The Anaphylaxis Campaign, together with the multi-award winning production company Bare Films, produced #takethekit, to alert severely allergic young people to the importance of carrying their Adrenaline Auto-Injector (AAI), the first line of treatment for anaphylaxis.
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In a Youth Survey carried out by the Anaphylaxis Campaign, an alarming 44% of 15-25 year olds admitted to not always carrying their AAI.
The social stigmatisation of carrying an AAI and the extreme pressures on teenagers to ‘fit-in’ and seem ‘normal’ can lead to not carrying their medication with them at all times, a risky and potentially life-threatening action.
Learn how #takethekit was made
The film was produced by Bare Films, a London based multi-award winning production company, and directed by James Lawes, a talented and up-and-coming director who graduated from the New York Film Academy. James’ work included hard hitting unique short films which aim to grab viewers’ attention and raise awareness of tough issues.
“On learning the tragic fact that teenagers are at risk from anaphylaxis, not because they did not have the ability to prevent this, but because they simply don’t want to be seen carrying their adrenaline with them, really shook me up… for them to suffer over something as trivial as a social stigma terrified me.” James Lawes, Director at Bare Films
The task was to take at what first seems to be a straightforward story and put a new twist on it. We wanted to find a way to make the film engaging and different without being contrived and to tell it from a uniquely observed viewpoint.
To achieve this, unique filming approaches were used. The camera was placed some six feet above the lead actor’s head (made possible by using an innovative rig devised by Tony Hill and Billy Lumby similar techniques are used in video games such as Sims). For the viewer this can be a disorientating but engaging angle.
The challenge for the director using this technique is it gives the control of the camera to the actor; the rig is heavy and can throw their balance, so it is tough to produce the frames. The young actress who leads in this film, Elle Pretri, did a fantastic job.
Credits
Director: James Lawes
Executive Producer: Helen Hadfield
Producer: Tom Ford
Creative Directors: Tony Muranka and Peers Carter
DOP: Dom Bartels
Art director: Jerry Bland
Editor: Sacha Szwarc
Music composition: Gavin Farrell
Actors:
Hayley: Elle Petri
Ryan: Aaron Ward
Bex: Ajjaz Awad
Voiceover: Rachel Bright
The prosthetic makeup at the end was produced by Kristyan Mallett who also worked on the Mission Impossible films.
Post production was very kindly provided by Oscar winners the Framestore and Simon Tubbs from the The Motion Design Company.
Editing work was also very generously provided by Sacha Szwarc at Speade.