U-Matic

Tape 4
Media Day Footage
Night & Day Shots of Ren Cen & People Mover
Logged
4-28-90

U-Matic S tape containing b-roll shot for the video "'E.T. Tourist' The Visit," produced by the City of Detroit's Department of Public Information for Media Day 1990, recorded over the April 24, 1990 press conference given by Mayor Coleman A. Young, with boxer Lindell Holmes. The b-roll portion of the tape features the demolition of the downtown Greyhound Bus Terminal, the Renaissance Center's exterior, Times Square and the Detroit People Mover, and the foot of Woodward Avenue at nightfall. The end of the press conference, where Mayor Young takes general questions from reporters, survives at the end of the tape. The press conference is available in full on tape 2015.008.235.

The tape begins with a very short clip of Mayor Coleman A. Young behind a podium at the press conference, followed by a test pattern with background audio of faint conversation.

Then a series of shots show the demolition of the Greyhound Bus Terminal on Larned Street, as from a window of the City-County Building. The camera pans up to show the buildings of Cadillac Square in the background. Workers and construction equipment are visible through holes in the structure's top parking deck. The People Mover passes along the tracks above Larned Street in the foreground. The camera also pans to the west to show heavy equipment working below street level on the part of the site adjacent to Woodward Avenue--presumably as early preparation for the construction of One Detroit Center.

A gap in the b-roll recording then reveals a brief shot from the press conference of boxer Lindell Holmes standing at the podium beside Mayor Coleman A. Young. Holmes' International Boxing Federation title belt is displayed on the podium, and Young holds a pair of boxing gloves.

The next series of shots focus on the Renaissance Center's Towers 600 and 700, as shot from the north side of Jefferson Avenue. The camera also films the Detroit People Mover traveling along the track over Jefferson, from the Renaissance Center station. As the camera tracks the People Mover, the signs for Marty's Deli and the Renaissance Center come into view in the foreground, as done a man seated on the steps of Ss. Peter & Paul Jesuit Catholic Church. The camera also pans from the riverfront area to the east of the Renaissance Center over to Renaissance Center.

The next section of the tape features scenes around Times Square. First, the camera is positioned on the east side of Cass Avenue, south of State Street for shots of the Ramada Hotel and its sign. The camera zooms out to reveal a parking lot sign for the Detroit News in the foreground. After a cut, the camera is then rotated around to follow the People Mover as it departs the Times Square station. As the People Mover disappears behind buildings, the camera zooms out to show the intersection of Times Square and Cass Avenue to the south. Several more shots follow of the Times Square station's exterior form across Times Square, including a wide shot with Book Tower and Trolley Plaza standing in the background.

The camera then moves to the west side of Woodward Avenue, just north of Jefferson Avenue, for a pair of shots of the Renaissance Center at dusk. The camera also gets footage of the Monument to Joe Louis as viewed head-on from the foot of Woodward Avenue. The camera also is rotated to the left for footage of traffic on West Jefferson Avenue, and, in the background, 150 West Jefferson. The b-roll ends with an extended shot of the foot of Woodward Avenue, culminating in a pan following the Detroit People Mover as it passes above the street.

The remainder of the tape contains the earlier footage of the press conference. It resumes as reporters begin to ask Young questions not related to boxing. Mayor Young is asked about orders to shut down the Greater Detroit Resource Recovery Facility's incinerator, the American Civil Liberty Union's challenge against the residency rules for city employees (during which Young attacks the Union's past efforts against drug testing for police officers), elevated parking rates and future fee increases, and hostility toward the media on display at a recent rally of his supporters at Ford Auditorium. While responding to the issue of media bashing, Young complains about leaks from the grand jury investigations into the VIsta Disposal and Magnum Oil issues. Young accuses the city's media of violating "cardinal principles," and building the wall between the city and suburbs.

The recordings are on a 3M UCA 30S U-Matic S tape with a handwritten 3M label on its top, marked "Tape 4 Media Day." The tape is housed within a black plastic latching case with a matching label marked "Tape 4 Media Day Footage, Night & Day Shots of Ren Cen & People Mover, Logged, 4-28-90."