Individual Essay – Video Project – AKA: Look Out Hollywood, Here I Come!

I have never (knowingly) been in a movie/video that was posted on YouTube. Thanks to this assignment in English 328 to make a short video about style, I now had dreams of fame, flashing cameras, red carpets, and George Clooney running through my head. Always game for an opportunity to try something new and different, I was looking forward to this project. Throwing a further twist into this excitement, I would be making a movie with people I didn’t even know! Making a movie with four unknown classmates is a little bit like going on a blind date with a person you know very little about. Having spent most of this semester writing about writing, the assignment to create a video about style was a completely different experience. By the luck of the draw or some other method, five very different persons from completely different walks of life were put together to make this video. Our official name was “Group #3.” Who knew that 5 random students could work harmoniously together to create such a fun and outstanding video?

After being grouped, the first few days were spent trying to make initial contact with each other. Slowly, we connected with each other. Using the Group 3 website, we posted our availability, ideas and strengths. And just like two people planning their first date, we were nice and polite and “how do you do?” to each other. Using the site, members started to throw out thoughts and possible script ideas. I wasn’t used to seeing pre-writing ideas in black and white. This differed from my own usual way of pre-writing. I like to take my time and mull ideas around in my head. I wait until I have a pretty good idea of what direction I want to go in before I start and commit my words on paper – or rather computer screen.

Meeting group mates for the first time was like the tentative slow dance of questions that we ask of each other when on a first date. We have a sense of what we think a classmate is like based on the class discussions, blogs, and peer reviews. How realistic is this assumption? In An Anthropological Introduction to You Tube, Michael Wesch makes the point that YouTube users expect vloggers/posters to be authentic. But, what exactly is “authentic?” In Style Toward Clarity and Grace, Joseph M. Williams states that, “We all speak in many voices, no one of which is more or less false more or less authentic than any other” (pg. 79). A writer can change the voice of his writing to adapt to the appropriateness of the subject and the audience. He is free change voice at any time and use the tone in which he wants to project to others. There is a sense of anonymity and shelteredness of an online class. Now I had to step out from behind the anonymity of the web and reveal my physical self.

The initial face to face planning meeting was just like the” getting to know you” part in the beginning of a blind date. We were polite and tentative in our suggestions, corrections and criticisms. There was banter back and forth as ideas started to take shape. This aspect is very different in the drafting/writing process in that there is strength in working with others. We were able to build upon each other’s suggestions, pick ideas apart and pull out the things we liked and discard what we didn’t. Five brains can be more creative and productive than one. We didn’t interpret issues the same way. Having five completely different life experiences come together helped bring well rounded and interesting points of view together in the writing and making of this video. Working together, we were able to blend and mesh our words into a more clear and cohesive presentation.

There are a number of negatives, however, to working in a group situation. First, the more restrained or quieter of the personalities may not work as hard to make their ideas heard. Second, we may not have dismissed an idea that we weren’t fond of, in fear of being impolite or disrespectful. And last, is the complete loss of control. In an individual writing project, I am in charge and have complete control. I set and keep my own boundaries and deadlines. It takes restraint to sit back and let others work in a direction or a pace that I may not entirely agree with. Luckily, our group worked cohesively. Everyone shared and no one forced their issues or their need for control.

At our next meeting, we moved into the honeymoon phase of the first date. Over the initial shyness, we became a little bolder in sharing our thoughts and opinions. Most of the time was spent working/reading through the script for clarity and planning for the actual filming of the video. We were mindful to make sure that our script was clear in the Strunk and White rules that we wanted to convey. Revisions were made over the incorrect use of the words accept and except. The spelling and incorrect usage of the words is clearly evident on paper but was completely lost when conveyed verbally. Also, just like being mindful of the required length of a written paper, we had to be careful to include everything we wanted to within the three to five minute time limit. We debated over the actual presentation of the video. Initially, the intended banter of the video was written for a husband and wife. The more we talked about it, we thought that a mother/daughter combination would be easier for an audience to relate to. We changed the character of the father to act as the mediator, the voice of reason. Compared to writing, it was easier talking through and making the changes we wanted. We didn’t have to make sure that i’s were dotted, t’s were crossed and everything spelled correctly. Since the script is only seen by the actors, we weren’t too concerned with written imperfections.

Our next meeting was the actual shooting of the video. Clearly, at this point the blind date is over. We have become like an old married couple. We are more comfortable to offer thoughts, suggestions and criticisms. Here is where Daniel Anderson’s theories discussed in The Low Bridge to High Benefits: Entry Level Multimedia, Literacies and Motivation were completely evident. In regards to the production on new media compositions, Anderson states that “Skill challenges yield high levels of motivation, and student composers experience flow-like states of creativity. The writing class as new media studio becomes a site of heightened personal engagement with learning that moves from the practical to the personal to the public” (p. 40). A number of students in our group had a much keener interest in the actual process of filming. While some of us (OK, just me) were concerned about how we would look on camera, others of us were more interested in learning what type of camera, recording equipment and editing software would be used in the production process.

This stage of shooting the video was like the actual writing of the final paper but much more interesting. It included a cast of characters, movement, sound, laughter, and camaraderie instead of just one student with books, papers and reference materials, staring at a computer and desperately trying to get the wording “jut right.” The process of shooting the video was personal. Like writing, it allowed for on the spot revisions for clarity and appropriateness. A few scenes had to be re-shot when we realized that we had made a “typo.” A sentence in the script that was intentionally written to end with a preposition wasn’t spoken that way on film. Just like fixing a typo we had to reshoot that part of the scene to include the intended error. Just as in writing, proofing and corrections need to be done.

Group projects have many positives and negatives. I liked being able to meet and talk with other members of the class. It was also helpful to have others to contribute ideas and share in the work of a project. However, on the down side is the inconvenience of having to drive to Ypsilanti three times in one week. Concerns can be had about the loss of control regarding quality and quantity. Putting the pros and cons together, they seem to balance each other out. I KNOW that if I were tasked to make a video as an individual project, the content and quality would not have been as good as the one we made together as a group. I am appreciative of the opportunity to meet my classmates and be involved in the making of an informative video.