Final Major Project - Titles

“Finding Serenity” is a phrase that is close to my heart.

The Serenity Prayer has always been said around me at various points in my life, and although it is now infamously used in programs such as Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous, it is fundamentally about seeking calm. Seeking a point in ones life when you know the cards you have been dealt, they’re shit, but you’ve learnt to accept them and live with them. You have found inner peace. Most people with addictions or mental illness, never REALLY find serenity, but with most things, it’s the journey that delivers what you need.

God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,
The courage to change the things I can,
And wisdom to know the difference.


Title Sequence
Lauren W came up with this beautiful image a few months ago of a ballerina in a pine forest. To me that just summed up what my serenity would be, and I feel a lot of other people would see that as peaceful, calm and serene. So we have decided to using this in our opening, and throughout the piece, to symbolise the state of mind these suffers are one day hoping to achieve.

Final Major Project - Initial Contacts

During our meeting yesterday, we discussed where we needed to start. Of course this was contacting people.  I wrote two emails with Lauren’s help, one to the charities and support groups I had researched, a total of twenty and one to a number of celebrities that had openly discussed their experience with bipolar in the past:

Charity Email:
Dear Sir/Madam
I am writing in hope of gathering information and correspondence for a documentary film I am intending to make. I have a deep connection and interest with bipolar disorder, with several family members suffering from the illness. For my final major project as a Broadcast Media student at Maidstone Studios, I am hoping to go on an artistic and informative journey to help me better understand my family's condition, the risk I may have of developing it, and aim to help people talk more opening about bipolar.
Myself and my cinematographer, would like to collaborate with a charity, organisation or support group, and perhaps work with them to produce something they could also benefit from. We are based in Maidstone Kent and would love to get in contact with others who are dealing with bipolar and/or their family members, and give them a chance to be heard.
Although I have many members of my family who suffer from bipolar, I am not sure they would be interested in contributing to the film. I am therefore desperately looking for others who would wish to be part of our project. Although it would be great if people would feel comfortable appearing on camera, this is by no means a necessity, and we would be more than happy for them to tell their story through images and voice over. If you have any contacts regarding researchers, professors and hospitals, I would also be extremely grateful.
I have a working title “Finding Serenity” and would be looking to explore the happy medium between living with bipolar and finding treatment, as it seems to be a large topic between sufferers. Such as not wanting to stifle their creativeness and motivation, but wanting to remain calm and free from depression.
We would be making a fifteen to thirty minute film, using a variety of interview, images, narration and storytelling. My background is in screenwriting and directing. Please feel free to watch our most recent film POPPY, that explores the theme of addiction: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DX8jF9eIpIE . Although this piece is fictional, I have always been drawn to human stories and exploring real situations. If you have any questions about our project or would like more information, please do not hesitate to ask.
Thank you for taking time to read this email, I look forward to hearing from you shortly with any information, advice or contacts you can provide,
Warmest Regards,
Lauren Howard.

Celebrity Email:

Dear David Walliams,
I am contacting you regarding a short independent documentary film I am making, titled “Finding Serenity”. The film discusses bipolar disorder, a subject that is very close to my heart. I believe it is a disorder that is still not fully understood, and falls under the stigma currently attached to mental illness. More worryingly, half of those with bipolar go untreated or misdiagnosed, as I’m sure you are aware.
I have several members in my family who suffer with the illness, and I am looking to make a human interest documentary, which explores the highs and lows of a sufferer’s journey. It will aim to explore the balance between retaining their creativeness and the use of medication to suppress feelings of depression and mania.
I am a final year broadcast media student, who has been wanting to do something creative with the subject for a number of years. I would love to have the opportunity to interview someone like yourself, as well as using local people and family members to highlight the spectrum of the illness. I would also wish to explore positives the illness can sometimes create, such as the drive to succeed.
We are in talks with the charity Mind and Bipolar UK to hopefully collaborate with them, and use the short film to help with their campaigns. Although this would be a student project, would you be willing to contribute in some way?  Perhaps even by offering a quote on the subject or answering a few questions, which we could use as a voiceover to express your experiences or connection with the disorder. I would be extremely thankful if you could help us in anyway or offer advice that would point me in the right direction. If it is something you would like to be involved with, I am able to send some more information about the project.
Thank you for taking the time to read my request, I look forward to hearing from you.

Warmest Regards,
Lauren Howard.

We already found one Bipolar suffer who really wants to be a part of the film John Leslie. After speaking with him, it is clear how passionate he is about people having their voices heard and that bipolar needs to keep being highlighted, as more than 50% of suffers are untreated or undiagnosed, they either take their own lives or carrying on being tormented and living an extremely unhealthy lifestyle.

I then showed Lauren a few interview’s with Stephen Fry and helped explain further the illness, as I have several family members who suffer with the illness and know exactly from personal experience the effect it can have on the whole family. Lauren seemed really interested and we made a start on what we would be seeing visually.

Final Major Project - The Start

Since 2006 I have had this title bumping around in my head, first as a feature, now as a documentary. For the last few weeks I have been doing research and today I met with Lauren Woodfall to discuss our plans for The Final Major Project.

Premise:

I want to make a stylistic documentary, that explores the lives of bipolar disorder, through heartfelt discussion and beautiful images. The initial building blocks of the documentary will be conventional, i.e. souring contributors, interviewing, filming sequences. We then want to build an artistic piece around that, because the disorder is so fundamentally about the mind of the person, therefore I feel “Finding serenity” will be about visualizing their state of mind, and working towards finding a calm and natural balance, if that is achievable.  I hope therefore that our final film will see a sample of all our styles of work, from Poppy, Lauren’s Burning or the leaves, my Listeners and our documentaries, to really establish our own artistic conventions.

The goal of this piece will be to help viewers better understand the disorder, help sufferers better investigate their illness through others stories, to find hope and to go some way in shredding the stigma attached to such a disorder. We will also be looking to collaborate with one of the three major charities dealing with this illness, Signpost, Mind and Bipolar UK, in hope of making something they could perhaps use for one of their campaigns.

Partnership
Since the beginning of my three year degree at UCA I have worked with Lauren Woodfall. On our first day we made a short film “That’s life”, which I directed and Lauren filmed. We then helped each other on the direction Unit, Lauren was my DOP for “SHERLOCK”, as I for her “Dexter”. For the As Live project, Lauren produced and I directed, and most recently we produced a short experimental film “Poppy” together, which I am still very proud of. A wise person once said to me “Don’t fix was isn’t broken”, and I have no intention of doing so.  Myself and Lauren work, we are both opposites, opposites in how we work and communicate. Yet we have developed a partnership that has produced some great work.  I think we bring out the best in each other, motivate one another and if ever their is creative friction it always seems to work for the good.

Therefore of course, myself and Lauren will be making “Finding Serenity” together.  We have found or roles naturally over time, I write and direct, Lauren is a great DOP and designer. We both have the ability to be good producers and editors, and this is how we intend to work on this project.

My responsibilities for the next coming weeks will be to develop the idea, get hold of our contributors, work on the narrative/voice over and gain some structure.