Building Superior Communities

Large real estate developments take time, patience, and good PR. Harbor Bay hired us to document the beginning of construction on Landmark, their East Lansing, two-tower development in partnership with Michigan State University and Target, as well as highlight the benefits to the community. The 12-story development was the first of its kind in East Lansing, which didn’t have any buildings over five floors prior to this project, so the community took some convincing. This film features dozens of interviews with people involved with the project, including local business owners, a professor from the university, interior design firms, contractors, and local politicians, including the mayor of East Lansing and the lieutenant governor of Michigan. It summarizes much about the early stages of the development, from winning over the community to the differences in design philosophies for the two towers, which would serve both students of the university and older professionals.

The film was shot on location in East Lansing over the course of four days with a crew of four. In addition to the 20+ interviews filmed, we captured cinematic footage from the construction site itself, cinematic and aerial footage of the nearby neighborhood and university, and a series of visual effects shots visualizing the finished buildings in place of the construction site. The visual effects shots were made in collaboration with Studio City and Image Fiction.

The final product was a 10-minute documentary for Harbor Bay’s website.