Like the entirety of my time in Greece, this week has certainly been an exercise in shifting expectations and adapting deliverables. But I think I’m getting better at this! Given all the interviews that were cancelled and other unexpected factors, I realized my 20 mins goal for the documentary was unrealistic (and also like, not helpful… my supervisor communicated 8-15 mins would be way better for them). My current rough cut is around 10 minutes. I want to maximize this experience for me and Urbana, though, so in lieu of a longer video I plan on also putting together a shorter (>5 mins) video that they can use as a brief introduction to the organization.
Practically, this week I wrapped up filming (an event and two interviews on Saturday, some downtown b-roll on Sunday, and an event on Tuesday) and fully moved into editing. This is aligned with my timeline, thankfully. I had an interview scheduled for Wednesday but it was cancelled at the last minute (many such cases). Given this, I’ve worked on finishing storyboarding as well as a rough cut. Some of the prep work I did over the last few weeks has been so helpful, like having my credits already essentially animated in After Effects.
Having a first cut is a huge relief. The documentary up until this point has been a strange nebulous concept that felt dauntingly huge (the filmmaking equivalent of a blinking cursor on a blank Word document). I worked very hard to get the first cut done, i.e. many many hours of intense work, but it has been rewarding!
As I’ve mentioned previously, my leadership work has been more about stepping back than taking initiative. It is clear that attempts at involvement in their programming beyond documentary work would largely make things more difficult for the (already very stressed) team. But I think something I’ve learned about leadership this week is that I should think about it more expansively than just the one project I’m working on—all my leadership experiences are connected and potentially mutually beneficial. For example, I reached out to my The Gendered City Toronto colleagues, another feminist urbanism-focused team I’m working on, to schedule a meeting this week to discuss our launch event and also update them on the things I’m discovering at Urbana that we could incorporate into our own projects.
As I head into the second half of my time with Urbana, my biggest goal is to just maximize what I can take away from it. I think I should take more notes on the things I’m learning, things that now seem obvious and front of mind but that will fade with time. Engaging as much as possible, coming into the office in person whenever I can, and even spending time just exploring Athens — squeezing every last drop out of the experience!
Hello! I'm Maia, an undergraduate student at the University of Toronto, Victoria College. I'm majoring in Sociology with minors in Political Science and Women and Gender Studies.
My research brings together women-identified social media users into focus groups to investigate how young women understand social media's value, their consumption of it, and its impacts on them. Despite extensive literature on the negative impacts of social media, few studies have explored how women make sense of their scrolling, especially in their own words. In light of this, my research focuses on not only exploring how women experience their online time but also developing collaborative strategies for more positive engagement; it moves beyond documenting harm to support women in shaping more conscious digital practices.
Outside of research and academia, as of late I love to spend my free time crocheting, reading and writing, learning ASL, and developing my martial arts skills. If you'd like to know more about my research, collaborate, or just say hi, I'd love to connect—you can reach me at maia.cassie@mail.utoronto.ca!
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