Short film about a teenager suffering with Schizophrenia

Hello all :blush:
Iā€™m a third year student creating a short drama film, with the main character having schizophrenia. The story follows a girl, whom has previously been in recovery but after being at fault for her mothers death her tendencies start coming back and an old friend comes back into her life. Iā€™m basing it around the idea of having ā€œvoices in your headā€ but making these voices as physical person, whom will be this old friend however we only find out at the end that it was all in her head. He persuades her to do things and eventually makes her so paranoid that her father wants to get rid of her she has to take action. So Iā€™ve come to this forum to reach out to people who have or know someone with schizophrenia, I want to portray the character in a way that is accurate and doesnā€™t misrepresent people who suffer with it. I know everyone is different but if anyone wishes to share any experiences, certain characteristics or just any information in general it would be much appreciated. I am just trying to get to know how schizophrenia really affects lives and I feel talking to people whom have it as part of their reality will provide a better understanding than facts and figures ever will, hopefully to create a film that will raise real awareness. I appreciate any help, and feel free to get in contact with me

Thank you :smile:
Jadene

are u makin a moviesā€¦???. :grin:

Wait does she kill her mother or was it an accident? Like a car wreck where she was driving or something where it could be construed as her fault but in reality wasnā€™t.

Schizophrenics generally arenā€™t murderers, Iā€™d disapprove of you spread that kind of stigma.

Unfortunately when murderers are sz it gets headlined. When there are a lot of other crimes going on. It makes sense that when someone goes and shoots up a place that they would check the persons mental health history. There is an element to it though where people take comfort when they find out they were ill in some way. Like only mentally ill people commit crimes.

If youā€™re going to make a film please be thorough in figuring out how to represent the illness. Our reality is a pain just because people would rather ignorant instead of show compassion. While weā€™re forced to have a lot of interactions with people who donā€™t understand the illness still persists. Which means different things for different people. For me itā€™s like undergoing psychoanalysis constantly, being bullied, belittle, picked apart for every little thing. At some point suicide has been encouraged.

Having the voices seem like theyā€™re real would be pretty accurate to the initial first break/onset. I believed my voices were real for a long time.

If you really wanted to help us, youā€™d make it a triumph story. You could use it to demonstrate what ā€œrecoveryā€ is actually like. Itā€™s not typically a return to normality. Itā€™s a life of constantly coping and striving to regain functionality to the point where you can keep up with society and maintain a fuller life.

People who really know what this illness is about know that weā€™re champions just for surviving. It sickens me that what some of the schizophrenics have done recently, but theyā€™re the bad apples. Even in my town a caretaker was murdered by a sz. That one hit close to home, was about a year ago but most everybody in this town probably heard about it.

I canā€™t tell if your trying to make a pseudo horror film that just uses sz as part of the story. Or if you really are trying to spread awareness and understanding.

Iā€™ll just say the second option is more noble. If you truly want to test your skills youā€™ll take that approach and figure out how to make it work.

Ahhā€¦ I get itā€¦ your remaking ā€œA beautiful mindā€ and ā€œDrop Dead Fredā€ and ā€œKeaneā€ and ā€œThe Fisher Kingā€ andā€¦ all the other moves about Szā€¦

Good luck. :v: