Fausto J. Pinto, Chair of the Faculty Board, set the Communications Office a challenge: to innovate and renew the image of the Faculty, focusing on two key points: developing a new site; and presenting the Faculty to the world, with an online business card, via an institutional video.
The team split up to take on all the different projects and embarked on this journey as their own, which is the way many things begin.
"An institutional video" I thought... The title alone carried a weight that seemed to detract from any creativity. Anything really good has already been thought of by someone, but we can always take these ideas and redesign them to fit our reality. The trick would be to watch as many videos as possible, try to come up with a vague idea, and then make a proposal to the Chair. "What do they want to hear?" I asked myself as I thought of students I'd known before. As I thought of them the answer came quickly: "they will be the ones to talk, because so many of them have spoken about how they feel when they're here."
First meeting with the Chair. My hands are freezing. He takes a seat next to me at the round meeting table, as though he's about to share a film, or a good moment with us. I defended myself from the outset, "you're probably going to think I'm crazy." It only took a few minutes of videos for him to say, "I can see exactly what you want to show. Go ahead! Ask the President of the AEFML (Student Association of the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Lisbon) to help you, he definitely will."
That's the challenge of working with this Chair: he puts his trust in you, which means responsibility, and the obligation to not fail. Lines written whilst thinking of the names of those I met, of the Institution and of the person who runs it. And so the mission becomes instinctive.
There followed meetings with a group of people from the audiovisual team. Rival market producers, but long-term friends, came together to make a more technical puzzle, but also to give their opinions as objective viewers. Having chosen a team, we moved our focus to the institutional aspect. Instead of the text, there were lists of equipment, proposals that were more or less bold and negotiations to try to illustrate what until then had only been imagined.
The holidays began and the Faculty became more and more empty, getting emptier by the day; we could hear the sound of late-July afternoons.
I asked Professor Ana Sebastião to be authorised to enter the Egas Moniz Building. She loved the idea, but reminded me that most people had already left and wouldn't be back for a few weeks. Then we spoke to people at the Hospital and the iMM, all set to go. Those who remained at the Faculty opened the doors for us, turning a blind eye to the time we spent there after hours so that we could film.
I went on holiday and that's when I started working with the AEFML's José Rodrigues. He was between the Faculty and hikes in the Azores and I was on another island. Dozens and dozens of messages exchanged. He became "Zé," a faithful ally who ended up doing almost half of the work. "Look, I've got the girls, you take care of the boys," I told him. And Zé introduced me to two more incredible people. So our students were chosen.
August arrived. Some of them came specifically for the video, others happened to be staying here at the right time. We had the same luck with some professors and that's how we all got together, dividing the filming over several days.
All on time, all genuine and all on a mission, "this family is ours, of course I'll help show it to the world."
We always started early. We almost always finished too late, when the doors were being locked and the corridors seemed too dark and creaked as we wheeled technical equipment through. "Filipa, now we need to open this door. Now close that one;" the Faculty security guards were our shadows - they never let us down. Our protagonists guided us. They didn't know if they were filming and we didn't know where we were going; we would hear, "go up to the 3rd floor, cross the entire corridor, then go down to the first floor and turn left, and the room you're looking for is just there."
We took the lift with people on stretchers, others in wheelchairs, others in a hurry to get to an exam and impatient with our equipment. We entered the operating theatre, watched a surgery, saw the cut, blood. Some almost fainted, others wanted to stay there for the rest of the day to watch and learn something they'd never seen before. Thousands of people passed by us over the days, most of them alive, but not all...
"Scene 2, take 1, action!" They pulled it off like film heroes, taking on lines and actions, with no fear of facing people, no fear of making fools of themselves. Do the same thing over and over again and nothing discourages them, they don't lose heart or ask questions, they accept the rules of the game and give it their all.
When we filmed a sentence from the Hippocratic Oath, Susana Henriques, the head librarian, brought me a treasured book from the 18th century, a gem kept in a safe, an edition of the first oath. What an honour to hold so much history, so much responsibility, in the palms of our hands.
The days go by. More hours. We change protagonists, but others come back because they want to repeat a scene. They always want to collaborate. To improve.
We had to put the spotlight in the waiting room full of patients. Ah, here we needed special authorisation... "Ask the head nurse." And she came, they came, the ones we say are always there to help, always there to solve problems.
In the iMM, the Biobank, the Main Library, the Neuroscience Library, and the Anatomical Theatre, many people waited for us after hours, but they never complained.
"Take 5, action!" and they repeated, "just one more scene to make it perfect."
The numerous hours of footage went to be edited, which took me several days in a row, and several nights. Insert photo, insert video, delete this photo, now put it back again. "It doesn't work," I thought of the many times I first watched the film. I went back and forth and there was always something missing. Another try, new shots, really short ones that only added to the idea I had envisioned. No-one broke, no-one lost motivation.
With every test we sent to the Chair, I felt we were getting there. "From France to Spain, keep going, you're on the right track."
Hours listening to music. "No, this one doesn't make sense, nor this one, and neither does this one." We found a song, this was the one, it was meant to be - "Beauty," by Andrew G.
The video was ready. In that moment I felt the urge to hug everyone to show how proud I was. I probably didn't hug anyone... But I did want to.
The video was presented at the opening session of the Faculty Day. The last image vanished and the technical file appeared. There was an awkward silence in the room. I froze again. Then came a huge round of applause. The hours and days that followed were full of generous feedback, some particularly moving.
Did we manage to represent everyone? No.
Did we touch everyone? Of course not. But when we put our heart and soul into a project, it stays there, even if we don't remember every moment we lived.
My first thanks go to Dr. Fausto, who hands out blank cheques to those he trusts.
Next, to the four protagonists whose journeys we now want to follow until the end: Estela Flambó, José Charréu, Mickael Bartikian and Victoria Stosberg.
To Zé, José Rodrigues, President of the AEFML, who I went to with all of my doubts and insecurities before and during filming, and to the AEFML, which helped us so much in our search for the perfect photography and equipment. And to all the other students who appeared in the video.
To the professors who collaborated with us with so much generosity, flexibility and patience: Professors Ana Isabel Lopes, Joana Sousa, Miguel Castanho, Sérgio de Almeida.
To Pedro Henriques from the Anatomical Theatre and to João Pedro Nóbrega, the intern who spent hours waiting for us to finish.
To Susana Henriques and Isabel Santos, who gave me so much time and information.
To the Hospital team and the Interventional Cardiology unit.
To nurses Ima Figueiredo and Ana Sanches and the generosity of Dr Ana Tornada, who was always there to help behind the scenes.
To Cláudia and Inês from iMM Communications and to Fabiana at Biobank, who simulated countless tests on the same tumour sample.
To the Strategic Planning and Quality Office for helping us collect data and statistics.
Thanks to everyone, because no matter what, here is where we all decided to stay!
If you still haven't seen it, watch the video here.
Joana Sousa
Editorial Team