Blog: Page 4

TARDEC Groundbreaking, Tour and Symposium Rehearsal

August 18, 2009

Posted by Carrie LeZotte

One of Us Films spent the day with the U.S. Army Tank Automotive Research, Development and Engineering Center (TARCEC). Lora Probert was shooting, I was producing, and we had Mike Amman along for audio, all supporting TARDEC producer, Paul Tremblay.

Lora's on the roof to get a bird's eye view of the demo.

A UGV (unmanned ground vehicle) checks out the rubble.

If you’ve never heard of TARDEC, you’re not alone. Up until about a year ago when we were were introduced to Dr. Grace Bocheneck while producing a show for Automation Alley. TARDEC is a high-tech operation based in Warren, Michigan that works on anything and everything related to ground vehicles that support our troops.

We were on site yesterday to document the groundbreaking of another (!!) laboratory, the GSPEL…which will discover the next generation of power and energy solutions.

After the speeches, we shot video at some of the breathtaking research facilities. If big steel and machines get you excited, this is a place to see. We were just in time to see a 40,000 pound vehicle get moved around.

This week, there is also a big robotics convention in Troy, Michigan, and we were there for a rehearsal. The demonstration was of the robots and vehicles in action. In a word, impressive.

One of Us Films sponsors 48-Hour team

August 10, 2009

Posted by Lauren Thompson

Producer, Lauren Thompson

The 48 Hour Film Festival is an international film competition where teams compete to write, edit, score and submit a film in the given 48-hour time limit. Each team of filmmakers blindly dive into this competition not knowing the assigned prop, line of dialogue, character or genre. I knew this would be tough, but I was ready for the challenge.

Cast members from "Next Year Will be Different"

We finally scored a location a few days before the shoot, which really eliminated a lot of the pressure of working without a budget. The writing team had been discussing ideas for months prior to the competition, so we were hoping to pull a great genre from the hat! The moment arrived…holiday film! I was thankful to not have pulled musical or western!

Kate Mazzara, Writer; Mark Mazzara, Music; Lauren Thompson, Producer, Erin Thompson, Writer

Our volunteer production crew pre-lit the location and our art department (my specialty) got to work on decorating for our New Year’s Eve-themed script. The place looked great and we were ready to shoot the next day.

We all pulled together as a team and made an awesome finished product. Although this project presented many challenges, it was a great learning experience for everyone involved. We met a lot of great people and, to top it all off, we walked away with the award for Best Holiday Film!

Image Tracking

November 30, 2008

Posted by Stephanie Zerweck

Detroit Skyline, 1940s

Faces dancing in almost “On the Town”-type comedy, middle-school-aged Sinatras and Gene Kellys dart from location to location. Like the pages of a flip-book, they appear straddling first the porch of one house, and then at a glance, posed outside the local nickel ‘n dime. The boys follow the photographer, unaware of his less-than-comedic mission. In truth, there is no little man crying, “action,” or historian photographing for posterity’s sake. The photographer is from the City of Detroit’s Real Estate Corporation Council., snapping shots for the “Slum Clearance” demolition.

Children Playing Stick-Ball, 1552-56 Macomb, 8/29/1949

Within two years he is finished taking an inventory of the neighborhood. Fifty-some odd years pass, and a highway now runs through where the boys once played stick-ball and walked to school. Paradise Valley and Black Bottom are a memory, historically preserved by the same images that sanctioned their destruction–a series of photos donated to the Burton Collection.

Combing catacombs of images for use in the documentary, Regional Roots, I stumble upon these photographs, and in other collections, more stories like them. This is the nature of historical documentation. This is the nature of collective history.

Campbell, Campus Martius & Monroe, 1917

Limited access in being from a family collection. Limited access, because a library grant would only fund uploading expenses for a partial collection. Limited access because the materials are physically breaking down. This is how history is lost. This is also how documentary has a unique opportunity to reach and preserve–preserve the images soon lost or destroyed or reach a wider audience with a story, and in so doing, preserve a history of oral tradition from viewer to daughter, to grandson, to infinity.

However, …as even documentaries have limits, the run-time and content succumbing to the edit, other sources can contribute to the preservation, …hopefully, even a blog.

Yee Family Children at Belle Isle, early 1950s

(Much thanks to the amazing academic facilities listed: Detroit Public Library, Walter P. Reuther Library, Charles H. Wright Museum, Arab American National Museum, National Archives, William L. Clements Library, and John K. King Used & Rare Books, and the Yee Family.)