Video Proposal

Profiles of Hope

Prepared for: Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health’s (LACDMH)

Prepared by: A.G. Melkom, Producer, Director

Statement of Work
Project Description
The proposal answers the Internal Services Department Request for Proposal
numbered RFB-IS-12200939-1, known as Profiles of Hope, Video Production
Project. A 30-minute movie consisting of three 10-minute individual segments,
and three Public Service Announcements with high-profile personalities to
promote LACDMH’s anti-stigma message for those diagnosed with mental illness.

Strategy
We employ a unique methodology to evoke an emotional connection between
viewers and interviewees as they tell their stories about living with mental illness.
Through that connection, viewers will know that they are not alone in living with
mental illness, which empowers them to realize that they too can have fulfilling,
happy, and successful lives.

 Pre-interviews.  We spend time with the interviewees to understand the

nuances of their stories so that we craft our questions to evoke the
strongest, most emotive story possible.

 Stylized cutting-edge visuals.  We use cinematic techniques from high-end

advertising campaigns, and apply them to this project. We capture the
attention of the viewers in a way that few lower budgeted campaigns have
been able to achieve, leaving an indelible mark on the mind of the viewer.

 Storytelling. We not only bring attention to the careers of high-profile

individuals who are impressive by the virtue of their celebrity; we also
highlight aspects of their stories that may be unknown but are relatable to
the day-to-day lives and struggles of the viewers. This creates a more
personal relationship between the viewer and the celebrity.

 Signature cinematic approach. Each interviewee is filmed against a

backdrop that is evocative of both their career and their recovery—from
isolation to community.

 Interview design. The team has decades of experience with coaxing

sincere, compelling stories from subjects. We have developed a number of
techniques creating a natural screen presence for our subjects. The most
unusual and startlingly effective technique is the use of the tele-prompter
as interviewer. As in daily interactions, eye contact between subject and
audience is a powerful tool in cementing an emotional bond between the
two. By projecting the image of the interviewer on the tele-prompter
screen, the interview subject makes eye contact with the lens, thereby
making natural eye contact with the viewer. Simply asking a subject to
speak to the lens results in a more “performance” style that goes counter
to the personal connection we wish to achieve.
Profiles of Hope is not just a short story of one’s life dealing with mental illness.
It is a story about changing public perception of mental illness through the
sharing of personal experience about the illness; it is about emerging out of a
world of shame and fear, through sharing and connecting with community.

Social Work With Mental Illness

A digital moviemaking workshop and media arts educational program was
initiated in 2007 at a Los Angeles “high-risk” youth center: "Art & Soul Program,"
a nonprofit 501 organization working with youth in the foster care and juvenile
justice system with SED (Severely Emotionally Disturbed) from Children Are Our
Future* agency.

Our contact with these teens and SED motivated us to develop an introductory
course offering them an opportunity to experience various aspects of film
appreciation, and its application to the entertainment industry. We taught critical
thinking and promoted positive youth development skills. We established a safe
outlet for the teens to communicate and improve cognitive processes through the
many aspects of the media arts program. In addition to multimedia skills, the
program encouraged creative expression, taught youth to set achievable goals
and developed a collaborative work environment that encouraged the youth to
solve problems and build self-esteem.

We also developed an innovative media arts program for a population of persons

diagnosed with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder throughout a two-year period
for the Department of Mental Health. Our work deeply affected our lives by
providing us with a profound comprehension of how society continues to
ostracize these individuals. Please read the letter from the Department of Mental
Health written in 1995, which provides a review of the media arts activities of
A.G. Melkom (misspelled as Gigi Malkom)?

Two Video Productions -- County Of Los Angeles

We were awarded two of the last four video production projects from the County
of Los Angeles. Our first video production was produced for the Los Angeles Civil
Grand Jury and met with great success. Over 7,000 individuals where inspired to
volunteer and participate in the Civil Grand Jury process.

Our second endeavor was Pozforward.com, an interactive website for newly

diagnosed individuals with HIV. A website which provides support and risk-
reduction services, and continues to benefit thousands with HIV and AIDS in Los
Angeles County. Segments included four different “topic hosts” using scripted
content, and five candid “personal narratives” using unscripted interviews,
providing a total of 65 segments of 2-3 minutes each covering a range of topics.

Gallery of Clips
Clips from the video for the Los Angeles Civil Grand Jury with the participation of
Dr. Sophy, Medical Director, County of Los Angeles Department of Children, and
Family Services, highlighting the care and services that were now consistent with
child welfare and mental health practices:

Clip of website Pozforward.com

Rough Sketches  From Isolation yo Connecting With
Community

HONG-CHIH KUO

Hong-Chih Kuo alone on

screen speaking to us

Camera moves as blurred

images appear of Dodger
Fans standing along side of
Hong-Chih Kuo

Blurred faces of Dodger

fans sharpen

Line-up of Dodger fans

from all age groups and
ethnicities stand along side
Hong-Chih Kuo
CARRIE FISHER

A shadow reflects in
center frame

Shadows move into

frame

Feet show in frame

Shadows’ silhouettes
appear in frame

Carrie Fisher walks up in

foreground as her face
becomes lit.

Several fans in costumes

as Star Wars characters
move up behind to her
PARIS BARCLAY

Paris walking up a
darkened hallway

Paris walking closer into

a
room

Dark screen except for

low light on Paris

Paris turns on the

electrical breakers … a
movie studio set lights
up with crew ready for
direction by him
Biography

A.G. Melkom
Director, Producer

Melkom is a director, producer and writer whose groundwork in visual articulation

formed early on through the medium of oil on canvas, when at age 18 she
completed the first of three critically acclaimed solo exhibitions in abstract
expressionism. Her unique capability for using diversity in creative modes of
expression, and her ability to interweave varying artistic mediums is embodied in a
19-year career in film, commercials, and music videos.

After finishing her academic work in fine arts and graphics in Paris at Sorbonne's
elite L'Ecole Nationale Des Arts Decoratif, Melkom returned to New York and
began formal film training through the Director's Program at the School of
Visual Arts.

In the early 1990’s, Melkom developed her production expertise working with
London based production companies. By the mid 90's, Melkom re-entered New
York's creative market, and within a five-year period began directing
commercially successful music videos and commercials. While writing, directing
and producing between New York and Los Angeles, Melkom produced numerous
telefilms such as: La Grande Finale, Heartbreak, A Shooting Gallery, Lost
Island, Trials of Love, Portraits In Obsessions and Standing Peachtree.

For five years, Melkom resided in Paris, France, researching and writing a
documentary series entitled, Le Pouvoir De l'esprit (Power of the Mind) for
Channel M6 Television: a science series unraveling the unusual emotional,
intellectual, and inexplicable mental mysteries of human thought and behavior.
 
Melkom directed, wrote, and produced Watch Over Me for Los Angeles County, a
short movie, and PSA about individuals involved in the Civil Grand Jury. She most
recently directed POZ Forward, an interactive website production on newly
diagnosed individuals with HIV.
 
Melkom has also instructed filmmaking at UCLA.

References: A.G. Melkom

Robert Sax Harlan Rotblatt
Former Commissioner of the Civil Grand Jury Sexually Transmitted Disease Program
resaxmd@gmail.com hrotblatt@ph.lacounty.gov
(626) 298 4157 (213) 744-3127