My final project was a 30 minute documentary entitled "We Will Rise." It features members of the community sharing their experiences with housing-insecurity presented alongside facts and statistics from my research .
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Research and Reaching Out:
Bringing this project to life began with hours of research. I mainly focused on how the COVID-19 Pandemic impacted the homeless community in Syracuse and around the world in my preliminary research. I looked into current rates of housing insecurity and how things changed in recent years, as well as the causes of homelessness, what efforts there are to help, and what more needs to be done.
After completing my initial research, I began reaching out to local community experts through emails and phone calls. Some of these individuals included Jill Weston (volunteer coordinator of the Syracuse Rescue Mission), Fanny Villarreal (the director of the Young Women's Christian Association), Nora Putman (a residence coordinator at the YWCA), and Al-Amin Muhammad (the founder and director of "We Rise Above the Streets), along with many more!
These individuals provided insight into how their organizations run, how they adapted through covid, and the changes they have noticed in homeless populations throughout the past few years.
Gathering Footage:
I spent the months from January to March filming all over Syracuse and collecting background footage. I tried to capture the essence of the city and depict the beauty alongside the deparitey. I filmed stunning murals painted by local artists and captured local architecture, along with capturing the abandoned buildings, the homeless shelters, and the housing-insecure individuals who wandered the streets or begged passing cars for money.
Along with background footage, I also set up filmed interviews with community members. I interviewed people who have been or are currently homeless in order to capture their lived experience from their point of view. Key contributors where Al-Amin Muhammad, Trafina Coleman (residence supervisor at the YWCA where she found housing while she was housing-insecure), Destiny (a college student who grew up housing-insecure), and residents ot the YWCA.
Editing:
Once I had enough footage, I began editing. I used Adobe Premiere Pro to edit and learned as I went. I had some experience with video editing in the past but I had never done anything as large scale as this. The editing process took about 2 months and around 60 hours.
Despite how grueling this process was and how many challenges I had to work through, I am extremely thankful to have gotten the opportunity to put this documentary together. I hope that when people view this short documentary they feel more connected with the homeless community and better understand that homelessness can affect anyone. I hope that my documentary helps destigmatize homelessness and clears up common misconceptions. I encourage those who view this documentary to consider donating to some of the organizations featured.
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