Hey, You OK?

Did you know that suicide is the biggest killer of men under the age of 45, killing more construction workers than falls?

Mental health awareness is one of the most important subjects of the modern world and the construction industry is no different.

Loxams new workplace initiative is paving the way in getting workers to talk about their mental well being, placing ‘mental health first aiders’ at the forefront of their regional businesses in an attempt to identify and help any workers that are suffering from mental health issues.

To help launch the new initiative we were tasked with producing a film highlighting the issue of workplace mental health in a bid to attract workers to come forward to become one of the companies mental health firs aiders.

We began in November last year by meeting with the client to talk about the subject, the initiative and what message they would like the film to convey. During the meeting we picked up on one fact that was quite amazing. You are asked on average 14 times a day if you are OK, with only 19% of people answering ‘I’m fine’ and actually meaning it. This simple fact formed the basis of the film.

Initially the idea was to follow an employee throughout the day with multiple people asking if he is OK at various stages. Whilst this idea would have worked in conveying the message, we felt as though the initial point of the video would not have been clear as the client wants to both raise awareness of how it feels to suffer with a mental health issue whilst engaging the workforce to come forward and express interest in the initiative.

We’ve created a short animation to showcase how closely the original storyboard matches the action in the final film.

Casting for the film took place in December with our lead Jamie Causer coming on board very early on. His performance was amazing and his input during the shoot helped shape additional details that really brought the difficult yet important subject to life. The sound design was a very important part of the production, we needed to be able to get across Jamie’s feelings throughout the film to the viewer. The sound was created in a way that slowly introduced the viewer to the issues raised in the film whilst maintaining a lever of normality during the early scenes. Completed by Joel Careless Littlewaves Productions using a mixture of on location audio and foley we feel as though the soundtrack added the final, essential touches to the production.

The finished article is something that we’re very proud of and we hope that Loxams mental health initiative helps those in need and spreads the importance of looking out for each other if something does not seem right.

Crew

Matt Edge

Harry Cartmell

Joel Careless

Shannon Bulmer

Cast (In order of appearance)

Jamie Causer

Melissa Sabine

James Nicholson

Craig Gallimore

Sarra Kasraoui

Ben Patefield

Equipment

URSA Mini Pro G2

Canon 14mm Cine Prime

Canon 24mm L series

Canon 35mm L series

Panasonic GH5

Atomos Ninja Inferno

7-14mm Lumix Lens

24mm Samyang Cine Lens

Freefly Movi Pro

Easyrig Vario with Serene arm

CAME TV wireless follow focus

3 x KinoFlo Divalite

2 x LED Panels

RODE NK

Tascam DR680 Audio Recorder

Special Thanks to

Sandhu Stores

Josh and Sophie