Suicide Prevention

A friend spots the signs of suicide and confronts her friend. She helps get her to an adult.

This video represents the struggle of identifying suicide in a personal, especially if it’s someone close to you… like a sibling or friend. In this submission, a younger sister sees through her brother’s physical presence and wants to talk to him about it. She finally goes to confront him about it and they manage to get a chance to properly talk.

A concerned friend reaches out to their friend in need to offer support. She notices her friend displaying signs of depression and hopelessness. No matter how much she was pushed away she was determined to get her friend the appropriate help she needs. In the end, reaching out for help together. This video is an attempt to show the different signs of suicide amongst teenagers, and how to offer your support. We as the filmmakers understand this problem is not as easy as we made it seem but we hope that our film brings light to the signs and helps push people to seek help.

Our film is about two best friends hanging out, when all of the sudden, one friend says she needs to leave abruptly. You notice that both friends are bonded through a green string, showing their connection. Her friend gets concerned and feels the way their interaction ended wasn’t quite right. She decides to then search through the entire night to find her and make sure she is okay. The friend follows the green string, but becomes more confused and concerned by the second. She doesn’t know where these strings are leading and she is beginning to lose hope. She then looks up, noticing her friend in the distance. She runs towards her, grabbing her friend’s shoulder and proceeds to ask her if she wants to talk about what is going on. The friend then smiles back, glad she finally has someone to talk to. Our film then ends in the two friends standing together, looking towards the sunrise, showing a new beginning and a stronger connection.

Our entry to this PSA was because of a school project. We looked at the different categories and thought suicide prevention was a category that we can do to help bring awareness to it.

Know the signs! A young man is struggling with his mental health. His friends sees that he is showing signs of suicide and steps in to help him.

At the beginning of the film, we want to resemble a person’s mentality by showing a very dark and chaotic room. Then, we want to show the actual subject slowly losing interest in stuff they love doing. Throughout the film, we will continue this and have parallel editing of the “room” (mind/mentality) and the person’s emotions. Finally, we want someone to open the “door” (helping the subject) to show a sign for help and someone willing to reach out a hand. We will show the importance of this PSA by adding no sound and some natural sound effects.

Our submission is based on the saying, “If you see something, say something.” We listed concerning behaviors seen in our friend, and later ask if she’s contemplating suicide, and she says yes. After that conversation, she talks to counselors and improves her mental health.

We are students at Ramona High School, and this is our first year collaborating with the Mental Awareness and Wellness Center on our campus. Our decision to join this initiative stems from our personal experiences with mental health challenges, which are common among high school students. Our video focuses on suicide awareness because we have witnessed peers seeking help or struggling to find the right support. This specific video focuses on the depression, anxiety and emptiness that can make students feel in a loop, going through the day without actually being in the right head set. As peer educators, we have gained a comprehensive understanding of the resources available on our campus. This enables us to guide ourselves and other students at Ramona High School to trusted adults who can provide the necessary support.

Our PSA brings the audience along an emotional story hearing the thoughts of Main Character, Wendell, who has had suicidal thoughts due to a troubling relationship with his family. We parallel the events of Wendell’s crisis with a storm which begins to brew, reach a climax, but eventually pass and end in beatuiful rainbow. Which supports our primary message to the audience that permanent solutions are not useful to solve temporary problems.