A documentary created by Chantal Da Silva and Kyle Reynolds, third-year Durham College Journalism – Print and Broadcast students, is receiving considerable attention on social media sites such as Facebook and YouTube.

February 2, 2011

Kyle Reynolds and Chantal Da Silva, both third-year Journalism – Print and Broadcast program students, recently received considerable attention for their emotionally charged documentary titled How do you feel?

Conceptualized, filmed and edited by Reynolds and Da Silva over a two-week period for their Reporting IV course, the seven-and-a-half minute movie features close-ups of people talking candidly about their feelings. In addition, each individual featured has a single word written on his or her body in black marker to indicate the topic that he or she is discussing.

The participants were found through a casting call sent out via Facebook by Da Silva and Reynolds, who were looking for individuals willing to share their current emotional state. After receiving an overwhelming number of responses they selected the individuals with the most compelling stories.

“Our instructor told us to do something creative,” said Reynolds. “We wanted to go out there and do something different, something that hadn’t been seen in previous years. We created this concept to capture the major experiences that represent someone’s life whether they are happy or traumatic. We didn’t think it would work out so well and have the positive effect that it did.”

Reynolds and Da Silva have since released the video on Facebook and YouTube, where it has received praise from around the globe. Da Silva even received a comment on Facebook from Katie Featherston, a Los Angeles-based actress and star of Paranormal Activity, who happened to see the documentary through a link on the site.

Although Da Silva and Reynolds admit that the creative process was long and draining due to the numerous video shoots and hours of editing, they are happy with the overall result.

“It was an inspiring experience just to see how people were feeling,” said Da Silva. “Even the saddest person had some sort of positive outcome in the end and I think that’s what makes the video so popular. It’s great to know that regardless of the battles people are going through, there’s a light at the end of the tunnel.”