To whom it may concern

michaeldmason

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To whom it ever opens this. To start off I am not deaf and I feel uneducated about and I have fear about saying something that might offend you. I hope to over come that and learn.

Hello my name is Michael Mason. I am originally from Gallup New Mexico. I moved to Tulsa Oklahoma for a job and then to Steubenville Ohio for school (Its about 30 minutes from Pittsburgh, PA) As of now I am slowly making my way through school. My real dream and goal is to make movies. Not just your crazy blow up stuff beat up the bad guy fall in love with the girl movies. But ones that when you are done watching it you are not only like wow that was good but wow I know what you mean or wow that’s awesome. I am doing research for a screenplay I am writing now. I don't have a title for it yet but I have a general idea I would like it to follow.

I want it to be a story of a deaf persons life. How he struggles in the same way of someone that can hear and in the ways that he struggles because he can't hear. I want to show positive things that come of his lack hearing and negative things. The big thing is I want the audience (the people watching the film) to see into the mind of person. Walk his struggles with him. Some questions that I have because I am not deaf are:

1. In my mind when I am thinking. I hear an invoice. The same voice that I hear when I speak out loud. But I hear it in my head. What kind of invoice does a deaf person have? And how would you describe it?

That is one of my biggest questions because. I want to be able to have an inervoice for the deaf person be voiced. Example I would use in my script. As a person is writing maybe in a journal or letter. You would be able to hear a voice. This voice would represent the invoice of a deaf person. Or another example when you get frustrated and you just want to scream and every bone in your body is tense. For me I not only hear the scream through my ears but in my mind.
This might seem all real confusing for you. What I really want is for people who are not deaf to be able to see and in a sense listen into the world of people who are.


Other things I am looking for are experiences you have had. Times when you were happy, sad, angry, pissed off. Experiences that I can bring all together and mold into this life I want to create in my script. You don't need to mention names if you don't want to. I won't use any direct mentioning of you or your experience. I just need something that can help me write a life of a deaf person.
Other things are friends or enemies you have had. I am looking for real stories so that when I write it into a script it seems real.
Another thing is titles for my script any good ideas would be awesome.

Thank you
Mike Mason
 
That's fascinating. Have you thought about watching some other films about deaf people? Children of a Lesser God is a great example of how deaf people feel. Or read some deaf stories as well written by both deaf and hearing people, I'm not too sure some of the names of those books but I'm sure others can provide examples.

I have another question... are you going to include the family of the deaf person in this movie? If so, then you should consider reading stories of what parents of deaf children have gone through as well.

To answer your question about deaf invoices... my own invoice as a deaf person is written English... but when I am signing, this voice tends to do the translating for me. My invoice is actually not my own voice, but other people's voices as I have never heard my own voice and it's written in my mind instead of spoken. Other deaf people who have heard their own voices assumedly might use their own voice as their invoice.

Another question I would like to ask is.... are you planning on having this deaf character sign or talk? I'd say that being oral only (talking only and lipreading) would be harder than being able to sign. With sign, you are able to express yourself easier. I'm very interested in hearing more about this deaf character. None of my life stories as a deaf person come to mind right now, but reading those books would help you come up with some examples.

Good luck!
 
> Children of a Lesser God is a great example of how deaf people feel.

I hate to disagree with this. I felt that movie was
a poor example of how deaf people feel.
I felt that kind of movie was overly exaggerated...
I didn't feel relate to that movie anyway. I'm sure that there are
some deafies might feel the same as that movie, but again
there are other deafies might NOT feel the same as that movie.


There was an old deaf movie by a Deaf Film Producer (Peter Wolf)
from California "Think me nothing" I saw that film many years ago.
It was the only one movie that I felt almost related to it.
However, that movie somehow never became that famous
even though it had a lousy plot story, but it was NOT the point.
It was the only movie with character that really made me
understood more about the "Real" deaf culture
in a positive way with humor.
 
Thank you so much for replying

Thank you for replying i was a little uneasy about what i would get. these are great comments.

Your point about making the story have humor is good because i don't want people to think this is some sorta boo hoo cry story for deaf people. But a look into a life they don't always see.

