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 Though the words 'Manic-Depressive' and 'Bipolar' may be familiar to the general public, a stigma still exists against this mental illness, even though it effects roughly 5.7 million people in the United States alone. This is often exacerbated by sensationalist journalism, over-dramatized films, and a general lack of education. Up/Down is a documentary that seeks to change that.
This film starts with a brief introduction and summary of Bipolar Disorder, and also includes a list of famous people who had or are thought to have had the illness. Then a series of man-on-the-street interviews, asking the general public what their perceptions are in regards to Bipolar.
There are also interviews with professional Psychologists and Psychiatrists, but the traditional documentary format changes drastically here. The visuals from these interviews are shown, but, rather than hearing their actual words, the narrator gives a summary instead. This does make sense as doctor-speak can sometimes be difficult for anyone with no knowledge of a subject to understand. Though I would have liked to hear from the experts themselves; perhaps if the segments was pieced together with just phrases or even common words, rapidly jumping between them, using the narrator to fill in. My assumption here is that these interviews contained segments of speech that couldn't be cut up, which is often difficult in creating a documentary.
In any case, the bulk of the documentary and, in my opinion, its most important part is comprised of detailed interviews with individuals who suffer from Bipolar Disorder, as well as some brief interviews with friends and family members.
These interviewees discuss their diagnosis, what it feels like to have episodes of mania and depression, their suicidal thoughts and actions, use of medication and its side effects, therapy, and the stigma associated with their illness. Family members talk about how their lives have changed because of their loved one's disorder, and what it is like to be around them.
The interviewees also talked about treatment options such as types of medication, and therapy; but also the downsides to these options. One woman talked about severe memory loss from Electroconvulsive Therapy, another man mentioned feeling tired and having a loss of creativity from medications, while other individuals felt medications was worse for them than living without them.
There are a lot of good insights given by these individuals. I am somewhat familiar with Bipolar Disorder, but still found it very informative to hear from the interviewees, so I can imagine how much more someone with very little prior knowledge would have to gain. Hearing about experiences in someone's own words is always more beneficial than just summaries. One person described a depressive phase as, "like being stuck in a tar pit," another stated that, "you don't see any light at the end of the tunnel." Mania was described as, "driving down the freeway without a steering wheel on your car."
One woman defined Bipolar Disorder as being in a boat, with one hand holding onto an anchor chain, and the other holding onto the string of a kite and trying to maintain a balance between being pulled up into the air by the kite or being dragged to the bottom of the ocean by the anchor. She even had a tattoo of an anchor on one hand and a kite on the other.
The main interviews were all shot against a black or white background and, with the exception of one woman shot against black, were all very well-lit. As such a large portion of the movie is made up of these interviews, the filmmaker broke up what could have been a visual monotony by varying camera placement, and including zooms, pans, and dollies to create a lot of great visual interest. All of these movements are smooth and very well done. There is even one anonymous interviewee who is shot against black and backlit to create a halo of light. This interview wasn't used very often, which was probably a good choice, but it was still a good setup.
The beginning of the movie, however, showed some flaws. Several of the man-on-the-street interviews were underlit, and some had blown out backgrounds. Many could have benefited from a fill card (while this can be a professional multi-sided reflector, it can also be as simple as a piece of white foam core to bounce sunlight into the interviewee's face). Also, shooting a subject in shade and pointing towards sunlight often leads to an overlit background, so it's often best to place the subject against a plain background and use the foam core to give enough light to their face. Spontaneous interviews are difficult to shoot because one doesn't have the luxury of setting up perfect lighting and often the subject doesn't want to stand around long enough to get everything just right. However, as these interviews open up the documentary, they need to look just as good as the later ones, so I would suggest, for future interviews of this type, have an assistant with the foam core as well as someone running a mic.
There is very little music in this film; mostly it is a slow piano piece that comes in and out. Often I wasn't even aware that the music was playing or that it was absent, but that is definitely a good thing as one needs to focus on what is being said as opposed to the music in the background.
