Introduction + Reflection
The Documentary project is the most climactic project of our Junior years here at Freestyle Academy. Instead of expressing our own visions through our art, we are meant to capture why another person or issue is significant through our creative lenses. After picking our subjects and conducting interviews, we made research-based papers in our English classes and revised them into the narrative profile form. In our Digital Media class, where we learn a plethora of computer skills, we learned to use Adobe InDesign to format our articles. Each of the Freestyle students are in either Design, Film, or Animation, and made projects based around these interviews in those classes as well.
Since this year stands as a transitional period out of the quarantine, I did not have to interview somebody I did not know, as our teachers knew that these strangers would be more closed off to attending in-person interviews. Most Freestyle students were encouraged to interview somebody close to them as long as they had a significant story to tell. For this project, I decided to document my dad’s shift from materialism to spirituality. I was inspired to interview my dad about this not just because he has a wonderful story but because I feel that, especially in Silicon Valley, people should glimpse outside this mental box materialism creates.
I think I valued the insightful conversations I had with my dad the most throughout this project. He is a greatly intelligent, calm, and open-minded person, and picking up the little pieces of wisdom he dropped was very enjoyable. I especially appreciated how he took me seriously throughout every discussion: it always felt that we were talking on the same level.
Research Paper and Magazine Article
I used interviews with my dad as well as research sources to create this paper on my dad’s conversion to nonduality. After conducting interviews we started writing, trying to create a unique angle on our subjects to highlight a larger issue. After formatting my research paper I condensed and formatted it into the magazine article. Both the research paper and article are linked here.
Animation Production
For this animation I cut down the full 50 minute interview into just 2 minutes or so, taking the best parts that would form a coherent story. I spent a few days editing the script and voices together and then started working on the storyboard. I decided on a very simple style so I could animate a longer video with smooth movements.
Here are some concept sketches I made. I originally was going to draw my dad but ended up choosing the little ball for simplicity’s sake.
These are the story boards I used to plan out the structure of the animation.
Interviewee Bio
For this project I interviewed my dad, Eugene Jhong. As an early programmer at Google, my dad was a materialist. When he realized he was still not happy despite achieving this level of materialist success he decided to pursue spirituality. His conversion from skepticism to open-mindedness gives insight into the façade of materialist success. Jhong spends quiet time in retirement with his dog working on personal side projects and playing golf with his father.
