Production Diaries - Mental Health Campaign

Production Diaries - Mental Health Campaign

18.12.17 - Ellie

After getting all of the questions from the people who were allocated each part of them, myself and Josh sat down together and scripted up what we wanted and also created the shot lists with some help from Adam as well. I made sure to add into each part of the questions that whoever is asking the questions knows that if they would like to ask some more questions when they are in the middle of the interview then that is fine as long as it can be heard in the microphone so that they can be typed on screen in post production. I feel as though this is the best way to do this as we wanted to keep the interviews as natural and we also don't know what the answers are going to be from the interviewees and if we feel that the most natural thing to do is elaborate on something that they have said then we ask further questions. We also strayed slightly from the proposal and changed a few minor things, this included when 'Anna' says "I'm Anna and I killed myself on the 22nd of September 2016" as when we sat and spoke as a group about it, Josh had been on the phone to  a representative from the company Stem4 and was told about how to handle the sensitivity of the subject matter. He disagreed with how this was worded and came up with a better idea to 

However, as for now, this is the first draft of the script that we will be loosely sticking to and can add further questions in later if needed, this is in our production development folder.

Anthony and Adam had already worked on a shotlist ad it was great, however, needed some changes as they had done the shotlist before we had wrote the script.

After talking about the different ways of ending the script, we decided to change a few little bits (and also because the voiceover that Andrea did for us wasn't great sound quality, we switched around so that Sophie (Anna) spoke directly to the audience for a bigger impact. The final script is also in our folder.

After scripting, it was onto scheduling and I was in charge of this, I found this very hard because there were other groups in our class that were using some of the same actors as we were. I decided to create a spread sheet of the crew and cast availability and then schedule our filming from there, I also made sure to only use two weeks to film and then the week before our deadline I kept free to edit and finish up all week to give us a good amount of time and also have some time if anything went wrong. The spread sheet and schedule, along with all of the pre production paperwork and development ideas are in our folder.

8.1.18 - Ben

As of today all of the pre-production paperwork has been finished and we're ready to begin shooting next week from the 15th onwards. Ellie has kindly prepped the call sheets and written up the shot lists, whilst I've completed all the necessary risk assessments for the next few weeks filming. There's been a slight miscommunication in who was actually doing the artist release forms, as I was originally down to provide them but Ellie's beaten me to the punch. In all fairness though, I would've been able to give her them before we broke up for the holidays but I forgot to.

I've also got the 1st draft of questions for Jess to screen before filming sorted - Adam and I swapped who we were prepping questions for as I have a background with Jess - ready for it to be finalised with Ellie. I've tried to keep them as "on topic" as possible without posing anything that might directly or deliberately upset Jess.

• What’s it like having depression? (In as simple a way as you can describe)
• Did it have a beginning point, or has it always been there?
• Do you do anything to cope/deal with or fight it? – (speaker) find the best way to word this.
• If it does, how does it affected schoolwork?
• How has it impacted your life in general?
• What’s to biggest part of depression to you?
• What do you want to say to people who joke about depression?

Alongside the questions for Jess, I also have similar questions for the cast of Chatroom. I've sent them over to Ellie for a final approval, but I felt that I had a little more freedom in the wording of these questions due to none of the actors actually have a mental illness (that I've been made aware of ): 

• With this being your first show as a theatre company, why did you choose to do a show with such heavy subject matter as your debut performance?
• As a member of a younger generation, what does the term mental health mean to you?
• Do you think there’s enough exposure to the different aspects of mental health – such as depression and anxiety – within the creative arts industry? And if not, what do you as individuals think are the most under-represented aspects of mental health? 
• When researching for your roles, how accessible was the information on mental health for you to find?
• Did you find clear information quite quickly, or did you have to look around for a while to find the most concise source?
• In your own opinions, do you think this subject is taught enough in schools?

