UNFILTERED and REAL's FIRST BLOG POST

Welcome to the first official Unfiltered and Real blog post. Exciting.

It's been a couple months since we started the project and we've been receiving some really great footage from our participants so far. Can't wait for the site to launch – of course we'll keep everybody updated.

For those of you that don't know what we're doing, we're in the process of collecting videos from soldiers and their family members and loved ones from all around the country. We're giving many of them cameras, others are using their own, and we're letting them tell their stories, their way. As we're sure many of you feel, it's rare that real stories about soldiers and military families – from their points of view – are told. Most of what we see in the media has been filtered through politics or advertising, and the image of the soldier is often either romanticized or demonized. We rarely see the humanity of the hundreds of thousands of soldiers who put their lives on the line for us, and their families, every day. We're here to try something different.

Also make sure to keep your eyes and ears out for the Paramount Pictures movie that's making this story-telling campaign possible: STOP-LOSS. It stars Ryan Phillippe, Channing Tatum, Joseph Gordon Levitt, and Rob Brown as a team of Army infantrymen who serve together in Iraq. One of the Unfiltered and Real team, Brett Rodriguez, served as a military advisor and helped the writing team on the movie immediately after completing his service with the 10th Mountain infantry division, which included a 12 month deployment to Iraq. Brett is also the younger brother of Kim Peirce, the film's writer/director who's hard-hitting debut film, BOYS DON'T CRY, came out in 1999. Check back for photos and videos of Brett at work with the guys on the film.

So keep your eyes out for our upcoming posts, as we'll be featuring stories of our participants, telling you about what we're up to, and posting many more videos and photos.

Until next time,

- Unfiltered and Real