May 17, 2013 - 12:26pm
Filmic releases "Explore Ann Arbor"
BY ALICIA ADAMCZYK
As spring and summer approach, there's no better time to leave the libraries and dorm rooms of Winter semester behind and explore all that Ann Arbor has to offer.
At least, that's the premise of a new film released Thursday by Filmic Productions, an undergraduate student-created and student-run film production team. The film, "Explore Ann Arbor," runs just under two minutes and depicts scenes from across the city, including friends posing for pictures with Zachary Storey — or, the Violin Monster — canoeing in the Huron River and dining at Ann Arbor establishments like Blimpy Burger and Fleetwood Diner.
University alum Chris Duncan, co-founder of Filmic, said the project began through an internship with Michigan Creative, a group of professionals who provide creative services for the University. Duncan and the rest of the team settled on the "Explore Ann Arbor" concept after Matt Schlientz, the marketing director for Michigan Creative, said he wanted something to showcase the city.
"(Schlientz) gave us a lot of freedom to shape the (project)," Duncan said. "What we focused on was the relationship between Michigan and Ann Arbor, and how a Michigan experience extends beyond campus."
He said the video is a "call to action" for people to discover places he and his team didn't know about until Senior year. He hopes it encourages students to appreciate everything Ann Arbor has to offer during their time at the University.
"Even in the process of making the video, we found ourselves getting lost down trails in Barton we'd never would have found if we weren't making a video about exploring," he said.
The feel-good production is accompanied by the tag #exploreA2, which Duncan said the team hopes residents and students will use whenever they find something interesting to do around the city, which other people would be able to use when they want to do some exploring of their own.
"As a freshman, I didn't know too much about the city beyond State Street, and so just to hear about the simple things that make up this city would be something I would have liked to follow," he said. "As an R.A. in South Quad, I found myself constantly giving advice about Ann Arbor to underclassmen from restaurants to barbershops."
Watch the video below.
