XYZ

MENTAL HEALTH IS A PROBLEM, LISTEN

 CONTENTS

 SCRIPT
 LOCATION RECCE
 STORYBOARD
 INTERVIEW LAYOUT
 PRODUCTION SCHEDULE
 CREW LIST
 XYZ SCRIPT
INTRO. BRIEF OVER VIEW ON SUBJECT OF FILM, WILL BEGIN
WITH ME THE PRESENTER INTRODUCING THEN SWITCH TO A
VOICEOVER WITH SOME B-ROLL.

ANNIE
Mental Health has become a really serious epidemic in
society, I feel there are important flaws with
support, information and opinions on mental health
and how deadly it can really be.

INTRO. CLIPS WILL NOW BE B ROLL WITH MY VOICE

NARRATED OVER.

ANNIE (V.O)
I will be highlighting 3 really important issues to
do with mental health and informing on support and
what to do if you yourself experience anything
similar to these.

SECTION X. THIS IS WHERE I WILL BEGIN TO INTRODUCE

STORY X, I WILL EXPLAIN WHAT HAPPENED TO X AND THE
SIGNS YOU SHOULD LOOK FOR IF YOU WENT THROUGH
SOMETHING SIMILAR. I WILL EXPLAIN THE STORY ON SCREEN
WITH OCCASIONAL B ROLL TO BREAK IT UP. SCREEN WILL
FIRST BE BLANK WITH TEXT SAYING ‘X:UNDIAGNOSED’

ANNIE
The first story I want to talk about is story X. X is
someone who I knew personally that had a mentally
downward spiral that I feel could’ve been lessened or
prevented if more pro active things had been done
sooner.

This is what happened to X. They were always a very

fun loving person from the second I met them. They
thought life was beautiful and definitely always
wanted to make the most out of life. I remember when
I first grew close to X there was a crazy alter ego
that people used to call them when they were drunk
and doing things not deemed as ordinary. These were
always hilarious out there actions, nothing
particularly disturbing.

I’m not exactly sure where the decline in their

mental state began, but I do however remember when I
first noticed it. A big group of friends were
drinking together at X’s house, they started saying
things that were to me personally a little
concerning, but at that point I thought that X was
just getting in touch with their spiritual side. The
boys at this gathering were calling them ‘booky’ and
‘crazy’ which seemed to get to X and they got very
defensive.

From there X began slowly to cut themselves off from

their friends, I would rarely see X and never hear
from X, I later found out that this was because they
had deleted their social media accounts. Quite
rapidly X was so trapped inside their own mind things
became extremely worrying.

The things they were saying became gradually more

disturbing, it felt almost like X was so detached
from themselves but at the same time completely
themselves. It would also come in waves, it wouldn’t
always be disturbing and at times would feel like
absolutely nothing was different about X.

Then came the night that everything changed. X was at

a party and their condition seemed to be worsened by
alcohol which they had consumed a lot of this night.
It became clear that X was planning to take their own
life and was in no way joking about it. X was saying
goodbyes to those around them as she had another life
to get to and the only way to get their was to die.
People there panicked and phoned X’s parents who knew
some things about the situation but probably not the
extent of the severity. X was then taken against
their will to a facility for people struggling with
mental health. Something I believe could’ve been
prevented had people including myself taken things
more seriously sooner.

INTERVIEW NUMBER ONE.

INTERVIWEE: CHARLES SUDDING
WHY: Close to X for years.

QUESTIONS
What do you think could’ve been done to prevent this
from happening?

Do you personally feel you gave the support that X

needed at those times?

You asked X if they thought they were schizophrenic,

what was their reaction?
 How did this make you feel?

If you could go back what would do differently?

CONCLUSION. ME ON CAMERA WITH SOME B ROLL OVER

CERTAIN PARTS DISCUSSING THE X SITUATION OVERALL.

ANNIE
In my opinion everything that went on at the
beginning were huge red flags to say something wasn’t
right, I myself said very early on that something
needed to be done about it before it got so bad that
it was out of our hands. I definitely could’ve taken
this upon myself and done something proactive and I
didn’t and that is something will deeply regret for
the rest of my life. I haven’t had contact with X in
a very long time due to them being institutionalised
and I think lots of people take the people around
them for granted, if you think someone around you
needs help even if they’re not asking for it you
should take action before it is too late.

I am unsure on the exact diagnosis doctors have given

X, last time I heard there wasn’t a certain diagnosis
yet however most of the signs point towards
schizophrenia which I really had no idea about before
this. If you think someone close to you is going
through something you don’t understand a really great
way to educate yourself is through charities like
MIND. Founded by Stephen Fry who is a schizophrenic
himself, they are an extremely informative charity
with loads of information about all aspects of mental
health whether its you affected or you wish to give
support to someone who is.
SECTION Y. THIS IS WHERE I WILL DISCUSS SECTION Y OF
THE PRODUCTION. AGAIN I WILL BE ON SCREEN DISCUSSING
THE ISSUE WITH B ROLL AT TIMES.

