Embedded Files
Introduction
Maintaining one’s health and fitness is crucial to their mental well-being, so why is it that many college students around the world struggle to accomplish this? There are many reasons why some college students aren’t able to keep up with their health and fitness, and I am someone who’s fallen victim to such struggles. In an effort to understand these issues, I decided to make a 15-minute short documentary film where I interview other college students and reflect on myself. The documentary poses the question: How significant is the link between one’s mental health and their physical well-being among college students?
Literature Review
One of the most famous pieces of literature to come out in recent years talking about the topic of body image and mental health was Jennette McCurdy’s book, I’m Glad My Mom Died. The book delves into the personal life of McCurdy and how she dealt with an eating disorder almost all throughout her life, affecting her body image. Another source used was a study in the Journal of Sport Sciences where links between adolescents' mental health and physical fitness were tested. I drew upon this study to give myself more context on the issue I want to touch on in the documentary and make myself a more informed creator.
Methods
Before putting together the footage for the documentary, I did research to inform myself more about issues of mental health and physical fitness. I then learned how to use Adobe Premier Pro to do the editing, and began interviewing students around campus. I did a few mock interviews with preliminary questions before finalizing what I'd be asking. I finally interviewed four students and recorded B-roll footage to weave into the documentary. I took all the footage and condensed it to about 15 minutes, despite having over an hour's worth of video.
Audience & Impact
The audience for this project is ideally all college students. I chose this audience because I am a part of this demographic and talking about these issues can relate to all of us at this stage in our lives. The impact I want this project to have is to start giving college students more thought on how mental and physical health are linked with one another. This will be an inspiration to be more aware of how they affect one another. I personally became more aware and have been more conscious about it throughout the whole process. Before filming even began, I tried to better myself physically before betting myself mentally.
References
McCurdy, Jennette. I'm Glad My Mom Died. Simon & Schuster, 2022.
Gu, Xiangli, et al. “The Direct and Indirect Effects of Motor Competence on Adolescents' Mental Health through Health-Related Physical Fitness.” Journal of Sports Sciences, vol. 37, no. 17, 2019, pp. 1927–1933., https://doi.org/10.1080/02640414.2019.1605652
Taylor, Laura Vanzee, director. I Am Maris: Portrait of a Young Yogi. Roco Films, 2018
Acknowledgments
I’d like to acknowledge and thank Gabi Tillenburg for our personal meetings talking about the project. Also Harold Burgess and Heather Bremenstuhl for their feedback and help all throughout my time at Art Scholars, as well as my fellow peers in the program. A thank you also to Brendan Berger for collaborating in presenting our short films. I’d also like to acknowledge my interviewees for the documentary: Michael Ukenye, AaNiah Sanders, and Simon Granados.
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