Family Film
I'm working on a video documentary about my parents. It's not going to be a feature film or anything, just something for their grandchildren to look at someday when they're old enough to wonder where they came from.
I've shot interviews with them, scanned and shot video of old photos, screened some old home movie footage of my mother -- in short all the work up to the point at which I write the story of their lives.
I stymied myself over a whether to include a couple of things. My mother freely talks about her alcohol abuse (She's been sober for more than 25 years now). And she also breaks down crying when she recalls her regret at not holding me more when I was an infant (She believed it led to a spoiled baby, "and I didn't want a spoiled baby," she said, before bursting into tears.).
I'm in a quandary about whether to use these parts. I wrote to a couple of friends seeking their thoughts. One said that I should use them. They're parts of the story that will make my mother appear more human.
The other said she was stumped too. And that I should follow my gut. I wrote back (in part):
What say you?
I've shot interviews with them, scanned and shot video of old photos, screened some old home movie footage of my mother -- in short all the work up to the point at which I write the story of their lives.
I stymied myself over a whether to include a couple of things. My mother freely talks about her alcohol abuse (She's been sober for more than 25 years now). And she also breaks down crying when she recalls her regret at not holding me more when I was an infant (She believed it led to a spoiled baby, "and I didn't want a spoiled baby," she said, before bursting into tears.).
I'm in a quandary about whether to use these parts. I wrote to a couple of friends seeking their thoughts. One said that I should use them. They're parts of the story that will make my mother appear more human.
The other said she was stumped too. And that I should follow my gut. I wrote back (in part):
K:I was surprised both of them replied at all. They were mostly rhetorical questions written, just as this blog is, to work out the problem in my mind, and I was happy they cared enough to devote thought to them.
I agree. Usually when the brain can't figure out what to do it is best to let the heart decide. I'm sure the story, like most, will write itself as soon as I get out of its way. That's more difficult since I am one of the subjects (albeit a minor one) in it.
I will let you know how it turns out. And I won't do the project in a vacuum. My parents will get to read the script before I assemble the story, provided that I finish it during their lifetime! I'll follow their feelings. "It's their story," I plan to say in its voice-over introduction. "I didn't write it; I merely wrote it down."
While I trust my intuition, I do remember reading about a woman who resolved to listen to her gut only to careen from one disaster to the next until she finally concluded: "My gut has sh*t for brains!"
What say you?
posted by jack at 6:47 PM
2 Comments:
you said above: "...when the brain can't figure out what to do it is best to let the heart decide. I'm sure the story, like most, will write itself as soon as I get out of its way...."
it's so true. i work in a creative field and often find that when i'm creating, i kind of just have to "let go" and the work eventually takes a life of its own, leading me instead of me leading it.
does that make any sense?
It does make sense as long as we're not talking literally about works creating themselves.
There is a part of our brains that judges work as we do it. And it's a catty b*tch! If we could turn it off and leave the creative part of our minds to work unrestrained, it would work a lot faster.
Half of creative work is moving our self consciousness out of the way to reveal what the brain has already created behind it.
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