Documentary Summary & General Reflection

 

1. What challenged you?

 Honestly, time.  I knew going in, it was going to take some time to get this done and my other classes weren’t helping either. Also staying objective from start to finish. There were many instances in which the film affected me emotionally and I had to resist the urge to include my own personal feelings. Lastly, obtaining all the key information, then deciphering what was most important and should be included in the summary. I spent a lot of time re-watching the film and revisiting certain scenes.

2. What came easily? 

Nothing really comes to mind besides the obvious like writing my name, date, teachers name, title of the documentary, and simply submitting my work -but even then, I was still feeling anxious about it.

3. Did you find it difficult to simply describe what the film does rather than filling it with opinion?

 Yes, because I was so tempted to add my own interpretations, thoughts, and opinions.

4. Did you find you needed to go into the draft to remove opinion statements? 

Yes, I read through my paper several times as well as the summary checklist and realized that I was being subjective and was talking in first-person.

5. Can you see how easily we slip into biased thinking and writing, even when we're allegedly representing someone else's work? What implications come with this awareness? For film? For public texts? For the citizenry in a democracy? 

100%, especially when the content can affect you emotionally. It’s hard to restrain ourselves to personal feelings. It depicts first-hand how difficult it can be to state only the facts and remain objective when it calls for it.

6. Did you include at least one in-text citation at the end of your essay, to indicate that everything preceding it is summary? Did you include a Works Cited page? (do both!) :) 

Yes, I believe I did both. Though after peer reviews, I discovered I made some errors in properly formatting my works cited page.

7. If you were the filmmaker, what might you have done differently?

I would have persisted on interviewing the soldiers who contributed to the friendly fire killings of the afghan member and Pat Tillman. We only got they’re input from the source document interviews. It would have been interesting to hear their perspective and point of view.