Project History
While there may seem like no better medium for Paper Birds than film now, the project actually began as a written piece. Alli had spent the latter half of her teen years doing photo essays, and because of her draw to photojournalism, her initial idea was to put the events of that fall on paper. But after pitching the idea to her professor in February of 2021, he suggested she take his two-part documentary course the following fall and translate her story to film. She did, and after a few months of learning the art of documentary film, in November of 2021, production officially began for Paper Birds, though it would not be until February of 2022 that the first interviews were filmed.
The original crew consisted of five Millersville students from Dr. Chang’s Documentary 1 & 2 course. In the spring semester of 2022, the crew completed six taped interviews. At the end of the semester in the absence of a finished product, the group presented mini-segments and a projection of the project. In the fall of 2022, Alli began production on Paper Birds again. With the help of Dr. Chang and classmate Taylor Greene, she taped Dr. Sizer’s interview. A few weeks later is when she would receive a message from her department about the opportunity to present her work at NCUR: the largest annual conference on undergraduate research in the country. That upcoming year, it was being held in Eau Claire, Wisconsin in April. She applied late that fall and in January, she was notified of her acceptance. For the spring of 2023, Alli worked diligently on putting together a fifteen minute cut of the film. With the help of two classmates, Reed Donnelly and Spencer Seikel, she would be able to get some additional b-roll for the film featuring herself and Dr. Sizer.
In April of 2023, Alli flew out to the University of Wisconsin Eau Claire to make her debut as a documentary filmmaker where she presented the first half of Paper Birds. After returning from her trip, she decided to take an indefinite break from editing due to the project’s emotional tax. However, she plans on finishing the film either later this year or early 2024. The end product is expected to be roughly 30 minutes long.
Interviewees
Allison Connelly
Protagonist
Alli is a student at Millersville University studying Media Arts Production. She transferred from Bloomsburg University after her freshman year when the Pandemic hit. But despite all of this, she went into her sophomore year with high hopes after realizing doing school online will not only give her extra free time, but also allow her to spend more time with her nieces. Her world is flipped upside down once again though after a ‘memory of a memory’ emerges.
Though it would take some time to find her footing, she decides to do what she’s always done with pain: create. Over the next few years, she would start piecing a documentary on recovered memories to bring to light what it means to say ‘the body remembers trauma.’
Kim Connelly
Alli’s Mom
Kim Connelly is a registered NICU nurse at Christiana Hospital. Growing up Pentecostal in a small town in Ohio, her faith largely shapes her identity and the way she parents. She is the mother to three children: Kristina, Mikey and her youngest, Alli. After Alli’s first episode on the night of August 29th of 2020, Kim agreed her daughter needed to speak with a mental health professional. She knew of Dr. Sizer, a Christian psychologist, from a book of his she once read.
Over the next few months, Alli would begin to open up to her mom more about the strange things going on in her body and mind. But given their different belief systems, it would turn out the the two had very different interpretations of Alli’s experiences.
Kristina Lloyd
Alli’s Sister
Kristina is a stay-at-home mom to five children, having had her first child, Evelyn, in 2018. However, given the large age gap between her and her siblings, the role of ‘mother’ is one she feels she’s worn for some time now.
Kristina follows in her mother’s footsteps of having faith be a very prominent role in her life. However, due to her own mental health struggles in the past, Kristina tends to hold more progressive views when it comes to addressing mental illness.
However, despite the close bond and shared experiences she shares with her younger sister, because of their different views, they two failed to see eye-to-eye on what exactly Alli was dealing with.
Evelyn Lloyd
Alli’s Niece
Evelyn is Kristina’s oldest child, Kim’s first grandchild and Alli’s first niece. Being born when Alli was just seventeen, the two developed a very close bond. Though it wouldn’t be something she’d piece together in retrospect, Alli believes her tight knit relationship with Evelyn may have played a role in ‘the box’ surfacing. In the weeks following August 29th, she would begin to have terrifying nightmares involving her eldest niece.
Dr. Francis Sizer
Allis Former Psychologist
Dr. Francis Sizer is an ordained Roman Catholic priest and former pastor who now privately practices as a clinical psychologist. He began seeing Alli as a patient in September of 2020. During that time, Dr. Sizer was meeting with patients predominately online. However, because of the nature of Alli’s case, he wished to meet with her in person. For the next three months, the two of them would meet weekly outside on Dr. Sizer’s back porch in Chadds Ford, PA.
Dr. Jim Hopper
Clinical Psychologist, Trauma & Memory Expert
Dr. Jim Hopper is a clinical psychologist and nationally recognized expert on trauma, memory, and recovery. He specializes in the neurobiology of trauma, mindfulness-based healing, and trauma-informed approaches for professionals. Dr. Hopper earned his Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and serves as a Teaching Associate in Psychology at Harvard Medical School. He is featured in Paper Birds as a trauma scholar, and has a wealth of free resources on his website.
Crew
- Director: A.C. Brooke
- Assistant Director: Amber Stuart
- Producer: A.C. Brooke
- Screenplay: A.C. Brooke
- Camera Operators (A-Roll): Changfu Chang, Jaylen Hodge
- Camera Operators (B-Roll): A.C. Brooke, Reed Donnelly, Spencer Seikel, Tyler Rake
- Audio Technicians: Tyler Rake, Amber Stuart, Changfu Chang
- Editor: Jordan Graff
- Interviewers: A.C. Brooke, Taylor Greene, Amber Stuart
Special Thanks
Lisa Qualmann
Mona Easterling
Marcus Lewis
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Lily Chen
Millersville Universtiy
Learn More
In February of 2023, I was awarded the Neimeyer-Hodgson Grant from the Niemeyer-Hodgson Grant committee at Millersville University. This funding was extremely significant to me as Paper Birds has been a self-funded project. With their generous gift, I was able to pay my peers for my work. I would also like to thank Millersville for covering all costs related to my trip to NCUR. I would not have had the opportunity to attend otherwise
NCUR – University of Wisconsin
Learn More
In January, I was accepted to present my work at the 2023 National Conference on Undergraduate Research (NCUR). NCUR is “the largest symposium of its kind”, bringing together nearly 4,000 undergrad students annually. In April, I had the honor of heading out west to premiere the first fifteen minutes of Paper Birds at the University of Wisconsin Eau Claire and connect with passionate peers from all over the country.
Rooted Lancaster
Though their taped interview was not in the final cut of Paper Birds due to technical difficulties on our end, I’d like to give a huge thank you to Rooted Lancaster for sitting down with us not once, but twice to be interviewed. Allie Lindt and Dana Hampton went above and beyond their duties as mental health professionals by offering their time and knowledge to us in the hopes of helping create a more trauma informed community.
Marcus Lewis
Marcus Lewis is licensed professional counselor and a a Clinical Certified Trauma Professional specializing in working with individuals struggling with PTSD, Complex PTSD, anxiety, depression, anger, dissociation, and attachment struggles. He earned his Bachelors from George Mason University and his Masters in Clinical Mental Health Counseling from Regent University. He was featured in the first draft of Paper Birds as a trauma scholar and provided valuable insight during pre-production.
Project Paper Birds 