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Inquiro UAB's Undergraduate Research Journal
Inquiro Vol. 11 - desaturated image of woman drinking from a mug, at a table with laptop, phone, potted plant, and other items.

Inquiro Volume 11

“A New Normal”: The Making of A Short Documentary on Childhood Cancer Survivorship

Authors: Britney Le and Victoria Sutton

Department of Biology (Le) and Department of Computer Science (Sutton)

Film Synopsis: As students in the University Honors Program, we began this film as a project for our Ethnographic Film-making seminar, instructed by Michele Foreman. The diagnosis of cancer, especially in children, is a life-altering experience with long-lasting effects. Even after the cancer is no longer detectable, the medical, financial, and social challenges faced by survivors are functionally significant, yet often neglected. Addressing this gap, our film, entitled “A New Normal,” uses vignettes from survivors and retrospectives from healthcare professionals to explore the unique challenges faced by childhood cancer patients as they progress through different stages of treatment, offering insight into the changes of childhood cancer treatment over time and the challenges that still lie ahead (Le & Sutton, 2022). The film aims to uncover the underexplored emotional experiences of childhood cancer survivors, which are frequently unacknowledged by the public and their social networks. Although resources and support groups for cancer survivors exist, their focus tends to be directed toward survivors of adult cancers, resulting in a paucity of attention and resources for survivors of childhood. By bringing attention to the challenges encountered by childhood cancer survivors, our film seeks to raise awareness about the insufficient funding and resources for research in this area. “A New Normal” can be accessed publicly on Vimeo and the link to the film is included as reference for readers to watch.

Watch FilmOpens an external link.

Prior Research

Before we began creating the film, we had to have a cohesive understanding of the current state of childhood cancer research and survivorship and the resources available for survivors. Although there have been significant strides in childhood cancer treatment protocols since the 1960s, standard treatments such as chemotherapy and radiation can impact survivors well throughout their lives. These late effects can affect every aspect of the body, causing damage to cognitive functioning, the central nervous system, organs, tissues, mobility, mental health, and more, while also increasing the risk for secondary or tertiary cancers (National Cancer Institute, 2022). Cancer treatment is especially more difficult to tailor for children, as chemotherapy and radiation are more likely to cause delayed and disastrous harm to children’s developing bodies (Couzin-Frankel, 2019). As we previously stated in Le & Sutton (2022), “Improving treatment and reducing late effects is entirely dependent on one thing: research. In spite of this, only 4% of NIH funding goes towards research for all childhood cancers combined, despite childhood cancer being the leading cause of death by disease in children" (National Pediatric Cancer Foundation, 2023).

Filmmaking Process

We wanted to approach the topic of childhood cancer survivorship through multiple lenses, requiring us to reach out and schedule multiple interviews with medical professionals, researchers, and survivors. We developed our own questions to ask each participant and collected raw footage throughout the first half of our semester. Following our initial interview filming, we used an online transcription system to create scripts of all of our interviews. We were then set with the task of pasting these various interviews together to create a cohesive and telling narrative that reflects our topic. Our goal was to first introduce the survivors and their experiences living with cancer and then transition into a broader message regarding the greater developments in childhood cancer research and the lingering problems that still affect both patients and the field. With this idea in mind, we spent hours reading, highlighting, and cutting all parts of our scripts to bring our message forward to our audience. Additionally, we incorporated archived film clips of cancer treatment from the 1940s to represent the history of cancer treatment. We also collaborated with Children’s of Alabama’s media team to include footage from inside the cancer clinics and aerial footage of Birmingham.

When we began the film, we had no experience using professional film equipment or editing software. Over the course of a semester, we had to learn how to use a Canon XA50 Professional UHD 4K Camcorder, the accompanying tripod, an onboard and lavalier microphone, and Adobe Premiere Pro. The majority of what we learned was on the spot, often needing to adjust camera settings and angles depending on the lighting, time of day, weather, and characteristics of the physical location. Many of the technical challenges we faced during filming had to be corrected later on in the editing software, such as removing background noise related to a loud air conditioning unit in a conference room or color correcting footage due to inconsistent lighting and cloud movement. In addition, we had to find and insert B-roll clips to cover areas where it was noticeable that we had cut and spliced interview clips together so the viewer could stay emerged within the narrative. The majority of production time went into editing, sometimes even causing us to stay in the UAB media commons until midnight before we got to a good stopping point. Navigating these challenges and adapting on the go was paramount to our growth, and by the end of the semester, we were significantly more comfortable with the filmmaking process, equipment, and software compared to when we began this project.

Post-Film Experience

Alongside our fellow seminar classmates, our film was publicly premiered in the IMAX theater at the McWane Science Center. Despite our Spring semester coming to a close, this was just the beginning of all the other opportunities that opened up for us following this seminar. This past summer, our film was accepted into the Sidewalk Film Festival and was screened to film-enthusiasts of the Birmingham community. This past November, we presented our film to college honor students and faculty members from around the country at the National Collegiate Honors Conference in Dallas, Texas, spreading our message further and receiving meaningful feedback along the way. Our film-making passions also influenced us to work on another project through the Honors College Presidential Honors Fellowship, focusing on cervical cancer prevention with Dr. Isabel Scarinci from the O’Neal Comprehensive Cancer Center. We worked with her over the summer to develop a PSA-type film that spreads awareness of an ongoing problem in our community. Despite being beyond what our declared majors required, we both found a purpose within the creative passion of film-making, and we hope to continue to give a voice to these unheard, yet important stories.

References