For the Junior Documentary Project, students learned how to portray an intriguing person, group, place, idea, or issue, finding sources and research to develop a clear perspective about the ideas’ significance in society. The research-based paper from English serves as the copy for the book in Design and a magazine article and website. This unit puts emphasis on learning narrative-style journalism/writing.
The Freestyle Junior Documentary has been the hardest, yet most fulfilling project I’ve completed. After hearing many voices, both teachers and students telling me it would be stressful, I had to mentally prepare for the upcoming months. On top of this, I wanted to make certain the topic I chose to spend my time on was important to me. After brainstorming several different topic ideas, I came to the consensus that writing and graphic designing a book on body image perception in teens had the potential to be really powerful. This topic has allowed me to be really creative with both the design elements as well as the interview sourcing and writing. Throughout this book, my goal was not only to find the source of these negative body image perceptions in teenagers specifically, but how they can affect us long term and if there are ways to reverse the damage done. Throughout high school, I’ve been surrounded by my peers and have had the opportunity to observe a huge trend in body image mentality. This body image mindset consists of teens feeling the need to look perfect, to have an ‘ideal’ body―whatever that is―and to feel accepted by their peers, parents and other influencers. From personal experience, I have learned that it is easier said than done to be confident in your own body and to not compare yourself to others. As I went through the process of researching and writing my book, I prepared some goals. I wanted to identify the body image influences teens deal with on a daily basis and also wanted to recognize the potential harm done by them over time. Recognizing the harmful effects of negative body image was necessary, but even more importantly, I wanted to express the imperativeness of learning how to love yourself and your body and upholding a positive self-image.
click image above to read my documentary research paper!