Pre Production: Gaining a better understanding on current mental health affairs.

Reviewing My Storyline

Following off from my first draft script review, In order to make the appropriate changes I felt as though I still needed to gain a greater understanding on people's real experiences in order to know how and when to interject certain characteristics as well as know what type of behavioural traits to scrap. I really want my story to be as realistic as possible.

I decided to seek advice from my peers and by doing this I was able to gain another perspective, especially when it came to my main character's parents. Simon's feedback stated that it seemed as though Isaiah's root cause of depression was via the parents. So I spoke to a friend and he showed me the perspective that, A lot of the time, parents mean well but it is the way in which they distribute their "support" which is questionable.  He said that I should think about approaching the parents with a bit of compassion as well because its important to remember that some black parents are also a product of their mistreatment of society or even their parents.  So because of this, I will add dialogue that shows they are trying to support him but it's doing more harm than good. 

I then spoke to another friend who directed me to a 30 minute documentary where they tackled the exact topic that I aimed to tackle.

"Being Black, going crazy" - (2016)

- Hosted by a radio presenter with a high following on social media who stated that after struggling with his mental health for two years, he decided to write a blog post and come clean about his struggles. He claims that he would be in situations where he knows he's supposed to be happy but he just wasn't. - This information makes me think that maybe Instead of creating Isaiah's happiness to be with Lily, maybe he should seem to be happy with her but even on the inside, he still has negative thoughts. 

- The treatment that black people receive is actually different than what non blacks receive. "They are seen as more dangerous and therefore receive a higher diagnoses" according to industry professional psychologist within this documentary. It is interesting to actually hear this from an industry professional as it almost confirms some of the rumours and stigmas thats ingrained into the black community. Although my story isn't an expository story about the way in which mentally ill people are treated, it is very useful for me to understand why some of these rumours come around. It allows me to look at the characters in my story a little differently because it gives a reason and an answer as to WHY my character wouldn't speak up.