Rachel
Leach
Jennifer Hudgens
WRD 110
11/15/15
Documentary Storyboard
The first thing that I would like to
include in my documentary will be an introduction page with the name of the
author- me and the title of my documentary. I am planning on titling the
documentary “Stereotypes in the Sisterhood”. This will allow my audience to get
the main gist of what my documentary will be about. After the introduction
page, I will phase through photos to set the mood of my documentary pertaining
to sorority life and mainly the sisterhood aspect. Some
of the photos I would like to include in this opening scene are as follows: a
photo of the founding sisters of Delta Zeta, photos from Delta Zeta Bid Day
2015, a photo from the Painted Turtle Camp- one of Delta Zeta’s national
service projects, a photo from the
Bring It On Cheer Competition, and lastly a photo from Delta Zeta’s Mr. UK Pageant. I will begin with the photo of the founding sisters
to represent how far back the sisterhood began. I will then phase to the
current pledge class of Delta Zeta at the University of Kentucky to show how
much the sisterhood has grown over the years. The photo from the Painted Turtle
Camp will demonstrate the bonds that the sorority women have and how they come
together in order to benefit the community. The final two pictures- the cheer
competition and Mr. UK pageant- will demonstrate again how sorority women come
together to raise money for varying philanthropies and bring awareness to the
cause they are trying to help. While the pictures are being shown, the song
Best Day of My Life by American Authors will be playing in the background. I
selected this song because it has an upbeat tempo, and a very fun feel. This
song will help to set the initial tone of my documentary by helping represent how
having a strong sisterhood and participating in various events brings happiness
to sorority women. These beginning scenes will help to display my thesis to the
audience. That is, although there are many stereotypes regarding Greek Life,
specifically sorority women, there is much to be understood about how not only
do these women have high academic standards to uphold, but they focus a great
deal on forming life lasting sisterhoods. Throughout my documentary, I will shine
light on how the common stereotypes- sorority women are dumb (negative
stereotype) and that they tend to form really strong sisterhoods (positive
stereotype)- as a means to show the positive influences that sororities actually
have on young women.
The next scene I would like to
include in my documentary is footage from the William T. Young Library of
sorority women all studying together at a table. This will begin the
introduction of the main problem I aim to address throughout the documentary.
The problem is that there is a common negative stereotype that sorority women
are dumb and that they do not spend any time on their studies. I will relate
this to one of the most positive stereotypes that sorority women hold and that
is that they have a very strong sisterhood. While the footage at the library is
rolling, I will do a voice over from a study that I found pertaining to the
connection of of a student’s GPA and whether or not they were involved in Greek
Life. My voice over will begin as follows: “Academic integrity is one of the
main values that sorority women strive for. Not only are academics vital to the
overall success of a student, but they are also essential in maintaining
membership in the sorority. At the University of Kentucky, each sorority has
academic standards that every woman must uphold in order to maintain
membership. In comparison, a large majority of sororities also require study
hours to create a balance between social activities and education. A study
called, “Does Going Greek Impair Undergraduate Academic Performance?” by Farley
Grubb analyzes the connection between GPA and whether or not a student was
Greek or non-Greek. Grubb claims, “…Members of Greek-lettered organizations
averaged a 1–2 percent lower cumulative GPA by their senior year than their
non- Greek counterparts. However, they were in a better position to graduate on
time because relatively more had GPAs above the minimum 2.00 requirement and
relatively more had declared majors compared with their non-Greek counterparts”
(Grubb, 1102).” I will use this information to portray the fact that there are
strong academic requirements set forth in order for sorority women to maintain
membership in the sorority. By including an actual study that was conducted on
this topic- academics and Greek Life- a more ethical tone will be brought forth
and my viewers will hopefully begin to recognize that the stereotype “sorority
women are dumb and do not have to focus on their studies” can begin to be
disproven. The footage from the library will go along with the points I am
making over the voice over because they will help show sorority women do put in
study time and focus a lot of attention on their academics. The main purpose of
this scene will be to show my audience that sorority women are actually very keen
on being successful students, unlike stereotypical people tend to believe.
After the scene at the library I
want to phase into an interview conducted with my sorority president, Amy
Shelton. Amy is a senior at the University of Kentucky and has been involved
with the Delta Zeta sorority for four years now. She has made an impact on so
many women and has worked her way up to becoming the Delta Zeta President. I
want to ask Amy about her views on the academic requirements set forth by the
sorority and how this can affect the formation of sisterhoods. Some questions I
want to ask her are as follows: The first question I will ask is, “How do you
feel about the regulations placed on sorority women pertaining to academics?”.
