Diabetes UK approach me to make a film about Sammy, a young man who tragically lost his life due to complications with Type 1 Diabetes. The film would be used to help generate awareness about the condition and the importance of mental health support, which many young people with the condition do not receive. This story it told by his parents and is full of emotion, resulting in a very moving film.

Ultimately, I wanted this film to bring Sammy as a person to life – who he was and what he loved. To do this I had access to a lot of archive photographs which have been integrated into the film to help tell his story. I felt it was also important to add a number of visual layers to this film. I didn’t feel that an interview in isolation would be enough. My approach has been to inject some emotion into key moments using b-roll and some abstract (symbolic) and non abstract stock shots, with appropriate sound effects in places to bring the dialogue to life and add impact.

The film starts at the bench and finished with the bench, this felt powerful – being book ended by the symbol of Sammy’s bench…he was once a person and now his spirit lies with a memorial bench – it felt poignant.

There is a powerful moment in the film when we experience the sound of analogue radio/tv stations being tuned, which visually flicks quickly through different shots of Aaron, to land on him singing part of a song with accompanying photos of him gigging, it felt a creative way of getting his voice into the film.