Memory, Identity and Neighbourhood at first seemed a very broad subject to me. I wasn’t sure where the workshop was heading at the beginning of the semester, but over the course have found it to be a really insightful theme. My last workshop focussed on looking at the things around us more closely and I feel this class did the same but specifically on the idea of memory, identity and neighbourhood. I found it at first hard but then really interesting to consider ‘what is neighbourhood?’. It seems like such a simple question, but when you begin to consider it, it is actually quite hard to define. In terms of the workshop itself I really enjoyed looking at different documentaries and seeing how creative people can be with them, and how versatile a documentary can be. I found class discussions really helpful and engaging as that it one of the best ways that I personally learn. It’s always great to hear different interpretations on things but also sometimes hearing someone else say the same thing (as perhaps the teacher) but in a different way can be easier to understand. The small activities were good to get us out of the classroom and practice with equipment however, I personally think more of a tutorial about how to use the cameras before attempting to use them ourselves would be useful. Perhaps in small groups as it’s hard to see and understand someone showing you what to do when they’re at the front of a class and you’re at the back.

When it comes to the final assessment, we had some ups and downs but I feel we pulled through in the end. My group consisted of only myself and Jack Houlihan. We began the project on the look out for more group members but didn’t receive any interest. In the end however, I think Jack and myself worked really well together and shared the work load well. I never felt as if I were left doing everything on my own and felt supported by my team mate the for the whole duration of the project. A lot of preproduction was organised by myself. As I was the one who pitched the idea, I had a clear vision of what the film would look like and also what needed to be organised to get there. I had also done a lot of research for the pitch about Suttons historically and currently so had a clear understanding of it all. I was in charge of contacting all possible interviewees, letting them know what we were planning on doing and reaching out them for their involvement. I also am a local of Ballarat so I know the city and I know the Suttons building best out of anyone so felt it made sense for me to be the overseer of the project. Sometimes working with other people can be difficult as ideas and visions can sometimes be different. Luckily for me however, Jack was completely on the same page throughout the whole process. I had found a lot of footage and images on the Suttons House of Music Facebook page and really wanted to use found media in the film and once again Jack was completely in support of this. When it came to filming I played the role of interviewer while Jack was in charge of equipment. We sat down and wrote the questions together to make sure we didn’t miss any important information and were both on the same page of what answers we were after. Jack solely operated the equipment on the first shooting day and then was in charge the second time with a little help from a friend of mine. He did an amazing job especially considering the lack of help we had on these shooting days. Then for editing Jack did a rough cut in his own time for us and then in class we worked together on the look and feel of the film. Jack was in charge of operating editing the entire time and once again did a great job. I’ve found editing quite hard in group work before with different people wanting the film to look slightly different and unable to sometimes agree. I didn’t find this with Jack. If one of us suggested something we tried it. Even if the other was unsure if it would work we trusted each others judgment and always at least gave it a try. Feedback from Kim was really helpful and we always did our best as a team to use that feedback in improving our film. I think our system of me being in charge of preproduction, us working together in filming and Jack in charge of post-production while both being collaborative the entire time worked really well.

We had some challenges along the way with gaining a new member to the group which we thought was great but proved to be more of a stress and inconvenience than anything. The lack of team members may have been a contribution to some technically challenges such as Jack having to operate sound and camera at once. Our footage of Dani was also compromised due to the dark lighting in the premises. Jack attempted to turn up the gain however, this means grainier footage. From this the footage also had a green tinge to it which was difficult to improve. Because of lack of members we also had to opt for only one angle of the interviewees and refrained from zooming during filming to avoid compromising any footage. Rather than having a method of trial an error, Jack and I had to make specific decisions such as this and stick with them because whatever Jack filmed, was all the footage we had. There was no back-up footage that another member was also filming. We were left to do everything ourselves with our other member never showing to class meaning she had no idea of what was happening. She then would ask for us to take time out of our schedules to call and inform her of everything that was going on, which is not fair for us. The worst of it was when this group member failed to show to both shooting days leaving just Jack and I to interview and film everything ourselves. While this was really stressful for us, I think Jack and myself pulled through really well together.