Contact: Tim Morse, 757-288-1273
NORFOLK, Va., November 3 /Christian Newswire/ -- With just one day before election 2008, voters in Florida, Virginia, Pennsylvania, Ohio and other key battleground states have a last-minute opportunity to view two short videos that have been produced to help motivate voters and challenge them think critically about this historic election. The films are posted at whyivotedemocrat.com. Some viewers may be surprised by the messages contained in the films.
While one of the two films has already been widely viewed to date, key battleground state voters may not have had the opportunity to view it. According to Daniel Gourley, president of the VerticalBlu Film Company (VerticalBlu), the first short film was initially produced, "as a marketing piece for VerticalBlu and as a response to another video that was pointed at the republican party." But Gourley also acknowledged that the film has served to help people get facts and think for themselves as they look toward voting. "The lesson we would love for folks to take away is that you can't believe what you hear on TV anymore, and that it doesn't matter necessarily who you vote for, but that you educate yourself on the issues."
Gourley was surprised to learn the extent of his audience's commitment to promote it. "We didn't expect the level of response from other communities and countries regarding the interest in this video," Gourley said. "Of course, we have equal amounts of people who hate it and love it, but we have also had the movie translated by a young man from the hearing-impaired community, as he read the lips of our actors. He has posted it, with the transcript, on a Blog for the hearing-impaired." According to Gourley, this fan told VerticalBlu that there are 33 million people with hearing disability and he felt they are never adequately reached by the campaigns."
"We've even had someone translate our script into Spanish for non-English speakers who want to know what our video is about. It's been posted on Spanish-speaking Blogs as well," he added. "The feedback we've gotten so far is that large numbers of viewers from 21 different countries, including Brazil, Russia and Israel, have seen it." According to Gourley, VerticalBlu's new short films will speak to all types of voters, but he feels that younger voters will be especially able to engage with the films. "To a great degree, I think younger voters accept what the 'media' tells them," Gourley said. "But with the advent of YouTube and other forms of viral marketing, clever, well-produced films like 'I'm Voting Democrat' can really reach an audience and make a difference."
"Our generation is also very good about spreading the word online, so we may see quite a bit of viral activity if these Web users choose to share a link to the URL," he said. Gourley is hoping that his company's other political short film, 'Sen. Obama, I Have One Question...' will gain exposure by being posted on whyivotedemocrat.com, as well.
"To see the two short films, visitors will have to scroll down the page bit," he added, "since we're promoting a new, non-political film at the top of the page."
Full details about the two films and the new democrat domain name are available via this Web address: Obama in '09?
