Reflection Essay

Hannah Himmelmann reflection essay

The biggest struggle while working on our group project was deciding which footage we wanted to use and which footage we didn’t include. We had a ton of footage and we loved all of it. In my opinion, the part of the documentary that makes me most proud is just how well our footage matched the information. I was also proud if how well the final project looked. It was perfect. I would not change a single thing about the documentary. I believe it perfectly shows our vision. I was originally responsible for the filming aspect of the documentary. However, since my film was not the best quality, I ended up being more of the film envisioned. I also had a big impact on the editing, choosing the b roll footage, and anything else that needed to be done. To promote a healthy group atmosphere we made sure to include every group member in every group meeting. We also did not make any final decision without considering the opinion of each group member. I wish that I would have helped the group more by having better footage. All three hours of my footage was very poor quality. Overall, I feel as if I contributed s lot of little things to the group. While I may not have been the main person in charge of everything, I came to every group meeting and did anything I needed to for my group.

I do believe that this course helped my critical thinking skills. I have never had to look at a picture or watch a video and notice themes or ideas that are not obvious. I was a challenge for me at first, however, I soon realized that it wasn’t as hard as I thought. This class definitely challenged me with technology.  I have not edited a video since I was in my elementary school STLP. While it was hard, it was definitely awesome to learn how to use these new technologies. While I do enjoy writing essay, I enjoyed the blog posts and making the documentary. So I definitely would prefer class to be this way than having four essay. I do believe that your style was helpful. I did like discussions, however, dome of the topics we discussed I found it hard to discuss for long periods of time. I would find that if I didn’t speak first, then my thought would be discussed within the first two people talking. I think that the amount of homework was perfect. Sometimes, I feel teaches just give homework to have grades or just so they are doing something. With your homework, it went directly along with class and they were interesting. They weren’t pointless. The only thing I would suggest would be to make participation either not as big of a percentage of our grade or make it easier. Before midterm, I spoke in class at least once s period. But the participation grade on y midterm brought my entire fade down to a B, which I didn’t think was very fair. I tried to step up my participation after midterm and I believe I did a good job. I’m not saying don’t make it a part of our grade because I believe that many discussions wouldn’t have happened if we didn’t have to talk. I’m just suggesting maybe being a little less strict or make it affect our grade less. Overall, I enjoyed the class and thought you were a great teacher!

Born Into Coal

The documentary Born into Coal is a very good documentary. I really liked how research was written on the moving picture. It showed that the maker of this documentary was prepared. However, at first I wasn’t quite sure what the documentary was about. It was talking about the pageant and the miners and teenage girl a wanted to go off to college and I was a bit confused. However, once she won the pageant and stated she wanted to stay here and fight for coal, it brought the entire documentary together. I wished they would have only stuck to the first family and not brought in the second family, even though the second family expressed two everyday concerns for coal miners (explosions and black lung). This documentary used a lot of pathos by showing us the miners’ families and what they work so hard for. The argument of this documentary I believe is to consider both sides of the story. On one side, we see all the terrible things that happen in the mine (black lung, explosions, how hard they work, etc.). Then on the other side we see that this is how these miners support their families and how lost they would be without the mine.

The story board for this documentary probably consisted of the following parts: Giving the teenage girl’s opinion of her hometown before the pageant, showing her family life with a father who is a miner, showing the other family and talking about the explosion, the risk of black lung, showing the teenage girl winning the pageant, and finally showing how this opportunity made her want to stand up for coal and all the miners in her state. These senses tell the story of how you must stand up for what you believe in. Overall, this documentary was successful in relaying this message.

Two Websites

Two websites that I frequently visit are overstock.com and amazon.com. Both of these websites have similar purposes. The purposes of these websites are to offer their customers a wide variety of product (pretty much anything you can think of) at a discounted price. The audience for these webpages would really be anyone who has money. They don’t care how old you are or where you are from as long as you buy something. I guess you could narrow it down and say their audience is people who don’t want the hassle of going to the store to buy something. The audience could also be people who want a good deal on certain items or even people who don’t know exactly what they want to buy.

