Homelessness in Portland, Oregon (Homelessness in General)
Homelessness is a huge issue that spans across all walks of life and around the world. Thousands of people in the Portland area alone are either in transitionary living situations (where they do not have a house and are in a shelter at night) or are sleeping on the streets, completely homeless. Many people are denied entrance into shelter facilities if they are in possession of alcohol and or drugs, or have mental illnesses (in some instances). During the winter especially, these people are left incredibly cold and their illnesses become much worse (Schizophrenic patients/sufferers have much worse symptoms in the winter). They cannot get help for their issues until horrible things happen beforehand. It is so very disappointing to see that the very people that live in our city are put on the back burner and literally forgotten. We are all so caught up in our day to day routine that we forget about the people that truly need help in our society.
Even people who are working full time jobs at minimum wage have trouble just getting by and having a roof above their heads; what is that saying about society?
My Project Idea
My project idea is to create a short video (2:30 min at most) that profiles the homelessness in Portland. This project has incessantly been on my mind since it was assigned, and I was excited to hear that a video project could be an option. Much like Richard Mosse and his work in The Enclave, I plan to create a video that makes people even more aware of the homelessness in our nation (but using Portland as my scope). Rather than making it “political-style” with text, images, and facts/figures throughout the video, I want to just have videos from simple walks that I take around the city and in certain areas where homelessness is very dense (that I am aware of and research/discover).
Getting into more detail about the video:
Beginning: I am aware of a homeless man in Pioneer Courthouse Square that is there most every day and evening yelling, “If anyone could spare, just a little change…” and goes on saying that. I plan to start the video with no video, just that recording and a black screen. After that fades out I plan to start the videos and have a light soundtrack that is playing with it (Much like The Enclave). I do not intend to have any dialogue or sound other than the soundtrack and maybe some foley sounds (that I record) of the city and perhaps any other prolific sounds that strike me. I do not intend to end the video with any text, credits, title, anything. It would make much more of a statement in my mind. Choosing a soundtrack will be hard, I do not want it to be empowering/cheery (to make us want to do something about this), and I don’t want it to be so depressing that it makes people feel horrible for watching it (e.g. ASPCA commercials). I want to have a neutral soundtrack that makes people stop and just watch it, and get informed on the issue/have it become known.
Works Cited
NCH, . "Building a Movement to End Homelessness." National Homeless. National Coalition for the Homeless, Ongoing. Web. 18 Jan. 2014.
Oregon, Portland. "Ending Homelessness." The City Of Portland, Oregon. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Jan. 2014.
Staff, KGW. "Who are Portland's Homeless?." Kgw News Channel 8. NBC, Web. 25 May 2014.
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