Broken By Birth
Directed and produced by
Sydnee Smith
Logline
“Post-natal depression is the silent illness 1 in 7 mothers conceal through shame and denial. It can kill - don't let it get that far”
Synopsis
This film will focus on a hidden suffering. It is a story based on my own experiences but told through the experiences of other people who have suffered, like I did. After having introduced myself, as the filmmaker, and why I want to make this film about a relatively unknown condition, the film portrays 3 mothers of different ages, backgrounds and degrees of illness. so, the audience feels connected with me and they understand that someone who is telling this has been through the experience of the story I am trying to portray.
The reason for making this film is because it is that this form of depression is surprisingly common
– 1 in 7 women suffer from it, and some men also – and it can strike unexpectedly. It also describes a whole range of different types of symptoms, ranging from moderate depression, guilt, to fullblown psychotic episodes and hallucinations. Characters I will be using will be different from one another, they will all suffer with post-partum depression; however, I will be portraying each story in a different way, while doing research and I went through stories I will be focusing on different events in my characters' lives, for example I will be showing depression and loneliness in one character, the next character I want to focus on is the hallucinations which come with post-natal depression, this is a very brutal side effect to post-natal depression, it gives mother visions of them harming their child, or themselves. Lasty, I want to focus on the bonding between the child and the parent, show that it's a symptom to not feel a kind of bond with your child while suffering with posy natal depression.
I'm making this documentary to raise awareness for post-natal depression, it's not spoken about enough and when spoken about there isn't any actuality to what people are saying I want to show the reality of it, this illness happens in men also I want to show people symptoms and also show them that it's something people suffer with, information like this isn't shown in baby classes, baby books or pre-natal classes, this documentary will be a place people can come to look out for signs on themselves and other people, it will also be a place people can get away from that feeling of guilt and shame and seek help for the illness
Directorintrodcution
I am Sydnee Smith the director of Broken By Birth, the reason why I wanted to create this documentary was because 2 years ago I was diagnosed with something called post natal depression and its not something which is something which isnt spoken about enough I wanted to take the opportunty of good education and good students and create a real life story which touches spon the real life mental health problems of post natal depression
HannahElizabethThompson
Hannah
Elizabeth spotlight
For this role I chose Hannah Elizabeth age 25, the reason why i chose her for this role was because she showed real emotion In her self tape and then proved that when filming, the documentary is something she was interested the moment posted the ad. we had a zoom call where I showed and told her the ideas and how I wanted to plan this documentary out and she was really drawn by the topic and the subject, she caught on to my ideas even without dialogue and showed the exact emotion I wanted her to portray for Beths story
Cai Roberts
I chose Cai Thyer roberts for this role because he showed real emotion, it wasn't easy trying to explain to actors how to act without dialogue however he took on what I wanted and put real emotion into the role, at one of our location he actually had the chance to meet with areon who was the volunteer to tell his story and Areon was saying how well he had taken on the role and was really happy with the outcome I chose with my actors they took a real life story of a vision and brought it to life.
Cai Roberts Spotlight
Sydnee Smith -Directorand Producer
Being in 3 year university Sydnee specialises in Directing and producing she worked with all crew members to bring the real life documentary brought to life giving shot ideas sound input and sitting with the editor throughout the whole project and directing each actor effectively. she wanted to take her personal experience and use it to educate the public into post natal depression by using re creations and 3 different stories.
After graduation she would like to put her documentary into film festivals and present it to the bcc to reach as many people as possible, she would also then like to go on and turn this into a series where she can explore other symptoms of post natal depression and also speak to other people such as someone such as a daughter with mother had post natal depression and how it effected them and then specalise in documentry making.
HarveySmith - Cinematographer
Being in third year and specialising in cinematography
At University of South Wales. Harvey was responsible for the operation of the cameras.
As this was a documentary Harvey worked with the director on the sets to help bring the message of the documentary alive through the visuals of recreations and the participants' interviews.
