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Detroit Institute of Arts |
Originally published in Michigan VUE magazine - May 2005
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In 2002, The Detroit Institute of Arts, (did you know it is the proud custodian of one of the Western Hemisphere’s finest, deepest and broadest collections?) began transforming itself from a 20th Century traditional (read “stuffy”) museum to a 21st Century visitor-centered (read “fun, relaxed”) museum. Think blockbuster exhibitions with thematic gallery installations, Artphones, PDAs, flip cards, interactive computers, flat screen monitors and a user-friendly atmosphere and you have a cursory grasp of what the new museum will look and feel like.It’s safe to say that people don’t view Detroit as culturally cutting-edge, so it’s of interest to note that the DIA is the first of the country’s flagship museums to undergo such a sweeping conversion - ahead of the Met and Boston Museum of Fine Arts, just to name two. When the DIA opens its new doors in November of 2007, the center jewel in Michigan’s cultural crown will look and feel entirely new. | Architects, curators, educators, and visitor panels are busily re-creating the new DIA, but diverse though their areas of expertise may be, they’re all looking for a common resource get the job done: show them the money. To be specific, show them $158 million dollars. Without that, it would all be just a pipe-dream.
The Master Plan Project will provide significant improvement in the museum’s conservation environment by replacing infrastructure and outdated building systems in the original 1927 building and both wings, which were built in the late 1960s. The museum improvements will include better traffic patterns throughout the museum, increased gallery and program space, and upgraded amenities for visitors. Construction costs were initially estimated at $91 million. Reinstallation of the museum’s collection adds approximately $10 million. The changing scope of the project and the additional demolition, abatement and reconstruction attributable to the asbestos removal ($57 million) bring the total project cost to $158 million.
At its September 15 meeting, the DIA Board of Directors approved a recommendation from the museum’s Building and Finance committees to work to secure the additional funding and continue the Master Plan Project as planned. The board, staff and volunteers are focused on achieving that goal.
But since the renovation began, both Detroit’s and Michigan’s economies have tanked and, therefore, so has public funding for the DIA. So the money for the re-build must come from the private sector, and that private sector needs to know as much as possible about what the new DIA will look and feel like before they fork over the big bucks.
Enter Prairie Pictures. Enter Braincell Pictures. Enter 3D animation. A little 8-minute DVD, produced by Prairie and Braincell, animated and edited by Braincell, has become one of the biggest guns in the arsenal of the DIA Development team as it battles for the hearts, minds and wallets of the high rollers.
The DIA first turned to local Oscar-winner Pam Conn and business partner Jeff Jones to create a video that would help them with fundraising. Pam and Jeff had worked with the DIA more than a decade ago on Journey of the Chandler Pohrt Collection: Art of the American Indian Frontier. Since then, in 1999, Pam and Jeff formed Prairie Pictures Inc. primarily to produce development and marketing pieces for educational, non-profit, and public service sector institutions.
Because it was immediately obvious to Prairie that doing moves on architectural renderings would never be enough to inspire DIA donors, Pam and Jeff brought Tom Greenberg, John Schuchard and Charlie Mooney of Braincell Pictures in at the start. Braincell is a high-end animation and post facility in Royal Oak that, like Prairie, keeps it small, personal, and world class. They could create 3D animation of the envisioned DIA that would let donors fully understand what the new DIA would actually look like when it re-opened it’s doors in November 2007.
The team worked together to create a concept. Prairie focused heavily on writing and research, while Braincell developed stunning spec renderings that - along with great reels and impeccable client lists from both companies - clearly showed the companies could work in tandem to produce precisely the video the DIA wanted.
The museum changes that would need to be rendered in 3D were extensive and the Prairie/Braincell team was given one mean deadline - just over two months - to produce a DVD that would give confidence to a jittery Board of Directors.
The Prairie plan was to shoot just one day in HD, a very ambitious goal ... and throw the rest of the budget over to Braincell for post- production. The shoot, which would include on-camera narration by DIA director Graham Beal, was approached with a level of care and precision usually reserved for hospital operating theaters. The crew, carefully picked by producer Jeff Jones for A-plus excellence and professionalism, included IATSE Local 600’s DP Larry Trinkaus; Grace & Wild’s HD technician Mike Burke; Local 600’s Will Eichler on Steadicam; Rob Rycroft as AC; Local 812’s Ron Ayers as A1 mixer; Burr Huntington on boom; Al Jacquez as A3; Local 38’s Darry Duisbiber, Mark Strachan, Dennis Rottell, Bobby Floyd, and Bill McLeod; Pat Smith with Cinemotion’s camera crane; Kathy Asheton on script/make-up; PAs Bruce Lehto (who made his acting debut in this short film with Ki Jones, son of Jeff Jones) and Zelda Brown; and great food prepared by Barb Lehto and Jules
Since most of the museum is closed down for renovation, the remaining small galleries where the video was shot were crammed full of virtually all the DIA “stars”: Degas, Picasso, Monet, Renoir, Moore, Rembrandt, Rothko, and on and on. So the crew worked - along with 47 extras and assorted DIA staff - for 14 hours within inches of literally billions of dollars of irreplaceable art. Director Pam Conn describes the shooting experience as “a calm, cool, perfectly orchestrated, totally controlled 14-hour heart attack.”
While Pam and Jeff were preparing for and executing the shoot, Charlie and John (the Braincell animators) were busy shooting photographs of the old DIA exterior and interior, wandering through the museum measuring, researching and collecting all available renderings, blueprints and material samples from which they would create the animation. Very quickly (no choice), it all came together. Charlie and John created a huge amount of beautiful 3D in record time. The HD footage from the shoot was down-converted to DigiBeta and digitized into Final Cut Pro for a lengthy editorial process.
When the final edit was complete, Braincell had created renderings of the complete museum exterior, the interior of the new Farnsworth lobby and central corridor, the new Café DIA, selected new galleries, and the Rivera Court. In addition to the 3D portion of the project, the program had to tell the complete story of the DIA ... its history, stories about the art itself, and the weekly films, events and programs that the DIA is famous for. “It was a very challenging subject to cover in under 10 minutes” said Tom Greenberg, editor and post-production supervisor, “but what an important project to work on ... it was a real labor of love.”
It was during the video’s production process that the DIA discovered the walls of the museum were riddled with asbestos, which raised the amount of money they would need for the renovation by $57 million for a grand total of $158 million. The need for the DVD was more crucial than ever.
Truth is, this is the kind of project that Prairie and Braincell both thrive on and excel at. “You couldn’t ask for a better cause: helping our own DIA raise money to preserve and display some of the world’s greatest art treasures for generations to come. And the challenge of visually doing justice to the museum and the artworks, as well as the Director, who is a real talent in his own right - well, that’s how we all keep our chops,” said Jeff, smiling broadly.
“Bottom line, it was a privilege,” Pam chimed in.
Mission accomplished! |
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