While watching “The Watermelon Woman,” I was able to make some connections to the protagonist, Cheryl. I was unable to connect to her fascination with African American, lesbian actresses and people involved in filmmaking. However, I was about to associate with the general motives of her movie-making project. I am a journalism student and have had to go through similar processes to complete films and smaller video projects.

At the beginning of my journalism career, I learned about story telling and the importance behind it. As I have delved deeper into the journalism school and the field on my own, I have had to come up with my own story ideas and bring them to life through multiple media platforms. I too have experienced making low or no-budget films as Cheryl did. Toward the beginning on the film, Cheryl discusses that she is unsure about what she wishes to make a movie about and I instantly related to that feeling.  I was able to feel empathetic toward her because I have experienced the difficulty behind choosing an abundant topic for a film project. There is so much to take into account when making such a decision. It is important to plan ahead to know who the audience is and who can provide insight for the project. Cheryl had to go through a similar process of reaching out to the public to gather employable information. It is crucial to think about if there will be enough material to gather about a specific subject to produce a complete story through film. I have often had to veto ideas because there is either not enough variety in the possible shots to take, people are not available or willing to meet, the timeline is unrealistic and more.

I have spent ample time simply setting up meeting times to talk to and interview people about something they may not even be entirely educated about. Seeing Cheryl slightly struggle to find people who knew what she was talking about and passionate about reminded me of experiences I have undergone as well. I have recently had to pick a subject for whom I possessed a fascination with to make a multimedia project. I had to toy with at least four ideas before narrowing it down to one who held interest and insight with plenty of visual components to offer.

It was extremely interesting to see how Cheryl went about finding the people to talk to and how she used her own style in executing the film work. It made me think about my own style in comparison and I concluded that I have a more formal demeanor when interviewing people and keeping the camera in place. A similarity I noticed was Cheryl’s format of storytelling. I have been taught to tell stories in the order of present, past, future. Cheryl utilized this form by showing the audience what she was considering in the present, then delving into the past by communicating with people from the Watermelon Woman’s life, and finally making a movie to educate people about the Watermelon Woman and to gain experience in order to execute more films in the future.