The Video Movie Project - Project Statement

The 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 "platelet" 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. The teen reiterates a couple of times that he doesn't know what a platelet is and the platelet tries to explain that he, the platelet, caused the bleeding that necessitated the teen going to the hospital. The teen and the platelet decide to join forces to make more platelets. The movie ends with them singing together "Just the Two of Us' The movie allowed the patient to review the chain of events that led to his hospitalization. It highlighted the questions and misconceptions that he had and let him express his concerns. He also showed a playfulness and imagination that the staff hadn't seen bef ore.

A girl who was restricted to her bed made her movie by telling and acting out a dream. Her teddy bear comes alive and gives her magic powers. She uses the magic to travel to different places, changing outfits (hats, wigs and small props) to match the new locations. She was able to use her imagination to escape the confines of the hospital bed and gain control over her environment.

A teen with sickle cell anemia enacted a good kid/bad kid scenario, ending with a fight between the two. The movie begins with the good kid playing near a television. His image appears on the screen and says "Pssst!" a couple of times to get the good kid's attention. An argument ensues between them as to which of them is the strongest. The good kid drags the bad kid out of the television screen and they wrestle to the floor. The bad kid wins, killing the good kid. In real life the sickle cell anemia was winning. This is an adolescent trying to understand a chronic illness. He very succinctly expressed the bewilderment of sometimes feeling well and at other times feeling very sick, as well as the possibility of his own death.

Another teen with a chronic illness used claymation to make his movie, creating a Martian super hero that saves the planet earth from a meteor shower. He created the set that was the environment for the movie with meteors that rush menacingly toward the earth. The movie-making gave the teen a sense of power and control that is often lost in a hospital setting. Along with writing movies the children also recite their poetry and sing songs they have written. Soap operas, talk shows and imitated movies, such as The Blair Witch Project are also reenacted.

A teen who had been restricted to bed was asked to move to a wheelchair. He was afraid it would be painful, and refused. When engaged in the movie-making and distracted enough from his pain, he was able to make the transition.

The kids are always eager to show their movie to family and the staff. Parents have reported back, "You were right, we've watched it 1000 times?" The teens have said, "I'm gonna be a movie star!" "It looks like a real movie" and "Oh snap, that's phat!"

The Video Movie Project as a therapeutic intervention is based on the traditional principles of play therapy, with updated materials. Movies and television are a part of daily life but access to the technology to create their own movies and television programs is not always available to children. A child's sense of fantasy and playfulness easily translates into videos that explore the realms of both past and future. They can compensate for losses and take control of their environment. Seeing one's self on television is a concrete means of self observation and reflection, making the experience direct and powerful.

STEPHEN CAMPBELL, M.S., A.T.R. and NANCY LINN, M.F.A., are senior members of the Department of Child Life and Developmental Services at Bellevue Hospital in New York City. Stephen Campbell is a registered art therapist and a commercial illustrator. Nancy Linn is a professional photographer with a background in child development.

COPYRIGHT 2001 Visual Studies Workshop
COPYRIGHT 2001 Gale Group