Citizen 110 (Social Issues in Film)
Background:
I took this course the fall semester of my freshman year. This was one of my first experiences with an honors course. It was also one of my first experiences with a speaking-infused course. Although film isn’t my specialty, it was interesting to look at film on a deeper level. This course changed the way I view film and significantly improved my presentation skills.
Into The Unknown:
This class was heavily presentation based… and I was afraid of public speaking. Every two weeks we were required to present on a topic that tied the class material to one of the movies we watched for that unit. Each presentation was 15 minutes long and the first two presentations were done solo. I had never presented for that amount of time by myself before, so it was definitely a struggle and a learning experience each time I presented.
I remember my first presentation clearly; I was speaking too quiet, my voice was trembling, I had trouble making eye contact, I didn’t know how to work the equipment, and all of my ideas seemed to come out of my mouth in the wrong order. When I met with my professor about my grade, he had said that my argument was good but my presentation skills needed work. I decided that if I wanted a better grade on my presentation, I had to work for it. The next time I had a presentation coming up, I made an outline and I practiced my presentation in front of my friends. I ended up getting a better score. By the end of the semester, I got an A on my last presentation! However, I didn’t see how much I improved until next semester, when one of my professors had said that my presentation was one of the best in the class so far. I had also noticed that whenever I had a presentation, I tackled the situation head on and properly prepared myself instead of freaking out and procrastinating like I used to. Hopefully I can continue using and improving my presentation skills.
Below is the outline I used for my last 15 minute presentation which was a group presentation.
I presented on the film Her and talked about how the film places a façade on technology which creates a false sense of safety and how the inconsistencies in the film divert our attention from the “perfect” reality framed by technology.
*This film is actually on Netflix right now if you wanted to watch it 🙂