Production phase

After doing more research I have established that I want to look into the main angle in greater detail and use one case study to balance it but also to offer my audience a real taste of what it feels like. The link between the two would be how finding the cause, for which funding into research is needed, would improve treatment options and help break the stigma.

I am planning on interviewing various people for my 7-minute radio documentary in order to get a range of opinions and investigate my idea more thoroughly. Some possible interviewees include Dr. Sam Chamberlain - the main author in a neurology study done trying to find the cause of TTM, Lucinda Ellery hair loss consultancy salon and a client of hers who is still pulling. These individuals will provide me a better explanation of the neurology side of my documentary and in the case of Lucinda Ellery, she will offer a current alternative of help available for trichsters. Lastly, the case study will be vital as they will provide the real story which can play a great role in my project.

I need to make sure that the balance between my two journalistic roles of staying objective and impartial and showing my interest into the topic remains consistent. So, I am going to make sure that I do not use an accusative tone and that everything I say is accurate.

Getting Interviews

For me, it wasn’t hard to secure the case studies interviews because once I contacted Lucinda Ellery, she provided me with three women to talk to and they were all happy to be interviewed. Two of them, Karen and Flo were pull free, but the third one Angela, wasn’t. I did talk to all of them three, but in the end, I chose to use just Angela’s interview because it felt the most emotionally striking to me and it would have a big impact on my audience.

The challenge was finding the expert. I tried to contact Dr Sam for two weeks either by email or phone, but he did not reply to any of my emails. I also tried calling Southampton university’s number in order to talk to him, but it did not work either. At this point I was getting frustrated and stressed. At the same time, I was trying to find other neurology/neurosurgery experts with whom I could talk to but none of them were specialising in trichotillomania too.

In the end I had to give up pursuing Dr Chamberlain and interviewed Dr Himanshu Tyagi, a consultant neurologist whose special interest was trichotillomania.

How I did the interviews

Dr Himanshu and Angela’s interviews were done over the phone. My disappointment was interviewing Lucinda in the same method too. The reason why was because we were meant to meet face to face at her salon studio in London and one week before that the second lockdown started in the UK, so we had to cancel it. I was so excited to go and meet her, get background sound but also the quality of the interview would have been so much better. Unfortunately, it didn’t happen, and I had to adapt to the new rules.

The other issue was that my radio equipment had to be returned soon too so my only option was to record the sound in my house. For this, I asked my cousin to help record some hairdryer sounds, brushing hair sounds or plucking. The last one was the hardest because it is such a noiseless movement, I had to turn the levels so high and I had to point the microphone very close to the head so it could pick up the sound.

Featured picture is from Pixabay and is available at : https://pixabay.com/photos/studio-music-production-sound-5492700/