Film Design: The Narrative

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    • #2897 Score: 0
      Harrison
      Keymaster
        2 pts

        I decided to create this private forum to collaborate on the film. We’ll try it and see if it works. You can also subscribe to this topic and be updated by emails. See below for the latest outline of the film — think of it as a checklist.
        _________________________________________________

        VERSION: June 11, 2010

        TITLE: SEVENTEEN MILLION: Biofilms and Chronic Disease in America

        CREATOR & DIRECTOR: Richard Longland, Founder of the Arthroplasty Patient Foundation

        PRODUCER: Moki Goyal

        CONSULTANT: Dr. Randy Wolcott

        NARRATOR: Dr. Bill Costerton
        ________________________________________________

        RELEASE DATE: Q1 2011

        PURPOSE OF FILM: To educate the general public about the role of biofilms in chronic disease; their enormous contribution to human suffering, their considerable impact on healthcare costs; and how their presence in our lives has been obfuscated until now.

        PROGRESS TO DATE: As of May 2010, completed eleven interviews with researchers who have expertise in biofilm characterization, with two pending. Some interviews have been distilled and showcased in the experts section of the Biofilm Community website.

        FILM DESCRIPTION: This seventy-five minute film, shot in consumer-grade high definition, references scientific developments that reveal the explicit connections between biofilms and chronic bacterial infections. The film’s message relies heavily on interviews with scientists from a broad mix of industries and organizations to “break down and spell out” the complex threats of biofilms in the human ecosystem. It is easy to see the devastating toll of biofilms on human lives via the mix of hard facts and interviews with real patients present in Seventeen Million.
        ________________________________________________

        FILM OUTLINE:

        1. Biofilm History – (six to nine minutes)

        a. History of microbes in the ecosystem
        b. Recent history of microbes and humans

        i. Last fifty years: Bill Costerton’s work and Montana State University
        ii. Last ten years: how the health threat to humans has materialized

        2. Why Biofilms Matter – (six to nine minutes)

        a. Categories of incidence – Randy Wolcott’s table delineating categories across healthcare
        b. Costs to humans – measured by suffering
        c. Death statistics
        d. Costs to healthcare system
        e. Trends and forecasts

        3. Biofilms Defined – (six to nine minutes)

        a. Biological definition
        b. Types of communities; differentiating characteristics, commonalities & differences
        c. In-situ – where they live within humans
        d. How they enter humans
        e. Taxonomy of microbes that exist within humans: coexist, cooperate, compete
        f. How they exchange instructions to survive, e.g., conferring antibiotic resistance
        g. How they become chronic, pathogenic
        h. Contribution to antibiotic resistance

        4. Chronic Diseases – (six to nine minutes)

        a. Chronic condition spotlight: show patient cases involving gram negative, gram positive, fungal infections, others
        i. Diabetic ulcers
        ii. Orthopedic
        iii. Reproductive
        iv. Gastrointestinal

        5. Symptoms & Pathology – (six to nine minutes)

        a. Differentiate between acute and sub-clinical
        b. Presentation variability, commonality
        c. Interplay & effect on immune system

        6. Diagnostics – (six to nine minutes)

        a. Survey of old world and new technologies
        b. 150 year old culturing technology and false negatives
        c. Molecular diagnostics: 15% vs. 90%
        d. Why differences in testing matters
        e. Limitations of both for diagnosing patients
        f. Clinical vs. technology approaches for diagnosis

        7. Treatments – (six to nine minutes)

        a. Antibiotics
        b. New techniques: phage, lysins, enzymes, combinatorial
        c. Regulatory climate
        d. Roadmap for all products in development
        e. Lessons learned: successes and failures

        8. Conclusion – (six to nine minutes)

        a. Societal assessment: next five years
        b. 17,000,000 reasons: actual people suffering because of the fact that biofilms are a “hidden” problem
        c. Call to action: write your congressman (include letter on DVD)

      • #3371 Score: 0
        Harrison
        Keymaster
          2 pts

          Hey Rich,

          Take a look at this rough outline. Feel free to edit/add/delete. We should use this as a working template going forward adding more detail as we think of it.

