My documentary, "Pieces of Mind" highlights high school seniors sharing their thoughts on change. Their thoughts are further developed when they are asked to create a physical representation of change through art, which causes deeper reflection and results in new-founded perspectives.
In the beginning of my journey, research of the documentary genre was conducted in order to understand key conventions through class notes. To delve further into the genre, we watched specific in class such as Cartel Land, American Promise, and Exit Through the Gift Shop. Particularly Exit Through the Gift Shop and American Promise inspired me for my own work as they heavily stressed indirect interviews. I researched this technique further and understood that indirect interviews let the interviewees become the sole narrative rather than the interviewer. With direct interviews, the answers from the interviewee felt more forced and less cohesive as a whole. This research led to my production choice of solely relying on indirect interviews to let the thoughts of my selected interviewees tell an easy-flowing story.
I independently conducted research online on how to properly construct interview clips to give the effect of interviewees talking to each other. I learned to listen for key words in my clips of subjects mentioning the same ideas and string them side by side. This seemed like I would just have to get lucky in order to have separate interviews present similar ideas, but it actually occurred naturally. This technique was crucial in the creation of my piece as I placed a great deal of importance on the thoughts of my subjects as individuals apart of a community going through a similar life change.
Although my piece is focused on an unavoidable and universal experience- change- it has a relatively specific target audience. All of my interviewees are high school seniors- a group of people who have a significant life change approaching like a ticking time-bomb. Naturally, my target audience are high school seniors as well. It's comforting to see others perspective on such a broad topic that can be overwhelmingly scary, so I think my piece simply existing is engaging enough for a senior to relate to. It is also notable that my interviewee ratio is male-dominated, which crushes the typical expectation for women to engage in more emotional conversation, and opens the floor even more to general seniors, not just a specific gender. If I had to draw a more specific audience, I believe my piece would engage with those interested in art expression and abstract pieces due to the creation aspect of it.
As for representation in my piece, it is clear that the age being presented is the brink of being a legal adult. Giving 17 year olds the platform to maturely communicate their feelings on an easily relatable experience strays away from the typical teenage image. I would consider 17 to be THE age of the prime teenage stupidity stereotype. My interviewees are exactly that expectation- soon to go off to college high school seniors. However, they don't show traits anywhere near the typical careless barely-legal prototype. So, it can be acknowledged that my piece represents this age group of teenagers as the intelligent and thought-provoking individuals that they are, and even leaning into the beauty in vulnerability of not having everything figured out yet rather than negatively digging at it.
Pieces of Mind as a whole works to encourage thought in finding a positive outlook of change in a retrospective view, which is something I learned while directing this piece. The journey of this creation was a ride, and I can confidently say that I am proud of what I have accomplished and will cherish the new perspectives I have been given.
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