Blog 9 - Giving and Receiving Feedback

Describe your goals for eliciting and utilizing feedback on creative projects. What did the reading teach you about the necessity of receiving productive feedback? What did your own experience in class teach you about the necessity of receiving productive feedback? 300-500 words

(>")> ===> Kirby !

In order for me to elicit feedback I must have a way of distributing and presenting my creative projects. The internet provides many ways of making this happen and I am currently using YouTube as a way to demo my work and elicit feedback. Another way of eliciting feedback is for me to individually solicit it from colleagues whom I respect (notice the proper use of ‘whom’). I feel that if I approach someone and explain that I value their opinion and ask for their feedback on my project that they will be very willing, open, helpful, and honest.

Utilizing feedback is the important part of this process. Getting feedback is pretty easy, honestly. Anyone will look at what you do and tell you what they like and don’t like. Actually having the courage and humility to implement changes and listen and understand what people are telling you is difficult. It is hard to change a project that you have been working on. It’s your baby. You made it, and who are they to tell you what to do and how to change your baby? I think it is important to be detached from your project. Of course I’m not saying to not be invested in your project. Be invested in it and in its creation, but when it comes time to analyze, get feedback, and make changes, you must be detached. I mean detached as in removed emotionally from what people tell you. You have to be willing to accept that people will not see what you created as you meant it. They will not like what you are telling them. This is not always true, but it is sometimes the case.

This is how I work personally. I am really invested in what I make and the entire creative process. I try my best. But when it comes time for feedback I try to understand the viewpoint of those who I am asking for feedback. It is not their project and they are not invested in it, so I try to understand this and distance myself from my project so that their feedback does not attack me, but rather helps me understand how to improve. This has proven very helpful because this way it is not a question of personal attacks, but of opinions.

Blog 9-Turek

I remember back in high school that I hated criticism when it came to my films.  I was the creator, and it was my creation.  I made films exactly how I wanted them to be, and any criticism had to be the shortcoming of the viewer, as they clearly didn't understand my "vision".  I have since repented of my ways.  I have found that criticism can actually one of the most helpful tools in my filmmaking.  Since I don't make films exclusively for myself, I need to realize that if my audience doesn't understand or approve of something, it may be my fault as a filmmaker.  However, I still stick to my guns on certain directions with my filmmaking, as I feel like certain elements in some of my films are necessary.  However, on this next project, I plan on being more receptive to criticism.  There are certain times I think I need to be less stubborn about my work, and this creative project will be no exception.  I think the best way to take criticism in projects like this is to listen to and consider all of it.  After that, I think it is best to ponder and possibly even test changes suggested by others and see what works best.
When it comes to giving criticism, I've always been a fan of constructive criticism.  I don't want to completely bash anyone's project, since I know they probably feel the same love that I feel for my own work.  That being said, I don't think we need to shy away from giving suggestions, since no ne can truly improve until they realize what they could be doing better.  Overall, I would say that it is best to have an open mind when both giving and receiving criticism.  There is a lot of value to be found in the opinions of others, regardless of what we may think.

Representing Belief

Marilynne Robinson’s article was long however, it had some insightful thoughts about representing belief. I like when she discussed how everything she took from her studies whether it be subjects taken from anthropology to economics did not comply with how she made sense of the world around her. There are a lot of times in lectures and such, especially in high school, where lessons taught did not hit home or send mixed messages. For example, in health class in high school, we had a guest speaker. We had a local police officer come in and talk to the class about drinking. He asked the students why it was so bad to drink. Students responded with: because you do stupid things, because someone can get hurt, because it’s against the law, and the classic, I don’t know, I don’t really care… it’s fun! For me however, it was much more than that. I knew that alcohol was not made for the bellies of man but rather for cleaning and healing of wounds. I knew that alcohol was an addicting substance and when one is addicting, one’s free agency is virtually gone because one can make their choices. I knew that alcohol was not part of a healthy lifestyle and against the Word of Wisdom. All these things I would have loved to say that day however, I knew that my classmates would not have understood what I was saying.
What I am trying to say is that much of what I learn through secular lenses often are not absorbed and misunderstood by me, and if that’s the case for me, I’m sure the same for others and as such beliefs should be represented, whether secularly for those who don’t associate with religious means or spiritually for those that do. By keeping that in mind that everyone has different beliefs we can engage belief in a respectful way. We can introduce ideas and thus people can think about those ideas and construct, carve, and complete their beliefs (this is starting to sound more and more like inception, but I assure that that’s not where I am going).
So it is that introducing ideas/beliefs should be encouraged. However, forcing ideas/beliefs should be avoided. In the “Meet Your Farmer” films, we were able to look at what it’s like to have the lifestyle of a farmer, family life, struggles, etc. By exposing us to that we were able to form a simple belief about farmers, such as the belief that farmers work. Marilynne said that we can know about characters and know characters. I think the farmer videos allowed for the getting to know of the characters and thus creating a personal connection to them and therefore, creating beliefs about them. Belief is all around us and we have to attentive to how we share those beliefs, how we represent them, and how not to force them down people’s throats.