The next question will be, “Do you feel that sorority women can be brought
closer together by having them participate in study hours and helping each
other with classwork?”. A third question will be, “Many of the upper classmen
help the under classmen with some of their class work because they have
previously taken the course or are familiar on the subject. Do you think that
this helps the underclassmen form bonds with the upperclassmen? How so?”. Another
question I will ask is, “What is the top thing you feel as though sorority
women get out of having academic regulations placed on them?”. A final question
I want to know more about is, “How do you react when stereotypical people say
that sorority women are not smart or not focused on their studies?”. By
asking these five different questions I will gain a little bit further insight
into the reasoning behind how having these academic requirements forms stronger
relationships between the women of the sorority. I can also gain more insight
on the question “does having academic requirements set in place lead to
stronger bonds formed between the women”? By including Amy Shelton’s views on
the subject a stronger argument can be made because of the position she holds
in the sorority. This will be tied back in with my thesis because I can clarify
some of the questions people commonly have behind the stereotypes that have
been previously mentioned.
The next scene I will include in my
documentary is going to be an interview with my roommate, Claire Weinstock.
Claire is a freshman at the University of Kentucky and is a member of the Phi
Mu sorority. During the interview with Claire I want to ask questions comparing
her sorority’s standards on academic requirements to the requirements set forth
by Delta Zeta. First I will ask her, “What are some of the main academic
requirements that your sorority places on its members?”. I will then ask, “Do
you feel as though these requirements help you keep focused on your studies?”.
Another question I will ask is “Do you generally study alone or in a group? If
you study in a group is it usually with your sorority sisters?”. Finally, I
will ask the question, “How have the academic requirements set forth by Phi Mu
helped you to place focus on your studies and form bonds with your sisters?”. By
asking these questions, I can gain a clearer understanding of the different or
similar academic policies that varying sororities place on their members. I can
also get an idea of how different members of sororities feel about the
regulations placed upon them, and if they agree or disagree with the policies
that they have to follow. I will use the answers that Claire provides and
compare to those that Amy gave me. By having an average sorority members input
on the subject, I will be able to connect more closely with the average student.
Like the interview with Amy, the interview I conduct with Claire will give more
insight into academics in sorority life and help to further disprove the common
stereotype regarding having low academic motivation.
Following the interview with Claire, I
wish to include a scene of B roll footage. This scene will be of all the
sorority houses and showing how close they are to the library. During the scene
of the sorority houses in reference to their location to the library, I will do
another voice over. Here I will include more evidence from a secondary source
to back up my claims about sorority women and their strong sisterhoods. I will
begin my voice over by saying “A sorority is meant to be a home away from home-
especially for the women who are just getting a glimpse of adulthood and are
without the constant support of their families. To a large number of sorority
women, finding that perfect sisterhood is a top priority. There is much to be
said and understood about these strong bonds, and the following passage from
the article, “Secrets of the Sisterhood” published in Marie Claire magazine
provides insight into how important it is to establish a strong sense of
sisterhood. The article states: “Sororities hold a powerful allure. When young
women arrive on campus, the promise of friends, a fun social calendar, and a
home base can be comforting. Sororities can make a large campus feel smaller,
giving students a sense of belonging.” (Robbins and Florsheim, 1)”. I will tie
this in with how having that strong sense of sisterhood can lead to more
prosperous outcomes both academically and socially. The reason I chose to film
the location of the sorority houses and how close they are to the library is
because all of the houses are located fairly close to one another. This being
said, there are always Greek Members around, making it easy to find people to
walk to the library with, or even start a conversation with. Because of the
close location to the library, sorority and fraternity members who chose to
live in the house are very conveniently located to the library, making it easier
to get in study hours, or meet up with some friends to work on classwork. I
felt it important to include this scene in my documentary so that my viewers
could get a closer glimpse into how community/family based being in a sorority
really is. This will again back up my claims about how important it is for
women to form close relationships with one another.
The final scene that I wish to include in
my documentary will be of more photos from my experience as being a Delta Zeta
thus far. I will include pictures from Bid Day, tailgates that I have attended
with my sisters, photos from the Luke Bryan concert that we went to, and more pictures
from philanthropy events. These pictures will represent all the fun memories
that have already been created in the short period of time that I have been a
member of Delta Zeta. While these photos are being portrayed on the screen, I
will do another voice over with a quote from my final secondary source. “...
fraternity and sorority members performed well in most studies of leadership in
the 20th century. Three studies revealed that students with prior leadership
experiences or who placed more importance on leadership were more likely to
join fraternities and sororities ... Once on campus, many studies found
fraternity and sorority members demonstrated higher levels of involvement and
engagement than their unaffiliated peers... This elevated involvement appears
to positively influence leadership skills, as other studies attributed
fraternity and sorority membership to higher levels of leadership...” (Hevel,
27)”. I will then be describing how this information relates back to my topic.
I will say, “Being in a sorority encourages women to learn very strong
leadership goals and engage themselves in other various ways throughout the
community. By working together on many tasks such as philanthropy events, fundraisers,
and other activities, strong bonds between the members are formed and stronger
leadership abilities are achieved. Not only do sorority women focus on their
academics, but they learn skills that will make them even more prosperous and
desired in the future.” By adding this secondary source, which discusses the
strong leadership qualities that sorority women achieve, my viewers can get a
stronger feel for just how much these women gain by being a part of such a
strong organization.
By including the three secondary source
articles, my documentary will have more of an ethical feel. I decided to begin
my documentary with a strong introduction source written by Farley Grubb. The
source described that Greek members not only had GPAs above the requirements,
but had also declared majors, unlike many of their non-Greek counterparts. This
shows how having the academic requirements set forth really encourages students
to go above and beyond the standards held on the average college student. The
next secondary source that I decided to include in my paper was from “Secrets
of the Sisterhood” by Robbins and Florsheim. This article discussed how having
a sense of home and community on campus can comfort many new students. This
goes along with the sisterhood aspect of my documentary. By finding that new
home base on campus and by being surrounded by so many caring women, it is
easier to feel more safe and comforted when beginning college. My final secondary
source was from an article called “Research Driven Practice in Sorority and
Fraternity Life” written by Michael Hevel. In this article, he analyzes
sorority and fraternity involvement and engagement versus that of students not
involved in Greek Life. He discovered that students were more likely to get
involved on campus if they were involved in some type of Greek Organization.
Being involved on campus is very important, because it not only gets students
to interact with people who share some of their same interests, but it also
opens their eyes to many more opportunities. By including the two interviews,
one with Amy Shelton, the Delta Zeta Sorority President, and the other with
Claire Weinstock, a freshman at the University of Kentucky and a member of the
Phi Mu Sorority, I gained much more insight on why it is that the academic
requirements set forth by the sororities are so important. This will strengthen
the overall appeal of my argument because I have two very differing subjects
speaking about the topic, but both have similar things to say on the topic. Lastly,
by including numerous photos from my time thus far as a member of the Delta
Zeta sorority, my viewers can begin to understand just how much sorority women
do. They are involved in the community, are driven to succeed in their studies,
and are also motivated to create lasting sisterhoods with one another. The
photos pictured can give a brief insight of how fun and rewarding sororities
really are.
In the concluding scene of my
documentary, I want to include a clip from the Delta Zeta Bid Day 2015 video.
This video shows just how happy both the new members and current members were
to be a part of such an amazing organization. While the clip of this video is
playing I will be displaying my closing credits of the sources that I used
throughout my documentary. I would also like to give credit to the people that
I interview, the people that help me do voice over, and the people that help me
edit my documentary. I will lastly give a special thanks here to both Amy
Shelton and Claire Weinstock for giving up some of their time to participate in
my documentary. After the credits are done rolling, the video will shut off and
that will be the conclusion to my documentary.
Photos I will use in my documentary:
Works Cited
Best Day Of My Life. Prod. Aaron Accetta and Shep Goodman.
Perf. American Authors. Mercury Records and Island Records, 2013. YouTube Video
<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y66j_BUCBMY>
<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y66j_BUCBMY>
Delta
Zeta ca. 1902. Delta Zeta Founders. 2013. Photograph.
Delta Zeta. The Painted Turtle Camp. 2015.
Photograph. 17000 Elizabeth Lake Road/P.O. Box 455 Lake Hughes, CA 93532
Grubb, Farley. "Does Going Greek
Impair Undergraduate Academic Performance?" American Journal Of
Economics & Sociology 65.5 (2006): 1085-1110. America:
History & Life. Web. 11 Oct. 2015.
Hevel, Michael S., and Daniel A. Bureau.
"Research Driven Practice In Fraternity And Sorority Life." New
Directions For Student Services 2014.147 (2014): 23-36. Academic Search
Complete. Web. 20 Oct. 2015.
Leach,
Rachel. Delta Zeta Bid Day. 2015. Photograph. 319 Columbia Terrace, Lexington
40508.
Leach, Rachel. Delta Zeta’s Mr. UK
Pageant. 2015. Photograph. 405 Rose St, Lexington, KY 40508.
Leach, Rachel. Kappa Delta and Beta Theta
Pi’s Bring It On Competition. 2015. Photograph. 405 Rose St, Lexington, KY
40508.
Robbins, Alexandra, and Lane Florsheim.
"Secrets Of The Sisterhood." Marie Claire (US Edition) 22.8
(2015): 146. MasterFILE Premier. Web. 11 Oct. 2015.
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