After almost a year in the making, the University of Michigan has released ‘Explore Ann Arbor,' a two-minute video produced by Filmic Productions, on Youtube.
The video — which was released Thursday and ties the University of Michigan into the city of Ann Arbor — calls for students to ‘leave the libraries’ and ‘forget the difference between city and school."
Filmic Productions, a group of University of Michigan student filmmakers, created the video as a part of their internship with Michigan Creative, a team that provides creative services to the campus and health services. The marketing director asked Filmic to create a video that would showcase Ann Arbor and their college experience.
“He told us what he was looking for and we took that as an awesome opportunity to showcase the parts of the city that we really love and have made our campus experience great,” ; Chris Duncan said, co-founder of Filmic and director of ‘Explore Ann Arbor’.
Content came from the team reflecting on what they loved about the city as well as talking to people on the streets about their favorite places Duncan said.
The Filmic team
The interns in charge of Explore Ann Arbor
- Director: Chris Duncan
- Co-director: Roddy Hyduk
- Producer: Joe Kasper
- Producer: Josh Buoy
- Cinematographer: Steve Coffey
- Music: Nic Ureno
“For the nightlife we did a little bit of research since most of our nights are spent editing,” Duncan said. “We talked with people about what they like to do in Ann Arbor. It was a mix between what we like and what other people do too.”
Filming took place in several iconic locations including the Arboretum, Pinball Pete’s, Fleetwood Diner, Blimpy Burger, and The Michigan Theater in hopes that not only potential students, but current ones would be inspired to participate in the culture around them.
“We’d really like to see Undergraduate Admissions use this video,” Duncan said. “We don’t know that they will, but there is so much more to the university than what you see on campus. For current students we wanted to show them what is available to them because for us it wasn’t until junior or senior year that we realized we should start taking advantage of these places.”
Duncan said for him and his team, the project was one of passion. Unlike other assignments, there was no specific contract, so they had a lot of freedom to take the video where they wanted it. The team was invested in the message they hope viewers will walk away with.
“Everyone’s experience at the university will be different and that’s a good thing,” Duncan said. “Students should incorporate Ann Arbor into their experience because there is so much that the city does. The school is so big; you can get lost in it. That’s why it is important for people to know there are opportunities elsewhere.”
Along with the video is a hashtag (#exploreA2) that encourages viewers to share their story and get involved in the city.
“We want the hastag to get underclassman following the conversation and give them some direction on how to explore the city,” Duncan said.
Filmic has produced several other videos for the university including ‘;The Letter M’ for the Undergraduate Admissions Department and ‘The Man’ for Stay in the Blue. They are now working to develop an application for Stay in the Blue that will allow users to keep track of their alcohol consumption. The application is set to be released in Fall 2013.
Filmic Team: Director: Chris Duncan Co-Director: Roddy Hyduk Producer: Joe Kasper Producer: Josh Buoy Cinematographer: Steve Coffey Music: Nic Ureno