitely important for all interviewers/interviewees to give themselves time to collect their thoughts and settle their nerves. We've discussed the value of silence and good listening skills in class multiple times. It's amazing what you can learn from each other just from the moments you choose not to say anything . . . The hardest part for me in that situation is not shuffling in my chair. My biggest fear is to be the person that ruins footage with noises from the sidelines.
After spending my entire summer interviewing members of my hometown community, I can honestly say I was itching to get back into interviewing. My interview with Dr. McGee actually followed Aaron L.'s time with Mr. Dawson, and I feel they both went really well. My nerves had settled after learning my way around lighting setup and sound checks.
Both interviewees were really positive about the community of Burris as a whole and that kind of optimism is contagious. Seeing a group of people rallying around something so rarely seen in "society at large," in this case a girls' volleyball team, is invigorating and motivating. You want to do all you can for them and it's difficult to maintain the balance between objective documentarian and wanna-be member of this mass of positive energy.
I think it's definitely important for all interviewers/interviewees to give themselves time to collect their thoughts and settle their nerves. We've discussed the value of silence and good listening skills in class multiple times. It's amazing what you can learn from each other just from the moments you choose not to say anything . . . The hardest part for me in that situation is not shuffling in my chair. My biggest fear is to be the person that ruins footage with noises from the sidelines.
Monday, September 10, 2007
Adventures in filming
Kecia and I braved the halls of Burris on Friday when we filmed the photo shoot for fall sports teams. Before that began, we actually wandered the halls for a little while with the camera. That was an interesting experience. Put a camera on a bunch of 10-14 yr. olds, and they will have one of two reactions: Frantically wave their arms and stick their faces in front of the camera, or cower in a corner, hoping the camera won't catch them. And theorize this - it was mostly boys who hammed it up, and girls who hid. Whoever is logging this footage should be alternately entertained and annoyed as shots are spoiled. Or, we might find that people's behavior in front of the camera tells a story worth pursing in itself. This is, after all, why we filmed the photo shoot.
It's hard to say how much of the footage we'll actually use for our documentary, but we captured the team lining up and looking serious for the team photo, then figuring out how best to pose for individual shots. It's fascinating to film people being filmed - you notice all of the things that people do to make themselves look their best (or however they want to come across). We're dealing with that same issue in our documentary - trying for authenticity, when the very act of filming can change people. But at the same time, the story about how people want to be perceived says something interesting about them as well. I imagine much of filming and editing will be about trying to capture, well, "the true meaning of pictures." And much of the struggle will be to figure out what that is.
It's hard to say how much of the footage we'll actually use for our documentary, but we captured the team lining up and looking serious for the team photo, then figuring out how best to pose for individual shots. It's fascinating to film people being filmed - you notice all of the things that people do to make themselves look their best (or however they want to come across). We're dealing with that same issue in our documentary - trying for authenticity, when the very act of filming can change people. But at the same time, the story about how people want to be perceived says something interesting about them as well. I imagine much of filming and editing will be about trying to capture, well, "the true meaning of pictures." And much of the struggle will be to figure out what that is.
Thursday, August 23, 2007
I'm pumped!
I just wanted to start this off by saying how excited I am to be working on this project. This has been an awesome week meeting and getting to know everyone. I have to say my biggest surprise was actually going to the game on Tuesday and watching the girls play. They really blew me away with how good and talented they are. I have always been a proponent of girls being able to have the same opportunities in sports as guys, but I think I fell into the trap of thinking that and never acting on it. I never really took the time to watch a lot of women's sports and appreciate the hard work and talent the athletes have. Already this project has changed the perspective I have on "title IX" and the way I view women's sports.
I had a great time on Tuesday shooting with Blake, (even though I only shot about 10 seconds). It was a lot of fun learning how to use the camera and practicing following the ball and the players. I have absolutely no experience with filming and using cameras so it was a new experience for me. I'm really excited to learn more new things this semester, including getting to know the whole project team better.
As an anthropology major, it is rare to be able to work on something like this. Anthropology is a very traditional discipline that doesn't stray far from the classroom, except for archaeology. However, anthropological documentaries are an emerging subfield that is growing in popularity. So, I"m really anxious to see what this project is going to add to my perception of my major as a whole.
Well I'll stop rambling now but I just want to say that I hope that everyone is as excited as I am about being a part of this. I'll see you all shortly.
Go Owls!
-Aaron L.
I had a great time on Tuesday shooting with Blake, (even though I only shot about 10 seconds). It was a lot of fun learning how to use the camera and practicing following the ball and the players. I have absolutely no experience with filming and using cameras so it was a new experience for me. I'm really excited to learn more new things this semester, including getting to know the whole project team better.
As an anthropology major, it is rare to be able to work on something like this. Anthropology is a very traditional discipline that doesn't stray far from the classroom, except for archaeology. However, anthropological documentaries are an emerging subfield that is growing in popularity. So, I"m really anxious to see what this project is going to add to my perception of my major as a whole.
Well I'll stop rambling now but I just want to say that I hope that everyone is as excited as I am about being a part of this. I'll see you all shortly.
Go Owls!
-Aaron L.
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