Reflections

I did enjoy this course. The professors are knowledgeable and approachable. It gave me more of an insight into how movies are made, technically- which makes me appreciate technically refined films more, and allows me to enjoy older films without judging them for their technical flaws, such as a lack of a sound track.

My critique is that I did not learn quite enough, and a good portion of the digital and photography material was review for me. I think that when somebody declares themselves a film or media major at Hunter, they should be given a survey where they fill out what technical skills they already have. I have reason to suspect that a large number of them already did photography and/or basic HTML and image manipulation before they enrolled in college. Based on what the department learns about the skills of incoming Media/Film majors, they can then construct courses to focus on things that are more unusual to learn in high school, like professional film lighting, and things that older students who have more traditional film experience already may not already know, like Photoshop and HTML. Maybe not. At the very least, knowing what the students already know will make teaching a survey class like this easier.

I was engaged by this course, however, and was excited to start a portfolio that I see as a future professional web site.