Overstock’s ethos I believe comes in the way the website is set up. It is very organized and has every product grouped into sections so the consumer can find what he or she is looking for.  Amazon’s ethos also comes from their presentation of their website. Amazon’s ethos also comes from a pre-existing credible name. Amazon is known as one of the best online shopping websites, but why? It’s from people who have experienced how great Amazon is telling all of their friends and then them telling their friends and so on and so forth. However, I believe that Overstock’s website has way more ethos than Amazon. Overstock’s is full of pictures with vivid colors and is very organized. Amazon’s contains lots of words which sometimes, people don’t like to read.

Overstock makes great rhetorical choices. The first thing that pops up is a collage of pictures with big writing on them, describing the sales of each. It is very colorful, yet not too bright or overbearing. As you scroll down there are pictures separated in to categories such as “recommended for you..” and “trending on overstock.” These category titles are in a red, larger font. It then shows pictures of these items and their price. I think this is a very effective way of advertising because it will lead people to buy things that they hadn’t intended to purchase.

I believe amazon didn’t make the best rhetorical choices. Amazon’s home page is rather plain. It is a white background with light orange, blue and black text. There is a picture of a little girl reading her Kindle on the couch, which is good advertisement for the amazon kindle. Amazon has similar categories to overstock as you scroll down. However, everything is just kind of blah feeling and it makes me want to go back to looking at overstock.

In conclusion, Overstock made better rhetorical choices than Amazon. Overstock’s website is more fun to look at and in general would get more of my business. 

No Seconds and The Last Meal Project

The first website I visited was No Seconds. Honestly, the pictures caught me off guard. At first, I thought it was an advertisement. Then I realized that it was pictures of people’s last meal before being killed due to the death penalty. I found this very interesting. In my personal opinion, seeing the different plates of food with the description almost made me feel connected with them. It made me feel as if I knew their personality. I believe this was the author’s goal. I believe he was trying to argue the point that these criminals are people too and they enjoy the same types of foods as the rest of society. Having the information on the side including their name, their crime, and how they were killed definitely allowed the audience to feel like they knew this person, even though they didn't. The white background was simple and allowed you to focus on the pictures and the words. I believe this was the best way to showcase the last meals’ of these criminals.

The Last Meal Project was similar yet very different to No Seconds. It was obvious from the very first slide that this website was against the death penalty. The first paragraph was an introduction to this belief. Then, there were slides with pictures of the person, their name, what their last meal was, how they were killed and what state they were from. Pictures of the food they ate were also on the bottom of the picture of them. At first, I didn't think this was would be as effective as the picture of the meal, however, I was wrong. I definitely felt more emotion on this site. Looking into their eyes, knowing they were killed was definitely a lot harder than I imagined. I couldn't describe exactly what it was, but the emotion I felt was a lot stronger on this site. The pictures of the people make it real. When you look at a plate of food, even though it was someone’s last meal, you don’t physically see them and therefore don’t feel as much emotion. The Last Meal Project’s goal was to play with their audience’s emotions and they succeeded. They also included slides with information such as what the chemicals in a legal injection are and how much the drugs cost. While visually, these slides were plain, they played an important role. They were meant to be plain because it allowed the audience to focus on the word. I wouldn't do an

Overall, The Last Meal Project was the most compelling. It made me feel emotion while looking at the pictures. It made them believe in their cause and that is the whole purpose of the author. The words not only on the sides of the pictures but also on the blank slides contribute a lot to the presentation by making their audience informed. I would not change anything about the presentation.

