How Covid has

affected young
People and their
mental health..
Unit 1 – 4 Pitch
By Emily Butler
 My Topic
For this unit of work I chose my topic to be
how covid has affected young people and their
mental health for a few different reasons being:
• It is a serious topic happening right now
• I think its something that needs to be raised awareness
about
• Its important to me and I feel I can speak a lot about it
• It fits my target audience perfectly.
I felt that I would be able to
speak about this in a lot of detail
and I wanted to make people more
aware of the situation in young
people and what they go through. I
think that its important for young
people to speak about how they feel
and the message in my productions
is to
speak out as its not something you
should
be afraid of.
 From online research I have learnt a lot
about my topic that I didn’t know before.
For Example:
• Between March and October ChildL
reported to have had a massive increa
What I’ve learnt.. in the number of calls they were
receiving (43,000) with worries and
(Secondary
mental health issues due to covid.
research) • 70% of young people reported to b
Feeling stressed, anxious and sadly
feeling the urge to self harm due to co
and the impact it has had on them.
• The way students are currently
being treated is massively damaging t
their mental health.
 From all the research I have done over the past few
weeks I have learnt a lot but especially from some of the
Groups that I have put together, I have found a lot about
my target audience want to see in my productions which
important.
For example:
What I’ve • My target audience would want to see and
learnt.. hear young people sharing their experiences
(Primary during lockdown and covid as its first hand
Information and experience.
research) • I also found that they would want me to back
up what I say with lots of facts ad figures from
my research.
• 2 sides to be shown – so someone who found
lockdown made their mental health worse
and someone who it helped mentally.
 Primary Research
m this information I knew what I needed to include
my work to engage and interest my target audience. I also discovered that a lot of young people struggle alone
they feel like they cant speak to anyone so they keep everything inside – this is what I aimed to change in my

m another small focus group I found that my target audience would want my
ductions to be hard hitting to help get my point across as its such a serious topic.

he end I made 2 production's, a documentary and a radio podcast both using skills I've learnt since the start of
lege and included things that make my target audience interested as there opinion is the most important since i
m that’s going to be watching and listening to my work. I interviewed young people who my topic relates to a
radio podcast I had 2 people with controversial experiences of covid, lockdown and their mental wellbeing.
 Documentary
Link to my documentary on my YouTube page -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kgYJKs2E6dQ

My
productions
Radio Podcast
Link to my radio podcast
–
https://www.youtube.com/
watch?
v=dPnWCEYhLbk
 The process of making my
productions..
What went well? feel that considering it was my first time making a radio podcast and a
Documentary they went quite well. My second radio podcast was a huge improvement on
the first one which showed that I knew where I could improve and I feel that my interview
technique had already got a lot better by the time I was making my documentary.
What did I find difficult? I would say at first I struggled with having the confidence to talk to
and interview people and also having the confidence to use my ideas instead of always feeling
like it would be wrong. On the technical side I struggled with camera work a bit in my
documentary as it defiantly could have been better.
What I enjoyed.. Overall I really enjoyed making both productions, I felt very independent and
it defiantly built my confidence having to work on my own and plan everything myself.
 Feedback that I received..
I received some really helpful feedback from my teacher and classmates on both ways to
improve and things that were a success in my productions. I successfully made 2 pieces of
work that appealed to the correct target audience and my topic was clear in both. I did this
using skills that I had learnt and included lots of research in my productions with facts and
Figures to engage the audience and back up what I was saying. I portrayed my message well
And I’d say I was successful in making people aware of my topic (mental health in young people
during lockdown and covid)

However, I could make some improvements like using more camera angles and improving my
use of lighting in my documentary which I agree with. Also , next time I would interview people I
don’t know so that its more professional and im stepping out of my comfort zone.
 Moving forward…
I have really enjoyed this unit of work and I have learnt so much , including new skills, camera work
and to step out of my comfort zone and do things on my own. I have learnt to work with deadlines and
to adapt and change things, it can be very stressful but with good time management everything will go
Pretty smoothly. For a first attempt I feel my work was good although there is still a lot I can work on and
improve on too make my work even better next time.

I have also learnt to go with my gut and use my ideas because they are good and not to think everything
is wrong because this course is about creativity and its your own work and your own ideas so there is
no right or wrong. I think with a bit more work this course will help me to become a much more confident
person and will help me to produce some good pieces of work.