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Draw My Life: How Weed Affected Me
We worked with some guys to make a film about bettering yourself and maybe smoking less weed. Hal reports on the project and the amazing animated film we ended up with.
Bristol is overflowing with creative talent…
Bristol is overflowing with creative talent, but this potential is not always supported or encouraged. In 2012 a project called Working It Out was set up to help young people take the next positive step in their lives; two months ago we began a collaboration with their Taskforce 10. Our goal over the course of the project was to teach some practical and creative skills and to create a piece of online content we could all be proud of. This film is the culmination of our time together.
…to create a piece of online content we could all be proud of…
Over the weeks things progressed from group discussions to practical workshops, to live animation, to character development, and eventually to planning and filming our finished film. Looking back now it’s amazing how far we’ve come, and I think the film reflects the values we held as crucial to the success of the project from the very beginning: to make something that felt like a true reflection of the lives of young people in Bristol today, led by the group and centered on the topics that are important to them — a real collaboration.
Most of the group felt that smoking weed was often a symptom, not a cause of disengagement…
Early on in the project we struck on some common ground, a subject that a lot of the group wanted to talk about: cannabis use and how it affects peoples lives. Most of the group felt that smoking weed was often a symptom, not a cause of disengagement—being in an environment that offers no support or meaningful opportunities.
After talking this through we decided to make our film about bettering ourselves, moving the subject of drug use to the background of a wider story. We created a character, Gary, to represent these ideas, and his story is an account of the steps he took towards living a more positive life. We worked with award-winning graphic novelist Joff Winterhart to create a Draw My Life about Gary, and show how he chose to better himself.
It’s finally ready to be shared with the world. We hope you like it world. The Rife team would like to say a big thank you to everyone who helped us along the way, and we’d like to wish the whole group from Working It Out the best in whatever the future may bring.
What do you think of the film? What about Gary? Does he make the right choice? Do you agree or disagree that smoking grade can sometimes lead to serious stuff? Any favourite Draw My Life videos? Let us know: @rifemag
Related Links:
‘How Can Laughing Be Bad For You?’ by Adibah Iqbal
‘Is 82,000 Too High?’ by Adibah Iqbal
Credits:
We made this with: Working It Out’s Taskforce 10. The script was by Hal Morrell-Samuel. The artwork was drawn by Joff Winterhart. The project facilitator was Sarah Bentley. The music was made by Alex Preddy.
Tomorrow’s People
Bristol Drugs Project
Sarah Bentley
Alex Preddy
Joff Winterhart
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About the author
Hal Morrell-Samuel
Hal is a copywriter at Rife magazine developing content for the Go Places Places Do Things website. A sometime music-maker and (ostensibly) a trained sound engineer, he realised that days and nights spent cooped up in a hermetically-sealed, soundproofed coffin recording Santana cover bands was not the future he had envisaged. Putting his recording knowledge to one-side momentarily before quickly forgetting most of it, he has taken his first tentative steps into the world of writing and journalism; who can say where the path will lead. Quite often to Lockleaze.
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