YOU HAD BETTER BELIEVE IT! UNLESS YOU DON'T, WHICH IS ALSO OK

Ms. Robinson said a bunch of things! That is ok to do. One set of words (often referred to as a "paragraph"; are you taking notes?) that I liked AND is applicable to our assignment addressed attitudes  in modern controversy, which she then applied to the relationship between the scientific and the spiritual. To me, the most important point Marilynne made--we are on a first name basis, you see--was when she noted that, in many of today's arguments, an individual's tantrum-like defense of their own position often takes priority over examining the difference in opinions, considering the perspective of another, and coming to a mutual understanding. I think that observation alone is pretty applicable to our discussion on representing and engaging in belief respectfully. Entering into a conversation, assignment, or piece of work with our eyes closed and ears covered (metaphorically or literally) is a flat-out refusal to acknowledge or contemplate the truths that someone else has invested in. Why would you want to spend time with a person who turns up their nose at that which you believe in? Let us not dismiss unless we ourselves desire dismissal. Preparing ourselves to face, recognize, and accept the beliefs of others, especially our documentary subjects, will help us be better artistes, as well as people.

I just read Kipling's Captains Courageous, but haven't seen the movie. Let me tell you though, it illustrates this point very well. So. Do you remember the episode of the fine television series Spongebob Squarepants entitled "Camping"? If you don't, let me catch you up. Spongebob and Patrick go camping. Squidward ends up coming along. Hijinks ensue. Sponge and Pat give Squid various warnings about sea-bears, and detail the precautions one should take to prevent such an attack. Squidward scoffs at these "simpletons" and rejects these ideas that they believe are true and vital. What does he get as his reward? A sound mauling from a sea-bear. Are you getting the moral here? Do I need to spell it out? I won't, because I respect you. And yr beliefs.


(themoralisyoushouldn'tshrugoffthegentlesuggestionsandadviceofothersbecauseitismeananddumb)

Representing Belief

In the article, Marilynne Robinson says something about Christianity and judging others that really stood out to me. She said, “The Bible, Christianity, should have inoculated us against this kind of disrespect for ourselves and one another. Clearly it has not.” This reminded me of a thought I’ve been pondering lately. Sometimes, members of the Church (and any church, I suppose) are the worst culprits when it comes to judging others, even though it is something we are directly taught not to do. It can be hard to find the right balance between keeping yourself out of harm’s way and judging another. This is one of the challenges we face when trying to represent belief in a respectful way. I think what Marilynne Robinson might have been saying is that we must somehow find the middle ground between standing up for our beliefs and respecting others.

Sometimes it is best to avoid direct confrontation when it comes to personal beliefs. Unless somebody is challenging your beliefs in a way that makes it harder for you to live by those beliefs, than perhaps people should just quietly live by what they believe. There’s no use is creating unnecessary conflict. This doesn’t mean, however, that everyone should be embarrassed and shy with their beliefs. You can share what you believe without being forward and rude. The idea is to have somebody consider for themselves what you say, not to force something on them. It is for this reason that I think subtly should be encouraged when sharing beliefs. Your message will come across stronger by being a good example. I know that’s a super Mormon phrase, but generally people are more willing to accept real-life example as opposed to words on a page. The “Meet Your Farmer” film we watched in class is a good example of both of the things (which are really the same thing, if you think about it) I talked about above. The farmer in this film didn’t talk about what he believed specifically, as far as religion and philosophy goes, but his actions made it clear what some of his beliefs are. He explained that he did some of the things he did because of his family, and then we see him working on the farm with his kids. These words and images had a stronger impact on me than if someone were to just tell me that they think family is important.

Ba-dump, ba-du-dump

Well now. This article was a handful of words. And sort of a chore to read. If not for its length, I would have read it again to really understand the author’s intent. Despite this, there are a couple paragraphs that really stood out to me, even if the whole is a little intense.

First of all, I enjoyed when she was discussing how our religious beliefs need to help us understand other people, those who may be worse off than ourselves. The fact that we have the true church in our lives doesn’t mean that we’re inherently better than those who don’t. In fact, this paragraph seems like a sort of call to missionary work. She mentions William Tyndale, the man who was burned at the stake for translating the bible, and how he tried to make it applicable to everyone, even the poor plowboys. As members of the LDS faith, we need to be mindful of not only the poor but anyone who doesn’t have the gospel.

The author spends a lot of time comparing science and religion, a comparison that has been going on for centuries. She mentions the ancient Greeks and Romans who created Gods and elaborate stories to explain the meanings of the universe. She relates this to modern day religious types who are scared that science will, in some way, replace God. I’ve noticed this urge many people have to separate the two, but have never agreed. If anything, the complexity of our world, our bodies, everything reaffirms that there needs to be a God out there planning it out. Some things just can’t come together accidentally.

While I was trying to extract some sort of visceral meaning from the article, something that stood out to me was the accompanying picture at the beginning of the article. When thinking why that particular one was chosen, I related it to the author’s faith being sort of interrogated. As a result, she decided to write this meaty article convincing and explaining to herself, as much as her readers, why she believes what she does.