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My Team would like to know what teens are most affected by homelessness , we feel as though this would be a good research questions because  our film is based on homeless teens and it wouldn't feel right without knowing which teens are  most affected . we would like to incorporate this in our film one way or another. we would also like to research this question to raise awareness on whats going on in young teens lives and to also be the voice for these teens  

 In the article i learned that 42% of homeless youth are LGBT , these teens are singled out and forced to move out of their homes because of their sexualities. A couple of the teens that spoke out to the newspaper , talked about how they came out to their parents ans the struggles of not being excepted by their families but also their families. One  kid talked about how his mom died when he was 12 years old and  his step father didn't except him as a transgender so while he was at school his step father packed up all their things and moved to Puerto Rico without him knowing.

The question I will be researching is what teens are most affected by homelessness , in the Huffington post I found out that most teens that are affected by homelessness are LGBT ( Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender ). These teens are mostly kicked out of there homes because of being who they are sexually.

Research Blog Questions

I will be researching the growing epidemic of homeless teens and how it affects their school and social lives.  This will be a great topic to research because there is not a lot of  documentary on homeless teens or awareness that they even exist.  I believe that too many teens have fallen under the radar of homelessness and I truly think the government should be able to help them one way or another.

I am very much interested in this topic because we always hear about adults that are homeless or have seen them on the streets before but no one ever thinks about weather they have children or how these kids are affected. I always feel like knowing the story and the struggles of some teens we can find a way to help them so we can have a better society.  Even though I do not have personal connection to this topic I  feel as though this is worth researching because I am a teen and you never know what might happen so I want to see how these teens live and how in anyway my film can help benefit them.

Here are a couple questions I would love to base my research on:

• What teens are most affected by homelessness?
• What are statistics for homeless teens in America?
• How does being homeless affect school grades of the youth?

These Streets Are Our Home Blog

My Film "These Street Are Our Home" is about two young adults that have been in an situation where they have been homeless at one point  in there life and still manage to go to school.  In this documentary you will meet two young man by the name of Emmanuel Baptiste & Clevins Brown. Each teen will talk about life out on the streets of New York City and the events that lead to them being homeless. In the film we will also talk about  how  even though being homeless these teens managed to make it to school and succeed one way or another.


This film will stand out because usually when most people  hear the word "homeless" they begin to think of people being lazy or on drugs , but in this case its a matter of family issues and health problems. What also makes this documentary interesting  is the fact that even though these teens were homeless they never let it get in the way of them  going to school and succeeding in the things they want in life.


 In order to bring life to our film  I plan to do research on how many teens in America as well as New York City live on the streets or are in homeless shelters. I feel as though there are many teens and families living under the  radar of being homeless without any help from  the government when in fact they should be getting help one way or another. Researching these topics will help put awareness on the growing epidemic of homeless people and people in shelters in general.

Cinematography Workshop

Last week I attended a cinematography workshop led by Ariana Allensworth  that introduced me to different angles of film making . During this workshop I watched a clip of one of Michael Moore films who is a documentary film maker, He has made films such as Bowling for Columbine and Sicko . In the Workshop Ariana led a couple classmates and I to watch two different Clips and describesd how each clip had a different  type of film angle . The first film was called Favela on Blast by Diplo this film was about a man living in a very poor part of Brazil called Favela the film takes you in a day of this man  life and experience some of his struggles living in a poor community.  In this film Diplo made a lot of wide shots to show how the neighborhood was looking and made you feel that you were here , Diplo also used some close up shots to give the viewers a more intimate feel.

To Be Heard Review

 

The film To Be Heard was very compelling , it was based on three ( one many and two females ) Bronx teenagers dealing with the family problems and problems being  a teenager . Somehow these three students manage to over come these struggles threw poetry . They have formed a group called the tripod , the tripod to them meant doing everything together and succeeding in all their set goals in life . Even though achieving these goals were very hard these three teenagers have gone through many obstacles to get them .  The film shows all their  different  hardships and has made me  have a different view on teenagers today .

Who am I?

  This a poem I worked on during a workshop with power writers  an organization that helped with tthe film To Be Heard , the poem expresses my thoughts on how people think about me and how I really am as a person .

What people perceive me to be is not the real me
I am more then those 8 letters
D O N N E T T E
soo much stronger than that
soo much more than that but
I am still weak
my pride is held high
nobody can ever abuse me
verbally nor physically
my only weakness is letting some one know i have one
the real me is behind what all of you seem to see
I am more than my outside appearance
they say looks can be deceiving
well I guess I have deceived
you ALL.

The Ninth Floor by Jessica Dimmock

In an apartment above Fifth Avenue, some thirty young people live in a vortex of drug addiction and despair. In The Ninth Floor, Jessica Dimmock enters this world, exploring, in human terms, what has been lost and what may be recovered. See the project at http://mediastorm.com/publication/the-ninth-floor

I watched a very interesting film that I found on Mediastorm.  It opened my eyes to a lot of things that I never knew about addiction. This short film was about two drug addicts and how drugs have affected their lives. The filmmaker used b-roll, lots of still photos, and interviews to show a day in the life of these two addicts.  Rachel and Dionn were a couple that was addicted to methadone because of  the heavy drug abuse.  The couple constantly fought and had arguments eventually that would lead to them making love.  Soon after, Rachel discovers that she is pregnant.  It was very likely that their child could have been born an addict, so doctors gave their new born opium.  Opium is a a medicine that can help treat babies with possible addiction they get from mothers who use drugs during pregnancy.  At the end of the film, Dionn was working to get into school to make a better life for his new daughter and family. 

This film shows the hardships of people battling with serious addiction.  It opens up my mind to think as if I were an addict and not to just judge.  I was able to get past my assumptions about addiction because I felt like I was there with them.  The filmmaker did this by using photos that were very detailed, personal, in the moment making me feel like I was a part of their struggle. Also, the interviews were very personal.  You could tell they were being really honest.  The music was very sad in the beginning to go along with the sadness of their addiction, but then when the baby was born it changed to more happy music because you could tell something different was going to happen.  I'm glad I watched this film.  Best wishes to all.