A WALK ON WATER: WALK WITH US

STRATEGY
Most people in the special needs community don't know surf therapy exists. We followed three children, all with different conditions, to show the community transformation and what it can do for their children.

OVERVIEW
This was a deeply personal project made at Media Arts Lab. We created a branded short film documenting the lives of special needs children who participate in surf therapy. It's one thing to talk about the struggle and the transformation. It's another to get uncomfortably close to all of it and show everything with no filters, no scripted dialogue, and no scripted scenes. We wanted special needs families to feel seen. To raise awareness for an organization doing incredible things across the country for special needs children who learned to call themselves surfers.

EXECUTION
We told our heroes and their families to just go about their day’s traveling to an event as they normally would. All we did was capture it. It was all real and that's what the world needed to see. To organize our approach, I separated our captures into three stages with our children and families on their journey to an event in San Diego: in their homes, on the road, at the event. Mean Machine composed an original score to take us through those stages.

RECOGNITION
2019 Patagonia Film Festival, Best Film

Role: Creative Director, TBWA Media Arts Lab
Director: Ryan R. Browne, Curator