Critical Reflection Essay

    The documentary, The Next Step, workes to educate what the dance world is truly light and also give exposure to the college dance world. Using a series of interview, b-roll, and clips of college performances/practices this piece acknowledge of how hard student dancers work and reflections a sense of appreciation for them

    Athletic shows such as On Pointe, We Speak Dance, Cheer, and Last Chance U gave us inspiration for the number of episodes we have. On Pointe on Disney+ had six episodes, and the show We Speak Dance on Netflix had five episodes, Cheer on Netflix had six episodes, and Last Chance U had about eight episodes a season. We couldn't find a documentary that is dance/college athletic-related with the content structure that we did, so we also looked at docuseries that may not be the same topic but instead a similar format. Instead of focusing on just one college for the entire season, we focused on a different college dance team every episode. Ugly Delicious focuses on a different food item episode and has eight episodes in the first season and 4 in the second. Abstract is a show that focuses on a different person each episode and their creative ventures; it has eight episodes in the first season and 6 in the second. Based on the research done we decided on a one-season docuseries that includes six episodes focusing on a new school each episode. 

    We followed a specific genre convention of documentaries; a multi-camera interview setup. In both angles, the subjects were off-center in the left or right third and not looking at the camera. For our documentary, our B-roll clips were of the campus and girls dancing. We used those clips to add some more visuals to our production, allowing the content of the interview to tell the story. In the productions we research such as the Cartel Land and Ugly Delicious, the film crew followed around their subjects all day or over a period of time and used that to flow their story. Overall all the research we did for the production and genre felt more than satisfactory, reflected in our work.

      The target audience established is middle to upper-class American females aged range from pre-teens to early 20s. The target audience also includes, more specifically, people who attend a 4-year college/university or are planning to attend a 4-year college/university. 

    We researched shows about dance and compared the audiences for them. We started with arguably one of the most popular dance shows, Dance Moms. Dance Moms is rated TV-PG with a demographic of girls in their teens since the show is about a teenage competitive dance team. So You Think You Can Dance is another top-rated dance TV show that is rated TV-PG. Although So You Think You Can Dance is rated TV-PG, its demographic seems to be 18-year-olds and older since contestants are not allowed to audition for the show until they are 18. So Sharp is the show most similar to what our documentary is about. So Sharp followed the University of Louisville Ladybirds and their process of attending the Universal Dance Association (UDA) nationals at the end of the year. This show is rated TV-PG. 

    We ended up with a target audience of females because about 71% of the dance world is female. The age range established was based on my findings that people from around the pre-teen age to early 20s enjoy watching content about dance. Also, starting at the pre-teen age, kids started recognizing that college is in their future and begin to look at where they would like to attend. We chose to focus on people who attend/are planning to attend a college/university because this docuseries is specifically about college student-athletes. We then ended with middle to upper-class because dance is a costly extra circular activity and college is also very expensive. 

    Since our target audience is around the gen z/millennial age, we decided that a fast-paced, shorter side of 5 minutes video would be the most engaging. Gen z has an attention span of about 8 seconds and millennials 12 seconds; the opening to our production (visual and audio) was intriguing and drew in the viewer. Also, based on our target audience, we chose Instagram as our social media page. As of January 2021, more than half the global Instagram population is females under 34 years old. As for the magazine article, we could have worked more on including more pictures rather than text to engage the audience further. I believe that our products successfully engage our audience. 

    I think something my group could have improved on was our sense of branding. A brand we wanted to develop was college dancers put just as much work into their art as a football or basketball team. The project we created included the excerpt from a docuseries, a two-spread magazine article, and a social media account. I believe the documentary excerpt develops the brand the most and the other two comments were put together with not as much passion. When doing this project, my tasks were based on the video excerpt, so my focus was on filming and editing the actual documentary part. Since it was not my direct task, the magazine and social media account were a second thought resulting in those two components not being as good of quality as they should have been. A factor that probably led to the lack of union between the products is Janey and I were completely in charge of the production and post-production. Autumn was in charge of the magazine and social media. We have different styles, so, in the end, it didn't mesh together. We could have improved this by all having equal parts/contributions in each task.

    Dance is severely misrepresented in the media, and college dance is underrepresented. The only college dance show I have ever seen was So Sharp in 2017 on Lifetime. The schools we chose to spotlight in our documentaries were the University of Miami, the University of Florida, Florida State University, Arizona State University, the University of Minnesota, and Pennsylvania (Penn) State University. 

    We decided to choose schools that were a part of the power five conferences: Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC), Big Ten Conference, Big 12 Conference, Pac-12 Conference, and Southeastern Conference (SEC). We decided to include the three most reputable schools in Florida: the University of Florida (SEC), Florida State University (ACC), and of course, the University of Miami (ACC). Then found a Dance Spirit article stating the best college dance teams at the moment; the ones that stuck out the most to us were Arizona State (Pac-12), the University of Minnesota (BIG 10), and Penn State University (BIG 10). The social group we worked with is very specific and rare to see in the media. I believe our products successfully represent the authentic social group of college student dancers. 

    I believe that this project was successful in educating what dance teams do for their universities and themselves. If I could improve anything in the future it would probably be to work with just a partner because if not the group gets too big and people don't get held accountable for missing deadlines. The bigger group was reflected in the lack of cohesion of our products. Overall I am thrilled with the way the excerpt turned out and hope it gives those who watch it a new appreciation for student dancers.