Concept Paper:
My video will be based off mental disorders, and how many disregard it. We are often in denial over our disorders, whether we are ashamed of it or consider it inexistent. Day to day, as these disabilities/disorders are not as recognizable, people tend not to take it as seriously and for those affected by it, they are often blamed as an excuse. Through the video and audio, I want to raise awareness in terms of recognizing it as a serious illness that can really affect someone’s lives and show that it should be taken more seriously. The voices in my audio are from multiple different sources, some being my friends, audios I recorded myself, and others are of clips either from youtube or websites for sound affects. The voices speaking are two people. One is the person with the disorder–hallucinating, thinking that she is being followed, and imagining herself being harmed when it is really her own hand (alien hand syndrome: when your brain is not able to recognize your own hand) and the other person is her roommate. In this audio, her roommate is trying to calm her down, simultaneously as convince her that it is all imagination as she calls her crazy (unaware of her disorder). This is another thing I want to point out — many often uses a mental disorder as a slang. The audio then ends with her struggling for air, claiming that there is a man choking her when in reality it is her own hand. I hope to inform this to the general public, especially those who overlook it by simply using a mental illnesses as slang words (is offensive) and those often accusing someone of having an illness due to their behaviors.
The mode of documentary I’m going to use in my video will be reflexive. I hope to make the video seem as overwhelming as possible by combining multiple clips together. I don’t want the footage to appear natural, but rather the compilation to appear random with bright and vibrant colors. I might even combine animation to exaggerate the visions of what she is experiencing. The video conclusively will show both visions of what she sees with her hallucinations, and what others see of the situation (and her reaction).
Images and Ideas:
Plot Idea (notes):
- Sits at a park writing her journal alone (Full shot)
- Hears a buzzing noise coming closer to her
- Looks up
- Another buzzing noise really close to her (right, left)
- Slowly build up to something more overwhelming
- Camera shot through her visions (shaking up, left, right) looking around –trying to avoid what she can’t see but can hear (panting)
- (a little of her voice)
- Buzz
- Camera shaking
- She slaps her neck, turning her head (Medium shot — others vision)
- Back to her POV–looks down to see ants crawling on her from both sides up her legs
- Shrieks as she jumps up trying to brush the ants off her
- Medium shot: same action — looking down as she tries to brush the ants off her (shrieking) buzzing noise is now only background noise and not the main focus
- POV sees that trees are moving closer to her (a blurry footage as she is also moving her head trying to get rid of the ants)
- Medium shot calls for help as she panics
- POV of trees even closer
- (she trips and falls on the ground) long shot — still trying to brush the ants off her
- POV of her looking up and see trees moving closer and closer until it hits her, she puts her hands up to protect herself as she screams
- Full shot of her lying on the ground curling in a ball as she tries to protect herself but shows that there is nothing (just her imagination) as the set resumes to what it was like originally
