2. WHAT SOCIAL GROUP DID WE
REPRESENT?
Our media product aimed to represent the mentally ill. To express the reality of
having dual-personality disorder we devised a narrative that would express the
hardship endured daily by suffers of mental health issues by personifying the voice
which the protagonist, Chris, often hears within his head. The voice is shown to
control his actions causing him to have outbursts, such as throwing his phone,
which his sane mind would not consent to.
Furthermore, in reality Chris would appear to be having a conversation by himself
but to him the discussion is so real that he has gone so far as to create a silhouette
of the voice that he can physically interact with. This conveys the severity of his
situation and the extent to which his illness has consumed him. Whilst filming we
attempted to demonstrate how alone Chris is in the world and how his only two
relationships are with his disorder and his mother. The reason why we used his
mother as the caller is because it indicated how powerless Chris has become as he
is having to be taken care of by his mother which presents the idea of him being
immature and child-like which is often how society views people suffering from his
disorder.
3. WHY DID WE CHOOSE TO
REPRESENT THE MENTALLY ILL?
We chose to represent the mentally ill because one in four people within the
UK experience mental health issues each year yet many are still left
undiagnosed and thus untreated. Our aim was to portray the illness in such
a way that it wouldn’t be frowned upon due to the number of times
Hollywood's film industry has dehumanized suffering protagonists to
enhance their melodramatic storytelling.
As a group we agreed that adults may find it much harder to accept that
they are suffers and due to being so heavily depended on and, having many
commitments to work and family, may often deny that they are ill. Therefore
we used a middle-aged man as our protagonist because we feel that this is
an age group left unrepresented due to the stigma attached to mental
illness. The stigma prevents people within the age groups 30-40 from taking
their mental health seriously because they are convinced by society that it’s
nothing more than a bad week and that they are old enough to deal with the
side effects of depression.
4. HOW DID WE
REPRESENT THEM?
We represented people with mental health illnesses through a clear narrative
that would present the reality of the suffers’ lives instead of romanticising or
demonising them.
Our narrative placed our protagonist in a setting that could be described as
beautiful due to filming commencing close to the sea. This proved to the
audience that anyone can have a mental illness and that as a society we
should not determine whether people are worthy of such suffering or not.
This is because its common for suffers to be told that they cannot be ill due
to having a good lifestyle and one that many aren’t fortunate enough to
obtain. We therefore represented the social group through our narrative but
also through our setting.
We also used other micro codes such as lighting to construct a specific
representation that would reflect positively on the social group that we
explored. We filmed nearly all our footage at night because it would show
the dark thoughts that occupy the victim’s mind but would also show how
lonely someone with the disorder can become and by filming at night we
knew the town would be less populated. Within our opening sequence we
used a shot which featured Sidmouth’s promenade with many people
walking along it but when we filmed Chris we ensured that the town would
be practically empty to emphasise my previous point.
5. … CAMERA ANGLES AND MOVEMENT
When filming we used an array of camera angles and
movements for specific reasons. Within the shot to the
right we used a long shot so that the proxemics showed
how one character was overshadowing the over whilst
both were opposite each suggesting an archetype of
character that one was good and the other was bad.
During the filming of this shot the camera stayed
stationary because we wanted to fasten the pace of the
shots so that the audience could witness the struggle of
noticing someone who is mentally ill.
The shot shown to the left is a still from the end of a
handheld which is slow paced and varies from a medium
long shot to a long shot. This represented the mentally ill as
victims because by having Chris#2 following Chris it
suggested that he is in danger.
The medium close up to the right aimed to show how
people with a mental disorder can act violently but it
explains why and how they may be reluctant to do so but
that their illness has consumed them so far as to control
them. We used this scene to represent the social group
truthfully with no intention to paint them as villains. By
filming using a handheld camera we aimed to portray the
fear Chris was experiencing.
6. … COLOUR
Within our opening sequence we avoided using any bright colours because
we didn’t want to suggest that there was any part of mental illnesses that
were cheerful and so instead stuck to dark colours and tones that would
show fear and pain.
Within Chris’ house we did use lights because it not only increased the level
of verisimilitude but also showed how appealing it is for someone with the
disorder to stay home and distance themselves from society and so the
contrast between outside and the inside environments aimed to present this.
… SOUND
Our group recorded our own soundtrack for the opening sequence which
helped tell the narrative and therefore represented our social group as trapped
and fearful of their other personalities. The music was the only sound that the
audience could hear for the first quarter of the opening sequence which shows
how the protagonist’s illness has consumed him. The sound then fades out
and the natural audio recorded with the filming can then be heard. This allows
the audience to better understand the reality of Chris’ situation as he engages
in dialogue with his other personality.
7. …MISE EN SCENE
Sidmouth is a sea-side town which we chose to film at. Due
to the genre that we were following being gritty realism it
seemed appropriate to include shots of our setting that
were British. The still shown to the right features a
promenade, cliffs and a small, quaint town that doesn’t
have many residents. By using this as our filming location
we suggest, as previously mentioned, that anyone can be a
sufferer of a mental health disorder.
The image to the left is a still from after Chris has thrown
his phone. The use of the phone as a prop normalises him
but by using it to receive a call from his mother shows
how he isn’t like many other people his age in that he
didn’t receive any texts or calls from anyone else, such as
friends, as you’d expect.
The costumes we chose appear simple but were chosen
specifically for effect and to represent our characters in a
particular way. For Chris#2, played by Alex, we chose a long
black coat that would signify danger but also that would make
him less noticeable to the audience to imply that he is not real
and is nothing more than a figment of Chris’ imagination.
For Chris we put him in a hoody that had text across it to
signify how young his mind is and jeans like Alex’s to show
how they’re connected but also to increase the level of
verisimilitude.
8. …EDITING
Within our opening sequence we used continuity editing due
to it being conventional within the gritty realism genre.
Furthermore, by using this method of editing the opening
sequence would appear more coherent which would
encourage our audience to continue watching our film.
The pace of our editing varied. At the beginning of our
opening sequence it was very face paced which was
emphasised by the rhythm of the music. We used face paced
editing at the start because it would establish the setting of
our film but also show the confusion experienced by the
protagonist. Our editing then became slower paced so that
we could show the interaction between the two characters
and how Chris cannot escape his other personality because
it is always looming over him whether he walks.
