Hopeless is a Depression PSA. It tells the story of a young woman who is suffering from depression. As she struggles with her fears and regrets, we can see what is going on inside of her mind, where she is trapped.

Opportunity

The worst part of depression that many do not understand is that it completely distorts your perception of reality. It is not just being lonely when you are alone — it is being surrounded by people you know, love, or get along well with, but feeling more alone than ever. It is isolating and it is one of the most life-threatening mental health disorders in the world today. It affects more than 300 million people across the globe and takes the life of 800 thousand every year. After thoroughly researching the topic, I saw an opportunity to create this project in the hopes it would help the people going through depression.

Script & Storyboard

I based my script on reports of people who suffered from depression to stay true to what it really feels like to go through this difficult time. To create a compelling narrative, I decided to take people on a journey through the thoughts of a young woman while she struggles with herself. I opted to visually represent on the screen what was being said by the narrator, in order to keep the message strong and fixed in the viewers' minds.

Art Direction

For the Art Direction of my piece, I wanted to convey the emotions of sadness, loneliness and also empathy for the main character. I have decided to add textures in order to give it depth and the perception of an old and rusty movie. I kept my palette to only a few colors to give that feeling of emptiness and I also played with negative space to give it a slightly unsettling feeling.

I used the colors to represent how the character feels going through that situation. Outside her mind, she sees the world in black and white, like there is nothing else that matters to her. Inside her head, we see almost everything in blue and gray, with some elements in yellow — which symbolizes that she is not completely lost. There is still hope that someone is going to help her.

Campaign

To support my motion piece, I created a campaign featuring still images from the video. The purpose of both this project and the campaign is to raise awareness about the topic and encourage the public to keep in touch with their loved ones, making sure they know how important they are. The campaign consists on quotes from different people about what it is like to have been in that situation when everything seems lost.