The Ripple Project

Last Friday we made a studio visit that was a little out of the ordinary. We met the people behind The Ripple Project (http://www.therippleproject.com). You can technically define this as a studio visit because we did see some of their behind the scenes work, but it was also a test screening for their project. We're one of the first groups to see their work in progress and it was an intense, emotional, thought-provoking experience.

The project goals are multi-faceted but one of their main objectives is to help explore how stories and experience change throughout the generations and what we can draw from all of these experiences. The video we were shown, "The Binding of Isaac" (http://www.therippleproject.com/recent-films/the-binding-of-isaac/) is the first video from the project and serves as a good introduction to the project. It really helps to relate the viewer to Isaac's story. That connection provides a much bigger emotional impact than the dry, sterile numbers and stats that most of us are taught in classrooms.

After seeing that video, the members of the Ripple Project showed us some of the footage they have shot for projects that are now being edited. This was interesting and fell more in line with what we are accustomed to on the trip. While still just as heavy emotionally as the short film, we were able to see a filmmakers approach to their piece. One member, Liron, kept emphasizing the difficulty of expressing an entire story into one piece, or one painting, an interesting concept and something to consider in the artistic process.

The stories of the people this team has traveled to film and try to portray through this project are absolutely incredible. The discussions that accompanied this raw footage and introduction to the project taught us all a lesson on perseverance and the strength of the human spirit. A follow up discussion was held this afternoon, as Katya mentioned which will appear on their blog soon.

Visit their website --> http://www.therippleproject.com for more information. It was quite the experience that was emotional, informative, and interesting.