When beginning this project the intent was to focus on the art of storytelling, specifically how shared experiences can shape anyone’s’ learning experience or perspective. Although Gil Hale, a gentleman in his fifties who has experienced a plethora of disasters in Southern California, was inspiring but he could not effectively influence an audience as we hoped. We wanted to inspire, inform, and challenge the occurrence of a major disaster or catastrophe and survey the belongings that were near and dear to people. By posing questions that separated people’s needs and wants we were able to create a visual representation of beliefs and moral values. While participants have been interviewed, we feel it is important to bring awareness to questions that are simple but life altering.
What if you had to leave the ones you love? What would you hold onto? What would you take with you? While the responses varied, we can attribute these responses to gender, age, occupation, and mindset. As expected, several of the responses overlapped, however there was found uniqueness within the collective. While this film does not adopt the traditional format of a documentary, its style is survey that documents the collective while address the individual. In the end, we want to urge people to remember that everyone has lost something or someone, but the immaterial is almost irrelevant because it is the values and belief that matter the most.
