Documentary: The Interrupters

Photo: Frontline

Directed by Steve James and produced by Alex Kotlowitz, The Interrupters is a documentary talking about the violent landscape that's been taking place in Chicago. I watched this documentary a few weeks ago and instantly fell in love with it. The style that's presented in The Interrupters is sort of how I want to present my film. I want viewers to go in-depth into my life and my experience in a wheelchair. A lot of people don't understand the work that it takes for me to get in my wheelchair and to get around on a daily basis. Here's a quick clip and it you haven't seen this documentary, I encourage you to check it out.

Frontline: The Interrupters

Watch The Interrupters (Graphic Language) on PBS. See more from FRONTLINE.

Important Update!

Hey everyone, hope you all had a great week! I've got a couple of announcements to make and a major update regarding the blog. Let me start first with the update. I changed the theme for my blog and the reason I changed it because I wasn't really comfortable with the previous theme and in the end, I ultimately decided to it. 

Now on to the announcements. For the blog I plan to post again twice a week Monday & Friday. The reason I'm doing this is that I have more time in the summer now to posts more material on the blog. Even though I'm taking a couple of classes at DePaul during the summer, I do have more time to not only work on the film but also the blog as well.

My plan is for Monday to do a blog post on certain documentaries that I like and I'll share my opinions on why I like it and how it effects my film. On Friday, I'll post film updates and I continue to do my What A Film Should Be Like series.

Also for those who read my blog can you please leave a comment either on the blog at the end of my blog posts or on Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, etc. because I really want some feedback on what you all like or dislike about my posts. That way I can work on improving the blog and giving my readers good quality content.

Thank you all for continuing to support my blog and the film.

Justin

What A Film Should Be Like: John Huston

Photo Courtesy: 5 Recipes for Life

This week I continue my What A Film Should Be Like series with a quote from one of my favorite directors John Huston

"The directing of a picture involves coming out of your individual loneliness and taking a controlling part in putting together a small world. A picture is made. You put a frame around it and move on. And one day you die. That is all there is to it."

The directing of a picture involves coming out of your individual loneliness. When I read the first line of this quote it really hit me because this is exactly what I'm dealing with in regards to my film. For many years I've been a loner , staying to myself and not opening up to my friends and family.

This film that I'm creating has helped me get out of my loneliness. I'm opening myself up to not just my friends and family but to the entire world. It's scary to me that I'm actually doing this because I've never done this before and I fear that if people got to know the real me through this film they might not like what they see.

But if this is what I want to do with my film then I can't worry about how people will perceive me. I want people to come into my world and see what I have to go through on a daily basis. I want people to see that thanks to this film I have become a better person and that I'm not a loner. That will give me satisfaction.

Justin 

What A Film Should Be Like: Ron Howard

Photo Courtesy: Very Aware

This week I continue my What A Film Should Be Like series with an excellent quote from legendary director Ron Howard:

"One of the great things about being a director as a life choice is that it can never be mastered. Every story is its own kind of expedition, with its own set of challenges."

To be honest with you all I absolutely love this quote because this is a very important lesson that I've learned in my short time as a director. In regards to my film I felt that I had to be perfect in making this documentary, that in order for it to be a success it had to be perfect and I had to master every aspect of filming but that's not the case. 

Making this film has been a big challenge for me so far but I accept the challenge and the journey that goes with creating this documentary. For a long time I was afraid of facing this challenge of making this film because I feared that I would fail but today I'm in a different state of mind and I'm up for this challenge and I will be a success and this film will be a stepping stone to bigger and better things in my life.

Justin

 

Stepping In Front Of The Camera

Sorry for not posting anything last week, it was a really busy time for me trying to finish up school and everything. The film has been coming along pretty well but I haven't been able to get some more footage for the film itself and that sucks because I miss it big time. But in all honesty I'll have plenty of time to get more footage during the summer.

During that time I'll be working with my special adviser for my film Camille DeBose (who's a documentary filmmaker herself) and recently her documentary Good Hair has been selected to be shown at the San Francisco Black Film Festival . Let me tell you a little bit about Camille, she is my former professor at DePaul and I took many of her sociology and media courses and she has taught me a lot during my experience at DePaul. She has been a strong supporter of my film and as a matter of fact when I first told her about this film and the idea that I had about it she wanted me to do 6-7 films based on different issues involving people in wheelchairs. Look in all honesty I just wanted to do one film but as time went by I understood what she wanted me to do and I thank her for that.

We're putting together an interview session where me and her will come up with some questions and I'll answer them in front of the camera. I'm a little nervous about this because this will dive into my personal life but that's what I want and that is the central premise of my film for the world to get to know me and to get to know about my life in a wheelchair. So instead of being nervous I should actually be excited because I want people to know that I'm not just a man in a wheelchair, I'm a man! It probably sounds cheesy but that's how I truly feel.

Justin

Please support my friend Camille who's currently working on her new documentary and fundraising on Kickstarter:

Hidden Brilliance

Also like her page on Facebook:

SocMedia

Thanks

What A Film Should Be Like: David Fincher

Photo: The King Bulletin

This week my What A Film Should Be Like series continues this time with a great quote from one of my favorite directors David Fincher (Fight Club, Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Se7en, The Social Network):

“Directing ain’t about drawing a neat little picture and showing it to the cameraman. I didn’t want to go to film school. I didn’t know what the point was. The fact is, you don’t know what directing is until the sun is setting and you’ve got to get five shots and you’re only going to get two.” - David Fincher

This is an interesting quote for me due to the fact that I just started as a film director and I haven't had an experience that's similar to David Fincher but I believe to as I continue through my journey as a film director I know that the same thing will happen to me.

I do however can relate to the first sentence of his quote about directing ain't about drawing a neat little picture and showing it to the cameraman. During my short amount of time as a filmmaker and working on my film, I was trying to make this film as perfect as I can, to give my audience a perfect story of my life in a wheelchair but I've learned  that being perfect or drawing a neat little picture is not what I'm going for and that I'm not gonna be completely perfect with this film and now that I know that I'm now more comfortable with making this film and the style that I'm gonna be working with.

I'm going to make mistakes with this film (I know that) but I'm going to enjoy making this film and if it's not perfect then so be it because I'll be very happy with the end result of my first film.

Justin

What A Film Should Be Like: Sydney Pollack

Photo: Hollywoodland

This week I found a great quote from director Sydney Pollack about making a film. It's short but it's to the point.

"When you make a film you usually make a film about an idea"

This is exactly what happen with my film. To be honest this film came from an original idea I had a few years ago. I introduced my original idea to a friend of mine in one of my classes. The focus of my idea was to document and chronicles people's lives in wheelchairs living in Chicago, focusing on issues that affect them.

Now this idea was on a piece of paper and was under a stack of papers for a couple of years until one day while cleaning up in my room and I found it and started looking at it again and then while I was looking at it more ideas started going through my head.

It then hit me that instead of focusing on other people in wheelchairs, I should focus on my life and how I've my life has been affected by my wheelchair. Thanks to my original idea I'm now on a path to sharing my experience in a wheelchair with the world and I'm couldn't be more happier with my decision.

Justin