Lauren Schwein TEL-T206 11 November 2010 Midterm Assignment Buddy Holly’s Mental Hospital When I pictured my visual aesthetic I saw an over the top drug user in this harsh lighting surrounded by evidence of her addiction. I kept being drawn back to the aesthetic of the movie Girl, Interrupted. I wanted a little irony, but also a song that when listened to, could be interpreted as drug use. I found the Buddy Holly song, “It Doesn’t Matter Anymore”, and the lyrics fit so perfectly. Phrases such as “Golly gee, what have you done to me?” spoke to my idea of mind-altering substances. Buddy Holly is singing about a woman, but never explicitly says so, so I just changed it to mean pills. I wanted to show in five photographs the transition from actual drug use, to the effect of the drugs. I first showed pill bottles scattered around the sink, with my hands trying to open the pill bottle. I wanted to focus on the pills, and the number of bottles, as well as the grungy sink to create an environment. For my second photograph I fast- forwarded to the initial reaction of the drugs. I wore a lot of eye make-up, hoping to look sickly, and tried to look over-stimulated. The next shot is a high angle shot, which I used to make myself look small, and insignificant. The next two shots are supposed to be point of view shots, as if I have fallen onto the ground. One shot is out of the door, and the last shot is looking up at the ceiling.