It's not often that we find a YouTube video inspiring. But when Cleveland's Fusion Filmworks gave us a head's up about a spot it recently created with the Downtown Cleveland Alliance to promote living, working and playing downtown, we were impressed by not only how much was packed into 2 minutes and 15 seconds but also how great the city looked on screen. It also made us want us to find out how it all came together.
[0:01] Built around the question, "Downtown Cleveland ... Is It For You," the video offers a series of what DCA director of marketing and public relations Gina Morris calls "power statements" about downtown's vitality by recognizable and everyday Clevelanders.
[0:11] Along with an appearance by The Dredger's Union's Danielle DeBoe, the video includes cameos from chef Chris Hodgson, Pickwick & Frolic owner Nick Kostis, Cleveland State University president Ronald Berkman and more.
[0:26] Pooches are always people-pleasers, and a few of the 900 dogs that live with their owners downtown are featured. "It shows downtown really is a neighborhood," Morris says. "There are people who live here."
[0:55] The food truck montage was filmed during Walnut Wednesdays, a DCA-sponsored summer event hosted on one of downtown's lesser-traveled streets. "We brought all those food trucks to a street that only had about 20 people on it during a normal day," Morris says, only slightly exaggerating.
[1:22] Katie O'Keefe shows off the Cleveland-centric tattoos that decorate her arms, including one of the Guardians of Traffic. "She's very vocal," Morris says. "She's kind of becoming an unofficial spokesperson for this resurgence of passionate young people."
[1:39] The rainy summer of 2011 made capturing clear days tough. But this scene, recorded at Progressive Field, makes you long for summer here and is perfectly punctuated by a Tribe home run and fireworks. "There was a gorgeous sunset that day," Morris says. "And it was [Jim] Thome's home run."
