I am really proud of the work I did to create this final remediated project: Ross is Grey. It required many hours of interviews, editing, and brainstorming to finish with this end product. It was really helpful to hear nitty-gritty feedback from my peers about technical issues such as titles and sound but even more helpful to receive critique on the story arc of the documentary from my professor. It was clear that my draft of the documentary was very scattered and not conclusive. After receiving feedback, my revision of the structure of the documentary was to shift from a negative opinion of Ross to a more positive one, but as I continued interviewing and editing I realized that Ross is not black and white: it is gray. This is where the inspiration for my title came from and for the overall layout of the documentary. 

 

I think some of the constraints I encountered included finding time to interview busy students as well as finding adequate space to film interviews. I wanted the interview space to be consistent with the white background of some of the interviews but that was difficult to accomplish especially when the camera I used could only be rented for a maximum of three days at a time. Additionally I think that if I had a more advanced software, I would have been able to fix some of the editing glithces that were unavoidable with iMovie. 

 

The rhetorical choices I made with my documentary included title, sound, and placement of the different film. I really wanted to begin the documentary with a visual of daylight and end it with a dark visual of night. Another choice I made was shifting from a darker, more minor type of music to a more upbeat, driving song. I think this helped convey that while some opinions of Ross are negative, others are more positive, and the driving aspect of the ending song indicates that there is still change and progress to be made at Ross. When organizing the interviews I had to keep in mind the story arc of the documentary. I chose to begin with sound-only voice-overs of where students were from so that the audience could become assimilated with the characters of the piece. I then decided to display interviews about why students decided to pursue business as undergraduates and then moved into more intense topics such as diversity and having a voice within Ross. I chose this progression to maximize audience engagement as well as to build the story up to a climax. I think by ending with Professor Dewitt explaining that as Ross faculty they don't know all the answers but want to prepare us to ask the right questions to discover answers, I leave the audience with a feeling of hope and change. I wanted the conclusion to inspire the audience to form their own opinion about Ross from the evidence displayed.

 

Overall, this project was extremely challenging but also really inspiring. It allowed me to step outside of my comfort zone and push myself past my normal boundaries. Instead of thinking about what grade I wanted to get on this project, I made every decision with my audience in mind. I am really passionate about showcasing the true colors of Ross and therefore made this documentary with that goal at the forefront. Of course, in a perfect world the interview spaces would be consistent and video and sound quality would be better, but keeping my constraints in mind, I am really happy with the end result. Enjoy.