STEAM Honors Design and Development
Senior Capstone Project
My name is Ella Beck, and this site entails the production and aspects of "Project Mindful" my senior STEAM capstone project, entailing the effects mental health stigma has on everyone and what individual people can do to evoke change.
01- About me
02- Visuals and Creation
These two items are from the professional review night on March 3rd.
This is the trailer for my project, and on the left the final poster after having been refined
The Expo
May 25th arrived in a flash. I got many compliments on my table (despite my obvious sleep deprived misspelling on a poster that was fixed via Crayola green marker), and people seemed to really enjoy my interactive activities with the 'mindfulness cards.' As my project was presented much like a campaign, I found a lot of people were really interested in telling a personal story or asking what they can do to make a difference.
My face in this image will haunt me forever, but I had many amazing and well engaged conversations with individuals the entire night
Some of the mindfulness cards made during the expo (The ones that were left behind/not too personal to share)
The instagram page (@project.mindful) that I was displaying all night long. It showed the posters, animated shorts, and process sketches, along with resources for people in the descriptions of the posts!
Timeline of Creation
Stage 1:
I began by identifying my problem. I'm really interested in mental health so I began to investigate the problems that affect people in my life and settled on the stigma that is more abundant than even I thought. I then identified my passions, which include art and education so I decided I would combine the two.
I began doing research on trusted websites like the CDC, the Mayo clinic, Save.org, and so on to learn more about mental health
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This also just so happens to be the mock up script, probably the first thing I really did for this project (besides design the character)
The very first sketch of the character I used in the animated shorts!
Initial Idea
The problem: Stigmatization towards mental health takes a negative toll on society and is often addressed in ineffective ways
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Solution: Create an animated short film to address the stigma in both a factual and interesting way.
I also recorded files of sound to add in to the video. Sounds like clothes moving, breathing, typing, and so on.
Stage 2:
"Prototype 1" was created. I went through stages upon stages of design for a little mascot for my animated shorts. I wanted the character to be easy to maneuver and animate as I had never really done it before. I presented my concept art and baseline scripts at the professional review night.
If you look closely, you can see some of the rough sketches for scenes that actually came to be!
I hit a wall. In the end of march going into April I realized my solution was no longer viable. I wanted to create an entire animated short film, but each collection of just thumbnail sketches took my multiple hours. I also realized creating a film directly ignored the aspect that I thought existing solutions didn't hold peoples attention long enough to be effective.
Stage 3:
So I changed course...
Stage 4:
I began creating something that I believed anyone could follow. A plan for people to improve their own and the daily lives of others. The three steps to evoke communal change, while supporting the problem via fact. Learn, Empathize, and Change. As for the education (learn) portion, I began creating the animated shorts.
Stage 5:
I met with the Minnesota director of the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention via a conference call. We both worked together to narrow down what I really needed to say and get out to people. She told me so much more about how mental health affects communities and gave me many useful resources.
The 'second' official draft of the script back when it was going to play like a film
The logo I created
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Stage 6:
I made posters, completed my animations, created an instagram page, made comics, gathered trusted resources, prepared what I would say, recorded audio for a potential short film, all in preparation for the expo night. It all seemed to come together rather simply once I figured out what I really needed and wanted to do.
@Project.Mindful
(click the link to be brought to the page... it does have some things not featured on the website)
"A short clip examining the common symptoms of anxiety and the flu. The difference? One you can call into work for, the other you would be chastised and judged or even convinced not to call in for."
This is the "final" (most recent) script if I had gotten to put all my clips together. I actually recorded audio for it, but it won't let me insert it. The reason I hadn't put them all together is simply I didn't think I would be able to address my audience effectively with an overhauled video with audio (it ended up being hella loud in there anyways)... and I also did not have the time.
The night of the expo arrived (see all the photos of the expo from above to get the full picture/experience). I set up my entire display with the intention to educate and attract. May was suicide awareness month so I made little green ribbons and handed out green candy for people to take with them after we spoke. Instead of talking to people about what my project was, I engaged them. I made them think, and put facts in front of them that they had clearly never heard before. During the night I saw a lot of raised eyebrows when I presented the symptoms of 'anxiety versus the flu.' My entire message throughout the night was for people to practice just a little more mindfulness. To recognize what people may be going through, and to take care of oneself and those around. I received a lot of comments stating that they hadn't realized it was such an abundant issue, or that it was interesting to hear that there were easy ways for them to help. I showed them my animated shorts on the Instagram page and proceeded to explain what they all meant in detail. The night was a successful one and I really enjoyed connecting with my community.
