Is there anybody there?

The lecture on Wednesday, really helped me to look at my chosen poem in a different light. 

Before the lecture, I was going to stick to the story of the whole poem, making a straight cut adaption.Then I had problems with thinking about how to film horses and create good enough effects for phantoms etc. So I'm scraping the idea all together.

After watching the music videos on Wednesday,especially "HURT" by Johnny Cash, I have decided to be more abstract, and take a few lines from the poem and base my idea around them.

For a long time I have wanted to do a piece of work about alcoholism, as it is a subject close to my heart. I have seen how it affects families, and how it is not understood as an illness in most peoples eyes. A lot of people have the idea, that an alcoholic must "want" to drink and that they are just the victims of self pitty and use alcohol as an excuse. I want to try and change peoples perception, by placing the viewer in the mind of an alcoholic and showing how desperate and hellish it really is. 

It takes a lot of courage to admit your an alcoholic and even more courage to try and change your life. I think this poem could really reflect this, especially with the line "‘Tell them I came, and no one answered". This shows the desire to stop drinking but not quite being able to.

Therefore my adaption of The Listeners, will focus on an alcoholics "Rock Bottom", the point in which they have traveled so far down the spiral of the illness, that they MUST stop, otherwise they will lose their life. At this point, many alcholics have lost their homes, their jobs, their families, their dignity and the will to live.  Sadly only a very small percentage of alcoholics manage to fight their addiction, the others have to fight everyday for the rest of their lives to keep their demons away.

Addiction, I believe, like many studies show, is a genetic problem. Like mental illness, some people are more prone to it then others, and those with an addiction, will find they have a general addictive personality, whether it is food, sex, alcohol, gambling, drugs, sleeping pills, exercise, etc. Scientist have proven that those people actually have a fragment of their DNA missing, the "Stop Button" if you like. An addict will never know when to stop. An old A.A saying is "one drink is too many, twenty is not enough". 

Addiction can be found in many forms, but I believe that if it costing you more than money, i.e. it's affecting family, your job, your health and your mental wellbeing, then it is something to start thinking about.

New statistics show 5% of the British public, are alcohol dependent. Of those 5% only 6% seek help. With 65% of suicides relating to alcohol, it's a sad thought about what happens to the 94% of alcoholics who are never able to admit their problem.

I know this is a sad subject, but it's a reality, and I really want to try and show audiences that being an alcoholic is not something you choose, but that you are born with. By doing an experimental piece, with emotional scenes and trauma, I hope to show alcoholics, not as "the bad" people in society or weak, just very unwell. 

My film will centre around a father, who is at the most desperate point of his addiction, who is searching for help so that he can be reunited with his daughter, but his demons and thirst aren't quite ready to let go. 

"Show me the whiskey stains on the floor
Show me a drunk as he stumbles out the door

And I'll show you a young man
With many reasons why
There but for fortune, go you or I" - Phil Ochs