Partly an extension on thoughts from Observation #9: I have been speaking to various people over the week as I’ve been out and more often than not conversation hovers around what fields of work people are seeking, or more broadly things that they are anticipating. I realised that I quickly tire of these conversations because they feel so intangible. All too often, without intentionally being the case, whoever I have been talking to and I have assumed roles of projected selves, subconsciously following social cues informed by the circumstances of our meeting.
I guess this is generally how it goes I seldom question it but in its recent high frequency it has become increasingly apparent and frustrating. It was made particularly apparent to me when the stark contrast was offered: a guy I’d never met before approached me after a gig I had just played and spoke to me incessantly about his ambitions, what he’s been focusing on as a person, what his goals are, his influences, the moments he enjoys, etc. I haven’t gotten so much out of a conversation in a very long time. I gave him the opportunity to continue speaking in this way and chose to just listen and it gave me an insight into a person I highly doubt I will meet again that is potentially more valuable than conversations I have on a regular basis.
It interests me that this sort of interaction is generally considered jarring, and it was admittedly jarring at first. I’m interested in directing attention to the sides of people that they don’t present on a resume, that they don’t feel is fair divulge in social encounters because people will be bored or assume arrogance.
THE FILM:
An extension on the idea for a film stated in observation #9: Possibly incorporating people / one person concentrated on an activity and capturing that flow state that they generally keep to themselves. Possibly by conducting interviews, I can focus on how people generally nurture ideas of themselves in conversation rather than reflect upon how they’ve actually experienced the world recently.