The Video Movie Project. (Project Statement)
2001; Johns Hopkins University Press; Volume: 29; Issue: 3 Linguagem: Inglês
ISSN
1543-3404
AutoresStephen R. Campbell, Nancy Linn,
Tópico(s)Film in Education and Therapy
ResumoThe Video Movie project is a theraputic program for children who are patients in a large public city hospital; it takes place on the pediatric inpatient floor of the hospital and is staffed by two members of the Child Life Department. The goal is to facilitate expression and give the children and give them a sense of control by providing them with the opportunity to use their feelings, individuality and imagination in the context of a positive learning experience. A child is offered the possibility of making a movie by the staff member who works on the pediatric floor. He/she looks for an older child or adolescent who could benefit from a creative experience-often times one who is feeling well and may be bored and having difficulty with hospital procedures. Typically these are kids with a chronic illness who are trying to understand what this means to their lives, or kids who have come to the hospital because of a trauma or surgery. Both groups come with misconceptions and a lack of knowledge that creates fear and hostility. These older children often appear to be oppositional and non-cooperative with the staff. The initial proposal to the child is brief. She is asked if she would like to make a video movie, and a photo release is signed by the parent. She is told that the video is just for her and, like a drawing, it can be thrown away and/or erased when it is done or it can be put on a videotape and she can take it home. Staff might ask about past video experience and encourage the child to think about what she might like to make a movie about. After some time to reflect, the child is approached to make the movie. The second staff member is introduced, and the equipment is demonstrated to the child. She is reassured that she will always know when the camera is recording and she can see herself in the camera's view screen. The metaphor of stringing beads is used to explain the shot by shot stages of making the movie. If the child has no ideas of what to make, we show her how to make herself, or an object, disappear and reappear. This often generates the response, I get it' Sometimes a child is full of ideas and we might draw a storyboard or write a script to try and contain and organize her ideas. Props like costumes, hats and phones are available, others are improvised. The filming takes place in the patient's room, in bed if necessary, or a playroom, the hallway or an empty room. We use wheelchairs for tracking shots. If we can't get a photo release and the child can't be on camera we use puppets, claymation or animation. At the end of filming, we look at the complete movie on television. We ask the child for a title. If possible we edit the next day using iMovie. This gives the child the opportunity to add music, sounds and animate credits. Each child is given a copy on tape that is theirs to show to their family and the hospital staff. The video movie program is part of a comprehensive approach to patient care. When material is evoked by the videos that requires follow up, this is shared with the team caring for the child. The videos have allowed the staff greater access to the inner life of a child and his subjective understanding of his illness and treatment. A child is seen in a different light, not just as a challenging patient but an individual with complexity and depth. A teen boy, recently diagnosed with leukemia, retold the story of why he was hospitalized from his platelets' point of view. The teen played both the role of himself talking to a and the voice of the platelet. One staff member did the camera work, and the other was off camera animating the platelet which was made out of felt. The movie begins when a platelet at the end of the bed starts talking to the teen. …
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