As a final project for my Moviemaking class, I attempted to do a short film.  The film, titled “Lost Cause,” circles on the relationship between a depressed patient and a doctor.  This is what it looks like:

“Lost Cause” is about a girls struggle with a major case of depression.  She seeks help from her psychiatrist, but he is seemingly oblivious to what is going on deep inside her mind.  I am aiming to communicate exactly that; how patients these days seek help from mental professionals, but instead get nothing useful out of these visits.  These doctors are usually more concerned with prescribing their patients with medications than they are with truly helping them with their problems.  This is accomplished visually by casting a psychiatrist who does not take his patient seriously, as seen from his facial expressions and body language.  A prescription bottle is also used to show how the doctor is eager to give it to his patient.

The film is set in a shrink’s office, with a couch and plenty of books.  The lighting is not dark, although it might be a stark contrast to the dark undertone of the movie.  The majority of the colors fall in three categories: red, black, and off-white.  A male who can pull off his self-righteous attitude is cast as the doctor, and a female who exhibits distress is cast as the patient.  Although it might not seem so at first, the subject matter is a rather dark one.  Patients usually seek help from professionals as a last resort, but find out soon enough that the help they want is not the help they get.  I decided to use this subject matter and made all of these choices in order to take viewers to a place that does not receive many visitors.

Near the end, the doctor prescribes the pills, much to the protest of the patient.  Defeated, the patient gives everything a long thought.  The doctor seems to have no sympathy in him whatsoever.  In the end, the patient is in the bathroom, her mascara running down from her face after mixing with her tears.  She falls deeper into her depression and makes a decision in which there’s no point of return.