15.1.18 + 17.1.18 - Ben

As it was the first time that we had independently set up the lighting equipment and green screen from the 2nd years or a tutor, filming was a little bit rocky to start off with. Thankfully we had incorporated plenty of contingency time in order to properly sort everything out. Everyone was on-set on time and once we'd finished a minor rehearsal with Jess, we were well on our way. As sound operator, I was somewhat aware of the air-conditioning that seemed to be constantly flowing throughout the room though there was little we could physically do to turn it off and I couldn't hear the microphone pick it up either, so we carried on. There were a few points where we had minor breaks in the recording but this could be accredited to the sensitive nature of the topic for Jess, so we were more than happy to give her as much time as she needed. Beyond that, we packed everything away as we had found it and, to my knowledge at least, they were only minor technical issues when editing the footage.






On Wednesdays shoot, there wasn't a great deal to separate it from the shoot on Monday. Everything ran about as smoothly as could be expected with our new found knowledge of how to set up the lights in similar positions as before. We still encountered some minor problems with the air-con but once again, nothing could be done to fix it. Nobody was late and everyone in attendance acted in a professional and dignified manner in front on the artist, someone - who unlike Jess - had no previous acting to camera experience (that I know of) and was a guest within the college.

22.01.18 - Josh

Today was a group evaluation, we sat down and had a look at the currently completed work and compared it to our targets whilst rectifying issues that we had encountered in the previous weeks filming with Andrea.

The first job on the list was to double check where we were with the print and social media aspect of the project. The social media aspect was underway requiring only more on set photos and information to be completed. The print media was underway with a few basic concepts but nothing solid, Ben wanted to wait until we had more shots of our subjects such as Sophie and Jess before creating anything. Until then, he planned and told us his ideas for a few concepts.

Our primary concern was the issue surrounding sound. In the previous week’s interview, we encountered issues with sound that ranged from a failure to pick up a clear, distinctive voice to ambient sound interfering with our recording. It was at this point we decided to try holding the boom microphone in a different position for our next shoot versus the last. We also decided that we could try smaller microphones clipped onto the clothing of the people we were interviewing in order to provide a crisp audio quality for our project.

We also spoke about focusing the camera as we'd encountered a few problems with blurring due to not picking up the subjects properly via auto-focus. We decided next time that we should fully make sure that the camera is aligned correctly and that we should switch between auto and manual focus depending on what works better for the image quality. Editing is another top priority for our team as it's the make or break between a "college" production and something that can actually provide a purpose with mental health awareness. We discussed many things including the use of green screens, overlaying text to introduce our interviewees, sound, fading techniques and the overall length of the video. We want a video that is informative but not something that will gradually lose the interest of people (usually younger) in the audience.

Another important aspect is the fluid and clear connection between our video and it's linked social media and print media. We decided that we should create a tagline, hash tag and profile image that is carried throughout the project on different platforms - creating a sense of care and professionalism.

24.01.18 - Josh 

Today we were on set with the actors from Chatroom, finding out what it was like to not only embody mental ill-health as actors, but to present what some would still refer to as a “taboo” subject, to such a diverse audience.

Before the shoot today, I sat and drew some questions that I thought would be most appropriate to receive the most insightful and informative answers as possible. I then agreed with Ellie that I would interview both Dylann and Lucy in the green room. After setting up our film space, we decided to look at the previous week’s work and resulting analysis and decided that we should use smaller mics on the bodies of our actors, allowing for a crisper audio. Unfortunately the mics would not work for us, we couldn’t figure out if it was a technical issue or if we weren’t connecting them up correctly. Out of the two mics, only one would work so we had Lucy, our actor, hold one of the mics to allow audio from both persons to be picked up.

After getting the guys settled in with Ellie directing and the guys on camera and lighting, I began to interview both Dylann and Lucy. The interview lasted around 30 minutes approx. although this is before the editing process, I asked everything on the shoot plus a few extra queries from both me and Ellie. We wanted to nail down the fundamental building blocks behind creating a mental health orientated stage production, and its effects on the actors.

I fully believe that bringing mental health into the limelight is important, it’s why we as a group chose to focus on this issue and creating a presence for it within stage, TV and film should be more common. We live in a world where we know the exact flavour ice cream Kim Kardashian just bought from the local parlour within minutes thanks to paparazzi, so we clearly have the resources to cover this issue, I think we’re all just too scared to admit mental health is a serious issue – because it can effect anyone.

