Introduction

In the documentary unit we chose a topic that evokes our passion and curiosity to research. The only limiting factor was that we had to be able to interview at least two people related to our topic to gain information for our documentary. In class, we went through many trial and error periods with choosing topics and getting relevant sources. To end the unit we wrote a documentary paper which would eventually be moved into a book (for design students specifically).

Design

In the documentary unit for design we were focused on creating a digital and physical hardcover documentary book. We created original graphic design elements, took photos using our DSLR cameras, and completed our book over the span of ~58 days. The topic I chose to research was what teens lives were like while struggling with depression. My book covers how depression affects daily life, what school is like struggling with depression, and provides resources for those in need. I made sure to focus my book on the reality of depression, and in no way is it meant to reassure the world that everything will be okay. As stated on my preface page, my book is meant to be part of a larger conversation about the reality of depression as it is experienced by myself and people I know, to bring light to an issue that has been hidden due to stigma and shame.

Article

Interviewee Bios

Lexi Davis is a junior at Mountain View High School and Freestyle Academy. She enjoys fashion, photography and dance. She has been struggling with depression since she was 11 years old. Two years ago at the height of her depression she was put into an intensive outpatient program which helped her recover and learn skills to better cope. She is now mentally healthy and openly discusses her fight with depression.

Cole Guilhamet is a junior in high school. He enjoys making and experimenting with different types of visual art and listening to music. In his free time he likes playing Nintendo games and creating Mario Kart stickers inspired by fictional sponsors from the game series. He has been struggling with depression since he was 15 years old and is an advocate for mental health.

Research Paper

In English we were tasked with writing a research paper based on our documentary topic. We started the unit by creating a 1st Idea Contact Sheet where we reached out to a person we wanted to interview and took photos that related to our documentary. From there we had our first interviews, recording them on our portable recorders to convert into transcripts using Premiere Pro. Once we conducted all of our interviews, we made a Documentary Outline which we improved over time to make our Rough Drafts. After we completed our research for our Works Cited, we had a completed Documentary Paper!

Reflection

In the Documentary Unit, I knew from the start that I was facing a complex project with different tasks that would test pretty much everything we have learned at Freestyle. In a short amount of time, I was expected to create a hardcopy documentary book using programs that I was unfamiliar with. In English, we learned how to ask good and productive interview questions, which we created transcripts with. We had the option to either manually record or use the Auto Transcribe feature in Premiere Pro. Using those interviews and existing research I created a research style essay for my documentary. At the start of the unit in Design, we were introduced to InDesign, an Adobe software program used for publishing media. We learned how to set up a book template that would be able to be exported and printed. Since not every book is the same, there were lots of trial and errors before I found a format that would accommodate my research paper. Surprisingly, a step that took a great deal of time was choosing a color scheme. Due to being a Design student, I had to adhere to color theory and really dig deep in choosing colors with real meaning that evoke the emotions I wanted to convey in my book. Creating my graphic design elements was one of the more enjoyable aspects of this project for me. My topic lent itself to a more conceptual interpretation of emotions shown through graphics. This allowed me to be creative within the parameters of the assignment. 

After going through this process, I strongly value my ability to use InDesign for future projects. A practical skill I learned in English was to conduct interviews using questions that would get in-depth, detailed answers. It is not obvious at a glance how difficult and frustrating creating a documentary is. Every element included in my book was a result of a deliberate process that involved a variety of different media. Seeing the final printed book made me proud that I synthesized all my skills to create a piece of media that both honestly addresses an important issue and leaves an impact on the reader. 

Thank You!

I would like to extend my sincere thanks to my Design teacher Ms. Parkinson for her honest feedback and for helping me find the perfect color scheme. Thank you also to my English teacher Mr. Greco who helped me revise my work until it resembled the best that I could possibly do. I’m grateful for his support throughout the writing process as I tackled an emotionally heavy topic. 

I would like to acknowledge everyone who is currently struggling, with the understanding that there is no one solution despite the pervasive expectation for young people to be happy all the time. This is neither a realistic expectation nor a healthy ideal. A young person with depression is still a normal teenager.