First Graduating Class Documentary Idea

by Alex
(NJ)

I am a high school senior. My high school just opened three years ago, and this year will be the first year of a graduation at our school. I was thinking of documenting a group of students that are a part of this "first graduating class." I mean, it is an interesting topic, and something rare. Opinions? Anything to add on to that?

Desktop Documentaries: Thanks for the idea Alex. It is indeed a rare event to have a first graduating class of a school. Here's my suggestion. Try to find at least 3-7 students to profile for your documentary. Find individuals who are very different in their own way (female, male, black, white, etc).

Sit down and interview all of them and find out what issues they're dealing with in their lives right now (bullying, drugs, disability, Facebook privacy, troubled home, dreams for their future, etc). Follow them around with a camera to document how they interact with others and (if possible) their home life. It will be key to find individuals who have interesting stories/struggles.

If you really get into this project, something you may want to consider is to return to this story 5-10 years from now and follow-up to see where people ended up. There's a really interesting documentary that did that called the "Seven Up" Film Series that started documenting a group of seven kids in 1964 and checked back in with them every 7 years. The latest one 56 Up just came out in 2012-2013.

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