ANNIE
The second part of this documentary is on the
epidemic that is male mental health. Suicide is one
of the leading killers of men under 45. This is
partially down to gender stereotypes. Men are
constantly throughout their whole life told to ‘man
up’, be a man, men don’t cry. This imprints on them
from such a young age and results in the suppression
of emotion for years, which thus leads to suicide and
depression etc. 3 in 4 suicides are actually by men.
Most men don’t even acknowledge they have depression
let alone seek help for it. 46% of men with mental
health concerns say they are ashamed or embarrassed.
13 men take their own lives every single day. And
every single one of them could be saved if we remove
the taboo and the phrase ‘man up’ is never used
again. In my opinion being in touch with your
emotions is much more manly than acting as though you
feel nothing.

INTERVIEW NUMBER TWO.

INTERVIEWEE: Lewis Johnson
WHY: Open minded, emotional male.

QUESTIONS
What do you think of the male suicide epidemic?

What do you think can be done to help make a change?

 Do you think the old fashioned patriarchal way of
raising boys and girls different cause’s issues like
this for men in later life?
Do you think your friends would feel like they could
tell you they were depressed or suicidal?
How would you support someone if they approached you
with a mental health issue?

We live in a very sexist society, not necessarily

always more sexist toward women though. The term
feminist means someone who believes all genders
should be treated as equals. And as a feminist it’s
great that I can vote, there is a huge women’s rights
movement and that’s all great. But men need to become
more equal to women in the emotional side of things,
men need to understand they can be sensitive and
still be viewed as strong and intelligent, there
needs to be better support in place for males
suffering with mental health.

A great charity for mental health support in men is

the Campaign Against Living Miserably aka CALM. They
focus mainly on informing and supporting males
struggling with depression and other mental health
issues. They not only support but also campaign and
fight for a change in policies to make them equally
in favour of men and women.

SECTION Z. Section z is slightly different to the

other sections, its mostly me on screen with a few
short interview style sections.

Almost 5 years ago I had my first ‘anxious episode’

if that’s what you want to call it, I don’t remember
much about when it started except that it went
downhill and fast. Soon I wasn’t leaving my house,
 wasn’t going to school, would sleep all day long
physically couldn’t stay awake, if I did go to school
I’d have a panic attack and have to work in separate
rooms on my own, when the teacher left sometimes I
would just walk home which usually took me around an
hour. For the last two years of school it persisted
this way, some times were better than others but most
of my teachers made me feel like a failure and I
rarely felt actually supported by them. One teacher
actually destroyed me so much from one conversation I
couldn’t breathe, I couldn’t see, I was shaking and
crying. All because that one teacher told me that
anxiety wasn’t real, I was using it as an excuse to
not do work and not come to school, he even actually
told me at 15 years old that I was taking the piss. I
will never ever forget that conversation and how it
made me feel. This teacher stopped working at my
school soon after and I continued to go to school
once or twice a week for a little bit. GCSE’s grew
closer and I was certain I was going to fail them
all. I’d already dropped subjects because I wasn’t
coping and was not being given correct support. My
head of year told me time and time again that if I
didn’t just ‘get over’ how I was feeling I was going
to get no where. On results day I passed more than
enough of my exams to excel onto college and away
from one of the most toxic environments I’ve ever
been in. I even got an A* in English language after
attending less than 50% of my year 11 english
lessons.

My anxiety improved slightly once school finished, I

spent the whole summer with my family because at this
point I didn’t really have any friends, I had been a
recluse for nearly 2 years and I think people started
to forget I even existed. I then started the Henley
College for my first year of A levels, I thought
college would be a fresh start and maybe I wouldn’t
feel anxious anymore but the start of college brought
back panic attacks and intense feelings of anxiety, I
couldn’t concentrate ever and had lost all of my
social skills, I didn’t really know how to make
friends because I was too choked up to speak a lot of
the time, I didn’t party and I didn’t go out and come
January of my first year everything got too much and
I started to break down, I tried to come back to
college but it was too much and its not that they
gave me no support I think it was more they didn’t
know what to do and I felt like I had completely hit
the bottom. So I dropped out and was right back to
feeling like an absolute failure. I signed up to
become a personal trainer as exercise was something I
had become really interested in. I still had only
maybe 2 friends that I rarely saw, I was pretty much
ready to just give up and completely willing to live
the rest of my life between the gym and my bedroom.

Then I finally got my break, I ended up at a party

with people I’d barely spoken to for years, one of
them was my now best friend zak, we had always known
eachother and always been friendly but after this
night we just bonded, we were both struggling and I
think just became a support web for eachother, it
felt nice to talk to someone who understood and he
opened doors for me which I thought were locked
forever. He always encourages me to be myself and
supports me endlessly, we were inseperable after that
night and made some amazing friends all who
contribute to us still being here today.
THURS FRI MON TUES
Film first Second Piece to B-roll
interview interview camera,
and B roll third
interview
SCRIPT ABOVE IS WRONG AS IDEA WAS
ADAPTED TO SUIT TIME FRAME.

Outline of new idea:

The connection between drugs and mental health
in youth.
Warning signs
Mis education
How to be safe when first exposed to substance