I’m making a documentary about the subject of heartbreak for my college, Dun Laoghaire Institute of Art, Design + Technology (IADT).

 
Here’s the synopsis:

In my documentary, titled The Heart of Heartbreak, I plan to explore an abstract concept, but one universally experienced and integral to the human condition: heartbreak. The topic was chosen as heartbreak is such a universal experience, that has been explored in art and literature for centuries, but people generally shy away from exploring or wanting to talk about it. The documentary will be in the vein of the poetic mode of documentary filmmaking. The documentary will use public domain archival footage of various heart-related imagery, including heart monitors, informational graphics on the circulatory system, and even footage of heart surgery. Accompanying these images, I want to have people talk about heartbreak, not exclusively just in a romantic sense, but any form of heartbreak they may have experienced in their life. My aim is to edit the interview to just the parts where the concept of heartbreak itself is explored, rather than to document any one person’s heartbreak story. I don’t want to use any footage of the people who are interviewed, as I feel that that will make it about their individual story of heartbreak, rather than what the point of the film is, which is to explore heartbreak as a concept. I would even like to, if two or more interviewees happen to say similar things, to splice their lines together so you get an intentionally jarring experience as two or more people make a complete sentence. I think that the juxtaposition of clinical and objective imagery of heart surgery and the circulatory system in conjunction with discussion over a personal and subjective subject matter would be nice. There’s no barrier of entry to be an interviewee in my documentary; anybody’s experience of heartbreak is valid to me. Beneath these images and interviews, I want to have mellowed, relaxing synth music, akin to something that may accompany a mindfulness exercise. The intent being to give a five-minute dreamlike, even ethereal, feeling to the documentary. A five-minute zone out, where the documentary just takes you along for a zen experience.


I had people lined up, but a lot of them just started ghosting me and not delivering material.

I can’t afford to pay, but I will include your name in the credits, will send you a copy of the documentary upon completion, and give you any reference you may want off of me.

If you could send me an audio file of you answering the following four questions:

1) If you had to describe the physical sensation of heartbreak to someone who has never experienced it before, how would you describe the physicality of it?

2) How would you describe the mental impact of heartbreak on mood, enthusiasm, self-image, etc.?

3) Are there any art pieces (poems, paintings, writings, songs, etc.) that you feel encapsulate heartbreak accurately?

4) What’s some advice for overcoming heartbreak?

If you could send your answer to these questions on to aaronkavoucas@gmail.com as soon as you could (due to the documentary being way behind schedule and deadlines and such) if you would like to be in this documentary, that would be greatly appreciated.