AED: 398 :: Idea for Documentary

After giving it quite a lot of thought throughout the week, I finally came up with the basic ideas of my topic for the documentary project. At first I wasn't sure I wanted to dip into something so personal and deep, but now I think maybe I'm supposed to....I believe things happen to us for a reason and although I've been trying to figure out why this happened to me and my husband for a while now, maybe this is one piece of it - to put a voice to the faces of loss. I will be making my documentary on the subject of miscarriage and pregnancy loss. This topic is fresh and somewhat raw to me, but I think this project can also be a source of healing. Miscarriage is such a taboo subject in our society, even though one if four women will experience this in their lifetime. Many people are just beginning to lift the veil on this topic and I think I'm ready to contribute.

Some ideas I have for my project -

Interview with a women who works at Sister's Hospital as a labor and delivery nurse and also is a counselor for families going through a loss. She runs three different counseling groups at the hospital, each meets once a month. There is Footprints on the Heart for families who have experienced a loss through stillbirth (20 weeks gestation+) or the loss of an infant. There is Heart to Heart for families who have experienced the loss of a baby through miscarriage and ectopic pregnancy. And lastly, there is Hopeful Hearts for parents who are pregnant after experiencing a previous pregnancy loss of any kind.

Some of the questions I may present to the nurse:

-How did you start these counseling groups?

-What kinds of emotions do you deal with when meeting with these families?

-What do you hope people will get out of your groups?

-What ways do you think society needs to change in order to make this subject less taboo?

Possibly a couple interviews with people who have experienced loss as well.

Some questions I may pose during the interviews:

-What is your story?

-What were some of the emotions that you experienced?

-What was the worst/best things someone said to you about your loss?

-Why do you think the subject of pregnancy loss is so taboo in our culture?

-What are some of the ways you cope with the loss?

-What are some things you wish had been done differently, what things can change to make this easier or so you don't feel quite so alone?

I have a lot of inspirations to use for this project and plan on pulling from various sources. I think the hardest thing will be sharing personal information. Also the interviews themselves will most likely be difficult for me as well as the subject. I may choose to use a not to use the actual face of the person, and instead tie them to an avatar/character/set of images or something. As a touchy topic, there will be a fine line between this being too emotional and withholding information.