          I. Opening

          A. Long Montage of patients talking about their afflictions and how it’s affecting their lives interspersed with their doctors talking about how conventional medicines are not working – B-roll to show their problems
          B. Show frustrations of patients and doctors alike
          C. Walcott explains what is happening – Biofilms and how they are able to treat them with a new form of treatments (be intentionally vague and high-level)

          II. Biofilms
          What is a biofilm?
          1. Explanation
          2. Graphics to explain

          A. Why is it hard to treat?
          B. What kinds of diseases are associated with it and who does it affect?
          1. Prevalence
          2.
          C. If it’s so common, why haven’t I heard of this before?

          III. Looking Forward

        • #3375 Score: 0
          Harrison
          Keymaster
            2 pts
          • #3423 Score: 0
            Harrison
            Keymaster
              2 pts

              Seventeen Million is an exploration of bacterial biofilm infections and how they cause debilitating illnesses for more than 17,000,000 Americans. People with “subclinical infections” suffer for months, years or even decades; others will lose life or limb because of the failure to treat chronic wounds or hospital acquired infections. More than 550,000 patients will lose their lives because of hospital infections; almost twice that number will acquire sepsis. The overwhelming majority of hospital infections involve bacterial biofilms and reach into every area of specialized medicine and into every part of the human body.

              Paradoxically, the applications of biofilm eradication methods are slow to propagate into the many silos of western medicine. With patients and doctors in the dark about what is truly causing chronic diseases, millions of people remain undiagnosed and are denied effective treatments for their medical problems.

              This ground-breaking documentary explores a new disease model on a scientific and human level. This film leverages interviews from top clinical experts with patients affected by bacterial biofilms to reach as wide an audience as possible. By breaking down complex topics of biofilm infections to a human level, showing staggering statistics, and using high quality animations, the message becomes accessible, compelling and obvious: biofilm infections are vastly gargantuan problem that has been overlooked by American society, and we as a nation are paying a terrible price.

              However, with the advent of new molecular diagnostics, a new disease model, Americans can effectively catalyze credible healthcare change by disseminating information that will eliminate needless suffering, save lives and reduce the costs of health care.

              Alternate Titles:

              Still Sick After All These Years
              Still Disabled
              Why Can’t I Get Better?
              Why Is America Chronically Ill?
              America, the Medicated

            • #2898 Score: 0
              Harrison
              Keymaster
                2 pts

                SEVENTEEN MILLION:
                BIOFILMS AND CHRONIC DISEASE IN AMERICA

                Summary

                Seventeen Million is an exploration of bacterial biofilm infections and how they cause debilitating illnesses for more than 17,000,000 Americans. People with subclinical infections suffer for months, years or even decades; others will lose life or limb because of the failure to treat chronic wounds or hospital acquired infections. More than 550,000 patients will lose their lives because of hospital-acquired infections and almost twice that number will acquire sepsis, a dangerous blood infection. The majority of hospital infections involve bacterial biofilms reach into every part of the human body and into every area of specialized medicine.

                Paradoxically, the applications of biofilm eradication methods are slow to propagate into the many silos of western medicine. With patients and doctors in the dark about what is truly causing myriad chronic diseases, millions of people remain undiagnosed and are denied effective treatments for their medical problems.

                This ground-breaking documentary explores a new disease model on a scientific and human level. This film leverages interviews with academic and clinical experts, as well as with patients affected by conditions caused by bacterial biofilms. By breaking down complex topics of disease to a human level, showing staggering statistics, and using high quality animations, the message becomes accessible, compelling and obvious: biofilm infections are a gargantuan problem that has been overlooked by American society. As a result of this indifference, we as a nation are paying a terrible, almost unfathomable price in terms of suffering, deaths and at least $100,000,000,000 in health care costs.

                With the advent of new molecular diagnostics and a new disease treatment paradigm, Seventeen Million will effectively catalyze credible healthcare change by disseminating information that will reduce needless suffering, save lives and reduce the costs of health care.

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