Demo Reel
Spring 2014 is here. That means we are just nine months away from our 10 year anniversary. TEN YEARSof traveling the globe to tell amazing stories for so many of our amazing clients. So we paused to put together this fun demo of our video production work. Remember the format wars? Remember when 36megapixels and ANYTHING 1080P would cost you almost $30K? Remember when HD cameras were not for sale at Best Buy? Or, on your flip cell phone? Or, when nobody cared about your manual DSLR prime lenses sitting in the closet? Yeah.... that's how ten years can shake up an industry.
This video showcases an amalgam of our camera work, art direction, 2-D & 3-D motion graphics, animation, editing and it includes samples from our commercials, documentaries and dramatic features that were shot in SD + HD Formats, between 2004-2014.
Enjoy.
Desiline Victor Project
Client: Advancement Project, Inc.
Producer: Leila McDowell
Director/Editor: Paul Grant
Camera A: Paul Grant
Camera B & Audio Assist: Joshua A. Washington
Every now and again, our work allows us to touch history. It's an electrifying yet fleeting moment. But we are thrilled to work behind the scenes while great stories that define the times in which we live unfold in front of our eyes.
Desiline Victor, a 102 year-old, Haitian Immigrant, was told she had to wait up to six hours to vote in the 2012 Presidential Election at the polls near her North Miami residence. Desiline persisted through the heat, the long lines and having been wrongly returned from the front to the back of the line because it was though that she had the wrong paper work proving her residency. Three hours later, she emerged from the polls with her "I Voted" sticker and throngs of cheering people, to become the symbol of voter frustration and for much need revamping of the U.S. voting system/ process.
Ascender was tapped by Advancement Project, Inc., a non-profit civil rights advocacy group, to document her experiences in Washington immediately leading up to her being an invited guest at the 2013 State of The Union Address. Save for a few technical embellishments, this was story that ended up telling itself--and inspiring millions in the process.
US Coast Guard Recruitment Campaign (2012)
'This Is How I Serve'
This year, Ascender joined forces with the talented team at Washington, DC-based communications firm Penn Good & Associates to produce a series of :30-second commercials for the US Coast Guard. The campaign targeted women and returning veterans--offering an peek into a typical day in the work life of USCG civillian employee. See the full video campaign below:
Senior Producer / Director: Paul Grant
Producer : Tracey A. Grant
Director of Photography: Derek J. Allen
Second Camera: Sean Simmons
Hair/Make Up: Christin Birkhead
Production Coordinator: Joshua A. Washington
Video Production & Animation: Ascender Communications, Inc.
Agency: Penngood, LLC
Client: U.S. Coast Guard
Ascender Wins 2012 TELLY AWARD for 'Enlisted: Conversations with Five Generations of African Americans in the U.S. Armed Services (2012)'
MUSEUM & CULTURE | ORAL HISTORY | DOCUMENTARY
ENLISTED: CONVERSATIONS WITH FIVE GENERATIONS OF AFRICAN AMERICANS IN THE U.S. ARMED FORCES (2012)
Our first museum video installation opened as a part of the Prince George’s County African American Museum and Cultural Center’s (PGAAMCC) ‘Coming Home’ World War II exhibition in North Brentwood, Maryland in, May 2011. ‘Enlisted’, is our 16-minute documentary featurette produced from oral histories of six African Americans who lived in the Washington, DC metropolitan areas that served in World War II, Korean War, and two Vietnam War veterans– and their collective experiences in service to their country.
The exhibition, ‘Coming Home: How the African American Experience in World War II Shaped the Culture of Prince George’s County’ explains how the full integration of the U.S. armed services during the second world war actually opened the a new widnow of opportunity for many African Americans to seek and pay for, higher education and gain new professional skillsets. This was eventualy contribute to making P.G. County, Maryland the most affuent, predominately black county in the nation.
Tagline
ORAL HISTORY & DOCUMENTARY
‘Coming Home: How the African American Experience in World War II Shaped the Culture of Prince George’s County’ explains how the full integration of the U.S. armed services during the second world war actually opened the a new widnow of opportunity for many African Americans to seek and pay for, higher education and gain new professional skillsets. This was eventualy contribute to making P.G. County, Maryland the most affuent, predominately black county in the nation.
