Friday, March 16, 2012
My Film Inspiration
Today I wanted to talk to you all about the film that inspired me to get back into working on my film. The documentary film is called Shameless: The ART of Disability (2006) and it's a film about five artists dealing with diverse disabilities (Mental, Learning, Physical, etc.). I love this film because you get a chance to see these individuals from their point-of-view and how they handle their disability. It's humorous but it's also intimate in a sense because these individuals are letting the viewer into their lives and talking about their disability.
The film is directed by Bonnie Sherr Klein, who's a feminist filmmaker and disability rights activist. She directed and produced at least a dozen films for the National Film Board of Canada. Her time as a filmmaker was cut short when she suffered a stroke in 1987 that left her a quadriplegic and this was the first film she did since her stroke.
The people in this film are just regular people trying to find their place in this world. Even though they have a disability, it has not stopped them for being who they are as people. For example one of my favorite people in this film is a guy named David Roche who's a poet, writer, and humorist. His face is disfigured but he's a guy I can really relate to because his disfigurement hasn't stop him for achieving his goals and is one of the most enjoyable, charming person in the film.
I don't wanna give a whole lot away in this film but I want you all to check it out. This is the direction I'm strongly considering doing for my film because I feel that this a great way for people to get to know me and how I handle my own disability. I hope you enjoy this film as much as I did. It was just great for me to see another person with a disability produce and direct a film. That's just awesome!
Justin
Wednesday, March 14, 2012
My Filming Experience
Well as of yesterday I am on break from DePaul. Man it feels good waking up and not having to go to class, that's an awesome feeling. I want to let you guys know that I had my presentation in my math class and it went very well. I'm proud of the work that I put into it because it coincided with the film.
Today I want to talk about and go more in depth about my filming experience so far. Let me tell you all something, I've really enjoyed working on my film. I enjoy having a video camera in my hand and filming my journey. In short time filming, I never imagine that I could have this much fun working on a film, let alone my own.
Last week I filmed my trip from the DePaul Student Center to the Best Buy Store on North Ave.This was a different trip for me because the last few weeks I was filming my trip from the DePaul Student Center back to my home. But this trip in particular was fun because I got a chance to film in another part of the city that I travel in. I got a chance to film the industrial area of Chicago around Armitage and Clybourn just to get a different filming perspective.
You know working on this film has given me a new sense of energy in my life. I'm doing something in my life that's is making me happy for a change and I think I have found my calling in life. I didn't think I would enjoy working on film, maybe I thought it would be a complete drag but it hasn't and I'm happy for that. I'm gonna make this film a success not just for the people who not only believe in me but in my film. I want this film to be a success because I'm apart of it and this film will be a huge step for me in my future as a producer and a filmmaker.
That's all for today but for my next post I'll talk about the documentary film that inspired me to work on my film again.
Take Care,
Justin
Today I want to talk about and go more in depth about my filming experience so far. Let me tell you all something, I've really enjoyed working on my film. I enjoy having a video camera in my hand and filming my journey. In short time filming, I never imagine that I could have this much fun working on a film, let alone my own.
Last week I filmed my trip from the DePaul Student Center to the Best Buy Store on North Ave.This was a different trip for me because the last few weeks I was filming my trip from the DePaul Student Center back to my home. But this trip in particular was fun because I got a chance to film in another part of the city that I travel in. I got a chance to film the industrial area of Chicago around Armitage and Clybourn just to get a different filming perspective.
Student Center to Best Buy
You know working on this film has given me a new sense of energy in my life. I'm doing something in my life that's is making me happy for a change and I think I have found my calling in life. I didn't think I would enjoy working on film, maybe I thought it would be a complete drag but it hasn't and I'm happy for that. I'm gonna make this film a success not just for the people who not only believe in me but in my film. I want this film to be a success because I'm apart of it and this film will be a huge step for me in my future as a producer and a filmmaker.
That's all for today but for my next post I'll talk about the documentary film that inspired me to work on my film again.
Take Care,
Justin
Friday, March 9, 2012
Wheelchair Chronicles Update!!
Hey everyone, hope you're enjoying your day. I was gonna go more in depth about my film progress today but I'm going to hold off on that until my next post next Wednesday. I got a lot of studying to do and I have final exams on Monday & Tuesday so my mind is not really focused on my blog today. I did actually do some filming this morning and I got some awesome footage but I'll talk about that and more on Wednesday.
Take Care,
Justin
Take Care,
Justin
Wednesday, March 7, 2012
Film Progress Update
Hey everyone! Sorry I'm a bit late on my post but I'm finishing up the last couple of weeks of the winter quarter at DePaul, so I've been all over the place. Today I just wanna quickly talk about my filming progress as of late. So far everything has been going pretty well, I did have one minor setback last week involving the video camera that I checked out from the DePaul cage in the CDM (Computing and Digital Media) Building. The video camera I got was way to heavy for me and I couldn't continue shooting the film, but like I said it was minor setback and I can except that. Right now I'm still trying to figure out how I want to approach my film so I've been watching some documentaries just to figure out which direction I want to go with the film. It's been tough but if watch some other films I'll soon figure out my approach for the film.
