Young Lions 2020 – ‘Falling on Deaf ears’

Nominated in Final 3 Submissions

[Concept X Art Direction X Production]

‘Falling On Deaf Ears’ is a project created, written, shot and produced by myself and my colleague and copywriter Ben Razey of Javelin for the Cannes Young Lions 2020 competition in the ‘Film’ category. We were nominated and shortlisted in the final three, but unfortunately came up short to some fantastic opposition entries. However, Lust for Life, the charity selected as this years brand for category, we were excited for the opportunity to work with and get inside the mind of a Brand at the focus of such an important cause.

Wellbeing is one of the luxury commodities of today. It’s become a cultural cachet, and the current narrative around mental health is encouraging people to come forward and talk about their issues. This is a great and necessary movement towards normalising the stigma around the subject, but all of this conversation is creating white noise.

It begs the question– is anybody really listening? And therefore, is anybody truly acting to create change? Our ‘Falling on Deaf Ears’ campaign highlights how, despite the evergreen talk around mental health, nobody is truly being heard - not by the system, nor by the government. We want to incite young people to actively use their voice to create systemic change.

In the 45 second film, we see someone receiving therapy. We purposefully made the experience look positive, but created a sense of pace and frustration – much like how people feel accessing the current service. As we move through the video, we used pointed audio-visual motifs to highlight some of the issues that currently reflect what can be found within the Mental Health Service in Ireland. We overlaid a jarring ‘white noise’ to not only arrestingly cut through other tv adverts, but moreover represent how people who seek out mental health services feel like they aren’t being heard – and even when they try, there aren’t always resources available. We incorporated absurd satirical visuals through props to add humour to such a serious topic, but also highlight some of the true, relatable and incredulous things people face when dealing with mental health, as well as when seeking out help from mental health services. This advert should feel gritty and provocative - good intentions don’t make for real change. Our call to action highlights how the power for change will only happen when we proactively speak up.