A funny thing recently happened to me. I found myself the subject of many stares whilst travelling home on the train from film studios, where I’d spent time at the request of Alzheimer’s Society, recording my reality of living with day-to-day dementia as a carer. The film (part 1 just released; part 2 to follow in the New Year) will be used across Alzheimer’s Society’s social media channels and website, and may also be featured on other websites. I had been given an insight into the topics I might be asked but frankly that turned out to be but a mere framework because, once conversation began, the interviewer was bound to follow up with impromptu questions which took discussion off into unexpected tangents!
Actually, I prefer it this way; it seems a lot more natural and flows better than anything pre-planned. Sometimes, I was asked to repeat my answers, but frame them in a slightly different way in order to place greater emphasis in some areas of my responses. The challenge was trying to remember what I’d said in the first place! There are many people involved in creating professional quality output at film studios – the lighting and sound specialists, the camera operators, the interviewer, the director, the support personnel. A lot of effort, a great deal of time, infinite patience and all in the knowledge that hours of input will probably result in less than a couple of minutes of edited output. I left the studios having greatly enjoyed the experience and fascinated by the work that went into the creation of the film which, as you can see, also features other carers as well as people living with dementia: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4pYy01ZqygA
When I eventually arrived home, I looked in the mirror and realised I hadn’t washed off the makeup which was applied to my face to compensate for the glare of the studio lights……..hence all the stares on my journey home. You can tell I’m an amateur when it comes to being in a studio!
