Dear Administration,

The undersigned would like to attest to the work Kai Qiu has put forth in the Fall 2016 semester’s Advanced Production Workshop taught by Gabriel Deloach. The entire class can vouch for Kai’s notable performance as lighting director in the film Step Nine and would like to argue against the D grade he was issued for his work in the class. As crewmembers that worked closely along side Kai through the duration of Step Nine’s production we cannot in good conscience back Mr. Deloach’s decision to fail this student. We do not believe that this letter grade can be held as an accurate representation of Kai’s rigorous efforts. As lighting director Kai was fundamentally important to the film’s success. From the beginning Kai conducted extensive research on a role that he initially knew very little about. While Kai’s performance was not perfect, he put forth an exceptional amount of effort into his role as lighting director and even went above and beyond his responsibilities by attending more than several of Alec Gary’s group editing sessions. At these meetings Kai’s voice was a critical part of the conducted decision making. He exerted a great deal of time and effort in to the completion of our film that Mr. Deloach did not observe. Much of the crew’s work on Step Nine occurred outside of the class’ limited period on Friday. The undersigned can vouch for Kai’s willingness to put in overtime for the work required for the film. He completed his duties as lighting director to the best of his ability and contributed a more than D worthy effort to the film’s success. Respectfully, we believe this final judgment of Kai’s performance demonstrates an incomplete view of the truth. In film hard work and a good work ethic are useful and should be appreciated rather than ignored. These are qualities Kai Qiu demonstrated arguably better than his final grade suggests. We the undersigned kindly request that Kai’s grade be elevated to a C, which better reflects his performance in Advanced Production Workshop.

Thank you for your consideration on this matter. Sincerely, Fall 2016’s Advanced Production Workshop (PHTO 475 - 001)