BRANTFORD, Ont. (CUP) — Dan Losier is trying to change Canada's perception of homelessness through film.

Losier, a journalism student at Wilfrid Laurier University's Brantford campus, decided to do this in a unique way. With the support of his social documentary teacher who gave him a month to produce the story, Losier set off to shoot a documentary capturing what it really feels like to live on the street.

The film's premise is simple.

"(It's) 72 hours of me with nothing," said Losier of his film, which is titled In Their Shoes: The Experience. "I went out with a jacket and my clothes."

To shoot the documentary, Losier sought out the help of his friend Tom Kennedy who works at the online magazine Brant News.

"Dan was looking for someone to be there the whole time and actually shoot the experience," explained Kennedy. "It was a really cool way to do it because we were already friends, and I wasn't just an outsider looking in."

The friendship both men speak of with sincerity became of primary importance to a successful shoot.

"Being his friend made it a lot easier to essentially be mean to him because I was comfortable doing that," said Kennedy. "It was easier to avoid wanting to help him out because I knew what he was trying to do and I wanted him to achieve it."

Although Losier's immersion into homelessness was short-lived, the 72-hour experience profoundly impacted him. In a sombre voice, he remembers the start of filming.

"You can see the first night I'm pretty scared of where I'm going to sleep. Then the next day, I'm so rattled. I'm freezing my ass off, I have to walk. I didn't prepare for this."

Unfortunately, preparing for homelessness is a terrifying and near-impossible prospect.

According to a 2006 survey, roughly half of all Canadians live in fear of poverty and 49 per cent of people polled believe if they miss one or two paycheques, they will be poverty-stricken.

The notion that nearly half the population could find themselves facing poverty in a few payless weeks is not lost on Losier.

"It doesn't matter who these people are and what they've done in their past — they're people. When I went to (the soup kitchen, I saw that) they were just normal people who were down on their luck."

Once filming and editing ended, Losier brought his film back to class for a viewing in front of students, professors and a representative of the Brantford Film Festival. Losier submitted the film and was selected for the Brantford Showcase which will feature three films that tell stories of Brantford.

When asked what he wants people to take away from the film, Losier spoke with certainty.

"The main message I want to put through my work is community and getting together. I really truly believe that's how the world can change. There's a lot of social change that needs to happen and we've put that in other people's hands and it's clearly not working. We need to put it back in our own hands, get together and do it ourselves."