Introduction

“How do you creatively and truthfully portray a significant person, group, place, idea, or issue in the community?”

This semester at Freestyle, we were assigned the notorious Documentary Unit. We were given the choice to choose an interesting person or idea, acquire primary and secondary source material, and create a documentary product that told their story. In English class, we worked on the written portion of the project by drafting a 12 page research paper. Through conducting personal interviews and completing further research through secondary sources, we were able to produce a documentary. In Digital Media, we learned how to transcribe our audio interviews into text transcripts and create an Intro video with Adobe After Affects to introduce our documentary project. Additionally, we began to learn how to use Adobe InDesign, a desktop publishing and page layout designing software application, and created real life flyers and magazine pages. In Design class, we further used InDesign to develop our books. Finally, by inserting our finished profile articles along with original photography and graphic design elements we were able to finish our documentary project after a long and rewarding 4 months.

I chose to focus my documentary project on The Sweet Shop, a Candy Cafe placed in the middle of a neighborhood in Los Altos. Initially, I knew I wanted my project to reflect a community impact since that is something I have always been driven towards. As an employe at The Sweet Shop I was able to witness first hand the amazing community hospitality that the shop provides. I knew The Sweet Shop would be an exemplary model of how a community impact can have a lasting effect, specifically with their unique experience surviving the 2020 pandemic.

Overall, I am very proud of what I accomplished with the Documentary Unit and value all of the experiences that this project gave me. The interview and research process was challenging, but I felt like I was able to grow my relationship with the Sweet Shop and it’s community through learning more about it’s history and impact. Additionally, I am also happy that I was able to shed a light on a secret gem that most people are not aware of. This project pushed me to grow as a designer by giving me so much to work with. Despite being the hardest and most intensive project I’ve faced at Freestyle so far, I found the Documentary Unit to be by far the most rewarding project I’ve accomplished so far.

Introduction Video

Research Paper

For the research paper component of the Documentary Unit, I conducted interviews and found secondary sources to support the research on my topic. After multiple revisions, extensive drafting, and support from Mr.Greco I was able to finalize my paper.

Once I finished conducting my interviews with each subject using a Tascam Audio Recorder, I used Premiere Pro to transcribe the audio and create a physical transcript that I later referred in my research paper. The transcript was helpful in providing direct quotes that I was able to use throughout my writing process to support my claim.

The research paper was an intense process, from which I learned the importance of secondary sources and revisions. I struggled with finding sources that I felt connected to my claim, but persevered and revised to end with a result I am proud of.

Design Production

Photography

One of the most crucial parts of the book were the photos since they helped convey the visual image of the documentary. It was so fun to be able to capture The Sweet Shop and all of it’s magic in photos, as well as being able to see how it has grown over the years by looking back at old photographs. Using a DSLR camera I was able to photograph the welcoming environment of the shop in addition to its froyo and candy.

Book Design Process

Another crucial aspect of the book was creating our own unique graphic design elements. The GDEs were placed throughout the book and added a consistency that was related to the documentary topic. I had a lot of fun coming up with these and think they work well with the color scheme as well as the overall feeling of the book!

The book process was slow and challenging and as a result, my book went through many drafts and revisions. Below I have included a couple of screenshots of my progress throughout the process.

Finished Book

After a long and tedious 4 months, the documentary book was finally finished! I am so proud of how it turned out and am excited to be able to share it with others.

Interviewee Bios

Sandra Colunga is the Head Manager at The Sweet Shop and has been part of the store since it first opened its doors 13 years ago. Colunga was a great interviewee as she took time out of her busy schedule to sit down with me and reflect on the Sweet Shops’ history and special benefits to the neighborhood.

Satjiv Chahil has been a regular at the sweet shop for 13 years. He graciously shared his stories and memories about the shop with me. Chahil talked about how he brings friends from around the world to The Sweet Shop to share its magic with them.

InDesign Magazine

Above is my magazine article about the Sweet Shop documentary. By using my skills from Design and learning about InDesign I was able to morph my documentary project into an article that was later printed in the Freestyle magazine issue.