That's all I have for now but for my Friday post I'll go more in depth about my film progress and open up more about how the film is affecting me because it has really affected everything that I've done since starting this film.
Take Care,
Justin
That's all I have for now but for my Friday post I'll go more in depth about my film progress and open up more about how the film is affecting me because it has really affected everything that I've done since starting this film.
Take Care,
Justin
Friday, March 2, 2012
Learning On The Fly
This post is gonna be a short one today, dealing with some issues. I was planning on continuing to shoot my film today but ran into some problems but I want to talk about my filming experience so far. One of the things that I have had to do during this film journey is learning how to actually use a video camera. Now I've had no problems with the technical aspects of using a video camera (that's not really hard), but what I'm talking about relates to my wheelchair and learning how to use a video camera while travelling in my chair.
That's been the hard part for me so far because I really want the audience to see the way that I travel through my point of view and learning how to do two things at once is hard. I've been sitting the camera in my lap while I'm riding but I don't feel that it's working out the way I want it to. The other idea that I had was to use a flexible tripod that I can wrap around my the arm of my chair and attach the camera that way and that might work. while I am learning on the fly, it's actually been fun to try and test out some new techniques for my film because I want this to be successful and I want people to get a better understanding of who I am as a person.
That's been the hard part for me so far because I really want the audience to see the way that I travel through my point of view and learning how to do two things at once is hard. I've been sitting the camera in my lap while I'm riding but I don't feel that it's working out the way I want it to. The other idea that I had was to use a flexible tripod that I can wrap around my the arm of my chair and attach the camera that way and that might work. while I am learning on the fly, it's actually been fun to try and test out some new techniques for my film because I want this to be successful and I want people to get a better understanding of who I am as a person.
Wednesday, February 29, 2012
It's All Mathematics Pt. 2
Well this is unexpected, today I was gonna talk about a wheelchair topic related to the film but I decided to continue on a post that I wrote last Wednesday titled "It's All Mathematics." In my post last week I talked about a presentation that I was doing in my math class regarding my wheelchair and this week I finished doing my research and writhing notes for my presentation and came up with some interesting results.
Now before I tell you my results of my research, let me explain how I did my research. I decided to focus my presentation on the number of miles that I travel on a daily basis and the number of hours it takes to charge my wheelchair. I did this process for a one week starting on Friday February 17th, detailing the total miles I traveled that day, the total time of my entire trip, the hours it took for my chair to fully charge and finally the total number of hours I actually charged my chair.
I was really fascinated by the results of my week long research. In one week I traveled a total of 17.2 miles, that's how many miles it approximately takes to get from Chicago to Chicago Ridge, IL. The total time I traveled was 227 minutes which comes out to 3 hours and 47mins. The number of hours it took for my wheelchair to fully charge was 24 hours and the total of hours I actually charged my chair was 86 hours.These numbers shocked me because I never realized I do this much travelling in one week in the Winter. Just image what I do in one week when it's Spring or Summer, it's gotta be double or triple the miles.
While working on this film I never considered looking at this stuff and I'm trying to figure out why because this type of research that I'm doing for my presentation matters in my daily life, this is what I do in order to make it through the day without my wheelchair losing power and me being stranded someone in the city. This is something that I have to look at when I'm shooting my film in different locations throughout Chicago and that is the travelling aspect because it's not just important to the film but to me as well. I really have to think about that and hopefully I'll get an answer through this film journey.
On Friday I'll talk about my film adventures and the fun I'm having shooting this film.
Take Care,
Justin
Now before I tell you my results of my research, let me explain how I did my research. I decided to focus my presentation on the number of miles that I travel on a daily basis and the number of hours it takes to charge my wheelchair. I did this process for a one week starting on Friday February 17th, detailing the total miles I traveled that day, the total time of my entire trip, the hours it took for my chair to fully charge and finally the total number of hours I actually charged my chair.
I was really fascinated by the results of my week long research. In one week I traveled a total of 17.2 miles, that's how many miles it approximately takes to get from Chicago to Chicago Ridge, IL. The total time I traveled was 227 minutes which comes out to 3 hours and 47mins. The number of hours it took for my wheelchair to fully charge was 24 hours and the total of hours I actually charged my chair was 86 hours.These numbers shocked me because I never realized I do this much travelling in one week in the Winter. Just image what I do in one week when it's Spring or Summer, it's gotta be double or triple the miles.
