35 new films for the Life Experience Library

Kavli Trust has previously supported the production of ten films about mental health in young people made by The Human Aspect.

“With this support we had the chance to test what our team can deliver given the opportunity to work together, in the office, full time. It increases our efficiency, and during the past months our team has grown and become even more capable, says managing director and founder,” Jimmy Westerheim.

From the launch of the ten first films at Mesh in the beginning of June this year. Photo: Matias Hagen.

Voluntary summer job

The Human Aspect is mainly run with the help of volunteers. The films are produced by a large team of competent people ensuring high quality productions.

The tasks behind a complete film include logistics, editing, colour grading, sound mixing, translations and subtitling, preparations and publishing on the website and sharing in social media.

A separate team is working with reach and engagement in social media, via groups and partners who will invite between one and four people to share the film and contribute to ensuring that it is viewed by as many as possible.

The team is made up of people with different backgrounds and skills, and have day jobs or study. Now they are spending their summer holiday making more films for The Human Aspect. Photo: Matias Hagen.

Full time summer volunteers

Most commonly the volunteers do all this work alongside other paid work and studies.

“The majority of our volunteers are students, so this summer we’ve had the chance to create more films than ever before,” says Westerheim.

Now the volunteers get the opportunity to work intensively and full time. With the support from Kavli Trust, they will all receive a small compensation for the work.

“We are not talking large sums, but it helps our young volunteers,” says Jimmy Westerheim, who works full time unpaid himself.

“A lot of the work will still be carried out on a volunteer basis, but this allows those who work the hardest to drop other temporary summer jobs and stay full time with us”.

The Human Aspect rent their premises at a reduced price from the shared office space Mesh in Oslo. Photo: Matias Hagen.

35 films

There is a hive of activity in the office they rent at a reduced price from Mesh, a shared office space in Oslo. Out of 360 completed interviews, 165 films are finished and published so far. Another hundred are in production. With the allocation of 250.000 NOK (25.250 Euro) from Kavli Trust, another 35 films will be completed by the end of the summer.

“Having everyone here during the day will both increase our productivity and the amount of hours that each person can dedicate to the work, says Westerheim.

With the opportunity to fire on all cylinders during July and August, the team will be able to produce another 35 films in the Generation Z-series, and publish them consecutively in the Life Experience Library throughout the summer and autumn.

“Our goal is to publish as many films as possible from the interview material we have already shot, so that the films can reach anyone out there who might need them,” says Jimmy Westerheim.