Inside Our Autistic Minds - MURRAY

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In this brilliant and deeply moving series, Chris Packham gives four young autistic people – Murray, Anton, Flo and Ethan, who are at a key point in their lives, the chance to bring their experiences to life. By immersing himself in their everyday experiences, he learns and observes the unique way they sense and interact with the world.

After extensive collaboration and design processes with the series director and producers, along with Chris and the contributors themselves, we created four individual, personal and unique short films on behalf of Anton, Ethan, Flo and Murray, visually and audibly channelling each of their interior worlds. They were then revealed by Chris to their families and friends, showing how they’re really feeling inside and what’s really going inside their autistic minds.

Murray is non-speaking, and has never spoken. Instead he communicates by typing on a tablet. This is a very slow process for him as he also has apraxia, difficulty executing planned movements and gestures. Despite not speaking, Murray desperately wants people to know what’s going on inside his mind.

Scripted by Murray, his inner thoughts and feelings were portrayed within an animated ‘theatre’, using scenes that metaphorically depicted what the world is like to him from his perspective, emphasising the importance of alternative communicators being heard. The film and design consisted of bespoke illustration making up the multiple scenes and specially shot photographic imagery of Murray animated and capturing the essence of his message and poignant life observations that he wrote on his tablet.