First Thoughts on Collaborating

Photo by "My Life Through A Lens"

-what are you most excited about?

I’m most excited about working on film projects, even if they’re small, because I’ve always been curious about the processes behind creating video content but never felt like I had a good enough opportunity to pursue it or that I knew enough about it. Last semester I created a vlog for one of my classes, which I found enjoyable because I had never worked with video editing software before. I’m keen to see what more I can do with it beyond just the basics.

-what are you most nervous about?

I’m nervous about working in a completely different field than I have before. I’m hesitant about casting aside the one area that’s my strength and that I’ve spent years studying to hone: writing. It’ll be interesting to push myself beyond my comfort zone and explore new types of language—indirect ones.

-what do you want to explore/find out/discover?

I’d love to learn more about the basics of creating video projects and see if I want to pursue creating them in my own time. I’m also keen to explore new ways of presenting a narrative. I write non-fiction and while I use a lot of fiction techniques in my writing, I find it difficult to make something out of nothing—so to speak. I’m interested in how it might be possible to presenting a narrative, particularly a non-fiction one, without any traditional techniques or language.

-reflect on previous collaborative projects: what have you found difficult? What skills have you picked up from those experiences? And tips or pointers?

The number one thing that I find difficult about collaborative projects is the possible difference in commitment and intention for a project. For example, I’ve worked in teams of four or five people on projects such as organising an RMIT event or writing, editing and publishing an issue of a newsletter and I found that those numbers left room for people to slack off. This is usually more of a problem with a team rather than a pair but it can be really difficult when someone doesn’t put as much into a project as you do. Working in a pair holds you both more accountable. However, in a pair you can still have an issue with not wanting the same thing for the project. I think communication is key to solving both of these issues. If someone isn’t putting enough into the project you need to address it directly and give them a chance to explain and improve upon it, rather than jumping straight to more dramatic measures. Communication also allows everyone to get what they want out of a project.