MANSFIELD — Kelsey Fuller said Saturday she wants to help return the voice to victims of dating violence.
“I think it’s really important when people are victims of abuse they can feel like they’re alone. They can feel like it’s their fault,” the 26-year-old psychology major at Ohio State University-Mansfield said.
“They can be so easily convinced that what’s happening to them, (that) they deserve it.”
Fuller was one of several local college and high school students participating as actors in a short film that is a collaboration among the Domestic Violence Shelter of Richland County, OSU-Mansfield and Leapyear Studios in Mansfield.
“I feel like this is a great opportunity to tie in what I’m learning with something I’m really passionate about,” Fuller said.
(Photos from the early production efforts of “Symbol of Strength” short film at Leapyear Studios in Mansfield on Saturday.)
“If we can give a voice to the people whose voice has been taken away from them, and we can find a way to be that voice for them and to stand up for the people who can’t speak anymore, I think that that would be really beautiful,” Fuller said.
The film will explore the realities of teen dating violence, shedding light on the issue and promoting healthy relationships among teenagers.
Organizers said one in 12 high school students experience physical and/or sexual violence in a dating relationship.
Collaborators also said it’s a great chance for young people to engage in meaningful dialogue, learn about the filmmaking process and contribute to a project that could help their peers navigate challenging situations.
The film, “Symbol of Strength,” will premiere Feb. 27 on the OSU-Mansfield campus during an art and poetry juried contest at Bromfield Library during Teen Dating Violence Awareness Month.
The film is being produced by Leapyear Studios, located inside the Braintree Business Development Center on East Fifth Street. Filmmakers Jennifer Enskat and Andy Garder worked with the students in the effort.
“This is an opportunity to have the girls and boys become a part of creating the film that is shown at the event. We’re not just putting them on camera. We’re teaching them how to actually make the set and make the film,” Enskat said.
She said it was a different kind of filmmaking project.
“Normally when I enter a project, I’ve got a picture, I’ve got storyboards. I know I’m going to have this person do this part.
“I don’t even know these young people.
“So today I’m going to meet them and figure out how I want to use them. I did come up with things to have them do. But I don’t even know who’s going to do what. I may be changing my mind about what I have some of them do once I meet them,” Enskat said.
She said actors would use a poem as narration, both on and off camera.
“We have some scenes that we’re acting out which hint at their experiences. We absolutely want to make sure that this isn’t graphic. It’s really important,” Enskat said.
“We don’t want to trigger anyone either shooting it or watching it. The finished product, ‘We want them to say, ‘Yeah, that’s it. They hit the nail on the head with that.'”
Artist Victoria Hoefler, an officer with the Richland Community Development Group Arts & Culture Sector, was also assisting on Saturday.
“I was contacted to kind of try and help put this together because nobody really knew with the gallery show (at OSU-Mansfield) and everything, nobody really knew what that would look like,” Hoefler said. “They just knew they wanted to do it.”
She said the Phillips Family Foundation was helping to underwrite the making of the film.
Arizona Hess, who works for the DV Shelter and as the OSU-Mansfield campus sexual assault advocate, said spreading awareness is the primary goal of the project and to provide students a platform on which to speak.
“The short film is a way for them to get involved and learn about filming and just get some education around that, as well as participating,” Hess said. “And then the art show gives them an opportunity to express themselves in whatever artistic medium they desire and there’s gonna be various prizes for them.”
After filming a scene Saturday morning, Sarah Brook, a 17-year-old Clear Fork High School student, said she wanted to act in the film to ensure people become more aware.
“It’s an ongoing issue and it needs to be stopped,” Brook said. “People start at a young age abusing people and if we don’t stop it soon enough, they’re going to grow up to be abusers.”