In the main interviews, there is also good room tone in the spaces where there is no music, and it all matches very seamlessly.
The only problem I had was that the overall volume of the film was very low and I had to turn the volume all the way up on my computer. This was likely due to the overall mix being too soft. For traditional films, dialogue should be mixed at -12 dB digital, music beds at -18 dB digital, and unique sound FX at -6 dB. (For films that are going to be streamed online, this is often raise 6 dB, so that dialogue is at -6 dB, music and fx beds are at -12 dB, and discreet FX are at 0 dB.) While the overall mix was at least consistent, the low mix volume really did become a problem with a couple of the interviews; one where the individual already had a low voice and was already difficult to understand, and another where the interviewee responded to a couple questions asked off screen, but the interviewer's voice was so quiet that I couldn't hear what was being said. (In documentaries, if you're going to actually hear an interviewer's voice on the video, you actually want to make sure you mic the interviewer. You can also consider the notion of having the narrator sum up questions that were asked of a person and then cut to the person, or even display a title card with the question before cutting into the response.)
As another issue based on this problem, the narrator's voice was a bit lower and subdued in tone, and due to the lower volume, it was sometimes difficult to hear what he was saying. Remember that the Narrator should be essentially right on top of the mic they're recorded in. (A narrator is the audio equivalent of direct mental dialogue with your viewer, so it needs to be the loudest and most immersive of the dialogue in your film.)
This film's $1,480 budget was spent mostly on studio rental fees ($660), as well as fuel for transportation ($549) as the crew had to drive to every location.
Unfortunately (or perhaps ironically appropriate), the director had a great deal of difficulty in raising money for Up/Down, solely due to its content. Most perspective investors declined for fear of being associated with 'crazy' people. While this had to have been very discouraging, and might have prompted some to give up, this only served to convince the director of the importance of making this documentary.
I think this is a very well-done film for the amount of money, as documentaries are often deceptively expensive. My only concerns are the opening interviews, as stated above, that should perhaps be re-done. Also, during the main interviews one man was wearing a name brand shirt, which could potentially lead to copyright issues in future distribution. (To be on the safe side, it's best to actually blur out the T-Shirt in post, using a tracking matte and fast blur in something like After Effects, although you can do basic versions of this in most editors like FCP, Premiere Pro, and Vegas.)
This is a very informative documentary. It could provide insights to the general public, resources to students of psychology or psychiatry, and even life-changing help for those struggling with this illness.
The documentary gave clinical definitions that are explained to the audience, and the personal interviews could be valuable for students who will someday be working with people like this. The film's summary challenged the audience to ask themselves if anyone interviewed seemed to fit the media stereotypes of being 'crazy,' 'violent,' or 'irrational,' which might prompt the average viewer to rethink their preconceived notions.
But, most importantly, this documentary could be invaluable to the mentally ill themselves. There is no blood test for Bipolar Disorder. It does not show up on a CAT scan or MRI. Often the way to diagnosis and treatment is by an individual doing research or hearing personal accounts. It is always a huge relief after spending years thinking one is alone in such strange symptoms, then to hear anther personal account and think, "That's just like me!"
I certainly agree with the director that this is a documentary that had to be made. Bipolar Disorder is just one of many mental illnesses that is still highly stigmatized in our culture today, and Up/Down could certainly be instrumental in changing that fact.
For more information on Bipolar Disorder, as well as treatment options and support groups, visit the National Alliance on Mental Illness at www.NAMI.org.
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Content |
9.4 |
Visual
Look |
8.0 |
Use
of Audio |
8.1 |
Use
of Budget |
9.0 |
Lasting
Appeal |
9.5 |
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8.8 |
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The
author of half a dozen screen plays, two novels, and a proficient
camera-woman in her own right, Monika
DeLeeuw-Taylor is Microfilmmaker's lead writing analyst and
one of our top film reviewers. When she's not writing a critique for
Microfilmmaker, she's writing screenplays for Viking Productions. |
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