GreyMatters is an initiative created by psychologist Daisy Thompson-Lake and artist Emma Allen that combines art and science to raise awareness of mental health issues. Their first short film, "Adam", will use face paint and stop-motion animation to explore the causes and effects of depression from a biological perspective. They hope this film and the GreyMatters series will challenge perceptions of mental health and reduce the stigma around mental health issues.
2. GreyMatters is an initiative developed by Daisy
Thompson-Lake, a young, established psychologist and
neuroscientist, and Emma Allen, an international multi-
disciplined artist and body paint animator, to combine
science and art in order to raise awareness on mental
health.
Our mission is to remove the social stigma that
accompanies mental health issues. We aim to achieve this
by creating artistic impressions of the underlying
biological processes and hidden emotions with face paint
and stop-motion animation techniques.
“Adam”, the first of this short-film series, explores the
causes and effects of depression, the world’s leading cause
of disability. We hope the premiere of “Adam” will kick off
the GreyMatters series and challenge people’s perceptions
on mental health.
3. As a neuroscientist Daisy has always felt the science behind depression was only shared
within the scientific community and was not reaching the wider public.
After the tragic suicide of her friend Adam in 2010, it left a huge impact on her and Daisy
wanted to do something to educate and inform the public about the neurological
underpinnings of depression.
By chance and fate, Daisy shared her thoughts with her good friend Emma and both felt
strongly about making a difference – GreyMatters was born!
We hope this series of short films will remind everyone that there is more to the person
than just the surface and will ultimately change the way our audience views mental health
issues.
The beginnings
4. One in five people in the UK aged 16
and older showed symptoms of
anxiety or depression.
Three in five people diagnosed with
depression every year are women.
Men and women
between the ages of
20 & 34
are more likely to die
from suicide than any
other way.
Sources: World Health Organisation, Mental Health Foundation, Office for National Statistics
5% of the world’s
population suffers from
depression. That’s
Impact
350 million
people.
5. The first of the GreyMatters series, entitled “ Adam“, will be a 60-
second animation exploring the journey of depression.
Over the course of seven 15 hours days, Emma will collaborate
with the model to create the video artwork using only face paint,
photography lighting and a camera. Directing and film editing will
then take place at the Huxley studio to complete the final film.
In this short film, we will reveal both the hidden neurological
transformations inside the affected brain and show the
behavioural changes on the outside.
Film-making
6. To complete the first of our film series, we are looking to raise £15,000
from the public. This will come in the form of grants and generous
donations from crowdfunding, individuals, organisations and businesses.
Funds raised will cover the costs of renting photography and filming
equipment, film directing and editing, music production, studio hire,
modelling costs and promotion of the film.
Any surplus funds will be dedicated to making a documentary of the film-
making process and to our second film in the GreyMatters series.
The final film will be premiered at Whirled Cinema on the 8th May 2017 in
conjunction with 2017 mental health awareness week.
Launch of crowdfunding
campaign
Shooting begins Film premiere
Film editing
February March April May
Production
7. – Share our purpose on Instagram, Facebook
and all kinds of social media
– You’re helping to raise awareness of mental
health simply by liking us
– If you’re feeling generous, please feel free
to contribute to GreyMatters on Indiegogo
– We are very grateful and excited to
be awarded a £1,000 grant from the Centre
for Public Engagement at the Queen Mary
University of London!
– Watch our trailer and leave your
comments
– We love to hear from you and any ideas for
our next film
Watch Share Contribute
How you can help
8. Daisy Thompson-Lake
Scientist
@dgytl
Emma Allen
Artist
@imakefings
Huxley
Studio
@thisishuxley
Kevin B
Model
Lex
Hustler
@xenolt
Daisy graduated her MSc in
neuroscience in 2008 and
worked under Dr David
Eagleman and Professor De
La Garza, studying human
neuroimaging and cocaine
and methamphetamine use
disorder at Baylor College
of Medicine, Houston,
Texas. She is currently a 3rd
year PhD student at Queen
Mary University of London.
Emma is an renowned
talented artist specialising
in face paint and stop-
motion animation. One of
her video artworks “Ruby”
on reincarnation attracted
millions of viewers
worldwide. Alongside
artistic pursuits, Emma is
also involved with Cancer
Research UK and Live Life
Give Life creating artistic
campaigns.
Huxley is a full-service film
production studio, based in
Bristol, United Kingdom.
Huxley combines
contemporary film making
and animation to create
fresh and brave content for
family businesses, cutting-
edge artists, and famous
brands including Google,
Spotify and Amazon.
Kevin is a writer & editor,
and founder of Torchlight
System, a project on
storytelling for recovery.
He founded and edited the
publication Manzine. He
trained in Coaching &
Mentoring at the Institute
of Education in London,
and is currently training as
a counsellor at Goldsmiths
College.
With some experience in
the corporate world, Lex
helps out with the
“business” side of the
project. Lex majored in
psychology at university
and is actively seeking
answers to why we do the
things we do. On a cold
crisp morning, you can find
him at a local café reading
an autobiography, drinking
his favourite mocha.
Many thanks from…
