Our final assignment for Room with a View has been completed: our feature. It’s strange to think we have made it to the end of the semester, and I am proud of everything that group 3 has been able to achieve together.
Our group decided to focus on the fast-fashion revolution, and look at sustainability issues with clothing, asking the question, where do our clothes end up? We did some research and found some very interesting results: our clothes that we discard or donate are actually causing major problems. We felt that there was, and still is, very little information circling about the bad effects of purchasing and then disposing of clothes. I myself knew very little about this issue, and was looking forward to exploring this more and teaching others about the issue.
We completed a great deal of research together, and from this, worked out a script that we felt covered all the necessary information. Once this was done, some group members (myself included), completed some interviews to use in the piece, mine being with Jane Milburn of Textile Beat. She gave me some great information about how her organisation is trying to help combat the issues surrounding clothing and sustainability. I enjoyed our chat, and came away with some good information that we were able to use in our final cut. I also headed down to 3RRR with half of the group to record our script, which we ended up recording twice to ensure we had a mix of tones. From there, the feature was taken out of my hands as I have very limited experience with editing and did not feel confident enough to help with the process. One of our group members in particular helped to create a rough cut that was already sounding great. From our in class feedback, as well as our own personal notes, we recorded some extra pieces to the script, some vox pops, and used some more found sounds to tidy up the piece and finish it off.
I am pretty happy with how the piece turned out. I feel as though we shared the right amount of information with the listeners of the feature about the issue. I felt as though our interviews, vox pops and found sounds each added unique elements to the piece, to help lift it from being a potentially boring topic to being interesting and easier to listen to. I felt that our group dynamic was strong as always, and was a big help in ensuring we got all of the work done, especially when considering that our second show is going to air on the same day that the feature is due.
Of course, our group did face some challenges. When completing our demo and live to air shows, the roles we were taking on were very clear. Each person knew exactly what they had to do and by which date. With the feature, however, despite the fact that we did delegate certain things to certain people, the work we needed done by certain dates was often unclear or was simply not getting completed in time. We did still manage to get all of the work done at a pretty good pace, with each member contributing something to the final project. Having very clear roles is important in any project, and we probably should of outlined those better from the beginning.
Aside from this, I am also a little concerned that our piece does have a little bias, particularly within the narration. We have tried to pan this out through the use of vox pops, to show the other side of the issue. However, I am a little concerned our piece is not as objective as we had of hoped, and focuses more on the bad effects of purchasing and donating clothing.
It has been great to see the way that our piece has translated into the finished product. It is amazing to think that, only a couple of weeks ago, all we had was some poorly completed research and a half put together script. I’m very impressed overall with how the feature has turned out, and am extremely thankful for the group members who were able to use all of the bits and pieces we had, and edit them into something that sounds like a real-life radio segment. Group 3 has had a number of achievements together, and this one definitely is one of the best! We will be putting our feature to air on our second show on the 29th of May, and am excited to have many others hear and learn about the issue.