A Mind In Motion

Goal

This project was the outcome of the course Documentary practice and the assignment was to create a creative short documentary with a personal vision. The goal was to reflect o one’s inner drive, attitude and ideals and try to understand ones role in society.

Logline:

A music student and an art student often encounter difficulties and experience exclusion because of their ADHD. But in the creative world, their differently working minds seem to fit right in.

Process

The course consisted of 4 phases: Theme, Plan, Documentary and Reflection.

In the theme phase, the goal was to crystalize the personal motivation and topic you want to address. My personal motivation was the following:

Normal. Something we are subconsciously told to strive towards to if we want tomake our life easier. Straying from the idea of normal makes you the other. Allthings around us are designed for the stereotypical, most normal user,discriminating the wide range that people come in. For example things inengineering are mostly targeted towards men, clothes are designed for the most“typical” bodies or schools are expecting all their students to behave like the mosttypical, normal student. Having also experienced these types of exclusion andfeelings of not being normal enough, I have become very passionate in trying toincrease inclusion though my actions. Studying something like CreaTe where weconstantly develop new products for people, I have always been interested increating things that are accessible to as many people as possible, trying to not beconstricted by what society deems as normal.How can I help make the idea of normal more inclusive?

Through a diverging exploration, the topic was broadened and possible examples that could be filmed were found. Additionally, an expert was interviewed on the topic.

As a result, 4 documentary ideas were developed with a guiding question and logline:

Why are some jobs more socially acceptable and deemed more normal thanothers?

Working in the sex industry is often frowned upon. The social circle of someone thatworks in exactly that industry reflects their thoughts on the atypical job whilevisiting them in the strip club.

How do (children) stories influence what we perceive as normal?

Two parents are shopping for new books for their child who has a disability. Untilnow, they could find a book in which their child could feel represented, but whenthey found an inclusive children’s author, their hope rises.

How can clothing exclude?

Following a small shop for adaptive clothing that is trying to survive financially while making its clothes as inclusive as possible, we see how their clothes can affect people’s lives and help people with disabilities feel more independent.

Should behaviour be classified as not normal and wrong only because it diverges from the average?

Following a music student and a future fashion student who both have ADHD on anormal day, the film shows how their ADHD influences their life and creativity and how that differs from the common stereotypes of ADHD.

Then, a documentary idea was chosen and the planning began. I chose the last idea. People with ADHD also diverge from what society deems as normal and often get discriminated against because their brain works differently. With this film, I wanted to explore how helpful it is to describe some behavior, like ADHD behavior, as not normal or different. As part of the planning phase, the audiovisual style was developed and possible questions that still needed to be answered were determined.