Sundown

Aim: What is life like when Alzheimer’s Disease has made both your future, and past uncertain? A BFS short documentary.

What is life like when Alzheimer’s Disease has made both your future, and your past uncertain? 

There are over 40,000 people living in the UK today with early-onset Dementia Disease, a condition which can severely affect memory, thinking skills and cognitive ability. Aside from the physical challenges this presents, it also creates an enormous emotional strain as maintaining relationships and a normal standard of life becomes a challenge. 

We want to explore this perspective. The vast array of symptoms experienced by Alzheimer’s patients can be confusing to witness. We aim to place our viewers into a mind as it loses grip on reality, to explore the confusing, scary and often inspirational results. 

This is where Gail comes in, she was diagnosed with early onset Alzheimers at just 54.

Instead of shrinking away into her condition and the prospect of the future she insisted on a positive path forward. Gail became and continues to be a very public ambassador for changing the perception and stereotypes associated with Alzheimers patients. 

Her daily blog, filled with insights and struggles with the condition from the past three years, has inspired us with its unique perceptive, articulate descriptions and positive outlook on dementia:

“I wake on Friday 9th September to the fuzz.

The feeling is like everything inside my head is all jangling about, feels a little like a pinball machine. The metal ball bearing rolling around, not quite connecting.”

Gail is a firm believer in the empowerment of learning and the sense of joy that completing a task can bring. Among other hobbies picked up since her diagnosis photography has become a central part of her life, not only for artistic purposes but as a practical tool to track her day.

“I took my first photo at 7:32am and my last at 9:26am… So, what have I been doing?

 Well, it was a gorgeous morning.”

 -Gail Gregory’s blog: September 2022

Gail has allowed us a unique and fascinating glimpse into the perspective of someone who is facing the terrifying prospect of an uncertain future with dementia. Her “fuzzy” days of confusion and anxiety come more and more regularly with each passing year. However, her dementia has also brought surprising positives: a reconnection with nature, a love for arts and photography, and overall, a greater appreciation for the small moments in life. 

(All of the banner photography is Gail's own work!)

In this documentary, we will explore the essential impacts that this horrible condition has had on one woman’s life, and how her changing brain threatens to affect her identity forever. But what will we actually be filming?

 First, we will travel to Blackpool to record the everyday, objective truths of life with dementia. How is Gail affected in the morning, the afternoon and at night?

 We will discuss in depth how she views the world through the lens of early onset Alzheimer’s. 

 We’ll also meet her husband, John, and see how their relationship has had to adapt to new challenges. 

 Since diagnosis, Gail has discovered a new love for producing art and incredible photography (kindly providing them for our use throughout this page.) We’ll see how these creative pursuits have improved her standard of live.

 Phase Two of our production will bring us back to Bournemouth, where we’ll attempt to translate our insights into Gail and her experiences with dementia into film. 

Dramatic re-enactments will subjectively show her perspective as she experiences what we observed in our documentary footage. We’ll show what it is like for Gail as her symptom’s flair up, placing the viewer firmly into her shoes.

Your money will be distributed carefully in order to ensure the effective use of funds in the most essential areas.

5 of the 10 days will be spent away from Bournemouth in sunny Blackpool. A large proportion of the money will be spent on accommodation and catering for our crew. Depending on how much we raise this catering will be either rice and beans or something more substantial!

Money will also be allocated to costume and production design, to make the world of the re-enactments as accurate to life as possible and to vehicle hire, to transport our crew and equipment.

I strongly believe that fact is often more compelling than fiction and combined with my love for great stories and filmmaking this has led me down the path of the documentary. I am fascinated by the idea of different perspectives, and the idea of using film to get into the head of a subject. Equally, I’m incredibly keen to present the truth of early-onset dementia. Too often it has been shown in films and media as a death sentence, with its patients as entirely out of touch with reality. Throughout our research I have seen that this is absolutely not the case, and I am eager to show that those who have been diagnosed with this horrendous disease can still live a happy, full life despite the challenges they face. I’m so excited to bring what I’ve learnt since meeting Gail to a wider audience.

I find film to be not only a tool for escapism but a way to portray life from a curated perspective. The filmmaker’s ability to manipulate this perspective is something I have always been fascinated with. Documentary film builds on this and allows filmmakers to work within a persons life and experiences. Highlighting certain elements and lingering on specific spontaneous expressions for an emotional reaction. An artform that I’ve learned you can never stop perfecting and when done right has an immeasurable impact on the audience. Dementia often has horrendous impacts of peoples lives whether that be a sufferer or a loved one. However, there is still many questions on exactly how it effects the mind, during our research we’ve found a huge array of side effects caused by dementia. The complexity of how this disease morphs a persons personality is a topic I believe is endlessly interesting and am extremely keen to help to bring new perspective to light.

I’ve had a passion for all things film for my entire life and I'm excited to bring that to this project. I think it is extremely important to talk about Alzheimer's and I hope this film will highlight some of the issues faced by people diagnosed at a younger age who have to live with the prospect of deteriation later down the line.