Thanks
Mike mason
 
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Thank you for answering my question about the invoice. Thats exactly the type of answer I was looking for it gives me a good understanding.
Answering about your question about the family. I am not sure were I am going to start the persons life. What I might do is start him as being older and have flash backs or memories of when he was young and I think thats when the family part will come into play alot.
Answering your question about the signing. I haven't really decided yet. The only contact I have had with someone that is deaf is a semester of sign language in highschool. I think that I would like to use both. Something else that I want veiwers to be able to see and hear is a silent way of communicating. I think the dificulties of not being able to sign would add alot of conflict and almost a certian edge to the film itself. But who knows maybe i'll have him or her learn sign as the story progresses.
I will look into those books and the movies.
Thank you again.

Mike Mason
 
michaeldmason said:
Thank you for replying i was a little uneasy about what i would get. these are great comments.

Your point about making the story have humor is good because i don't want people to think this is some sorta boo hoo cry story for deaf people. But a look into a life they don't always see.

Thanks
Mike mason


Hmm, exactly ... right on the money .. you're welcome !
 
hmph, like Ziusudra said, it depends on what kind of "deaf" person you want. There are many "sub" deaf, such as oral deaf (one who uses voice as main communication), deaf, then Deaf (with a captial D) and such.

myself I do consider myself as Deaf and I think .. it is strange when I explain this to other people but I think in all three way of communicating- signs, lip sync and closecaptioning (sort of like subtitles under my signs at same time I am lip-syncing)... i tend to lip-sync when i am angry in my mind, but when I am thinking freely about stuff.

and enemies? that is a strong word ;) a deaf cannot stay enemies with another deaf because they will bump into eachother frequently due to the small size of this deaf world! I do have some deafies who I dont hold in high esteem. they are ones who "back-stabbed" or created slander upon me or others and I don't give them any respect and it affected our relationship to a point where we just avoided eachother at any cost. This may or may not be common among deafies who has some past issues with a certain person who won't move on. this created frustations because you will see this person sometimes and all you can do is just give him/her a dirty eye, lol. It is hard to sever friendships with a deafie because it is bound that one of your friend has a friend who is friend with THAT one. It is one giant circle of chains that I am pulled down to due to the deafness. the only escape for me is to hang out with a different age group. my age group (being that a late teenager/young adult- 16 to 20 ish) is .... uggh all about alcohol, drugs and sex. it is sad but i have to admit that deafies also have a reputation of bad peer pressure where it is also easy to convice a deaf mutual friend to try drugs or those addictions. :-/ everybody has been on something or had been there and recovered.... expcet those very few who never try those stuff.

happiest times? i guess it is same with you, and everybody else. the moment we are in love. the times we play around. the days when we went to some amusement parks. :) for me, the happiest time is when I hang out with my good and close friends who do carry my respect and mutial fondness and chatting the nights away.

another thing about us , we do have our own time zone where we dont listen to the world's clock and focus on our biological clock. we will leave whenever we feel like. we will arrive, even if we are late, we will just feel like arriving. It is contrast with the world's expectations of being on times (pfft, lol we will jsut chat away and don't notice the clock is 2am!) because we are stuck in "DTS"- deaf time zone. ;)
 
Y said:
> Children of a Lesser God is a great example of how deaf people feel.

I hate to disagree with this. I felt that movie was
a poor example of how deaf people feel.
I felt that kind of movie was overly exaggerated...
I didn't feel relate to that movie anyway. I'm sure that there are
some deafies might feel the same as that movie, but again
there are other deafies might NOT feel the same as that movie.

Yeah, I think it is indeed overly exaggerated, however, it is how some oral people I know feel about being deaf. The frustration spills over and it is clear in the movie. But the main reason I mentioned this movie despite the fact there are probably better ones out there is because I remember the name seeing it's a well known movie and also I watched it last year so I remembered it better than the other ones I've watched.
 
Gnarly - I think you meant 'DST' -Deaf Standard Time' ;) :mrgreen:
I often found myself stuck in DST whenever I attended a party and it always ran late, past midnight, :lol:
 
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