A DVD project that I’ve been working on for nearly two years is finally being released!
Another filmmaker and I have been working with Sensei Eihachi Ota (Hanshi 9th Dan) for the past two years in order to document his abilities and wisdom. Last year we released a 17-minute documentary about his life and the origins of Okinawan Karate and now we’re releasing the first in hopefully a long series of in-depth instructional DVDs.
The goal for each DVD is to teach the Karate practitioner the fundamentals of Okinawan Kobudo (weapons) – specifically, with this DVD, the techniques and applications of the Tunfa – and most importantly, to emphasize safety measures and safe training habits. To avoid using a bland watch-and-learn approach, we attempted to layer Sensei Ota’s teachings with multi-camera set-ups, extended exercise/technique footage, and interactive DVD menus so that the practitioner, in essence, could follow Sensei Ota and train as they watch the DVD.
The director of both projects really feels that Sensei Ota and his legacy deserve a cinematic and, dare I say, EPIC documentation. Hopefully we were able to capture Sensei Ota in that way (despite our limitations… i.e., $$$).
Here are a few screenshots of the soon-to-be product website (via kunaki.com) where the DVD can be ordered, as well as lo-res previews of the DVD artwork that I designed. The DVD will also be available directly through Sensei Ota at his national and international seminars (the bulk DVDs will be ordered through an awesome online CD/DVD manufacturing company called Copycats Media).
The DVD will be released the last week of July or possibly sooner (depending on when the master DVD proof arrives for Sensei Ota’s final approval) through Sensei Ota’s website… to be safe, let’s just say the last week of July. Until then, here are a couple of excerpts from the DVD:
paper shop projects 