Creating art while on psychedelics
Ben Taylor (he/him) // Crew Writer
Santiago Ospina (he/him) // Illustrator
Note: I do not endorse or recommend the consumption of any psychedelic drugs.
There’s a lot of art that has been described as psychedelic: the music of Pink Floyd, the paintings of Dali, the films of Jodorowsky, etc. But, what is it actually like to create something while actively under the influence of hallucinogenic drugs? Two years ago, I set out to answer this question with two close friends of mine, and we created a short film after dropping acid.
We began with all but some rented equipment we were using for a music video later that week. The most notable item (which ended up serving as the main inspiration for the film) was a probe lens; a long-barrelled macro lens that extends about 40 cm away from the camera body, creating an ultra wide angle ‘bug’s eye view’ effect. With no script and no real plan, we decided to come up with an idea before we were too far gone.
We became fixated on the idea of doing a film about going to the dentist and went back to my friends house to figure out how to shoot it. Wanting to maximize the potential of the probe, our shotlist revolved around getting footage from inside our actors mouth. The acid took hold during the actual shooting of the piece, but we managed to put together a four-minute film. The plot follows a young man who wakes up to realize he’s scheduled to have his teeth cleaned. He rigorously brushes his teeth before reluctantly arriving at the office. The dentist tells him he needs a root canal, and the camera then enters his mouth from the drill’s perspective. From there, things get extremely wacky; he meets ‘the tooth fairy,’ who was wearing a papier-mâché mask with four faces on it. Needless to say, the film never went anywhere. And, while it’s certainly not our best work, I still have incredibly fond memories of the process.
Creating a short film usually takes weeks of rigorous preparation, so working in a very spontaneous manner was a unique and refreshing experience. The lack of a script and shotlist allowed us to let our imagination run wild; the flip side of that being that the film ended up not making a lick of sense. It turns out that making a film while tripping balls is a lot of fun until you sober up and have to edit it all together.
Psychedelics certainly do not make you a better artist. In fact, from a purely technical standpoint, being under the influence of any sort of drug makes things a lot more difficult. But, making ‘Trip to the Dentist’ that afternoon took me back to the very first time I ever picked up a camera and reminded me how important it is to be curious. Often on a bigger set, filmmaking becomes about control: whether that’s the blocking, the lighting or even just the actual control of other people in your department. Every now and then it’s nice to have a project where control is let go, making the process much more fundamental.
I wouldn’t recommend making movies while on acid, especially not if you’re on a tight schedule, or have big plans for the project. What I would recommend is getting out there and experimenting a little, getting some joy back from a practice that can be incredibly draining. Making movies should always be fun, and you don’t need to take acid to realize that.