0:00:03 > 0:00:06CHATTER
0:00:06 > 0:00:11First Sign Of Love deals with a young girl who is partially deaf.
0:00:11 > 0:00:15She has to cope with going to secondary school for the first time.
0:00:15 > 0:00:17It was filmed in and around Bridgend.
0:00:17 > 0:00:21Casting for the main role proved difficult.
0:00:21 > 0:00:24Challenges on this film have been, first of all, finding a suitable
0:00:24 > 0:00:26lead actress.
0:00:26 > 0:00:30Our hunt was very wide, across the country...
0:00:30 > 0:00:34and then, low and behold, we found our lead actress,
0:00:34 > 0:00:37literally, just under our noses, actually.
0:00:37 > 0:00:40She turned up to an It's My Shout audition, literally, a couple of
0:00:40 > 0:00:44days later and we found her and I'm so glad that we did, because she's
0:00:44 > 0:00:45absolutely perfect!
0:00:47 > 0:00:51Shawna Workman auditioned for another role in It's My Shout.
0:00:51 > 0:00:54She had become deaf after being ill as a child.
0:00:54 > 0:00:57'I had meningitis when I was a child,'
0:00:57 > 0:00:59that's how I'm deaf.
0:00:59 > 0:01:02OK, so how is your hearing, generally?
0:01:02 > 0:01:04Because we're talking fine now.
0:01:04 > 0:01:07Yeah...well, I'm actually lip reading you.
0:01:07 > 0:01:11- Really?- Yeah.- That's really strange.
0:01:11 > 0:01:14I'm completely deaf in my right ear, I'm a little bit deaf in my left ear
0:01:14 > 0:01:17and I can't hear high frequency sounds, so if a train was to stop
0:01:17 > 0:01:20in front of me, I wouldn't be able to hear it.
0:01:20 > 0:01:25Shawna had originally been taught sign language by her grandmother,
0:01:25 > 0:01:29but she had to have a refresher course for this production.
0:01:29 > 0:01:33I learnt a lot of sign language growing up and then my grandma
0:01:33 > 0:01:37passed away, so I wasn't able to keep up with the sign language.
0:01:37 > 0:01:41So, finding out last week about all the different videos and that,
0:01:41 > 0:01:46cos I watched them all, about sign language, it just came back to me.
0:01:47 > 0:01:51The drama is based in the 1980s, when attitudes towards disability
0:01:51 > 0:01:53were different.
0:01:53 > 0:01:56We, kind of, set the film in the '80s, because in the '80s, it was
0:01:56 > 0:02:01starting to see the integration of deaf people
0:02:01 > 0:02:05and people with disabilities into mainstream schools.
0:02:05 > 0:02:08So, that's why we set it back then,
0:02:08 > 0:02:11cos it was showing the actually first time that this was happening,
0:02:11 > 0:02:13that these situations were happening
0:02:13 > 0:02:16and I think that's a really important story to tell, as well.
0:02:18 > 0:02:21For lead actor Lewis Coster, it was an insight into the world
0:02:21 > 0:02:23of 30 years ago.
0:02:25 > 0:02:29You know, hearing that any kind of impairment or disability
0:02:29 > 0:02:32wasn't as catered for, in terms of technology,
0:02:32 > 0:02:36but also in terms of how society, kind of, views them.
0:02:36 > 0:02:39So, the kids would have been a lot
0:02:39 > 0:02:44more horrible to Megan than today.
0:02:44 > 0:02:48And I think you see that and I think Jake represents the change in, like,
0:02:48 > 0:02:52view towards this kind of issue, because Jake actually does um and ah
0:02:52 > 0:02:55about it, but in the end, he goes,
0:02:55 > 0:02:58"Do you know what? Actually, I don't care what Elliot thinks.
0:02:58 > 0:03:00"I don't care what the school thinks, I like this girl,
0:03:00 > 0:03:03"regardless of whether she has whatever,
0:03:03 > 0:03:05"and I'm going to go and speak to her."
0:03:08 > 0:03:12The thing about Shawna is that she's so natural in her acting,
0:03:12 > 0:03:14it's very easy to forget that you're making a film.
0:03:14 > 0:03:16And it's very easy to relax when you're playing
0:03:16 > 0:03:20alongside her, because she's so effortless in her acting.
0:03:20 > 0:03:24That's made the process a whole lot easier, is Shawna, basically.
0:03:24 > 0:03:27Making the film made the production crew
0:03:27 > 0:03:30consider their views on disability.
0:03:33 > 0:03:35Anyone with disabilities now,
0:03:35 > 0:03:37they are just going into mainstream school.
0:03:37 > 0:03:41No-one is segregated any more, which is obviously a brilliant thing.
0:03:41 > 0:03:44You know, why can't kids with disabilities just be teenagers
0:03:44 > 0:03:46as well? They don't have to be segregated
0:03:46 > 0:03:49into different schools, obviously.
0:03:50 > 0:03:53For Shawna, who has made films before,
0:03:53 > 0:03:57First Sign Of Love was a very important production.
0:03:57 > 0:04:00I hope that it gets shown,
0:04:00 > 0:04:03like, across all different demographics
0:04:03 > 0:04:07and I hope people actually enjoy it and I hope that they actually learn
0:04:07 > 0:04:10about all these different disabilities.
0:04:10 > 0:04:11I hope they actually,
0:04:11 > 0:04:15like, when they walk down the street and see someone with a hearing aid,
0:04:15 > 0:04:18they take the chance to notice know that person could be lip reading,
0:04:18 > 0:04:21that person could take a long time just to be able to hear what
0:04:21 > 0:04:23I'm saying.
0:04:23 > 0:04:25That's what I genuinely hope,
0:04:25 > 0:04:28I hope people have a better understanding of deaf people.
0:04:30 > 0:04:32Shall we do it again?
0:04:36 > 0:04:39That's J-A-K-E.
0:04:39 > 0:04:40This is A.