The Documentary project has easily been the most daunting assignment thus far, involving over a month of class time across all different classes to complete. We were tasked with the intimidating mission of conducting an interview with someone whose life or work we thought was interesting enough to warrant exposure, and use that interview as the basis for a documentary article (or in Design students’ case, a full book). Not only would we need to create an article based on an interview, but we would also need to provide supplementary perspectives by additionally interviewing one or more subjects close to the main subject. This has been the greatest challenge of the year at Freestyle, but also probably the most worthwhile and rewarding.
As a Design student, I had a very arduous task ahead of me- making a fully-fledged physical book based on my subject’s interview and my interpolations thereof. Not only would I need to write enough to fill a 32-page hardcover, but I would need to enhance the product’s visual appeal with elements of graphic design and photography as well. Therefore, this project is a collision of all the diverse skills I have acquired at Freestyle and a test of all of them.
For the subject of my interview and subsequent documentary, I chose David Filo, the co-founder of Yahoo! Not only does his former profession make him extremely significant in the history of the internet and, by relation, the development of modern human society, but he is also an exceptionally humble and generous person despite his wealth and success. My documentary mainly focuses on this essential incongruity, and how he is able to keep a grounded and genuine frame of mind, his status as a Silicon Valley billionaire notwithstanding.
I wanted to tell a very personal story of my subject’s perspective and viewpoints, and I think I succeeded in cultivating responses facilitative to that purpose by asking thoughtful questions in the interview. Not only did I extract from Filo a lot of personal information such as beliefs, opinions and perspectives on a variety of relevant subjects, but I also learned a lot about the facts surrounding his rise and success.
David Filo is the retired founder of Yahoo! and alum of both Tulane and Stanford University. A devoted husband and father, Filo is extraordinarily generous and humble, and of an amicable disposition, despite the astounding success and importance of his life’s work.