Introduction
“How do you creatively and truthfully portray a significant person, group, place, idea, or issue in the community?”
For the Documentary Unit this semester at Freestyle, we were assigned to choose an interesting person or idea, obtain 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. Through conducting personal interviews and completing further research through secondary sources, we were able to write an article length paper profiling our subjects. In Digital Media, we learned how to transcribe our audio interviews into text transcripts to more easily reference the interview and quote our subjects. Additionally, we began to learn how to use Adobe InDesign, a desktop publishing and page layout designing software application, and created flyers and magazine pages. In Design class, we further used inDesign to develop our books. We inserted our finished profile articles along with original photography and graphic design elements.
I chose to focus my documentary project on my mother, Karen McKinley, and her hobby of baking bread during the pandemic. After initially struggling to decide on a profile subject, I realized that writing about my mom would allow for the perfect blend of visual appeal and engaging written content. Her creative journey reflects the resilience and willingness to learn of many across the world during the pandemic. Despite already knowing a bit about baking and her personal experiences during quarantine, I still learned a lot and found value in hearing her story.
Overall, I really valued the experience that this project gave me, and can definitely see myself using many of the skills I learned in the future. The interview and research process was difficult, but I felt that I learned a lot through it and am glad I was able to gain that experience. I also feel that I’ve grown a lot as a designer, as this project pushed me past the limits of what I had previously thought myself capable of. 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 did research on my topic. After an extensive drafting process and multiple peer review sessions, I finalized my paper. This writing makes up the text of my book that I made in Design.
After recording our interviews with each subject on a Tascam Audio Recorder, we used Premiere Pro to transcribe the audio so that we would have a physical transcript to reference when writing our profiles. Having this document made it much easier to plan out what I was going to write and take quotes directly from the interview.
The writing process in English class was an intense process that required a lot of outside work and planning. Although I initially struggled with this part of the process, I worked hard to make my finished result what it is today and am happy with the result.
Design Production
Photography
One of the first steps of creating my book was to take pictures of my subject. Luckily for me, that didn’t mean I had to go anywhere out of my way because my subject was my mom and lived in the same house as me. Over the course of one weekend as she went through the steps of baking sourdough, I photographed my mom’s process, from start(er) to finish. I don’t have too much experience with photography, but overall, I’m happy with how my pictures turned out and think they work well in my finished book.
Book Design Process
Another important part of the book-making process was to create some graphic design elements that would be included in various places throughout the book. 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!
My book went through many drafts before its completion. The process was slow and tedious, but I believe that the final result was worth the effort! Below I have included a couple screenshots of my progress throughout the process.
Finished Book
After the long designing and editing process, I finally finished my book! I am very happy with the final product and am so excited to be able to have a physical copy of it so that I will always remember the fun and growth I experienced while making it.
Interviewee Bios
Karen McKinley is a baking hobbyist from the Bay Area who discovered her passion for the craft during the Covid-19 pandemic. Despite the struggles of quarantine, she was able to persevere and make meaning through creativity during the difficult times. She continues to share her sourdough journey on Instagram under the handle @breadbykarenhey. Karen hopes to continue with bread making in the future, as it is something that she truly loves.
Carolyn Heywood is Karen’s mother, and was also pulled into the sourdough baking craze during the pandemic. Carolyn has always been avid in the kitchen, so baking sourdough wasn’t a completely new experience like it was for Karen, but she still enjoyed learning the new skill. Despite Covid restrictions forcing the two to stay physically apart, their mutual love of baking sourdough bridged the gap and kept them connected.