Reviewing my Speech

Watching myself presenting was definitely weird, but yet very helpful. Overall, I think my speech was pretty good. I was very prepared for it and really wanted to do good. I think that my introduction was the worst part by far. I look down at my note cards before every new sentence or topic. Then, I got tangled up on my words while saying my thesis and had to restart in order to say it the way I wanted to. I probably should have not practiced it so much word for word. Once I got into the body of my speech I seem to be less tense. Maybe it was because I was getting more comfortable with talking or maybe because I didn’t practice that part word for word so it was more laid back. However, I said “uhm”. Taking a public speaking class definitely taught me that filler words are unneeded and distracting and I have actually never said “uhm” before in a speech, so I’m basically mortified. I also said “like” about 4-5 times, which is also distracting and I should not do in the future. I think that as my speech went on, I spoke faster and faster. I have a HUGE problem with talking fast in general and being nervous just adds to the speed. I should have taken a breath and collected myself and slowed down. I thought that my body language with my hands was actually decent. In the past, I have been known to just stand there with no movement. This time however, I was good with the movement of my hands, but bad with the swaying. I shouldn’t have crossed my legs and should have walked around a little. Next time, I will make sure to slow down, not read off my note cards as much, not recite word for word to make it more casual, not say “uhm” or “like”, and have better body language. 

One group that I am apart of is the “showing horses” group. I have shown horses my entire life. When I tell people this, many have the same reaction. The majority of people know of either horse racing (which really isn’t showing) or jumping. They just assume I do one of the two. They usually ask me if I jump, I guess to be polite. However, when I tell them I show western pleasure, the next question is always the same. WHAT IS THAT? I guess I should just start explaining it before they get the opportunity to ask me. Once they have asked this awful question, I have to answer it; and there is no short answer to this question. Since no one really seems to know what it really is, western pleasure is a western discipline of riding which focuses on all three of the horse’s gaits (walking, jogging, and loping in pleasure terms) being very slow and relaxed. The horse’s head should also be relaxed (being level or even lower) and collected (the horse’s nose should be slightly tucked). It is really hard to explain this to people who don’t know what it is. This is what a western pleasure horse should look like.

The next question I get is usually “what classes do you show in?” This is another difficult question to answer because my four classes include showmanship (where I am on the ground leading my horse executing a pattern), western pleasure (rail work), horsemanship (execute a pattern on the horse) and hunter under saddle (which is not a western discipline and done with an English saddle). The last class always throws people off. Yes, an English saddle is what people jump in and yes, all of my other classes are western, and yes, I am telling the truth. I’m sure whoever is reading this is lost right now. Below are some links of each type of class. The first is a video of me actually showing showmanship with my horse about 3 years ago. The second is at Congress and is a western pleasure class. The third is a horsemanship pattern and the fourth is hunter under saddle. Enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0IP9xhfX22Q
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=17YnLlKLa4M
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WUj2S7WeckA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WonLL9qni8U

TED talk

Beating Stage Fright I chose this TED talk because the title was about stage fright, and I, just like most people, get pretty nervous before I give a speech. This speaker describes his struggle with stage fright while trying to be a singer. In order to get over his fear, he wrote a stage fright song and sang it to the audience before every performance. I happen to think that this is a great idea. While singing a song in front of my audience would be kind of weird, the idea of a “song” is a good idea. In the song, he addresses his symptoms of his fear. These include his voice being higher, his body shaking, and his voice cracking. All of these are common when presenting a speech when one is nervous. What this song has done for this man is incredible.

While giving his speech about his song, he had good body language. At first, he seemed nervous and appeared to be passing or rocking out of nerves. However, as he warmed up to the audience he began walking across the stage in a positive way. He also used his hands which gave the idea that he wasn’t nervous. The speaker used different tones of voice to cover his nervousness. He projects his voice so everyone listening can actually hear him (granted he does have a microphone). The speaker also speaks slowly and clearly. Sometimes, I know when I get nervous; I speak a million words a minute. However, even though he was nervous, he had to control his voice which made him look credible and not nervous. He made his struggle funny to the audience. The more the audience laughed, the more he seemed to relax. He did a great job playing off his audiences’ reactions and I think this is what made his speech so effective to me. The fact that he addressed his problem instead of hiding it made him and his audiences relax. This speaker’s technique might work for a lot of people. That doesn’t mean that a speaker has to sing a song in order to become less nervous. Instead, if the speaker simply addresses that he or she is a little nervous to his or her audience. Or maybe, just addressing the fact that you’re nervous to yourself will help. I am not sure if it will work, but I will definitely be trying it out on proposal day.