Having Visual Literacy as my University College course at American has been one of the best experiences of my freshman college experience.  Living with the people in my class has allowed us to bond much more than we normally would have, and going on the weekly labs into DC were so much fun with them.

 

The class itself has changed me in a number of ways.  The first being how I look at visual elements.  I catch myself while watching movies pointing out different techniques of perspective.  This happened one time while my floor was watching the Shining together in the lounge.  A couple of Vis Liters kept yelling out different visual techniques throughout the entire movie, such as the repetition of red.  Another example of how I've changed is after I've taken photos somewhere, such as at the National Mall, I will only post the best photos.  I used to create albums on facebook with 80-120 photos, when many of the photos are repeats.  Now I try to act like a museum curator; only choose the best few photos to be displayed.  I also take photos differently, trying to make the best out of the lighting, setting, composition, etc.

 

Besides visual elements, I think my presentation skills have improved throughout the semester.  We have had multiple presentations for this class, most of which with the intention of teaching the rest of the class a concept or part of a chapter.  In the beginning, I was not very confident.  With the Techniques of Perspective presentation, I felt I understood the material much better than the other presentations and could explain it more conifidently.  It helped that I became more confortable with the people in the class, but I think it helped my public speaking skills overall.

 

I also learned that I love editing videos.  In both the Scavenger Hunt film project (Caught in a Belt Romance) and the Smithsonian client project (Freedom Summer), I was a major part of the editing process.  It is fun to me and almost relaxing because you kind of get into a rhythm while cutting together the footage and making it work together.  I throughly enjoyed editing those videos together, and I'm proud of the end results.

 

I learned from this course that I am highly interested in film and media arts as well.  I actually wanted to take Critical Approach to Cinema as my UC course, and Visual Literacy wasn't even in my top 3, but I am very glad I went for it.  I have been thinking about pursuing a minor in something related to film, or at the very least taking some film courses in the future.