Project Brief 4 Personal Reflection
Project Brief 4 was the first group project I completed for Media and Communication. The aim of this project was to produce a media artefact that explored the area of mediums. We decided to approach the topic by focusing in on how the media was used throughout history to represent, report and inform audiences about conflict. From their inception, mediums such as video and print have evolved dramatically, and we attempted to draw lines between specific evolutionary jumps and conflict, specifically during World War II. Overall, I believe the final draft of our project turned out to be an improvement upon our initial idea of a simple website with small videos and text explaining mediums. Yet this change in idea halfway through the allotted time did bring some more challenges. I see our final product as a success yet there were some obstacles that proved more difficult to overcome then I initially thought.
The broadness of the project brief was a big challenge for our group. As we are all first year university students, Aidan and Cheyenne being straight out of high school and myself having taken a gap year after graduating, and the lack of assessment guidelines created a lot of confusion as to how we would present our findings. We decided to present how media has been used during times of conflict which was a turning point for our group as we finally had a shared conceptual idea of what our project would centre on. This revelation highlighted a strength of collaboration as the division of the workload allowed for more clarity for each member and relived the stresses of the large project, as we had a specific personal goal which would contribute to the overall design. We decided to create a website as a platform for delivering information, which was another strength for our project. A website allowed any member to update it at any time from their own homes, instead of having to meet up with the other members to contribute.
Working as a group with members all over Melbourne was a difficult obstacle to work around. As we saw other groups present their drafts during our tutorials, we decided we needed a bigger and more cohesive media component for our website and we decided on a series of audio podcasts. Aidan had a recording suite set up at his home, yet due to assessments from other classes and our out of school commitments, it was difficult for our group to organise a meeting outside of class. Our solution for this was to set up a skype call and record separate audio tracks and send them to Aidan to edit into a podcast. This was a much more accessible way for us as a group to record a podcast as it cut out hours of traveling time. Yet there was a drawback with this way of recording, which was the difficulty of having a regular conversation. The natural flow of a face to face conversation was interrupted by bad internet connection and a lack of facial cues informing us on who wanted to speak next. As a group, we created a plan for key discussion points of the podcast to provide a framework, yet we did not want to script the conversation because we wanted it to have a natural feel. Yet, the final edition of the three person podcast was too long, full of tangents and stilted conversation and so as a group we found a solution to the problem. A two person podcast over skype allowed for a much more fluid conversation and ensured all discussion points would be met inside of the ten minute time frame we had set for each episode.
The collaborative nature of this project was a good introduction into the workings of the media industry, yet it provided a few challenges for myself. Coming from the competitive environment of VCE with little group work, delegating work and contributing to a joint project is something I am not used to. This experience highlighted aspects of collaboration that is relevant to my broader development as a media practitioner, specifically the need for better time management. Although we had a long period in which to complete the assignment, there areas of the project that I left too late which could have been easily dealt with early on to avoid a last minute rush. The first half of the allotted completion period lacked rigid organisation but as we realised we needed to come together as a group we began to implement online meeting times and deadlines which improved our collaborative relationship.
Through the completion of Project Brief 4, I learnt a lot about mediums use throughout history, especially in the area of World War II propaganda. The collaborative nature of the project also helped me to develop as a media practitioner as it revealed what I need to improve upon to be an effective contributor to a group venture. I am impressed with our final product and this is due to our effective team work and this highlights how integral collaboration is to producing a quality media artefact.
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