Stage 7:
03- Contributors
Cassandra Linkenmeyer really acted as a mentor for the part of my project I was stuck in. Production came so much easier after my conversation with her. She also helped out my head on starlight and told me what I was doing was worth my time and valuable! She offered me resources to give to school officials at the expo, and gave me updated facts and statistics to use for my project. I am truly grateful for the time I got to meet and speak with her.
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Mr. Graske, Mr. McCullough, Mr. Kipka, and Ms. Johnson, were my reviewers for my professional review night. They made me think about how I would display my message to the public, and educated me on topics in their lives along with their personal stories. I firmly believe this was where I first got the foundation for learning what I wanted my project to be (finally) after having to talk it out them.
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Alexi and Jessica were my partners in crime for the majority of this project. Our days in the recording studio were numbered, and I never thought it would go so fast. Whether rambling about my project or other things bothering me in my life, they were there to listen and help me through. Truly two of the people who helped me get through this project the most otherwise I probably would’ve dropped out.
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Mr. Hunter. Of course this project couldn’t be talked about without mentioning the efforts of Mr. Todd Hunter. While I know my project wasn’t really in his realm, he was emotional support. I don’t mean that in a bad way, I mean it in the way that it was something I needed. He reassured me when I was worried about speaking to Ms. Linkenmeyer, he encouraged my wacky ideas throughout my project. He allowed me to change and grow and find it on my own, and for that I'm grateful. The past four years he’s believed in me more than any of my other teachers have, so for that I thank him. Freshman year? I never would’ve been able to do a project like this.
Of course, thank you to my parents, all my other friends, and the faculty who listened to me and watched me grow through the extent of this project. it really means the world :)
04- Thoughts/Considerations
The goal of this project was to educate people about the stigmas of mental illness in a creative way while also beginning the conversation of what to do to evoke change. I wanted to confront the stigmas I saw in my day to day life in our community, and offer a solution. I didn’t just want to talk to people about why it’s a problem, but I wanted to show them how they can help. What they can do every day to make a difference in the way society works. In the beginning, my project was a web of ideas. It was a delusion to fulfill my artistic liberties in the cloak of addressing stigma. As time went on, that changed. I reminded myself of the problem at hand and took a step back. My project is about the people, it isn’t about the product. Even if it’s just one person that my project touched with my words and campaign, I’ve made a difference. The idea is maybe they’ll go out and talk about it, and touch someone else with this message, and then it continues as a cycle. It lives past just my presentation or the art on a page, it has a legacy and it has created meaning in itself.
At my table, I was shocked at how many people were surprised at what I said, or the information I shared. I was even surprised that so many people were willing to be vulnerable with themselves and share their stories with me as we spoke. An individual asked me if I have experience with people struggling with mental health in my life and I replied, “I do.” This individual, years older than I am, smiled at me and said, “Me too. You’re doing great things.” That’s when I truly realized what I was doing had substance and meaning. That conversation is an example of one of the many I had all throughout the night of people asking questions and being willing to listen and learn.
I learned that waiting for people to come to you often doesn't work. A lot of people did see my table, saw the word 'mental health' and ran for the hills. Saying I forced them to talk to me is a strong word, but I did invite them over to do some activities or to take some candy, and then approached them with my project. I also learned that when preparing for a huge project procrastination is NOT effective. The project really doesn't do itself as much as I wished it would've. In the future I would like to one day create an animated short... perhaps once I hone my skills and learn more I'll be able to do so at my leisure.
​Challenges
- Being self motivated. This was probably the biggest thing I struggled with. I learned a lot about myself and my ‘I got time’ mentality. The truth is, I don’t ‘got time’ and it would be far better to get it done early than to be approaching it late. Sometimes I struggled with embracing the fact that I have to start messy to get anything done at all. I would always think that if I started it later then it would come to me easier or it would be better done… that isn’t the truth. The development and hell of a mess still has to come one way or another but I had to find that motivation within myself to begin it at all. That made it exceptionally difficult to get through this project, but I’m glad I know it now.