Film has been my way of expressing creativity, learning more about the world and expressing ideas, concepts and messages which are important to me. It’s my way of giving back and helping to build a better society. I believe film, as an art form, has the power to influence people for the better and is such a collaborative medium which facilitates storytelling making it a stronger piece with which you can experiment more. Sundown is a project which stood out to me as I haven’t had the experience of working on a larger-scale documentary before, allowing me to expand my knowledge on a topic I am not yet very familiar with. Alzheimer's disease is something I have been exposed to and to be completely honest, I have formed preconceptions, which I have realised are not right. I have wanted to work on this project to learn more about it but more importantly, be part of making the change of destigmatising the disease and the people who suffer from it.

Holaa my name is Daniel and I'm gaffing on the Documentary. I've been recently fascinated by the possibilities of documentary and its capacity to explore human connection. My interest in Sundown came from the technical aspects but this soon became a fascination with portraying a life I have never faced. A life of leaving notes and taking photos to remind yourself what you’ve done. How do you go about shining light in the shadow of a distorted knowledge? Who is Gail? How does she see the world we walk?

My passion for cinema has been evident throughout most of my life but the power it has over its audience is something I’m still coming to terms with. Films allow you to speak to crowds of people from completely different walks of life, and allow you to create a perspective, a space where you can place someone in another person’s shoes. This film was appealing because the media concerning dementia is either from the point of view of a carer living with someone who’s been diagnosed or about someone whose condition is at a later stage. This film is working towards breaking that stigma, and widening people’s idea of what dementia is and the types of people who live with it. Creatively, there are also certain challenges that excite me: Gabe, the director, had the idea to mix documentary footage of our contributor and fictional re-enactments of their experiences in order to further the audience's understanding of dementia. My job is to create a cohesive experience that shifts between the two without detracting from either, and I cannot wait to continue working alongside this fantastic crew to realize this.

I'm Hoddi, Sound Designer. Film for me is a medium through which we can explore the breadth of the human experience, but I love it specifically for all the different things it can make me feel and think. I'm particularly excited to work on Sundown to explore its themes of memory and hope, as the latter especially can bring about the most important human stories that can be shared on the screen.

 I remember drawing always came easier to me than writing. I recall receiving a book by Andrew Loomis for my 13th birthday, called Fun with a pencil. Within a week, I had learned how to draw faces. Not from real life or from photographs, but from my imagination, straight out of the page. One of my most precious memory is where I grew up. In the southern French Alps in an old cinema that my parents had bought and converted into a home. For my graduation, I choose to work on the documentary "Sundown" as a production designer. I'm intrigued on how we, filmmakers can create memories.

I came to Bournemouth Film School to develop my understanding of the inner-workings of the film industry. What I originally thought was about curating entertainment for widespread audiences has been proven through our Grad documentary ‘Sundown’ to be an expression of our desire to connect with and understand the intricacies of humanity’s journey through all stages of life. What I love about ‘Sundown’ is its endeavour to work alongside Gail to depict not only her struggles but also her skills and flourishing social life; to showcase a 360° time-framed reality that is living with early onset dementia. What sold the documentary to me was the intention of mimicking Gail’s moods through increasingly abstract editing to submerge us in the changes she has made to her routine to accommodate this illness. As First AD, I can’t wait to enable our crew to follow Gail through her favourite spots in her home-town and explore her prevailing philosophies.

Dementia, an illness I had witnessed at a much younger age as it began to take control of my grandfather. I was not at an age where it made sense, and was certainly not understanding of how it changed the relationship between himself and my grandmother. Taking control of the camera on this project will allow me to become close to Gail, and close to her husband too, noticing her constant adaptation to her life because of her diagnosis. This will be a way of me comprehending a change that was never fully-realized as a kid, despite it being so prominent in our family.

The topic of dementia runs deep within my family with both of my grandparents diagnosed. This is one of the main reasons I am very much looking forward to working on this documentary. I am excited to work as a 1st AC within the dementia topic as I feel I can add many stylistic points of view as a cinematographer.

What is Memory Melodies? 

It’s a collaborative playlist we want to make with YOU, our family, friends and supporters.

How does it work?

Upon a donation of £5 or more, you will be emailed by the sundown team and asked to submit up to 3 nostalgic songs to be added to our Memory Melodies playlist.

Whats the point?

Musical memory is often the last form of memory or cognitive function left in a person with late stage dementia. It can be one of the last remnants of their identity. The songs submitted should have a deep connection to you. A song that reminds you of a special person? A tune that takes you back to the golden days of childhood? Whatever your nostalgic song is, we want to know! At the end of the crowdfunder campaign we hope to have a playlist that represents the complexities of our musical taste and identity. This will be distributed at Christmas. Made by the community, for the community.

Become a part of the sundown community and add your songs to the memory melodies playlist!

LINKS

All banner art supplied by Gail (our contributor), If you would like to read more of Gail's blog, learn more about dementia or find out what charities are doing to support people effected by this disease, please check out the links bellow!

Gail's Blog 'Too Young For Dementia?'

Alzheimers information

Charities

From the entire Sundown crew we want to extend a MASSIVE thank you for your generous donations. We are endlessly grateful for your support that will allows us to go out and make, what we hope will be, a brilliant film!