The experiments I conducted over the past semester stemmed from an assignment from a class I took as a freshman called “The Art of the Photobook.” After studying different photographers like Robert Frank and Nan Goldin, I had to construct my own photobook with my own pictures. I wanted to focus on people for my book, so all of my photos were candid shots of my friends that I thought displayed their different personalities and relationships. I decided to revisit this project because I felt like I could have learned more about the interactions between people and friendship in general if I had more time.
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For my first experiment, I recorded an audio-only interview with a friend of mine where I asked her questions about her best friend. I was interested in figuring out the patterns in the way people talk about their friends, so this experiment gave me some insight on that. I decided to use only audio for this because I wanted to focus on the way the interviewee spoke and not have to think about their body language on top it all. From the way she spoke about her best friend, I could tell that their friendship’s foundation was humor, which made me think about how I am with my best friend and led me to my second experiment.
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The second experiment was significantly more text-based. After analyzing the interview, I decided to write a research-based personal narrative on my personal experiences and relating them to what I learned from the interview. Although I did not have to write the piece in full, I found that it was a really good way to get my thoughts out. The most important realization I had was the fact that television and movies display friendship very differently from how it is for everyone. Fictional friendships are written to have intense conflict to entertain the viewers, whereas the interviewee said that she and her best friend had never fought, and neither had my best friend and I. I realized that friendships don’t necessarily have to be filled with conflict. It is important to address issues that come up and not let them fester, but in some situations, the most valuable part of the relationship is that it does not increase stresses in life.
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My third experiment, which ultimately turned into my final project, was mapping out filmed interviews. After toying with a personal narrative, I realized that I wanted more examples of friendship. I felt that the best way for this would be to interview pairs on camera so that I could analyze body language and their tones of voice to better understand the nuances of this kind of relationship. I figured out how to obtain all of the different resources I needed such as cameras and tripods on campus, explored potential interview locations, wrote up a list of questions to ask, and created a storyboard for it. All of this planning helped me to realize that video interviews would be great for my site since it would allow the audience to see the interactions that inspired my project in the first place.
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I already knew that I wanted to use the interviews for my final project, which ultimately came from the fact that I just enjoyed that experiment the most out of the three, so I didn’t have to struggle much with that decision. I also thought that it would be the most entertaining option to have on a website. If I posted just the audio, it would be hard for anyone, including myself, looking at the site to keep their focus on it, especially if it were lacking in visual aid. The personal narrative would have a similar issue; seeing too much text on a webpage makes me feel very overwhelmed and I can’t imagine anyone reading every word on my site if that were the project I chose. I did know that I wouldn’t be able to just film interviews and post videos of all three of them though, so I decided to write little blurbs under each video to explain my interpretations of the interviews. That way, if someone didn’t feel like watching each video, they could read the follow-up paragraph and still get to see the variations that come with friendship.
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My entire project was based on the fact that I am fascinated by other people’s interactions. All of the observations I made were interesting by themselves, but by writing about them, I came up with my own thoughts. When I saw how many different types of friendships there were between just the people close to me, I realized that each friendship requires different kinds of effort. For the friendships based heavily on constant emotional support, it’s important to check in on that person and remind them that you care about them. For the friends who you always joke around with, however, sending them funny things you find online will remind them that you care about them.
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One thing that I have always struggled with in my writing is adjusting to fit an intended audience. I prefer writing in a more conversational tone, but there have definitely been times where I’ve either tried too hard to sound professional or sounded too informal. The writing I did for this project was mostly conversational, which I am much more comfortable with, but that was the ideal style for this particular project. For a website about friendship, it makes more sense for the text to read in a friendly tone rather than a scholarly one. It’s much more difficult to relate to a professional piece of writing than it is to with something more personal, and I wanted people to be able to look at their own relationships and notice what the differences between each of their friendships were.
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While this project does not necessarily relate to my career ambitions, it did help to remind me that I want to keep writing in the future. This course was my only break from very quantitative math and science classes this semester, and even though I love those classes, I found that it was really easy for me to forget to reflect on myself when I focused on them. After every physics quiz, all I could think about was how much I would have to study to do better on the next one. I never thought to sit down and think about why I wasn’t performing as well as I wanted to, whereas I’ve had to reflect on every single assignment for all of the writing classes that I’ve taken in college.
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This project has also inspired me to create my own website. I would love to have a place where I could share my experiences in the engineering world. As I mentioned, I got lost in the stress of this semester, and I’m sure that there are other people who feel the same way. Starting a blog for people in similar fields as I am might help other people to remember to think about themselves more often. Knowing that other people may be drowning in the demands of their classes or jobs makes me want to help encourage people to reflect on their experiences. This project was partially meant to help people learn to cherish their relationships, but I would also like to help them remember to take care of themselves.
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