Together Alone is a film written, performed and directed by young people. It presents their own ideas and views and reflects something of the challenges faced by young people today, described in their own way.
It is intended to inspire and provoke other young people by encouraging discussion and further creative activities.
Together Alone can be used as a springboard for dialogue and discussion, or as inspiration for making simple films of your own with your group.
Warning: this films explores adult themes and is not suitable for under 15s. The film contains occasional use of strong language (the ‘f’ word is used twice, but not as a term of abuse, or sexual reference).
Artists Helen Cammock, Denis Doran and Rosie Holmes worked intensively with a small group of young people aged 13 – 18 over a four-month period to visually articulate ideas about conflict, conflict resolution, security and insecurity, and some of the powerful emotions and related personal experiences that inform their notions of boundaries and borders, both emotional and physical.
Together Alone is a film about a day in the lives of a particular group of young people living in Brighton. Sixteen year old Stacey is pregnant, but her boyfriend Jamie is more concerned with the pressures of his own situation.
Warning: the film contains occasional use of strong language (the ‘f’ word is used twice, but not as a term of abuse, or sexual reference).
Written, performed and directed by Michael Addison, Dion Allen, Sara Marchant, Oskar De Rocha, Abby Sloan, Jake WoodwardMusic by Vasco Menezes, Michael AddisonEdited by Helen Cammock, Denis Doran, Rosie HolmesSound engineer Patricia AfariTechnical support by Chris Phelon
Together Alone explores various themes relevant to young people that could be used as starting points for further investigation, research and enquiry using discussion, drama, role play and film making.
Identity
Together Alone touches on questions of identity, reflecting the complexity of how we understand ourselves. The film could prompt young people to describe their own multi-faceted identities, consider how they are defined by others, introduce concepts associated with identity such as gender, age, class, culture, religion, sexual orientation, disability, ethnicity and race, or nationality, language and regional background, and explore the significance of personal experiences, events and relationships in shaping identity.
Conflict
Together Alone demonstrates that conflict takes different forms and occurs between individuals and groups, or within ourselves. Group conversation could encourage young people to reflect on conflict as a part of life, and explore how differing needs and wishes sometimes conflict with each other. Activities that focus on developing empathy, and strategies for managing conflict might encompass role-play and drama through filmmaking.
Communication
Communication is a central theme in Together Alone. The characters’ interactions can prompt discussion on effective and ineffective ways of communicating with different people in different situations. Young people could consider how they communicate with friends, partners, family, colleagues and others, and how they manage communication in different contexts. Role-play, script writing and performance can be used to encourage experimentation with verbal and non-verbal communication.
Making Choices
Together Alone can be used to facilitate discussion about how we make choices everyday. The characters face difficult or life changing decisions, but they can also be seen making minor or mundane choices. Discussion could focus on where to go for help and information, and identify the benefits of seeking appropriate and safe sources of support to aid effective decision-making. Activities might include problem solving in different scenarios.
Isolation
The characters in Together Alone can be seen to experience isolation throughout the story. This might be used as a prompt for young people to reflect on their own understanding of isolation. Activities that include working alone, in pairs, or a larger group can encourage young people to explore how they feel about each context and offer opportunity to focus on experiences of feeling alone, relationship building, and identifying support networks.
Stereotypes
Stereotypes are both ‘confining’ and ‘defining’ as young people develop and explore their identities – who they feel they should be versus who they feel they could be. Together Alone might provoke discussion that enables young people to recognise, negotiate and challenge stereotype. Alongside this, young people could look at stereotype in the media as well as within cultural norms. Media-based exercises using film, photography, advertising and fashion may also be effective tools for exploring stereotype.
Films are unique in their ability to open up new worlds and bring a subject or story to life. Cinema has the ability to take young people beyond their own experiences, open up new, or imagined worlds and reveal unfamiliar places and cultures.
Together Alone can be watched and deconstructed formally in terms of it’s content, or in terms of how it was made. The former can offer an insight into other peoples’ lives and a chance to comment in relation to young peoples’ own experiences, whilst the latter provides an opportunity to consider cinematic devices and learn the terminology of film language.
Watching television and film has become a huge part of our everyday lives, and we take our cine-literacy skills for granted. However, whilst most young people comprehend moving images, the ability to engage critically, and articulate an informed response is a specific skill, and a vital part of visual literacy and cultural understanding in the 21st Century.
Making a film is a group activity. It requires young people to take on a range of different roles and responsibilities therefore accommodating individual interests and abilities. And it can be done relatively cheaply. Together Alone was made with one camera, one tripod, one microphone and a lot of enthusiasm.
Films use a variety of devices, codes and conventions to communicate their meaning. These elements combine to tell the story according to the director’s intentions, and analysis of ‘film language’ is a useful way of deconstructing a film’s meaning.
Sound – dialogue, voice over, music, background sounds, sound effects, silence
Framing – camera angles, panning, tracking, zoom, point of view, tilt
Special effects – film style, colour, visual effects, CGI, props, models, post production
Set – actors, scenes, location, setting, studio
Plot – story, action, narrative structure, sequencing, themes
Genre – themes, characters, settings Character – physical appearance, costume, personality, language, behaviour
Film Education
A registered charity promoting the use of film within the school curriculum with extensive online resources for teachers.
BFI
The website for the British Film Institute, includes extensive information and resources.
Screen South
The film and media agency for the South East. Supports people making films in the region.
