Film Research: Dementia (2014) + Ah Kong

I have been doing some research into Dementia and do how it affects people, so I can make an informed video that is accurate and ultimately doesn't offend anyone as a result. I researched into the NHS website and informed myself about what Dementia is. Dementia affects people who are usually 65 or over, and is a group of symptoms that form the disease. They're made up of memory loss, thinking speed, mental ability, language, understanding and judgement. I watched three short films on Dementia to see how people talked such a sensitive subject that could upset people or offend people who know people who suffer from the illness. My Great Grandad suffers from early onset Dementia, and seeing him in a care home, not being able to draw and write like he used to do is upsetting, but makes me more determined to make a really inspiring film about the illness using the theme of "Stillness and Memory".

Firstly I watched a trailer for a film called Dementia made in 2014. This trailer started off well, showing an older lady trying to piece together a jigsaw whilst her daughter watched on. There was speech from the daughter layered over the top narrating what was happening. However, as the trailer went on, I soon began to realise it was a horror movie and that it had no reference to actual dementia as an illness, just a reason to use it as an illness that might cause older people to "see" or "hear" things that aren't actually there. I have dismissed this as a reasonable source of research for my project apart from the use of speech.

Followed after this was a short film called Ah Kong by Royston Tan, which was a documentary inspired film that interview people who knew or used to know the man who had dementia. They spoke about his humour, his kind nature and how he used to be when he was younger. The film then looks at how his Father is now, and how he has deteriorated from the man he used to be. It was such a hard hitting documentary that opened my eyes a lot about the illness a lot. I loved the interview style that was shown, and it gave a real insight into how Dementia can affect people and change them completely. I do not want to execute an interview style of documentary, but more of a creative film that doesn't spoon feed the viewer into instantly believing the film is based on Dementia.