This is a fictional story of a girl who lost her best friend to COVID-19.
Script:
I lost my best friend to covid 19 three months ago. It was so hard to deal with. In the first few weeks, I would wake up and not know the point of waking up. I just wanted to lie in bed all day and cry. I would feel hopeless every morning, and I had to force myself out of bed everyday. Then I would get dressed, wash my face, brush my teeth, drink some water.
Then I had to go to my online classes. Sometimes it was easier, but sometimes it was really hard to attend these classes. sometimes I felt like I was about to burst into tears in the middle of a lecture when I thought about her. Sometimes I was so depressed that I didn’t feel like I had the strength to do simple stuff like writing down a note. Sometimes I was so deep in my thoughts thinking about her that I had no idea what was going on in the lecture.
I tried to do different things to make myself feel better, but sometimes nothing helped. The heaviness just stayed with me whatever I did, wherever I went, and whenever it was.
But as much as I absolutely hated losing her, I did grow from this experience. I learned how strong I can be. I learned how much my friends and family mean to me. I learned what it means to love someone. I learned to be grateful for the times I had with her, the love we had for each other, and choose not be angry at the world when it’s far too easy to be angry.
Just as how individuals learn from traumatic experiences, so can societies. And as much as coronavious sucked and as much as every society and country has suffered, I think we can learn from it, and grow from it collectively. Coronavirus made us realize problems in the society. We see that the healthcare system needs urgent reform, because public hospitals are so occupied with patients and healthcare workers are so routinely overworked. We see the huge income gap between the rich and the poor, and how low income people are so much more vulnerable to coronavirus. Many of them have lost income, and some struggle to even afford masks. And this painful experience, as much as we hate to admit, gives us opportunities to learn and grow from it. All I see nowadays are reports of how the economy and everything else is falling apart in the world, but I think our city will slowly recover from this epidemic. It will become a better place, if we make the efforts to reflect upon the crisis and start to make things better.
References:
Bouie, J. (2020, April 14). Why Coronavirus Is Killing African-Americans More Than Others. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/14/opinion/sunday/coronavirus-racism-african-americans.html
Brittain, A. (2020, April 10). How a surge of coronavirus patients could stretch hospital resources in your area. Retrieved from https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2020/investigations/coronavirus-hospitals-data/
Cheung, H. (2020, March 21). Coronavirus: What could the West learn from Asia? Retrieved from https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-51970379
Laughland, O., & Zanolli, L. (2020, April 25). Why is coronavirus taking such a deadly toll on black Americans? Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/apr/25/coronavirus-racial-disparities-african-americans
Rubin, J. (2020, March 16). Opinion | What lessons will we learn from the coronavirus crisis? Retrieved from https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/03/16/what-lessons-will-we-learn/
Rushe, D., & Sainato, M. (2020, April 9). US unemployment rises 6.6m in a week as coronavirus takes its toll. Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/business/2020/apr/09/us-unemployment-filings-coronavirus
佘 達明. (2019, February 11). 佘達明：從醫療系統角度看，香港公立醫院壓力爆煲，誰該負責？. Retrieved from https://theinitium.com/article/20190211-opinion-repost-hongkong-hospital/
陳 琬蓉. (2019, February 18). 公立醫院醫生壓力爆煲 醫管局管治失當責無旁貸｜01周報. Retrieved from https://www.hk01.com/周報/296009/公立醫院醫生壓力爆煲-醫管局管治失當責無旁貸
Floor plan: png2pdf
Yipeng Duan 3035660146
Hello Yipeng. You video made me reflected on a lot of things I did not notice during the coronavirus pandemic. You start with an anecdote of your personal experience with your best friend has such strong emotions and it evoked me into interest. I wanted to know how it relates to pandemic. Your experience had developed into the second part of of your video, where you explained we should reflect from our weaknesses after an experience, treasure the people around us, which is a very strong message and connects both your experience and the pandemic. Director Bong Joon-ho from “Parasite” once said the best art pieces are shown with personal experiences, and I think you ticked the boxes. Therefore, your content, organization of the 2 parts of your video is very strong and clear. One suggestion is that you can use a different colour tone and more hopeful music at the second part of the video where you talked about the pandemic, so there is a strong elevation from the beginning to the end of your film. Overall I think it is a great film! :),
A compelling piece. Your translation from research to fiction is well-handled, reflecting on issues of depression and disenfranchisement as a consequence of the pandemic. Beyond the references you have found, however, more research is needed on the local context addressing these issues, and on how people cope with grief and loss. Also, was it intentional to shift the scale of learning in your film, from personal to international?
Frames are well-handled, emotions are well conveyed, and the audio and acting helped. Appreciate your use of the floor plan. Overall, your storytelling is very convincing, timely, and well-suited for your generation.