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Local Creatives Power Columbus Neighborhoods Series

WOSU Videographer Ryan Schlagbaum portrays Underground Railroad Conductor Jason Bull.

WOSU Videographer Ryan Schlagbaum portrays Underground Railroad Conductor Jason Bull.

Videographer Andrew Ina reviews video clips with actors.

Videographer Andrew Ina reviews video clips with actors.

Mary Rathke
Columbus Neighborhoods: Clintonville producer

I am continually amazed at the creative talent we have in Columbus.

You want a Hollywood-level director of photography?  We got that. You need quality actors of all ages?  Check. Costumers who know period clothing?

Yup. I mean, these people are top-notch.

You’ll see that in the Clintonville documentary I had to rely on re-enactments to tell the stories.  Because we are so deep into the Columbus Neighborhoods series, we’ve just about exhausted our relevant photos from the Ohio Historical Society and the Columbus Metropolitan Library.

But I was nervous about re-enactments too.  They can easily go off the rails and leave a producer with a pile of overly sentimental, dimly lit yuck to work with in the edit bay.

Not to worry.  Robin Schuricht and Megan Wood both work at the Ohio Historical Society.  They are also actors who create their own costumes.  Both of them were instrumental in finding other actors – associated with OHS and beyond – willing to help us out.  Plus, they found costumers as well.

Who knew that you could find someone who not only understood hem lengths of the 1900’s but also could sew a dress on the spot?

We had dozens of actors and a behind the scenes crew of 7-8 depending on the day.  Everyone was so excited to be a part of it.

We shot at the Jury Room (thank you owner and all around good sport, Liz Lessner!), Slate Run Living Historical Farm, New Albany Granville Equestrian Center, Franklin Park Conservatory, the Columbus Zoo Grand Carousel and the Groveport Log Home.

We even recruited our own videographer, Ryan Schlagbaum, to be a character that proved troublesome to cast.   He was nervous – he never claimed actor on his resume – but I convinced him he was perfect for the part.  See if you can spot him – he’d be tickled if you thought he was as good as all the other pros.

Look for WOSU Producer Diana Bergemann, WOSU Crew Member Chuck Oney and WOSU Student Allison Brogan playing memorable supporting roles as well.

On set there was so much going on and so many decisions to make I rarely had time to fully appreciate the experience of that level of collaboration.

Now that I’ve worked with the beautiful images we produced, I stand in awe of the talent in my hometown.