While working on this film I never considered looking at this stuff and I'm trying to figure out why because this type of research that I'm doing for my presentation matters in my daily life, this is what I do in order to make it through the day without my wheelchair losing power and me being stranded someone in the city. This is something that I have to look at when I'm shooting my film in different locations throughout Chicago and that is the travelling aspect because it's not just important to the film but to me as well. I really have to think about that and hopefully I'll get an answer through this film journey.
On Friday I'll talk about my film adventures and the fun I'm having shooting this film.
Take Care,
Justin
Friday, February 24, 2012
Shady Business
This has been a really rough week for me. Normally I would talk about my film adventures during the week but I just can't do it today. I wanted to talk you all about something that happen to me the other day and how it affects me as a person with a disability and in a wheelchair. I was in class getting ready to start and I get a call from Rehab Tech. Rehab Tech is a company that I've been apart of for over 10 years. This company along with The Rehab Institute of Chicago (R.I.C.) has supplied me with my manual wheelchair and power wheelchair and they have been very good to me.
Well I was in the process of getting a new wheelchair though both places when I received a call from them. I was expecting to hear that my new chair is read but something wasn't right. I was told that everything was all set but that some other company had charged my Medicare for a wheelchair. I was confused because I never asked another healthcare company to sign off on a wheelchair expect for Rehab Teach and R.I.C. so I was baffled. I thought about it for minute and then I remembered that in September of 2011 my mom started getting phone calls from a Doctor from this healthcare group in Morton Grove, IL saying that had a wheelchair for me and was ready to deliver it to me. Now first off, I don't know this doctor and I've never met him before but the thing that bothered me the most is that how can you have a wheelchair for me when you've never met, you don't know my disability, and haven't done any measurements on me. I'm a tall person person and in order to get my new chair they have to measure me in order to get the right specifications for the wheelchair and this doctor has done none of that and yet you have a wheelchair for me, get outta here!
This guy continued to call my house until my mom told him that if he called again she would report him and the company for fraud and the calls stopped but this doctor still went through the process anyway and charged their wheelchair to Medicare. I was pissed off at this point because I wasn't gonna get my new wheelchair from two companies that I have had a great relationship with all because of some shady doctor and healthcare company screwing me over. I told my mom about the issue and we went through the process of calling Medicare and filing for Medicare fraud and during the conversation over the phone when the customer service agent asked us if I was on the Medicare website and said no. Come to find out, this shady company was trying to hack into Medicare trying to block the agent for filing the fraud claim...Unbelievable!!
Well after all of that the claim was filed and now were waiting to get everything cleared and soon I'll be able to get my new chair hopefully soon but I was really upset at the fact that this other company was trying to screw me over and this happen a lot to other people who depend on their Medicare to help them out. There are a lot of healthcare companies who to this type of sleazy, shady business practice and get away with it and that's what makes me mad. I never thought I would be in this situation but I was and it sucks.
Next week I'll get back to talking about my filming adventures but I really wanted to talk about this because it just really upset me and I wanted to share with you how I felt about it.
Justin
Well I was in the process of getting a new wheelchair though both places when I received a call from them. I was expecting to hear that my new chair is read but something wasn't right. I was told that everything was all set but that some other company had charged my Medicare for a wheelchair. I was confused because I never asked another healthcare company to sign off on a wheelchair expect for Rehab Teach and R.I.C. so I was baffled. I thought about it for minute and then I remembered that in September of 2011 my mom started getting phone calls from a Doctor from this healthcare group in Morton Grove, IL saying that had a wheelchair for me and was ready to deliver it to me. Now first off, I don't know this doctor and I've never met him before but the thing that bothered me the most is that how can you have a wheelchair for me when you've never met, you don't know my disability, and haven't done any measurements on me. I'm a tall person person and in order to get my new chair they have to measure me in order to get the right specifications for the wheelchair and this doctor has done none of that and yet you have a wheelchair for me, get outta here!
This guy continued to call my house until my mom told him that if he called again she would report him and the company for fraud and the calls stopped but this doctor still went through the process anyway and charged their wheelchair to Medicare. I was pissed off at this point because I wasn't gonna get my new wheelchair from two companies that I have had a great relationship with all because of some shady doctor and healthcare company screwing me over. I told my mom about the issue and we went through the process of calling Medicare and filing for Medicare fraud and during the conversation over the phone when the customer service agent asked us if I was on the Medicare website and said no. Come to find out, this shady company was trying to hack into Medicare trying to block the agent for filing the fraud claim...Unbelievable!!
Well after all of that the claim was filed and now were waiting to get everything cleared and soon I'll be able to get my new chair hopefully soon but I was really upset at the fact that this other company was trying to screw me over and this happen a lot to other people who depend on their Medicare to help them out. There are a lot of healthcare companies who to this type of sleazy, shady business practice and get away with it and that's what makes me mad. I never thought I would be in this situation but I was and it sucks.
Next week I'll get back to talking about my filming adventures but I really wanted to talk about this because it just really upset me and I wanted to share with you how I felt about it.
Justin
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