Our film addresses the issue of government and media response to the covid-19 crisis and how it affects people’s mental health.
In EVC’s Youth Documentary Workshop, youth producers always choose a social issue of importance to them to focus their film on. The pandemic is the biggest social issue right now, and mental health is not taken seriously, and so we wanted to raise awareness about it.
We’ve interviewed an emergency pediatric doctor, several psychiatrists, a news media producer, and a local government official to get their opinions on the crisis. We also interviewed some of our family members and friends. Over the last three months we’ve been meeting online to have discussions about our experiences and to make this film. We are not totally done editing yet, but should be done by the end of May. So, we are submitting our rough cut, and hope to send you a final cut at the end of the month.
The rough cut video (https://vimeo.com/422985966) is password protected:
Password: evcview
Emoti-Con 2020 has ended and leaving new reactions is now off.
Lots of great advice from the other judges. I've produced and sold (yes you can make money out of this as well!) feature length (90 mins +) documentaries for international current affairs and news networks and I can assure you the work you are doing is vital not just now but it will continue to be in the coming months and years. Just a couple of points that I didn't see in the rest of the advise - try to be mindful of the title safe areas when you are editing any videos. Keep the graphics away from the borders because different streaming/broadcasting platforms have different title safe area requirements. Another thing to consider is using a background strip for the onscreen graphics. This is also called the lower third. Aside from this, this is an amazing doc and I would love to see you produce a 2.0 version of this in the coming months. Good luck and stay safe :)
I loved this! Hearing how the students are coping, mentally and physically. Also listening to how it has impacted their family as a whole. The interviews with professionals was woven through well and the length provides the viewer a full experience into the contributors worlds. I agree with the comment one of the other judges made about showing visual that are not just "talking heads". For example the footage of driving by the food store, the basketball courts, and one of the students exercising at home, those were a nice break from the interview format. One suggestion might be to add dates of some of the interviews for context? Not sure if they were presented in chronological order. Great work!
Clearly this team is passionate about expressing their feelings on the governmental response to the coronavirus pandemic and the impact COVID-19 and quarantine has had on their lives. The list of professional health experts, a politician and news producer is comprehensive and the interview subjects and students share candid thoughts. There's great potential to further develop this project. Oh, and if the teens want to further develop their filmmaking skills and they have access to the Internet and a New York Public Library Card, they can take free lessons on filmmaking, audio editing and more via Lynda www.nypl.org/collections/articles-databases/lyndacom
This is really great - it's amazing that you edited together clips from professionals, politicians, and normal citizens to talk through the importance of mental health during this time. Especially since we are all so focused on our physical health, we are sometimes neglecting our mental health. Great work!
This is a really compelling documentary! I loved the opportunity to hear from young people as the pandemic was/is unfolding. It's so important to give these voices a platform and I think this film provides a great space for that. Something to consider for the final edit is that some of the information shared by the professionals may not seem as interesting or relevant to audiences a few months down the line, so you will want to consider if the function of those pieces is to inform people, or to function as a time capsule of what we are all hearing/learning/thinking about. One of my favorite parts of the film is when one of the subject is talking about his daily life and the footage of him exercising, etc was edited over his dialogue. In documentary film, it can be helpful to break up some of the 'talking head' scenes by adding in 'b-roll footage' to help illustrate the ideas being spoken about. I think this is a really strong piece and I'm excited to see the final product. There are plenty of film festivals that focus on work made by young people and I think the film has great potential!
Wow! This is so informative and well done. Thank you for making this - it really shares things from the youth perspective and made me think. Great work.
During this pandemic, people's main priorities are physical health. Thus, it is great that you made this documentary because mental health is just as important.
