Side Effects

EXPLORING THE SIDE EFFECTS

The concept for this project has been on my mind for a while. I have a complicated relationship with hormonal birth control, having been on four different pills in less than four years. I have experienced a broad range of side effects: weight gain, depression, anxiety, migraines, acne, and more. I also knew I wanted to do a simple production during my final term of university. I therefore began production on Side Effects, a documentary exploring the side effects of hormonal birth control. 

In April I posted an anonymous Google Form through my amateur production company, Absolute Faff productions. I asked people to share their experiences with and questions about hormonal birth control. Contributors had the opportunity to share their name and details if they were comfortable partaking in the documentary. Those who remained anonymous had the choice to consent to their story being reenacted by an actor. 

I messaged all the contributors who included their name and posted a casting call for some actors. I decided to use bedrooms as the sets, inspired by the documentary Paris is Burning (1990), to create a sense of intimacy. 

We had two contributors and three actors in the end – we lost a few people because of the busy term schedule. However, five was a perfect amount to make a short documentary (I'm aiming for 10-15 minutes). For the actors, I selected responses from the Google Form and edited them into monologues. I had three questions for the contributors: (1) tell us about your experience with hormonal birth control, (2) what do you wish you had known before starting hormonal birth control, and (3) do you think your doctor and/or education aptly prepared you for you experience with hormonal birth control – why? 

I tried to implement things I had learned from the production of Behind Breakwater. I filmed the actors and contributors in a controlled environment. I filmed the actors' monologues from multiple different angles and made sure to get a variety of b-roll footage. I spoke to a director, Sunny, for some advice before filming.

The film is a simple edit: cutting between the interviews and questions. I ordered them based on the topics discussed in the footage – I tried to find places where conversations were similar to create smooth transitions between interviews. I was hoping to also include some research and statistics, but my researchers dropped out because of their finals. I have done some research to include but it is not very thorough. Nevertheless, I think it is a good little project. It would be great to do another one, on a larger scale and in more depth, in the future.