A January survey found that 34% of cancerdiagnosed people say they would have liked more information from their healthcare providers about issues related to their cancer, including changes to health and wellbeing, physical appearance and confidence. Macmillan Cancer Support’s mission is to provide assistance and information to people living with or affected by cancer. Part of this entails helping people whose bodies have changed or been affected in the long-term as a result of being diagnosed with cancer. To that end, it has a range of online resources and even partners with Boots to provide Boots Macmillan Beauty Advisors in stores.

Yet seeing others going through the same challenges can be reassuring and confidence-building. Thus, Kartoffel Films, long-time video partner for Macmillan, was tasked with developing a nearly four-minute film called ‘Body image and cancer’ that launched on 4 June. The video intended to promote a positive body image within Macmillan’s target audiences and shared personal stories that those affected by cancer could relate to and be inspired by. “We wanted to make a film about body image because when people go through cancer, they experience temporary or permanent changes to the way their body looks or functions due to cancer,” says Kartoffel’s creative partner Claudia Lee.

The film features four people’s experiences with the body-altering affects of cancer. Yet, Kartoffel wanted to ensure there wouldn’t be any talking heads, that the film would be driven by a narrative that united the four case studies. The style mimics the story in that the visuals presented are of four healthy, active, self-assured people, but the voice-overs share stories documenting pain, embarrassment and physical change. Throughout, music is used as a way to shift the tone of the film from solemn and restrained to positive and uplifting.

Lee’s team searched through Macmillan’s case study library and took to social media to find four stories that represented men and women of various ages with both obvious and discreet physical changes. Each story had to be told fully, but edits had to be selective enough to generate impact from a short film. Lee says the team spent time with the interviewees to make them feel more comfortable with the filming process and with sharing the intimate details of their personal experiences on camera, “I love working with the [subjects] because they’re sharing such a personal story, it really feels like a a privilege to hear from them the things that they may not have talked to anyone else about. At the same time, you have to be quite careful because you don’t want them to feel vulnerable.”

Macmillan also wanted to feature active lifestyles in the film as a means of rebuilding body image and self-confidence. In March, Julie Bouverie, director of services & influencing at Macmillan, said, “It is estimated that at least 1.6m cancer survivors are not physically active at nationally recommended levels and therefore could be at greater risk of serious long term health problems and some cancers recurring. Physical activity, such as walking, is very important to the recovery process of cancer.” She added that cancer is a long-term disease and its impact can be felt years after treatment in the form of physical or mental changes or health implications.

Three of the subjects focus on physical activity – including pole dancing, rock climbing and archery – and the fourth is a pianist. Kartoffel allowed viewers to go on a journey with the subjects by not showing, for about the first 40 seconds to one minute of the film, the subjects’ physical difficulties. Stylistically, this is a departure from Macmillan’s past films, managing partner at Kartoffel Films, Eoin Dowdall says. Traditionally, the diagnoses are revealed at the start of the film, and the talking heads style is more common. For the body image communication to be successful, though, it had to embrace a positive view of the human body – despite the effects of cancer – but also to stylistically support the fact that cancer sufferers are not alone and that challenges can be overcome. The narrative approach suited this objective in that it linked the four subjects’ experiences and drew the viewer in.

“We wanted to make a film about body image because when people go through cancer, they experience temporary or permanent changes to the way their body looks or functions due to cancer”

Yet the biggest emotional impact is driven home in the last few seconds. Kartoffel took a risk and for the first time, had interviewees talk straight to the camera to deliver a final comment. All reiterated the message of self-confidence and a renewed sense of physical security. The pianist said, “I now look at myself as being a relatively normal person rather than a person with huge problems that nobody else could see.” Lee says the change paid off, “When you look people in the eye, it makes such a big difference and actually, since then, we have been doing quite a few films for Macmillan where people have talked to camera. It’s gone down really well with them.” Macmillan’s video library is extensive and many films are case study-focused. The body image film, while it communicates Macmillan’s messaging about positivism, physical activity and confidence, also sits slightly apart from the rest of its films. The video was shot for a 2:35 framing – with black bars on the top and bottom of the screen – giving the film a more cinematic and dramatic feel. This shift, alongside the to-the-camera approach, allowed Kartoffel to focus on the high visual impact of the case studies it filmed.

The film though, does sit within the context of a wider library on cancer information. It’s inception harks back to the fact that three of four people going through cancer treatment feel embarrassed about it at some point, Lee says, “Because all of Macmillan’s cancer information films are about what happens or can happen when you have cancer, it needs to be positive because there is light at the end of the tunnel. There is help available and people have gone through similar things. It is really important to get the positive message across.”