Blogs from Alpheus Media

Alpheus Does Comedy to Save Austin History

Lights Camera Help invited Alpheus Media to participate in the 2014 Reel Change Film Frenzy. Ten filmmaking teams were given a week to make a film from start to finish for one of their favorite Austin nonprofits. At the end of the week, the works premiered at the Alamo Drafthouse.
As an organization that generously provides us with archival footage, we were more than elated to team up with the Austin History Center Association. They wanted the video to express the need to save Austin’s history, especially in a time of immense growth.

 

With only a week to create the film, the team hit the ground running on Sunday. After two days of conceptualizing the video and writing scripts, on Tuesday, we scouted out locations and devised a schedule for shooting day. We spent all of Wednesday filming at the Austin History Center. The team diligently edited on Thursday and Friday morning. While we would have loved to have had more time to polish -  the film screening was upon us.

Mike Miller, manger at the history center, told us about a running joke dating back to World War II that says, “The population of Austin was perfect when I got here, so anyone who came after me was too much.” We decided to take this idea and have some fun with it. With ‘man on the street’ interviews, we captured people explaining how crowded the city’s become since they first got here.

We talked to people who had moved to Austin in the 1960's, 70's, 80's, and even 9 months ago. All of them complained in some way that Austin 'just isn't the same' as it was when they first moved here. For example, it takes longer to get places than it did in the 1990s, “and that really cuts into margarita time.” One time traveler from the 1800’s (who bore a striking resemblance to Alpheus Media’s Mat Hames) complained how he can no longer find a place to park his carriage.


“When you have that much change happening that rapidly, you also have that much history being created, and we need to save that history,” Miller said. That’s what the Austin History Center has done since it first opened in 1979. It archives anything created from going about our daily lives: records, letters, diaries, photographs, videos, books – the list goes on. Unfortunately, the center is running out of space. If it wants to continue saving history, it must expand.

That’s where the Austin History Center Association steps in. As the history center’s support system, it’s the organization's mission to connect the center to the public and, also, fundraise. It raises the money that keeps the center going, so we don’t forever lose those bits of history, like the only audio recording of American writer O. Henry. The video we created for the association will be used for fundraising and advocacy of the Austin History Center.

 

At Sunday’s screen at the Drafthouse, the audience’s reaction was fantastic. They seemed to get our quirky humor. We thoroughly enjoyed working with the people at the Austin History Center and the association. We’re proud to have been a part of their cause.

"Austin Revealed" Selected for SXSW Showcase 

The Alpheus Media team introduced me to their recent work, Austin Revealed my very first day. To get familiar with the project, they suggested I watch two or three of the YouTube vignettes. Once I started viewing them, I couldn’t stop. I felt compelled to watch them all.  Clip by clip, I listened to their stories and saw a history unveiling itself. A history I never knew. An Austin revealed. Watch a promo here:

It appears I shared this reaction with others. The City of Austin selected Austin Revealed: Civil Rights Stories for the 2014 “Faces of Austin” showcase at the SXSW Film Festival -- we couldn’t be more excited! The screening will take place on March 8 at 11 am at the Marchesa Theater.

Austin Revealed is a transmedia project directed by Mat Hames, which includes online web shorts, as well as 2-minute promos that air on KLRU, a website, and a series of individual interviews. In April, a 30-minute documentary Austin Revealed: Civil Rights Stories will begin airing on KLRU.

The films illustrate a history of the capital city that’s often overlooked. Driven by interviews of civil rights pioneers, Austin Revelaed explores issues such as segregation, integration, and gentrification, and challenges the common perception that Austin is, and has always been, a ‘liberal’ city.

AS-64-46014-16, Austin History Center, Austin Public Library

Austin Revealed began with an idea from KLRU-TV CEO and General Manager Bill Stotesbury. He wanted to capture oral history interviews with notable figures in the Austin community, beginning with the civil rights era. After initial brainstorming with Stotesbury and Sara Robertson, KLRU’s creative director, we began our search for Austinites with stories to tell.

Mat Hames' previous feature documentary, When I Rise, had included an interview with local civil rights legend Ada Anderson, who helped integreate the city's public area in the 1960's. Beginning with Ada, Mat Hames and producer Deborah Toodle connected with other eyewitnesses and pioneers, like Bertha Means, Wilhelmina Delco, Hoover Alexander, Larry Jackson, Tommy Wyatt and more. Over the course of two days, interviews were filmed at Wesley United Methodist Church in East Austin, which was established by freed men at the end of the Civil War, 149 years ago. You can see the behind the scenes of that shoot here.

With the interviews, we created the online series and promos. They were so well received, we are now in the post-production phase of a 30-minute film, divided into chapters like “The Tale of Two Cities” and “New Chapter, Same Story.” The film will premiere in KLRU’s Studio 6 at the 'Civic Summit'- a town hall forum, where civil rights leaders and experts will host a taped panel discussion after the program, exploring issues such as  gentrification. That very week, the UT Austin Campus will also host a civil rights summit featuring President Obama, President Clinton, and President George W. Bush.

We’re looking forward to the longer film’s premiere in April, but right now we’re soaking up the excitement of having been included in this year’s SXSW showcase.
The other two short promos included below, and the making of Austin Revealed can be seen here and here.