Group Project - Evaluation

As the project comes to a close, I look back at what we have accomplished and feel I have come away learning quite a bit about certain aspects of media as well as certain personal characteristics and traits.

When we assigned roles at the beginning of the project I was chosen as director, however as I have mentioned in earlier blogs I do not feel this was as authoritative as I'd originally hoped. Due to various issues within the project and other members of the group being quite accountable, I slowly felt my position of director being forgotten. Monish from the beginning had a very clear vision of how he wanted the final film to look and was always very opinionated when it came to deciding various elements of the film. Dean was also very motivated throughout filming and showed this through his high organisation skills and forward thinking. Whilst Dean was definitely suited in his role as Producer, I feel maybe me and Monish should have swapped our roles earlier on in the process (although seemingly did without actually telling each other).

I don't feel I was a lazy team member but do feel I could have been a lot more focused on the project instead of on other things like my individual project. As I spent so much time on the BC1005 Individual module I perhaps neglected the group project a little bit and therefore allowed my directorial position to be occupied by the other guys. This was not their fault at all as I should have been more organised and on top of things but instead got too distracted by other work and personal issues.

I think we worked well as a team - Although I was probably more like that little one at the back!!

When it came to filming and editing I feel I helped out a decent amount although as director should have been a lot more involved. I do believe I contributed in group discussions, keeping things together and fair at certain points and don't believe my position in the group was of concern. All the same I feel my name does deserve to be on the end credits as I have been quite reliable and have participated in all areas of the project (with the exception of Good Friday's filming day). That said, whilst I have been part of this group and did work to my best ability, I feel I could have been more than just the reliable third person. For that reason I believe Monish deserved the directorial position a lot more than I did.

I feel I contributed towards Filming and Editing, Although Monish Shared more input then Both Me and Dean

As a group I feel we learnt a few things that we will have to bare in mind for future productions. For instance making sure to be prepared and ready when doing a pitch instead of having computer troubles and also having back up equipment if the one you're using proves faulty. One thing I feel we definitely need to work on is our communication skills as this proved quite difficult at times. When phoning or texting I seemed to be constantly stuck in the middle with both Monish and Dean passing messages through me instead of just getting in contact with each other. This would lead to confusion and complexity when discussing on filming dates or other times to meet up. One of the biggest problems involving this was when Dean and Monish text me to go filming a couple of hours before they were meant to, not realising I was at work despite me having told them a week before.

We would need to work on our Communication Skills as well as Being Prepared (above) for all aspects of Group and Individual work (Scouts Honour)

I do feel we worked well as a team and as always we get along very well. Being such a small class means we all share responsibilities when it comes to working on a group project and I really appreciate that although do feel it would be great and more challenging to work as part of a bigger team. That said, it was rather challenging trying to film some parts of the film with only three group members and could cause a few problems (especially when one of us couldn't turn up).

Despite Working well as a Small Team, I Would Love the Oppurtunity to work within a Bigger Group!!

I'm pleased that we managed to complete the film and also keep it rather close to the original brief. It looks good, flows rather well and it all seems quite tidy and well constructed. The only issue we really had was with sound and the quiet voices being picked up by the boom mic, this wasn't too much of a problem and was nothing we couldn't sort out in editing. The main thing that constrained us when making this film was the lack of equipment we had and of course the small number of students we had to when filming. If we had a few more people to assist us, maybe an extra camera or two and some decent lighting equipment I believe we could have made our film look a lot more professional.

If we'd had a Larger Group, Some More Cameras and Some Decent Lighting Equipment - I feel we could have Made this Documentary Look Professional!!

From the day we decided on the idea of a 'World War 2 - Memories' documentary, people seemed quite supportive of the idea and a lot becoming instantly interested. From our teacher seeming increasingly eager to see the finished film to our relatives showing a lot more interest then they normally would, it seemed we had come up with what could be a great end product. I hope that this is still recognised as we submit the film as I feel the anticipation and attention it had been getting really spurred us on to do our best and make a decent documentary.