Soundtrack

Over the winter break, I interviewed and recorded my mother on her memories of living at her family's apartment building in the South End. My questions were fairly free-flowing, and it led to a more natural unfolding of information and thoughts. I wanted my mother to give me her own account of everything, rather than guiding her answers into what I thought would be an appropriate story.

While I did ask her about certain aspects of the home and neighborhood that I have been interested in exploring and representing to the audience in my film, I did not try to pursue answers that were very short, and instead asked her to elaborate more on the memories that were strongest and (seemingly) most important to her. For example, I wanted to show the apartment building throughout the seasons, and when I asked her about the fall season in the South End of Boston, she said that nothing in particular stood out about it. Consequentially, I did not try to force an answer that better suited what I had originally intended for my film. On the other hand, when she discussed what it was like in the summer time, and she enthusiastically responded with stories of being with her friends, I let her continue talking about those experiences. The result of letting the interview process flow in this way is a conversation concentrated more with poignant memories rather than pretty images without meaning.

I now have approximately an hour and 15 minutes of interview audio, which I have transcribed and am currently editing together. I will hopefully be able to upload an excerpt within the upcoming days.