This is what chatroom is about, spreading the message of awareness through the means of theatre, one of the most accessible arts in the world, we should definitely campaign for more productions to be more inclusive, like the current campaigns for more ethnic diversity, none of this should be shied away from, especially not in this day and age.

We can only hope that the question that were asked (featured within our production folder) and the answers given will be enough to give our audience an understanding of an outsiders perception of mental health, perhaps even something for people to connect too.   

25.01.18 - Josh

Today we were on set with Sophie to film the main narrative for our social action project. After a long time of the director (Ellie) and assistant director (Josh) going through and reworking the script to meet the needs of the documentary, we finally were able to begin filming with our main subject “Anna” and began the process of bringing her story to life.

We asked our actor Sophie if she could dress in all white to convey a clinical, unnatural feeling that the audience could then pick up on. We wanted to try out a few dynamic shots in this filming session, but we soon realised that we were limited by time and equipment – we weren’t fully outfitted to realise some of our ideas so we decided to reel ourselves in and aim for more realistic shots. We decided our main shot type would be a gradual close up into Anna’s face as she reveals what she’s been through via voices dubbed in over the video.

The idea with Anna is that she is secluded alone, so we refrained from using a consistent wide shot, we wanted the audience to share her loneliness, but at the same tie we wanted them to feel like intruders, like they’re the ill thoughts attacking Anna sub consciously. We aimed to do this by using an extreme close up, breaching a sense of personal space, we wanted the audience to understand what it is like to feel alone with only the company of your thoughts as sanctuary – and sometimes hell.

We went with mic on the camera for this shot, minus the recording of the voices we’d need to dub in during the editing process, the only time we’d have Sophie speak is during the extreme close up, in which the use of a camera mounted mic is viable. Speaking of recording, before and after the main shoots, we had Sophie record a serious of negative words that would later be layered on top of the video and be represented as her own voice. Ellie and Josh sat with the script and devised some key words we’d use that would deliver the most impact without coming off theatrical – Ellie then finalised the list and applied it to the shoot.

It took us a total of 17 takes (due to us figuring out a method in which to keep the camera centred and balanced during the shoots as the supports were bent – quite a cool trick with a travel bag was involved if you’re interested) but we got the footage we were after and were extremely happy with our nights work.

27.01.18 – 04.02.18 (Edit Week) - Josh

This week would be the time where we pooled together our resources and began editing our social action project to have it complete for the deadline. Our key editor was Anthony Carter, with direction from our director Ellie.

We spoke a lot about cutting down the video length and changing backgrounds on the screen to provide a more natural and professional look. We, as a group, were aspiring for top tier standard work – distinction level. We put in a lot of ideas and as a result the edit week was slowed dramatically.

A cause for concern initially was communication, we had an incident in which it took is more than a few days to recover Ellie’s SD card (containing all of her work, all of which connected to our project) and we also struggled to actually get editing underway. I believe this is due to pressuring too much work onto one person, so we had Adam Cowperthwaite step in alongside Ellie to help with the process. Anthony is an excellent editor but without clear communication from both parties, we were unable to kick off the editing process with the foot on the gas, this inevitably caused delays which pushed back our completion date.

Now that three parties were involved, the editing process could begin to move faster. We had Anthony editing, Adam assisting and Ellie giving the necessary information and direction needed to keep the process on track.

One of our major problems with the editing process was time, we had too much footage and nothing to do with it. The project came in at approx. 120 minutes, this really isn’t a promotable time stamp as this project needs to be informative in an interesting way, there’s no guarantee anyone would be willing to sit through a 30 minute documentary, so we needed to ensure there was no reason as to why our project couldn’t be promoted in schools, colleges, universities and perhaps even workplaces. Ellie decided that we should have the interviews cut down to around 5-7 minutes each, depending on the content and the information it provides – for example dialogue like “I go to the gym” (Yes that was said) is irrelevant and can be easily cut out. It was our job to make sure that only the relevant, informative content reminded within the video.

I, along with Ellie, added ideas and communicated my very own opinion and insight into this product via my research, this helped keep our campaign as respectful as possible.