Description
The number of homeless youth living on the streets of America is on the rise. It's Increasing at such a rate that, for the first time the 2015 San Diego County's audit of the homeless will include the proportion of youth/minors to adults. The increase in number of homeless youth has been attributed to the increased number of dangerous home environments. This paper is a discussion of the film, Life in the Shadows, a fictional narrative based on my research into the homeless and into the scenarios behind what causes these individuals to turn to the streets for "safety" and the conditions they face on the streets as a result. One of the chief goals of the film is to convey a credible aspect of realism and drama as it encompasses an authentic scenario following the experience and hardships of a particular youth who has run to the streets in order to escape an unsafe home environment. This paper will reflect the goals, research, and methods I had considered at the proposal stage of the project. Much of the paper will center on the research, which includes literature on Film Noir, Neorealism, current homeless statistics, and Eisenstein's dialectic views on filmmaking. The research chapter will also reflect my exploration of a number of films on homeless youth, both narrative, including the film Sugar (2013), and documentary, including Streetwise (1984). A third chapter will address specific tactics and strategies I anticipated employing in the production of the film at the proposal stage. These include Neorealist techniques intended to depict the reality of the street life, and Film Noir to suggest the protagonist's point of view and state of mind. A concluding chapter will evaluate the finished film with respect to my initial goals and objectives, as well as a reflection on my process of creative decision-making that led to some significant deviations from the original proposal. A DVD copy of First 72 Hours is available in Love Library.
