My Sediments Exaclty

My concern in my last update was that my crew had begun work with a media that was yet to have any form. Now I'm proud to say that my group and are now in a good place to begin whittling down our film with precise cuts, and perhaps rearrangement.

My classmates voiced several opinions regarding our film, of which I can recall:

• The animation does not compliment the overall style of the documentary
• The documentary is too good-feeling

Ultimately, this is our project, and from the outset we've had a clear image of the documentary's target audience. Unfortunately, none of the feedback we've gotten in class comes from that place we'd like our film to show.

Imagine this - You're put in charge of preparing dinner for your parents, who are visiting the next day. In a rare moment of productivity, you decide to prepare dinner that night for your friend. You research the kind of dish you'd like to prepare, you travel around town collecting the right ingredients, you prepare the food, invite your friend, and go to them with a complete dinner plate and you say "here you go, I made your dinner!"

Putting aside that it may be a wonder that you've managed to prepare something edible without major property damage, you've spent quite a lot of time acquiring, preparing and serving the food correctly, because you knew exactly how you wanted to meal to turn out. So this 'work' that you've created now sits in front of your friend, and your friend, maybe a bit apprehensive, sets to consuming your creation.

They react thusly,

"The food is really good! Did you think of maybe cooking with chicken instead? It might've helped to add some garlic to the bread, also you should try baking your mashed potatoes with a layer of cheese over the top to get more color and texture. Overall, I think the only thing missing from this is some tomato."

However well conceived, prepared, and arranged the dish, you did not foresee that your friend actually prefers Italian style food. Having known your parents for 30 years, you know they prefer simple food cooked well. So you prepared carne asada, mashed potatos, fresh bread and a modest salad. What your friend wanted was Chicken parmesan, garlic bread, oven-baked cheesy mashed potatoes and marinara sauce.

Our class operates thusly: two groups appreciate sushi, one group prefers Mediterranean, one group is addicted to Greek food, another to Mexican food, and my group just wants meat and potatoes. We know that all the other styles of food have their unique qualities that make them good, and, for the most part, we appreciate those merits when they present themselves and we note their absence otherwise. However, we can't make sushi-steak and Greek-nacho potatoes, or else no one will be happy.