Senior Capstone Statement of Intent

I have been thinking about this project for a long time now and for the last semester or two my brain has been filled with various ideas, possibilities, concerns and mental blocks. Do I want to do a short film? How about a podcast? Maybe even a audio drama? After much deliberation, I asked myself what do I want to accomplish with my work? Then I thought of the perfect idea: A documentary/ inspirational video.

The documentary will be addressing the concept of success and happiness within the American lifestyle. I want to talk about and to people about what we think true happiness is and get their ideas, while throughout the film, explaining mine. 

What is happiness? Can money really buy it? What is the measure of success? What is the point of your happiness? Why do we torment ourselves to obtain a state of living that we can never achieve? These are just some of the questions I would like to ask along with others relating to the potential negative influence of modern advertising and media content.

Graphic I made. Possible name of Documentary.

I want to do something with my abilities and the skills that I have learned that goes beyond entertainment and a few chuckles from an audience. I want people to feel more than just the need to be entertained and try to get them to use their minds more and expand their comprehension of the things that matter in life, so I feel that this would be perfect for my topic of discussion. 

I know this is a lot of deep content here and I know that critical thinking can turn a lot of people off, but even if I can get viewers who want more out of life than what mass society tells them they need in order to be whole, I feel like this would be worth it. I also hope to continue making these in the future, using this project as a spring board for more content in this style. Who knows, I may even communicate these ideas using a different medium as time goes on, but for now, I think this will be a good start. 

-Vince