The Happy Film

- So, these are getting

Blown up a little bit tighter

Than my comfort level

is really into.

- Now that all the big

balloons are inflated,

We're moving into the

small party balloons now

To make chains.

- and

everyone's gonna focus on that.

So this team's working now.

- We fixed it.

We fixed the problem.

We're gonna get liftoff.

- Okay, you're good.

Yeah, we're gonna go out

with three at a time.

it's like the biggest game

of operation and...

- I have no idea

how to start this film.

But I actually do have

The end all figured out.

I'm going to attach 6,000

yellow balloons to myself.

And then I'm gonna take

off against the blue sky.

The yellow contrasting brightly,

And that's just gonna be it.

Jubilation music, probably

Something sigur ros like.

That's actually my

girlfriend veza up there.

I, myself, turned out to be

Too fat for takeoff,

Or, like I prefer to believe,

The balloon gas contracted

In the freezing cold

And threw all of our

Math into disarray.

- Get everybody else back.

- okay,

I need everybody out...

Are you okay, veza?

- I love it.

- okay, one more time.

- well, this is

actually what really happened.

Me not flying in the blue sky

Makes a little bit

more sense after all.

- it would be great

if you could

Go more for height.

You're not jumping

particularly high.

You're just kind of

moving horizontally.

- we need to take

this position again.

- It's like, how can

we not get this shot

With someone in the air?

- stefan's gonna

come out of the rig.

- no.

- okay,

I'm the director here,

I'm gonna make a decision.

- one thing

is that harness

Isn't built professionally.

It is not meant for that.

- well then

I go in this one.

And it's going to be dark

by the time we get him off.

Hang on, hang on, hang on,

Exactly what you

shouldn't be doing

Under the pressure, under

the time constraints,

And the sunset.

You should definitely

not be trying to rig

Someone else into the harness.

- this is

a film about me

Trying to make myself happier.

- this is exactly the

sh*t that I'm talking about.

a number of years earlier,

I was on sabbatical in bali.

My best friend visited

from new york,

And was checking how I

was spending my time.

I was pretty much

making furniture,

And he looked at

all of it and said,

that's good enough

But somehow,

if you come back after a year

With these couple of

chairs and these ideas,

I'm not quite sure if

that's all that worthwhile.

Well, this is really

when the whole idea

For the happy film came up.

I had given a talk on design

and happiness many times,

And I'd always received

really good feedback and

It just seemed like a juicy

Design problem itself,

to make a proper

Project out of it.

And it would force me to

Research the subject properly.

After talking to many

psychologists, I wrote a script.

And I made a list and a plan.

I love making a plan.

It got big.

Anything, fitted in there.

It turned out that making

a film about happiness

Was somehow like

making a film about life.

Too big, just impossible.

I narrowed it down to

My own happiness instead.

After all, on my own happiness,

I really am the world's

number one expert.

The big question really is

Can I train my mind

in the same way

That I can train my body?

And by far, the best book I read

Was this one by jonathan haidt.

So I called him up

And he agreed

to be the scientific

Adviser for this film.

- So, there are three really

Well validated techniques

For changing

your habitual thinking.

The first technique

is meditation.

You concentrate

and you learn to let go

Of thoughts

that make you less happy.

Buddha said something like,

A man must train his mind

Like an elephant tamer

Tames an elephant.

The second technique

is cognitive therapy.

It's a lot easier

than meditation.

People have much higher

success rates.

You catch

your distorted thinking

And you learn to correct it.

The third technique is drugs.

Like lexapro and prozac.

They really do change

the way you think.

And they change your

habitual thought patterns.

- I'm going

to try them all out

For three months each.

So I should be done

in 12 months.

I'm going to measure

my happiness daily

On a scale from one to 10.

I'll double-check that here

and there with an mri scan.

I'll do an eeg.

I'll keep track of

my behavior every week.

And I'll tape a video diary.

And I know little about

how to make a film.

So I'll ask my friend hillman

for help.

And like a proper

graphic designer,

Before I did any of that,

Before shooting anything,

I started with

the title sequence.

It is now may 2009.

And I would say that my

overall level of well-being is,

Right now, maybe like a six.

But I've already come up from

Maybe, like three.

I would say

Two or three weeks ago.

I clearly did

lose a lot of weight.

Most of my trousers

Don't really fit anymore.

I mean, you see,

Even this one is...

Fairly loose

To say the least.

Or I can, well, it's also

an advantage, I guess.

I can dress and redress so

Much quicker in the morning.

Altogether, I just broke off a

Long, long relationship

With my now-ex girlfriend.

We went out for 11 years.

And I'm clearly a little

bit swimming right now.

For sure, the last two months,

Even though

I try to be very active.

My normal mode of

Getting rid of problems

is just to work more.

So I did quite a bit of work.

Kept... Tried to keep myself

Very, very busy.

- Yeah, huge fan

of your guys's work,

I follow you all the time.

- we used to

design a lot of cd covers.

I wanted to

combine my two loves,

Design and music.

Then it turned out that

designing the 28th cover

Wasn't as much fun

as designing the 1st.

- Look at this cd, look

at how cool that thing is.

How slick is that?

Very, very cool.

- and then I

was just trying to see

If I could apply this language

That I know how to speak,

Graphic design,

To something that was

Actually much more personal.

And I found

this little list in my diary

Of things I've learned

In my life so far.

So I chose some of them.

Designed them as well

as I absolutely could.

So, there is trying to look good

Limits my life.

Everything I do

Always comes back

To me.

Keeping a diary

Supports

Personal

Development.

Even though

my initial feeling was

That it's fairly self-indulgent,

The reaction of the

audience was fantastic.

It became this thing that's

still very graphic design,

But a much more

personal expression.

Look, somebody

is in a good mood.

- I'm so excited.

- Excellent.

The reason I wanted

to work with jonathan

Is because he deals

with the whole life,

Not just some small,

specialist stuff.

And at the same time,

he's a true scientist.

Everything he says

is backed up by proper

Authoritative research.

- The view that

I came to in writing the

Happiness hypothesis I

didn't have this view

When I started writing,

but by the end of the book,

I came to the conclusion

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