Student makes documentary about their experience of living with epilepsy

Jesse Phillip Aidan Beale, who is currently studying on the Foundation year in Media and will go on to study BA (Hons) Media Production, recently made a documentary titled ‘Running with Epilepsy’, which highlights his personal journey with his diagnosis of the condition.

We caught up with Jesse to ask about his current studies, the film, and his hopes for the future.

Could you tell us a bit about your documentary, and why you decided to focus on this subject area?

My documentary 'Running with Epilepsy' is a short documentary about my journey with Epilepsy and living with it on a day-to-day basis. I dive into some unknown information about living with Epilepsy how it affects individuals both physically and mentally.

Do you have a favourite bit in the documentary that you can share?

My favourite part of the documentary is when I talk about the things that doctors have told me to avoid in order to stay 'safe' but still being able to go and achieve those things above and beyond others’ expectations, such as advising me to stay away from working at heights or in the media, but I have already achieved an apprenticeship in the outdoor industry and filmed at live events including music gigs and boxing events.

How have you found your studies at Solent so far?

I started my studies in autumn 2020 during lockdown, and so the last time I was actually on campus was just before lockdown in March 2020 to visit for an open day. Learning at Solent so far has been interesting, especially as the majority of teaching has been delivered through the university’s online platform, ‘Solent Online Learning’, (SOL) which has been useful and also has lots of information about University which I still haven't got round to fully exploring yet.

What are your future career plans?

I aim to work at writing scripts as well as the production of documentaries - I have found I didn't know as much as I thought I did by exploring topics I have an interest in, particularly through my recent experience of creating this documentary myself; ‘Running with Epilepsy’.

What have you enjoyed about studying at Solent?

I would like to include that I am shocked and thankful that people have taken an interest in this documentary so quickly and I appreciate Solent noticing my work, particularly my lecturer Frankie Murdoch for her advice.

You can watch Jesse’s documentary here