Research Blog #2

For my second research blog the article I found comes from The New York Times "Number of People Living On New York Streets Soar" by Julie Bosman.
This article talks about the number of homless people living on the streets, subway systems and shelters of New York City. It answers some of my questions about statistics as well as gives me some back up information I was not aware of. My favorite part of this article is the information it gives the reader about the 2,500 volenteers that gather together on a january night to walk the streets of not only nyc but the boroughs around it looking and couting the amount of homless people found on the streets. I plan on looking further into this census that is held every january and using it to find more deatils about teen homlessness.
This article was a great find, Thanks New York Times for answering my questions!

Research Blog

 

My films topic deals with teen homelessness in New York City, for our film my team and I have to research topics related to homelessness, shelters, high school dropout statistics due to homelessness as well as any other topics similar to our film. This topic is interesting and worth researching to our group because of the amount of homelessness we are surrounded by on a daily basis living here in New York City, as well as trying to change the stereotypical views on homelessness and homeless teens here in New York.

Although I have not known anyone personally, before researching for our film who has dealt with being homeless, this topic has a personal connection to me because of growing up in Manhattan and seeing first hand the effects of homelessness has on a person. There is no subway in the city that does not have someone with out a home sleeping and living on the platforms, some with a dog or a cat, or in worst cases some holding children. Whether it be a teen or an elderly person the effects and reality of homelessness is real to many people living here in New York. Although many New Yorkers have become comfortable with homelessness, there has yet to be a day that I walk past someone with out a home and hurt for them. There is only so much we feel we can do as residents of this great city, but is there really? Are there limits for helping? I don't think so, this is the city that never sleeps, the city where anything is possible, so lets make some things possible. My connection to this topic has inspired me as well as my group mates to stand up and help, in the best way we know. Education, education through the art of film. As we bring the streets to you, we hope you can feel the connection we living here do. These Streets Are Our Home will broaden your views on adolescent homelessness.

Some of the research topics that my team and I will have to answer will be some of the following: 

- How many teens are homeless each year in New York City? (statistics)

- How many of those teens are homeless without parents in NYC? (statistics)

- How many teens drop out of school each year due to homelessness? (statistics)

- How many people can (most) homeless shelters fit? 

- What is the job percentage of people who grew up in homeless shelters in NYC?

Photo Journalism

Cinematography Blog

2011 from hey_rabbit on Vimeo.

Hey Rabbit is a great example of the type of cinematography I see myself using.  This film maker choose to use live raw footage for her film.  This is a style I am very interested in working with.  Shooting without a tripod or planned out shots, her film gives viewers the feeling of actually being there with her. Something which I hope to convey to the viewers of my teams film These Streets are Our Home.


When shooting our film I will be using this style of cinematography to collect B-roll shots around the city. Walking around the city with my hand held camera I will collect raw footage of NYC parks, subway stations, buildings, churches and other aspects of NY that will come along during our shoot.  My goal for using this style is to connect the viewers to New York City, like the short 2011 did as well as give the film a type of homemade feel. Collecting footage of parks, subway stations, buildings, churches and other aspects of NY that will come along during our shoot.

This style will be used in our film specifically for passing subway cars, homeless people on the street, birds flying, eating food on the street and taxi cabs. To use as B-roll shots for our film, These Streets are our Home. 

Camera shots with Arianna Allensworth

Last week during our Mediastorm class our assistant teacher Arianna took a couple students at a time to the back of the room for a cinematography workshop. We watched two films and talked about the different types of shots taken for each film. Arianna told us about B-rolls, wide shots, close shots and different angles that a film maker could use. Arianna would pause the film at certain points to illuminate certain shots and angles taken and describe why a film maker would or would not choose to use that angle or shot. We also learned about setting up certain shots to convey a certain emotion or feeling. This worksop was helpful for us to start thinking what kind of shots we want to mostly appear in our film. 

Film Editing Workshop with Kwan Holloway

Just messing around, learning how to edit films... add sounds, pictures, text and cool affects! I love my stupid video!

"To Be Heard" a film documentary by Roland Legardi and Edwin Martinez

During class last Monday we watched a film called To Be Heard.  This film followed the life of three friends who have been born into the ghetto but aspire to be much more then whats around them. There struggles, loss, love and life stories channel into poetry written during and outside of a powerful writing program they all attend. I think the film makers goal was to create a message showing how something as small as writing poetry can influence a persons life for the better. Watching this film I felt very connected with their lives, you begin to get a deeper feeling of who they are. I personally enjoyed the fact that simply by watching a couple minutes I began to feel a connection between the characters and wanted to see them succeed. I think this would be a great film for teens and adults in similar situations as the three friends in the film to view.