Blister Beetle (2025) - Short Film

The Project

"We follow Blister, a young healthcare worker, in a society where everybody has a box that nobody else can ever look into. Nobody will say anything about it, except that it contains 'A Beetle'. But when Blister is struggling with an uncooperative beetle, what lengths will she go to to be heard?"

As part of my final year dissertation, we were tasked to create a project, and I wanted to look towards a passion of mine; philosophy! I think that far too often philosophy is inaccessible to the general public, and that philosophers often treat long stuffy books as the only way to talk about philosophy. So, to stick it to them, put my own take on 75 year old thought experiment, and bring philosophy to new audiences, I'm making a film!

The Philosophy

The original thought experiment comes from Ludwig Wittgenstein, and he uses the idea of a society where everybody has this mysterious box and 'Beetle' to discuss how language struggles to account for private experiences and sensations, and he uses the beetle itself as an allegory for pain, and in the end he decides that what is inside the box is irrelevant, and only the language used matters.

But the casual dismissal of personal experiences seemed all too familiar to me, and reminded me of the chronic pain that I, and many women in my life, struggle to express and be taken seriously about, and I wanted a way to express this frustration while discussing the thought experiment - and thus Blister Beetle was born.

Here you can see my academic project piece which served as 20% of the dissertation grade (with the finished project making up 50%).

The Plan

I am currently starting pre production for the film! Our shoot dates are the 21st-24th April, and the deadline for the final project is the start of May, meaning a relatively quick post production turnaround!

The Funds

Unfortunately, as part of our dissertation, we have equipment rental hired, and not very much else. I've been luckily enough to get locations for this piece, but in order to fund props, costuming, catering, and some necessary tech purchases, I need a little extra help. The film should be approximately 5 minutes or so, and I'm doing what I can to keep costs low. But any help is greatly appreciated!