After graduation he is hoping to get a job in the film industry to
Further his skills and showcase the ones he already has
. Harvey Smith Linkedin
MaisyBollard - Sound
Maisy chose to help with sound on the documentary Broken By Birth because the subject matter resonates with her on a deeply personal level, having family members affected by the condition it explores. This connection drove her to pour my heart and soul into the project, working my hardest to ensure the sound carried the emotional weight and depth the story deserves. I believe that a strong, supportive relationship within the team is essential to the success of any film, and I’ve genuinely loved being part of this one. We’ve all been able to open up, support each other, and especially be there for Sydnee, which has created a sense of unity and purpose that I find incredibly meaningful. Working on this project has inspired me to continue pursuing documentaries, because I’m always searching for meaning in what I do—and this kind of work fills my soul with joy.
Maisys Linkedin
Carys Martin - Editor
In her third year of university Carys is specialising in cinematography but for this documentary she was editor and helped with the cinematographer on set.
She worked with the cinematographer when help was needed and collected all data after each shoot but worked with the director post-production to bring the documentary vision to life.
After graduation she is hoping to get a job in the industry to Further her skills and bring her creativity to future films.
Carys Martin Linkedin
Full
Cast and Crew list
Sydnee Smith - Director / Producer
Carys Martin - Editor
Harvey Smith - Cinematographer
Maisy Bollard - Sound
Hannah Elizabeth - Portraying Beth story
Cai - Thyer Roberts - Portraying Areons story
Behind the scene photos
This was mine and the crew first shoot day on set this was when we shot my interview for the documentary when I spoke about my experience within post natal depression, i wanted to be the spine of the documentary so I needed to make sure I told my story with a lot of depth, the crew were really supportive on the day and It was a good day to be able to get to tell my story and I think it made the documentary really come to life and gave my story purpose throughout the documentary
This was mine and the crew 2 day on set with our volunteer Areon who told his story of post natal depression, Areons story brings so much power to the documentary it brings a mans perspective to the documentary not just on post natal depression but with mens mental health over all, areons speaks about how he never wanted to take this label away from women because his wife had carried their baby and how he ended up with post natal depression which I think Is so powerful and will be able to help alot of men come out about post natald epression and their mental health once hearing areons story. nd
This was shoot day 3 for our crew where we interviewed beth about her experiance with post natal depression, all storys for each shoot day where very different beth goes on to talk about how she felt her baby would be better without her and how she struggled in her relationship I wanted to use different stories to gvie the viewers an overview on how different peoples experiances can be weather you have different experiances/ symptoms or your gender, the crew throughout all 3 interviews where really respectful we offered breaks to each volunteer I think both stories braught the documentary to light and made it so powerful
This is where we started to do re creation scenes, the reason I wanted to re creation scenes was from personal experience, I wanted to take the opportunity of a good university and good students and create something which could see the way women and men view post natal depression, the re creations braught the documentry to life and told each volunteer each story with a purpose and gave the viewers an oversight on what to look for without looking at someone on a screen speaking to a camera. On this shoot day we shot how areon viewed his post natal depression we used 2 actors Lauren richardson and cai roberts to portray areons story we used lauren as a background actor to show how areon stepped away from his responsibilities on a father and how she took on both roles of both mother and father which is something he expressed in his interview and how he hid away from his family
This day of filming was just me ans the cinematographer Harvey, we was filming on a moving bus which was interesting for our cinematographer however went really well the shots are one of the favourite out of the documentary, it was really important we got this shot as a big part of areons story was telling us how he used to stay home late from work and how he would get anxiety on his way home and I wanted to portray this by showing this anxiety through re creations to show the emotion the character was feeling.
Film Stills
FAQ
Why do you think this issue is still underrepresented in media?
I feel this subject is underrepresented because their is this stigma that if people speak up about the feeling they are having when speaking about post natal depression they will be judged and there children will be taking away from them when that isnt the case
Whatchallengesdidyoufacewhilefilming?
Challenges i faced while filming was trying to decided wha needed to be put in the documentary because I had a close connection to it, to me the director everything was important however I needed to take 3 25 minute interviews into an 11 minute documentary, also trying to direct the actors without any dialogue and trying to explain how someone else was feeling.
Howdidyoufindandapproachparticipantswillingtosharetheirstories?
I started by opening up about my story and how I felt an explained why I wanted to create this documentry was to show other people that their was no need to feel ashamed and made sure I said the right things on interview day and let them tell their story at their own pace.