INSPIRED: The Movie Presentation at ECU from Steve Yu on Vimeo.

Although we’re not quite done with the film yet, we have received interest from some organizations and universities in sharing some of the lessons we’ve learned in creating INSPIRED — both from a filmmaking perspective as well as a health and fitness perspective. This was my first attempt to present the “story” behind the creation of the film, and what we’ve learned…while it was pretty rough around the edges it was a great experience that will help us in future presentations.

A special thanks goes out to Rebecca Allen from East Carolina University, who brought us out to ECU for the presentation. We always appreciate it when others have an interest for what we are trying to do.

In December, Mariah and I visited Dr. Brian Wansink’s Food and Brand Lab at Cornell University, after he graciously invited us to Ithaca after hearing a little bit about our project.

Dr. Wansink is the author of the fantastic book, Mindless Eating, and is doing some really interesting research related to why we eat, and the factors that determine how much we eat. The lab was pretty cool, an extension of his office, but it looked like a regular kitchen/dining area you might find in a typical home. The idea is to recreate settings that cause people to forget they are part of an experiment.

We spent an entire day (10:30am – 7pm) filming in the Lab, with Dr. Wansink and one of his research assistant’s Lenny, and we did get lots of really good footage. They were so helpful and willing to spend the day with us…what a great trip!

Below is some of the footage we shot, that will be integrated into the film…hope you find it interesting!

Many thanks to Dr. Wansink, Lenny, Ben, Michelle, and Pam for all their help. I’d urge anyone interested in their research to check out his book, or his audiobook (we have both)…and also his website, www.mindlesseating.org.