Everyone Liked It.

After completing our first edit, while we were at Rija's house, we both rushed downstairs to show it to Rija's parents and hear their feedback. I remember being so, so, so nervous (and yes, I still think it was totally justified) that I couldn't even stand straight. So, when the video played, I actually started judging it myself, and listening to Rija's parents' comments… stuff like “ooh, that's pretty”... it felt so good to hear positive reactions. Guess WHAT? They loved it, AAA they actually really liked it, and that made both of us feel so proud of it.

When I got home, obviously the first thing I did was run upstairs to my parents and show them the video. ANDDD my mom and dad loved it so, so much. They actually rewatched it like three times, genuinely saying, “Zara… no way you did this…” HAHA it was so funny, they really thought there was no way I could’ve pulled something like this off for a first edit.

After showing it to family, next came my friends, cousins, literally everyone. I showed it to everyone I knew in hopes of getting some actual criticism, but since none of them are really into filmmaking (and they’re easily pleased), they just liked it and said “very good, very good.” It was a pleasure to hear, BUT I was really looking for some in-depth feedback. Sir Zia was the person for that.

I don't think I’d ever been more nervous than I was sitting in campus multimedia with our entire class and Sir, about to play our film opening on the whole wall (yes, you heard that right) with a projector. I remember constantly looking at Sir’s expressions while he was watching it and, my god, Sir has this poker face that is unreadable. BUT, when it ended, Sir gave the smile he gives when he’s genuinely proud of something, and that was just… wow. He actually really liked it, and I felt like my purpose had been served.

Sir gave us several pointers (which we were very grateful for and kept in mind for the final cut), but he also told us we did well, and if we continued in the same direction, it could become something even better. That was honestly all the motivation I needed.

After showing it to Sir, I didn’t feel the need to show it to anyone else for feedback, because, let’s be real, the only feedback that mattered most was his. (Oops, sorry to everyone else.)

Here's Rija's point of view too: