senior reflection

My knowledge of technology has greatly improved during my four years in e-Comm. When I came into e-Comm I knew how to use the basics of Mac products and how to use computers, but now I know so much more. I have learned how to use most of the Adobe programs including Premiere, Photoshop, Illustrator, and After Effects as well as Final Cut. But those aren't the only things that I learned about. I also learned how to use different types of cameras like panasonic and canon 60, 70, and 80D cameras. I also now know how to work with audio equipment like the Zoom and different types of mics. Most of this was self taught, but when I didn’t know how to do something I would go and look for a tutorial on youtube or ask a teacher. I got my most experience with the cameras specifically the DSLRs during my junior year because of the Behind the Season: Band Documentary that I made with Mallory MacDonald. I taught myself how to use the DSLRs because I had no experience with them and then all of a sudden I was thrown into the huge project with this equipment that I had no idea how to use. Although I still don’t know everything there is to know about them I have grown tremendously from the beginning of last year to now because if the Band Documentary. Last year was just the year of huge projects that I had never gotten the chance to be apart of before then and that’s when you learn your most. From my experience in e-Comm being apart of huge projects and doing things you’ve never done before is where you grow and learn the most because you start to do things you’ve never thought of doing before and sometimes with people you’ve never worked with before. Working on our class short film last year and then the documentary I worked with people I had never known before that year and had to collaborate to make a film to show at the end of the year.

Collaboration and communication have been linked together from the very beginning of my high school career and e-Comm career. They were two things that I was very bad at before coming into high school and e-Comm and even now I still struggle with them. I have always been quiet and shy and would rather work by myself than with people especially with people I don't know. But being in a class where working by yourself isn't really an option most of the time has helped me get out of my shell and get to know so many amazing and talented people that I will stay connected with for the rest of my life. But they have also helped me learn not just collaboration or communication skills they have helped me learn camera, editing, and sound skills that I would’ve never known if not for them. When you work with people you don’t know just like the big projects it helps you get out of your comfort zone and try new things that you wouldn’t have thought of doing before. This year is a great example of that. Last year I was the one looking up to seniors for help and this year I am the one teaching the juniors and I loved that experience of showing them something that they would use next year and maybe even later in their career. Early in the year I participated in the Kansas 12-hour film festival. I signed up with a few other seniors in my class and thought I was going to be doing the film with them since I knew them and didn’t really know any of the juniors yet. But when I got to class after school before they announced the prompt I found out that our little group of seniors that I always worked with couldn’t be there. So I became apart of a group that consisted of me and two juniors that were in my class. I had never worked with them and since we hadn't done much all class collaboration I didn’t really know them at all. But now I can happily say they are some of my closest friends and I can’t wait to see what they do next year and even beyond high school because I know they are going to do amazing things even of they aren’t in film specifically. Collaboration and communication are two things you really just have to learn on your own and through experience and e-Comm puts you through those necessary experiences that you need to learn to collaborate and communicate well with others.

Project management has always been something that’s very hard to do since some projects during junior and senior year aren’t for the class, but for outside people like the band documentary. These projects you have to really be on top of it and set deadlines for yourself because when it doesn't have a set due date for a class you can feel not as motivated to do it since it’s being dictated by yourself. That is what happened this year for the band documentary. Since Mallory wasn't in my class second semester it was really hard to work together like we had been doing first semester and last year. This lead to us being very slow in the editing process unlike last year. Another factor to it being so slow this year was because we were also filming a feature film for our class that I had a pretty large role in so my time was limited because of that. Mallory also was limited in time because it was second semester of our senior year and she was looking for colleges and scholarships all while working in convergence and having a job outside of school. All of these factors really hurt us in the editing process making us slow down and not even work on it for a whole week. This is where leadership comes in and we had to become the leaders to really get this project done so we would feel less stress because of it. And once we realized how late we were in finishing it we really stepped up our game and took control of the situation to get it done and out to the students and parents in band. The project management that I’ve learned in e-Comm has helped me not only in e-Comm, but also in my other classes too. Although I still prioritize e-Comm over my other classes since I enjoy it more than the others I take what I do with projects in e-Comm and apply them to the projects and assignments I get in other classes. After being in e-Comm for four years I feel like I have a really good grip on doing my work and managing it so I don’t feel so stressed all the time.

My leadership skills have also improved tremendously because of all the different projects I’ve worked on and because of the people I’ve worked with. I am not a natural leader at all I am quiet and reserved and would rather do things on my own, but last year when I started working on the band documentary with Mallory I realized that I had to take on a huge leadership role since we were the only two participating in the project. Mrs. Morris also saw that and when it came to picking jobs for our class film she gave me UPM. At first I was really sceptical that I would be able to do this job. Since I still didn’t really know most of my class and since I had never had a huge leadership role before. But I did my job and was very flexible and worked out everything that came in the way of our schedule. The same thing happened this year also. I was given UPM without signing up for it, but I wasn’t as sceptical as I was last year since I had done it before.

My greatest strength is also my greatest weakness and that is communication. Communication is something that is really hard to be really good at when you are introverted because introverts are more likely to do things on your own rather than working with others. This is also a weakness in collaboration. But I have improved throughout my four years in e-Comm and have learned how to collaborate and communicate with others even though I am introverted. I also think e-Comm has helped me become more extroverted because of the situations it puts you in and I think that's one of the best things that e-Comm does for its students.

Even if I wasn’t planning on going into film as a career I could use all the social skills I learned throughout e-Comm to help me in future jobs. All of the guarantees can be applied to work outside the industry. And that’s what’s valuable and unique about e-Comm. You could not want to do anything relating to e-Comm and still have learned amazing skills that will help with your future career and also have a really cool side interest in your area of e-Comm.

The only thing I would like to change is the use of equipment and teamwork of classes specifically between entertainment am and pm classes. I want the students to understand how much the equipment costs and how lucky they are to be able to use this. I also would like for upperclassmen to get first pick on equipment like it was when I was an underclassman. Once I became an upperclassman the seniority for equipment checkout was lost. When I was an underclassmen we had to wait until the end of the day to checkout equipment so the juniors and seniors could get what they needed first, but once I was a junior it was like that was abandoned and freshmen and sophomores were getting equipment before everyone else. They also get to use the nicer equipment like the DSLRs when I wasn’t able to use them until I was a junior. I think that letting them use the DSLRs when they are sophomores creates a larger risk for equipment breaking and going missing than just letting the juniors and seniors use them. The second thing I would like to change is how the teamwork or collaboration between entertainment classes. I thought of a really interesting idea when I was working on the 12-hour film festival to have a something like that but with our e-Comm entertainment classes. What we would do is have a lock in type of thing and after school both classes meet in the entertainment room and get a prompt like you get when you do the 12-hour film festival. So you would get a prompt, time limit, theme, line that has to be in it, and an object that has to be in it. We would have until 3pm the next day to make a whole short film that met all those parameters, but the only thing is it all had to be filmed inside the school. This would help with getting to know people in not only your class, but also people in the other hours and all while making a video you could put in your reel and portfolio.

e-Comm has taught me many things that I will take into my life after high school. It has also given me amazing and long lasting friendships with not only other students/classmate, but also the teachers that have helped me along my way through this program. The last four years have been hard and exhausting at times, but it has also been the best four years of my life and my high school experience would’ve been boring and unimpactful without it. I wouldn’t trade it for anything. Thank you to all the teachers and students who pushed me to get to who I am today.