4AM Planning: A Start

     The other day I was calmly ending my day, taking the time to slowly shut off my brain before finally going to sleep. As soon as my head hit the pillow, though, I was bombarded by a series of random imagery and thoughts regarding this upcoming documentary. Shot ideas, possible angles, potential interviewees, ways to ask questions and what kind of answers would be amazing to get... I tried to write everything down and then keep thinking about everything the next day, but after multiple attempts to push this doc to the side and sleep, I gave up and let my thoughts lead me to wherever they led me. After about an hour of brainstorming, this was the result:

    This is just a basic outline. It is also subject to change, since I'm sure that once Kim and I begin writing questions, more topics are going to come up and some topics may become irrelevant. However, I'm glad to have a slightly better idea of what we could do, especially after being completely perplexed about the entire structure/angle of the documentary.  These are some of the main things this outline helped me figure out, since I know the outline itself is a little confusing:

- Possible topic used to ease into the main topic: role models on camera (particularly feminine figures that women grew up looking up to) and hyperrealism related to media consumption.

    For those who don't know, "hyper reality" is common characteristic of post-modernism and is defined as "an inability of consciousness to distinguish reality from a simulation of reality, especially in technologically advanced postmodern societies." Therefore, when it comes to the male gaze: despite many people knowing that most of the content we consume is fabricated and promotes completely unrealistic expectations, we accept it as reality, use it to define and understand the world around us, and brainwash us into applying those standards toward ourselves in daily life. I think this is a huge part of the male gaze and why it affects society so much, especially with its implicit nature.

    Either way, I think starting with something that people understand and can relate to is crucial, for multiple reasons: it comfortably eases the viewer into a mature, often complicated topic, allows those that aren't affected by the issue to empathize, and can often allow the documentary to begin in a way that is a bit more positive (which I think could be important especially when discussing what can be considered a relatively depressing topic, since this issue is very engrained into society and it will take a long time for it to be fully eradicated). I think this is exactly what worked with Counter Conformity, since people were able to relate to clothing and style and could therefore empathize with the interviewees and their experiences, bringing a more positive feel to a rather difficult topic to talk about especially since the topic is not often discussed (especially in documentaries). I really want to replicate this in the new documentary especially after it was so effective in the last.

- The "people" aspects I discussed in a prior blog post: Earlier, I had mentioned that this will be a hard topic to navigate and making this documentary super theoretical and technical may prevent viewers from seeing the issue in a personal light (which would be catastrophic considering all this does is affect others deeply, without them truly noticing it). To solve this, I decided that it would probably be much smarter to lightly go over the "what" but mostly focus on the "why," the "how," and the male gaze's impact. In the structure above, I divide it into two main parts: society and the self. "Society" referring to how women are perceived and treated, and "the self" mostly focusing on how this makes people feel and how it can often affect their behavior, thoughts, identity, etc.

Thankfully, these flow into each other relatively well and discuss the "what" as they discuss the impact (I think a lot of the "what" will also come from the restating of the questions that Kim and I will write, giving more context and making the interviews flow better together). Because of this, I think the middle section of the documentary does not worry me as much as the beginning, although it will still definitely be a challenge nonetheless.

Again, I am still trying to figure out both the beginning and end, so I will discuss it all more in detail as I keep working on this documentary. Wish Kim and I luck! We have lots of work ahead of us, but I think that all the work will be worth it in the end. Until next time.