Upon meeting the other boys, it was clear from the go that we wanted to do something that was successful and engaging with the institution (in this case, audiences) that we were given. Initially I thought we were quite confused as we weren’t really sure what we were meant to be doing, but eventually worked it out through listening to Rachel’s advice, and what other people were planning to do. I also think that initially for us, we wanted to do something film related but we didn’t really think of anything that was appropriate.

I think probably the most problematic aspect of the project was how often we were actually able to meet. Dylan could never meet on the weekends due to work commitments, and Ariff and I sometimes weren’t free due to the fact that our schedules clashed. But undoubtedly the most painful obstacle was due to unforeseen circumstances. Almost every tute, one or more of us would not be able to come, we all suffered at times from various illnesses and I know I couldn’t come one time due to personal issues. This I think was extremely counter productive as at times we were not only behind the other groups in terms of the process, but I felt were also behind in terms of quality and was at times very worried we wouldn’t be able to put something up that was either a) of quality or b) at all. Call me a perfectionist, but I like to try and do things to the best standard I possibly can in any activity I’m involved in.

However, this actually brings me to what I thought worked really well about the group: our communication was very good. One of the things we put in our collaborative contract was for each of us to respect the task and the group and tell us what the situation was and to communicate whether we were incapable of doing something. We communicated a lot by email and a few times by facebook messenger, and we would give each other updates on where we were at and what the plan was going forward. I remember the time I was sick and couldn’t attend the tute, Dylan sent long emails to me about the direction Ariff and himself were discussing. In this particular example, everybody was designated a specific job to do for the week in contribution to the project. I remember there was a time when I was the only one in class for the group as well and sent a run down of what was happening in class. This kept us afloat and eventually moved the project forward, which was great in terms of the fact that we all knew what to do.

I think its this part of social relations, the communication aspect between people, that has been emphasized to me the most over the course of this project. I already knew how important communication was, but I learnt a lot about the importance of communication in working with other people when the basis of the project was the physical work together. This was that if we hadn’t the ability to communicate as we did, we likely wouldn’t have finished this project to a proficient standard. This leads to me having a greater understanding now of how much we rely on social media today as a form of communication.

All in all, I’m quite content with how we’ve done working together, and ultimately I can say I’m quite pleased with the way the final product has turned out.