Having been assigned the group by Media 1 tutor, Jasmine, the three of us weren’t too particularly acquainted with one another – this unfamiliarity can sometimes jam the cogs and gears of a group assignment. But, as to get the gears going, we oiled them up by dedicating our first in-class meeting to getting to know each other on a more personal level. This I believe was a fantastic and successful way of breaking the ice and beginning the pre-production stages of our fourth and final Project Brief. So having developed this comfortable and friendly environment, we were able to speak freely and honestly of our ideas, thoughts and feedbacks, towards the making of the podcast. This truly made it easier to move in a set direction, professionally and creatively, towards what is now our finalised, submitted work. However with this intended direction came both its successful and problematic bearings.

First off, I’ll speak of the more taxing and troublesome aspects of the road to, and and as a result, the final copy of our submitted podcast. The major downfall of our podcast was the given time limit of 15 minutes – however,  the time limit is fair and equal to that of other groups. Initially we thought this time would be plenty to deliver all of the information and soundscape intended, but through the process of recording and editing this didn’t seem to be the case. As a result it led to a major cutting down of the original script, and thus left out some major topics and talking points from the ongoing theme of the evolution of sonic and audio-based mediums. Unfortunately is was the works of Trevor Cox and Robert Till, who both offered theories and insights to ancient archaeological, audio mediums, that was excluded from the final submission of PB#4.  This somewhat jarred the former aspects of the evolutionary timeline and approach we had intended to slow-cook throughout the duration of the podcast. Secondly, with this cutting and editing of the script saw an unintentional lack of a specific mention to the great Marshall McLuhan. Although he is not directly addressed, his Medium Theory is referenced within context during parts of the podcast. And as we learnt so much from McLuhan’s work on mediums, this was a real bummer for the group. So as it so evidently shows, the time constraint and our ability to work within in it (as trying to cram as much of the juicy information as we could) was sorely problematic for our eventual piece of submitted work. But with these setbacks, there are plenty of positives, that I believe, outweigh the negative.

Truly proud and satisfied with the final copy of  Yield’ Tin Llama’s, ‘mediums’ themed podcast, there are many aspects of the media artefact that I find to be successful. Firstly, the exceptional and professional quality of the sound is a major win, courtesy of Dan’s studio and recording equipment, but also our self-taught ability to work together in the studio at the same time. Namely, controlling the volume of our voice when working with microphones. Working in this studio environment definitely taught me a few things about the professional processes of recording ones voice. But continuing on. Being a sound-only based artefact, I find that we have done well with keeping listeners attentive and interested in what we are talking about. Done so through a casual, laid-back approach to worded aspects of the script and more so through our selected soundbites such as the musical interims and the overlaying of spoken word taken from a couple of our Skype calls. Furthermore, the ending segment in which we question our own evolution through particular mediums, also gives listeners the opportunity to somewhat interact with the podcast, by reflecting and thinking about their own evolution via forms of mediums. This I find to be a triumph in the world of information and audio-based podcasts. Finally, it was the overall direction that we took the task in, that led us to what we have given to submit, that I believe to be greatly interesting and successful. Focusing on both the evolution of sonically-based and other mediums, and our theory of either adapting or being left behind in a world that so progressively moves forward to new forms of technology and other artefacts of living.

At the coming end of the entire process of making the podcast for Project Brief #4, I have learnt so much about collaboration and working in a team, that can and will be applicable to wider developments while working as a media practitioner. Firstly, getting to properly know team members or fellow workers on both a personal and professional level I believe is really helpful in being able to create a comfortable and honest working space. This allowing for a more directed and focus towards an end product or outcome. Finally, organisation and communication, is, key. Be it organising meetings, dates of due drafts or selected days of production, or just by communicating updates and progressions made towards the end product. Having a positive experience with the group’s organisation and communication, I have seen how important it is in a professional working environment, and how it truly does lead to an easier progression towards a great, finished media artefact.