Taylor Harvey Brigden : Individual Analysis
As a group we were required to produce a research workbook website using the free website builder “yola”. This is in order to prepare ourselves for a pitch in week twelve where we will have to as a group support our documentary idea with research, into the subject, styles and other professional practice. It also allows for us to prepare for the next semester when we will be making a full half hour plus documentary for the university documentary festival (U-DOC). It is recommended that for the web group workbook should have the following tabs Further research, analysis of media and the industry, promotions /web 2.0, a documentary database, minute keeping and a synopsis page. These are just the bare basics of the page that the group has to supply for submission. An individual page is also required i.e. my tab says Taylor Harvey Brgiden. In my page will be a record of all my contributions to the website and the research I have done for my own ideas. Sub tabs like photo essays, individual analysis, critical reading, new media applications, professional practice, documentary process and technical design are also recommended. This should also reflect and cover all topics raised in the eleven or so lectures/workshops prior as well as going deeper and doing further research.
My main role in the group is a researcher. It is my job to look into topics and learn as much as I can about the topic almost to the point when I can verbally be a expert on the topic given. This is an important role for a number of reasons, first of all it makes it easier to approach the primary, if you can show you know as much as primary they feel more able to communicate with you and maybe even debate with you about the topic. Secondly knowing your topic and knowing how you want to represent it means you primary wont be able to sway what your trying to get across for there own personal gain or to slate the views of other. The aim of a documentary is to get your opinion across using facts and statements if you allow your primary’s to change that it becomes a promo. Thirdly if you can show what you know people will believe you more and listen to what you have to say because they regard it as fact. Finally it just a matter of being a professional like an actor must learn there lines so they don’t look stupid on stage, a documentary team must know the topic in side and out so not to offend and more importantly to not look stupid an unprepared infront of the primary because normally you only have one chance with documentary so there aren't reshoots or takes. All this is to look and be taken as a professional in a competitive industry. I did my research through a number of ways including online journals, blogs and professional websites for renowned photographers. This was to make sure that what i was searching and finding was matching with other creditable sources. I also looked at similar documentaries to our proposed ideas and took notes of the style, how the subject was represented and to see what the industry looks like and what conventions are used. my findings can be seen all over te site including the further research, my own documentary ideas and research
As a group we decided it best to assign roles in regard to the website. So besides our individual tabs that contain our own research and work we had to contribute to the group workbooks my job was the further research into key topics. Every week in lectures topics would be raised and talked about but only in small detail it was my job to research into some of these topics in depth and pass on my findings to the rest of my group via the website. Using both the University learning, resources and links provided by the lecturer I started doing research into each weeks lecture topics. I would update the further research page with new materia. I was able to find in-depth articles and other media Including online librarys, videos and other printed media that helped both with our website and with the further research including my own reaserch into my own documentrys. Some weeks were tougher to cover then others simply because the content in each weeks lecture would vary from being really busy and packed to some being rather small amounts of work and other just being free weeks. I always tried to get as much as I could when researching into each week, this was very time consuming so some weeks were a bit late.
As a group we worked efficiently and professionally. We had group meetings to monitor our progress this is apparent on our minutes. I felt that communication out side of meetings and lectures was really good as well for the most part. Group members posted stuff they found and stuff they thought was appropriate to our module both on the JMKUK yola site and our group Facebook page so I didn’t think there was a moment when some one didn’t know what was going on or was falling behind on work. Every one in the group had input on the website from ideas, video material and even graphics. Most members put in a lot of work and effort into making this site the best it could be. When we did have issues they resolved really quickly ether through feedback through the actual website, Facebook or in person obviously though there were some we missed . People in the group were also very opinionated so they were more then comfortable to talk about issues they had and any problems they saw this meant we were able to fix problems at a very early stage and every one was on the same page.
Despite our professionalism I still think that we had some problems. One of them was the lack of work from our former producer Toby Shepherd which meant we had to change our producer mid semester to John Bird because he was up to the task and well organised. However during the time before John took over even the most basic of tasks weren't done including making a page where the group could communicate. We ended up using the page John had created to communicate for both drama and documentary, this caused a lot of communication problems for some members. I found Toby's general work attitude very unprofessional, as he would rather work at home then with the rest of the group meaning we only saw his work when it was done. Most of the time on completion the work wasn't up to scratch and he was complacent to redo or re edit his work. Also his contribution to the website was substantially lower then the rest of the group, for example I reviewed and talked about four different photo journalists and he mentioned only two. Also during planning for the presentation we all agreed to have a formal dress code, at the time Kuda Matinta openly said he did not have a suit which we agreed to help in out with, Toby didn't mention anything so just assuming he had a smart outfit we were annoyed as a group when he turned up to the presentation in a check shirt, jeans and trainers, which brought the professional image of the group down. This also showed a lack of communication from him and shows he wasn't listening in the meeting we also confirmed multiple times we were going for a smart professional image. When he showed us his previous work, we were all very impressed so much so John and Matt Fryer put this work on his business page (with permission from Toby). It came as a shock when we found out these were all templates that he found, of course templates are allowed but you must give credit were it is due and not claim to of made something from scratch. This is even more so since John and Matt's business was put into danger with the obvious plagiarism laws. I don't want to attack Toby personally but his attitude, communication and lack of honesty is unexpectable from a professional stand point. Of course this does not mean we aren't to blame, as a group we should of kept a closer eye on his progress and made sure he delivered what he promised.
If I could re do this module from the start again I would first of all I would construct my time so that all the websites that I am in charge of would get done to a high enough standard instead of other pages being better then others. I would also make sure that this module stays separate from other modules so meetings would be just about documentary instead of doing both drama and documentary thus keeping both the meeting clear and concise and keeping the group on track for the job at hand. Also as a group we would make sure that every one did there part and have any meetings over possible issues including members and work.
In the end though I think I have gained a lot through this module especially regarding professional practice, how to make your self seem professional and to approach people to get them as primaries for the documentary. Also it has taught me a lot about legalities knowing what I can and can’t use, what I need to do to protect my own work. Also anything I put online will have negative responses if I don’t make sure that I protect my work and my self so release forms, H&S forms and all that stuff is a must.
-Taylor Harvey Brigden
