Friday, September 05, 2008

CONTINUE


I am excited to finally announce the official title of our adaptive sports video, "Continue". I'm also pleased to announce the official launch of the film's website: www.continuefilm.com

Once the film nears completion, additional content will be added to the website. Our goal is to eventually offer a free download of the film in various formats, including Hi-Definition.

Coming up with a title for our project was surprisingly difficult. Even more difficult than Jeff (my producer) and I could have imagined. When we first submitted the grant to the Paralyzed Veterans of America, we called our production "Take 2". Yeah... not the greatest title right?

For this project's title, we wanted something simple, subtle and thought provoking. After spending months and months of going through every conceivable title under the sun, we (Jeff and I) finally arrived at "Continue". I truly feel that this title encapsulates the point of our project, which is: life can go on. And furthermore, be an amazing experience. My mom also like it, so... there you go.

Both Jeff and I refused to go with the cliché titles like: "Overcoming Obstacles", "Inspirational Heroes" or "Ability Wow!" If you've ever spent time among the disabled community and/or read and seen any disabled related media, you'll know that these "gimp-obvious" titles saturate the market. They're used way too much and I understand why. For some reason, stories, websites and organizations have to have some type of disabled indicator in their title or else the public-at-large won't pick up on the disability angle. I think that we're now to the point, as filmmakers, broadcasters, journalists, and organizations, that we need to start treating disabled subject matter with the same style and integrity that we treat anything able-bodied. It's time to avoid using the classic fall back of inspirational lingo. The "gosh aren't they so heroic" treatment. What it does is tell people how to feel, and I think that's insulting to the public's intelligence and to the entire disabled community.

We want people to see what's out there and do in the style of any great sports documentary. If people feel inspired, great. If they don't, that's fine. But we absolutely don't want force inspiration or any other feeling onto our viewers. We still want the film to make an impact, but we want it to be genuine. We want people to look at the footage and go "Yeah, I haven't seen that before."

We believe this film will be groundbreaking. We hope you will to.

"Continue" is being made, first and foremost, for the individual who has just sustained a spinal cord injury. I know, from personal experience, what it's like to lay in the hospital bed and wonder: "What happens now? Clearly I'm alive, but what can I do with this new body?"

This film aims to present 28 activities that are available to individuals with spinal cord injuries or disease. It's a sampling of the most popular and available activities for people with varying levels of paralysis. Although the film won't cover each sport in great detail, it will (hopefully) show, using brief scenes, that life can continue. It will also give newly-injured individuals some visual examples of what's available, once they leave the hospital.

So why did we wait so long to unveil the project's title? Well, we had to get some graphics finished so that you, the audience, could see the title the way WE want you to see it. Also, New Mobility Magazine's latest issue features a story on Erik Kondo, on of our film's many talents. In the article, "Continue" is mentioned. Erik and his sparring partner Bob gave an amazing performance for our project and it's exciting to see them featured, with a photo from our production, in this national Spinal
cord Injury (SCI) publication. If you get a chance, find a copy and read the article. It's great stuff.



So there it is. "Continue". I'm excited because I no longer have to refer to our project as "Adaptive Sports Video".

Up next: Waterskiing with Bill Bowness!

2 comments:

Kristy said...

The website looks really great! I think your title is very fitting. Just perfect.

Susan cruisin said...

Continuefilm site looks tight.