Hope

From day one it was important for me to create a film that was not only aesthetically pleasing, but one with the ability to drive the issue of chronic depression home to each individual member of our audience. The story behind Hope is inspired, and a result of, my own personal struggle with depression. Starting from the age of fifteen, periodically having spiraled deep down the rabbit hole time and time again, it seemed no conceivable way of climbing back into normality was possible. Fortunately for me however I did, and these experiences have gifted me with a solid base of knowledge not only of how to prevent and help overcome depression in myself but how to recognize the same subtle and not so subtle signs in others.
Broadly, Hope is intended for a target audience between the age groups of early teens to the elderly. This is due to the fact that depression simply doesn’t discriminate. It can and will affect men and women of any age. I do however understand how vast of a range this is. To be more precise, I’d like to target both men and woman between the ages of 13 and 30. This decision is attributed to my own personal journey with depression. I believe I have a broad understanding of how destructive depression can be to both a teenager’s and young adult’s evolution into maturity. After all, these formative years are what help to sculpt and mold us into the individuals we are, and will continue to be for the rest of our lives.

Sam’s story is about the internal struggle within himself to overcome his battle with depression. This is shown visually through the disembodied dark hands fighting to prevent him from moving closer to the light. This concept of light versus dark is a common representation which fits our theme perfectly. Symbolically light and dark are such strong conduits for representation themselves that we didn’t want to focus on any one cause of depression, because depression is something that is so uniquely personalized to its host. We want our audience to interpret the light and dark themselves to create their own personal meaning by the time the film ends.