U-Matic

New Year's Eve Run
00:12:24 - 9:55:00

B Roll

Opening Shots on Belle Isle
Rest of the roll blank

U-Matic S tape containing several takes of video, followed by a title card and voice over, all for a public service announcement promoting the 1981 Belle Isle New Year's Eve Run.

The tape opens with a clip from a WXYZ-TV news story concerning surgery performed at a Humana Hospital location by Dr. Serge Martinez.

The P.S.A. footage begins with the camera positioned in an intersection on Belle Isle. The video crew can be heard talking, then giving the signal for a group of runners to run for the camera, as they pass, an out-of-breath man approaches the camera and explains the event. The man and the rest of the runners then perform a different take, with everyone already in front of the camera. Next the camera is repositioned facing southeast from in front of the Belle Isle Casino. The runners then approach from across a nearby bridge, and the same man stop in front of the Casino to again provide the details of the event. Following a second take and a brief gap in the tape, an art card with the event's logo and information phone number appears. After a moment of silence, a narrator's voice recites the phone number several times. The remainder of the tape alternates shots of the New Year's Eve Run card and an art card promoting the 19th Annual Christmas Carnival, at Cobo Hall. The latter card features a snow man, and lists the event as occurring December 6th through the 21st between 9 a.m. and 9 p.m.

The video is on a 20-minute U-Matic S tape with a typewritten City of Detroit Department of Public Information Video Production label on its top. The tape is housed in a black plastic latching case with a matching label on in its cover.