800 word reflection PB4

  • What I considered to be the most successful aspects of the submitted work was having Molly and Gigi as group members, as we were all very diligent in making sure we found time to constantly be meeting up. Initially we met up outside of class for the group collaboration documents, as we wanted to make sure we got the group collaboration documents completed before anything else. We met up numerous times after the initial meet up, to record our sounds and edit the sounds for the audio piece. Therefore the most successful aspect of the submitted work is the communication between Molly, Gigi and I, which made it possible for us to be prepared to submit the audio piece on time.
  • There were also many problematic aspects of the submitted work, which I would put down to preparation issues. It was evident that our problem was not communicating with one another, but rather having our ideas flow, as it took us a long time to even figure out what our main idea for the audio piece would be. This then delayed the research for the project, however we did eventually decide the main idea for this project would be fandom and the generational shift that comes along with fandom. Once we knew exactly what our focus for the audio piece was, we then were able to research and do our annotated bibliographies. However, even aiming to have the annotated bibliographies done was hard work, as I struggled finding articles or readings that were completely relevant to our topic.
  • Attempting to record and edit the audio together was also quite problematic, as I would borrow the zoom sound recorder and record sounds that I thought we were using for the audio piece, yet we ended up not using it, and in general we ended up with a lot of random sounds that we did not use. I bring this all down to not planning our audio piece properly or in the way we should have.
  • Yet after we showed our rough cut to Katherine, we realised we would base our audio around the ‘Lord of the Rings’ fandom. This therefore shaped our audio into the audio piece it is today.
  • Our audio definitely ‘plugs in’ to the concept of fandom and hyper and deep attention that we have previously read about in readings and discussed in lectures and workshops. We specifically looked at the reading ‘A Night of a Thousand Wizards’, as this reading or blog focuses on a fandom, the Harry Potter fandom and what different types of fans of different age brackets pay attention to. This reading then influenced our decision to focus our audio piece around a specific fandom (Lord of the Rings) and especially the older and younger generations that come with fandoms such as these, and the generational shift that occurs. More specifically, we looked into how older and younger fans, act as fans, and if it is rather the younger fans, who through social media that have created this idea of fans being in a ‘fandom’.
  • I have learnt that audio based media can afford a lot, of course it cannot afford footage of videos or photos, yet the amount of sound and the different types of sound audio based media can afford, is almost infinite. Through attending lectures and listening to experts, I have learnt there are story sounds and sonic sounds. Audio media affords story sounds such as narration, a climactic point, exposition, cause and effect and mood, and sonic sounds such as ambient sounds, spot sounds, silence, tone and pitch.
    What I have learnt in the making process about collaboration, is that people need to have their own specific job that contributes to the overall outcome of the project. I have also learnt that it is vital to plan and prepare for each meeting so it is always a productive meeting and runs efficiently and smoothly. Relating specifically to sound based group collaboration, I would next time somehow get the audio we as a group are working on, on all the group members laptops, therefore at group meetings, it isn’t the one same person always editing the audio themselves. I also have learnt that communication is key within group collaboration, and it is important for the group to feel comfortable around each other. That is why it is a good idea, before the hard work starts, to get to know the group members socially and become friends, as this should make the rest of the group assignment more enjoyable.
  • These are the main aspects of being apart of a group collaboration that I have learnt during this project and will help me with my broader development as a media practitioner.

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