For my final project I wanted to do something that  brought attention to  a larger cause or situation,  but i also had to tell a story and  keep it under three minutes. for days i wondered what i would  go with when  i remembered my girlfriends brother had passed away under terrible circumstances. after asking for her permission to bring light to his situation and final days, i had found  the story i wanted to tell.

having met her brother Chris only a few times before i had a bit of creative trouble on what was going to be included in the story. i wanted it to be emotional but  educational about how not all homeless people are the same  but at the same time a project the his sisters and family would find a suitable tribute that defined him.

I went out to find actors for my live footage and shot many different dialogs and interactions. mostly surrounding A typical assumptions around homeless people. it wasnt until after Chris’ sisters gave me photographs of him through out his life to use that the real picture of what my story was going to look like  came together.

at first i wanted the project to be all film shots but after adding the pictures i knew that it was going to have to snap away from the beginning to end narrative. there was plenty of shots as him as a kid and i wanted to add those to humanize him and remind the audience that every one was a kid at some point.

I regret not adding more about how he was a homeless youth before he was a homeless adult  but also a lot of my original film shots included his stories of what he did do with his life. He  did alot of odd jobs, traveled more than most people i know and had an impressive story about being in a homemade airplane a random encounter made and flew back to Oregon from one of the center states. that part would have been great to  put in because it reminds people  just because you see a person on the streets acting stagnant  and  unmotivated  doesnt mean  they havent lived fulfilling and exciting lives.

Over all it was a very motivating project to work on and I wish i had more than three minutes to tell the story. there are many lessons to be learned from the events of his life and it was heart breaking going through his old photos knowing how it all ends.