Film, Motion Picture
EMS
Silent color 16mm film containing footage shot for a production about Detroit's Emergency Medical Service, followed by footage from an event in Hart Plaza attended by Mayor Coleman A. Young and City Council connected with the city's "Detroit... Get to Know Me Better" campaign.
The film opens with multiple takes and angles of a medic answering a phone in and Emergency Medical Service garage, then running from her desk to the ambulance. The ambulance is then shown pulling out of the station, and onto the street. The next shot is from the passenger seat of the ambulance, through its windshield, while it is parked on Grand River Avenue, at Ilene Street, across from Corvette Corner. After several shots through the windshield of unidentified two-lane streets, the camera rolls as the ambulance drives east along West 8 Mile Road, crossing Schaefer Highway. The ambulance passes a Great Scott supermarket, Toriden Real Estate, a kung fu studio, and several adult book stores. The ambulance is then filmed parked in an apartment building drive way. At the scene of a car accident, the camera gets several zooms from a cracked windshield. In the final shots of the segment, the ambulance pulls out of a hospital's driveway.
The next portion of the reel shows an event at Hart Plaza held in relation to the city's "Get To Know Me Better" campaign. This segment opens with a shot of a band all clad in "Detroit" t-shirts performing in front of Pylon, with the Renaissance Center under construction in the background. Balloons printed with "Watch Detroit Balloon" decorate the plaza's benches. The camera also captures members of the crowd gathered in the plaza, some of which also wear "Detroit" t-shirts. Mayor Coleman A. Young is filmed walked and conversing amongst the crowd, while also wearing one of the t-shirts. Young is then shown seated along with Detroit City Council members Jack Kelley, Erma Henderson, Ernest C. Browne, Jr., Maryann Mahaffey, Clyde Cleveland, Carl M. Levin, Nicholas Hood, and an unidentified man on the stage in front of Pylon. The group members chat and clap their hands as the band plays behind them. A sign reading, "Detroit ...get to know me better!" is positioned at the foot of the stage. After several crowd shots, Young addresses the crowd. Then, the unidentified man is shown speaking to the crowd.
Shots then follow of Young among the crowd, Young back on stage with the band, two young people dancing, a group serving drinks beside a Burger King van, people passing balloons out to children, a woman in a "Detroit" shirt and pin posing among a large group of children, and the Burger King mascot handing out slips of paper. After another shot of the crowd, a man dancing while seated on a fire hydrant is filmed for an extended period. The reel ends after several more shots of a woman holding a bunch of balloons, and close-ups of the band.
The film is contained on a grey metal reel housed within an unlabeled grey metal canister. "EMS" is written on the film's leader, as well as on a Custom Tech, Incorporated Invoice included in the canister. The invoice lists the City of Detroit's Department of Public Information as the customer, the date as July 22, 1975, and the item as "Develop two rolls 16mm EKTA [?]F. Make one 16mm color Work Print. One 800 ft reel & can. Return All Materials."
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