Video transcript: Can't, can
A film created with the North Essex Children in Care Council, Music by James Osborne.
Scene 1
A sandy beach. CAN’T has been written in the sand. Waves lap at the edge of the text.
Guitar music plays gently in the background and continues throughout the video.
Scene 2
A white plate with a red and blue pattern has CAN’T written in potato shapes
A hand comes into shot and removes the ‘T so that the word says CAN
Male voice 1
“I never thought I’d be settled in any foster placements and, well, I came along the foster carer that I’m with now and it’s made a huge difference. She’s an absolutely amazing woman.”
Scene 3
A close up of some grass and part of a stick. The camera zooms out and you can see that CAN’T has been written in sticks and it is laying on grass.
A hand comes into shot and removes the ‘t and the word says can
Male voice 2
“I’m currently dyslexic and I’m not good at my reading and writing. My support worker helped me to get into college eventually, they phoned me today actually and gave me some good news. I start on the 15th of this month.”
Scene 4
A finger is writing CAN’T in a tray of sand then the hand leaves the shot.
A hand appears sprinkles sand over the ‘T so that the word says CAN
Female voice 1
“I couldn’t stop smoking but then my sister encouraged me to quit. Now I can go days at a time without smoking and I feel a lot healthier in myself.”
Scene 5
A piece of paper is on a table with the word CAN’T written in pencil. Using stop frame animation, a rubber comes into view and rubs out the ‘T so that the word says CAN.
Male voice 3
“I couldn’t play rugby but then my mates wanted me to play it one day and I pushed myself to play it. Since that day I can play it now and now I’m a left winger. It gave me more confidence”
Scene 6
There are 4 large piles of cornflakes on a table. Four pairs of hands shape the cornflakes into letters to spell CAN’T. The hands leave the shot.
A single pair of hands appears in shot and scrapes the ‘T out of view so that the word spells CAN
Male voice 4
“I couldn’t ride a bike but then I learned how to. So now I can ride a bike and get around easier.”
Scene 7
A green lego base has lego added to it using stop frame animation so that it makes a a layer of white lego with CANT spelt out in blue.
The T moves over the right of the base and falls off leaving CAN. The other letters then move to the right and then come off the base altogether and move towards the camera and then off screen.
Male voice 5
“I couldn’t cook, I know it’s obvious, but I used cooking books and everyday cooking shows on television to help me learn how to. It’s made a big difference”
Scene 8
Pairs of hands use smarties to spell the word CANT on top of a white surface.
One pair of hands takes away the T to spell CAN
Scene 9
Each letter of CANT is white on black or black on white and has been cut out of a larger piece of paper. The T comes off the screen using stop frame animation. The letters now spell CAN
Male voice 5
“now I can cook because I can cook for myself as well as my friends when they come to visit me which means I have more of a social life as well as a personal life when I cook for myself”
Scene 10
CAN’T is written in blue paint on a large white piece of paper. A hand comes into view with a paintbrush dipped in blue paint. The brush starts to move on the ‘T and it becomes clear that the paint brush is removing paint from the paper and that that shot is being run backwards.
The paint brush leaves the word CAN.
Male voice 6
“I felt a year ago I couldn’t live semi-independently on my own, but now I can because I’ve had help from my Support Worker, Youth Worker, college and my foster carer. Now I feel ready for some independence.”
Scene 11
A layer of sugar has been sprinkled on a black background. A finger writes the word CAN’T in the sugar.
A hand sprinkles sugar over the ‘T and fills it in to leave the word CAN.
Scene 12
A piece of cake with CAN’T written in pink icing on top. A hand comes into shot with a knife and cuts off a piece of cake with ‘T on it and takes it out of shot leaving the word CAN written on the cake.
Scene 13
Red blocks have been laid on a surface and spell out CAN’T. Blue dots are underneath this.
Two yellow semi circles are joined on one side to look like a head with a mouth and there is an eye on the far right. The head munches the blue dots and eats the ‘T leaving CAN.
Female voice 2
“I couldn’t get a job so I bid for funding to start my own business. I did a business plan and succeeded in my bid. I’m now launching my own business.”
Scene 14
A hand sticks yellow post it notes to a wall. Each note has a different letter that together spell CANT. A hand removes the post it with T leaving CAN.
Male voice 7
“One thing I didn’t think I’d be able to do was read and write and I’ve overcome that now with help from my college and that my support workers, my friends and everyone that’s around me”
Scene 15
A brown wooden door with a lion’s head door knocker has CANT spelt out in a vertical line of black letters on rectangular metal strips. The camera zooms in and a hand uses the knocker to knock on the door. The camera then zooms back out and the T letter has been removed to leave CAN
Scene 16
A mossy brick wall. Three pairs of hands come into shot and use bricks to build the word CANT. One of the builders then kicks the T off the wall leaving CAN
Male voice 8
“I never thought I’d get over the fact that I’d never see my parents again.” “I had work with a woman who explained it to me. I had work with a woman who explained it to me. I can now speak freely about my parent’s death and the memories that I have of them. My depression levels have decreased hugely and I can now get on with my life.”
Scene 17
Writing appears on the screen which says ….because you can get over the can’t