For the digital story piece I’ve chosen to do a portrait of one of my dearest friends, Cordae Mattson. I began the project with a few goals in mind: raise awareness for the little known diseases Cordae and many others battle (EDS, POTS, chronic Lyme, mold poisoning etc), identify art as Cordaes personal coping method, and capture some of the wisdom and mature generosity that Cordae has come to be embodied by. It has been a strenuous journey Cordae has taken from being a healthy, active woman studying psychology, to being bedridden for months in unbearable pain. Her tumultuous path to recovery has been materialized through her own willpower and expression of self- this I feel was a story that needed to be told. I had never made a project like this before, and therefore went in a little heavy on the material. When I began editing I had 64 minutes of conversation to sift through- were I to embark on this journey again I would try to be more concise in my questioning and directing of the conversation. However, I wanted Cordae to be comfortable talking about herself in front of the camera, and for this reason we chatted more as I tried to foster a conversational environment with someone who genuinely wanted to hear her story. While I wanted to call attention to Cordae’s plight, I didn’t want to wallow in it and have a sad digital story- that certainly isn’t how she is trying to represent the diagnoses! I wanted to be straightforward and blunt in some of the hardships, but keep her goofy and tough as nails personality peeking through. I tried to do this through images such as the one of Cordae dancing with her blood bag while she introduced what POTS is, and curating of footage so as to prioritize the sequences where she still smiles and even laughs at some of the absurdities in her battle. I chose to showcase photos of Cordae overcoming some of the doctors presumptions. I also sought out comic relief for the audience through methods such as text (psychololologist?). I also tried to pull pieces of Cordaes art that embodied the experiences she was describing through her monologue and share them then. The music I chose are two of Cordae and my own favorite songs, songs that we often listen to when talking for hours and are undeniably catchy and while mellow, still uplifting and provoke a light mood. I felt these were good comparisons to some heavier dialogue in which musical relief was needed. I struggled to trim down the video as when I first began and planned it out the idea was 4 minutes, but after having converted the file to a different laptop and having a completely compressed unmalleable file, I wanted to cut off a minute for the sake of presentation in this class. In that sense I was sad to see some footage and context go; but it has certainly inspired me to start from scratch and turn all these files into a larger video about Cordae. I was sure to include Cordae discussing the importance of her support team, and this was mainly to target an audience for my piece. The audience for this story ranges from those struggling with chronic illnesses and looking for both others to relate to with stories of triumph and hope, as well as the people who comprise support teams for loved ones. This support team could be for those suffering from a chronic illness, or any plight in their life that affects them. I wanted to convey the message that everyone has their own type of therapy(in Cordaes case, art), that everyone wants to give and get love and support, that you’re never alone, and finally that hope should never run out. I want people to leave this video with a desire to support those around you, a purpose to find your own outlet, and learn a little on the way!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ibL0i5Nue-Y&feature=youtu.be

I’ve left this project with a newfound interest in both editing footage and capturing stories on a digital platform; particularly about important people I come across in life.