- Animating and my ambitions. I started off going into this having never animated before. I draw in my free time so I really thought I’d be able to pull it off… Well there’s a reason many animated features take months of full time work, or even years, sometimes even with a team of animators. I was so vastly unprepared for what it took in the time planning, scripting, drafting, drawing, and then making it MOVE. I found I was not the greatest at it so it made my original project idea near impossible. So I started simple again. I watched tutorials on how to make animations, how to plan them, and how to make them interesting. Small 5 second or so videos would take me hours just on the drawing alone. Not to be dramatic, but it was a little bit like torture. My intentions and ambitions were keen, however my actual ability was not. I did learn a lot of really useful skills in storytelling, character/world building, animation preparation, and how to execute messages.
-Learning to be kind to myself and what I’d done. During this project, I admit, I was very cruel to myself. I was going through a really hard time with my family due to medical events and unfortunate passings, and though my project was on mental health mindfulness, I found even when I wasn't working on my project I was beating myself up over it. I felt like it wasn’t good enough or I wasn’t doing enough, like my idea wasn’t important or didn’t matter. I wasn’t trying to create sustainable renewable energy or learning how to code arduino for a medical device, so I felt insignificant and small. I spent a lot of my time feeling stuck and without a clear path. The more stressed I got, the less work on my project I did, and then it caused me to stress more. I will admit, for a period of time I took a break. I didn’t work on my project for a while by choice and took the time to figure out what I’d do next. I needed to clear my path, so I contacted the Minnesota director of the american foundation for suicide prevention, had an interview, and jumpstarted my work once again. It was that time I took for myself, and realizing the work I was doing DID matter, that helped me overcome the road block I placed on myself. I got more work done then, than I had when I was trying to force myself to create. I was kinder to myself, and allowed myself healthy breaks and a little bit of grace throughout my work, and ended up enjoying my project a lot more. Towards the end it was no longer a villain I had to defeat in order not to fail, but it was once again a project I was passionate about.
Rewards
- Being able to see the project finished and know that I did something worth my time. At the end I had something to display and show for all my efforts. I was complimented on my work and designs and thoughtfulness in my project, and it was something I hadn't expected. It felt like I was in a complete time loop until finally May 25th came and went, and soon, it was May 26th. Time was such an aggressor and monster during this project, but it was also something I needed more of (despite having six months).
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- Figuring out the ways I work through stressful situations. This project forced me to learn a lot about myself along with how I communicate and work with others around me. It made me realize production is a messy process especially when it comes to myself and creating. It was beyond rewarding to see my own growth throughout these past six months.
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- Learning new life skills independently. I was almost forced in this project to learn skills like time management, self motivation, and the baility to work towards hard deadlines. I learned how to speak and present myself, and communicate effectively with people, and I was able to expand my knowledge on something I'm passionate about. My entire high school career had been so guided in my other classes, but this felt like the finale. Showing my ability to be a contributing person and make a difference.
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(Of course, the STEAM medal I hope I get will also be a reward :))
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Connect to the future
My STEAM experience has been filled to the brim with more life knowledge than I had received in any of my prior schooling. I learned most importantly, that failure is okay. I came into STEAM being an almost straight A, by the books student. I was shy and unable to form my own opinions or ideas. I was trapped into this box of what I thought school had to and should be. Now here I am four years later, having faced failure. Life is not pass or fail. Your success or falls do not determine your worth, but rather what you do with them. What you make of your situation, and what you make of your abilities. If you can't do something, then figure out how you can, and if you still can't, ask for help. Life is so much more complicated than school makes it seem. We are given choices and faced with problems that may seem unfathomable to bear, but we are resilient. We are capable as students and as people and I truly believe this is a lesson I never would've learned without being in STEAM. Moving forward, I get to take this new version of myself into the world. The person I was freshman year was not somebody ready for the real world, and I fear without these past four years, I would've been more or less the same. Maybe a little taller and with a better sense of style, but the fixed mindset would've remained. I can't weasel my way out of everything, that's just not how life works, and STEAM has taught me that. Not just the program itself, but the people within it. When I think of STEAM I don't think of the acronym. I think of what I achieved and who I met. I think of the people who wish they had the opportunity to do what I did, and I wish they had too. I always wonder what kind of person they would've become. I think of the people who offered me guiding words and parting knowledge. The people who for once in my life seemed to give a damn about the person I would become. The highs and the lows will happen whether you're ready for them or not, and be ready for them because there will be many. STEAM has taught me many things, but most importantly it's taught me that I am capable and can do real things. Maybe I'm not ready for what the future has in store, but I think now I'm at least prepared. Failure is an option, but it will never be the solution.
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