Jennifer Crescenzo » film and television

Kentucky Derby Museum’s “Countdown to Victory”

Jennifer — Tue, 11 May 2010 20:29:44 +0000

So, I must admit that other than occasionally raising a mint julep with friends during NBC’s broadcast of the Kentucky Derby, I did not know much about horse racing or the Kentucky Derby specifically until I was hired by Cortina Productions to write films for the newly re-opened Kentucky Derby Museum. The museum was damaged last year by flash floods but, with some of that trademark Kentucky spirit, they took advantage of the opportunity to update and expand, adding new films and interactive exhibits. To learn more, read the USA Today article at:

http://www.usatoday.com/travel/destinations/2010-04-24-kentucky-derby-museum_N.htm

My work was on the “Countdown to Victory” films which take visitors behind the scenes during the 30 minutes just prior to the start of the race. The short films give you a variety of perspectives on the action from the jockeys playing ping pong to calm their nerves, to the grooms trying to calm the horses as the crowds swell, to the bugler who practices 2 hours a day for the 30-second Call-to-Post, to the “horse identifier” who risks her fingers checking each horse’s mouth for an identifying lip tattoo. Each person has a unique perspective but they all share a passion for the derby. I had always assumed that horse racing was an insular world, limited to a privileged few. But, I learned otherwise in making these films. Each owner, trainer, jockey, or groom and the many staff that support them seemed to have a unique and compelling story about how they got to the derby, from a jockey fighting back from a spinal cord injury to race again to a lifelong school principal living out his dream to own a Derby horse.

You can check out the Derby Museum website at:

http://www.derbymuseum.org/

“Science Storms” Exhibit at the Museum of Science and Industry

Jennifer — Tue, 11 May 2010 19:41:07 +0000

I recently worked with Cortina Productions to produce films for an exhibit called Science Storms at the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago. The exhibit opened in March and it has apparently been a big hit, especially with meteorologists! To see Good Morning America’s Sam Champion visit the exhibit, click here:

http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/video/inside-science-storms-exhibit-10268445

Science Storms reveals the science behind seven natural phenomena—lightning, fire, tornados, avalanches, tsunamis, sunlight and atoms in motion and the museum describes the exhibit as “a perfect storm of physics, chemistry and curiosity.” You can learn more about the exhibit at

http://www.msichicago.org/whats-here/exhibits/science-storms/

As the producer , what I enjoy about the films is that the scientists reveal what drives them to study these beautiful and sometimes dangerous phenomena. So, in addition to learning how tornadoes or form or what fire really is, you also learn what drives these adventurous (and sometimes mad) scientists to sit under moving avalanches or try to stop light. It helped me appreciate that science is not just gathering data or formulating equations; it’s a creative process fueled by both investigation and imagination.

Well played, Esquire!

Jennifer — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 22:19:08 +0000

How do you get people to fall in love with magazines again? Esquire thinks they have the answer in the form of “augmented reality” http://www.esquire.com/video/#v49407280001. A chip embedded in the latest issue of Esquire allows you to hold it up to your computer screen and then interact with the magazine’s content. For example, you can change the clothes and even the weather in one of their fashion spreads (like a high-tech paper doll!) My first reaction was “Wow…that’s cool” (something I rarely think when looking at an issue of Esquire). And then I started to wonder, “Is this kind of like CNN’s surreal election coverage when Wolf Blitzer interviewed a holographic version of will.i.am?” Point being, while seeing will.i.am appear in CNN’s studios like some kind of jedi knight was first weird, and then kind of astonishing, it didn’t make Wolf Blitzer ask better questions. It didn’t make the election coverage more informative or more nuanced (although it did make it more humorous). And it certainly didn’t make me want to tune into CNN more often. But, like most technology, this “super chip” that Esquire has up their sleeve is agnostic. So, in the hands of Esquire, I’m not sure what it will offer, although I can speculate that it will involve cigars and scantily clad women. But, in more creative hands, it could probably offer a really cool fusion of the printed word and the glowing screen and that’s got some potential.

I made a pregnant lady!

Jennifer — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 16:05:33 +0000

This summer I produced an interactive exhibit for the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago about how a woman’s body changes during pregnancy. Since I’ve never been pregnant, I had to ask women who were pregnant or had recently given birth to open up to me about their experiences, in detail! I was afraid they wouldn’t really want to share their stories with a complete stranger but so many women stepped forward because they wanted to be part of an exhibit that would help other women and girls – and maybe even educate men a little about what women go through! Their candor, warmth, and humor was inspiring and you can read quotes from them throughout the interactive exhibit “Make Room for Baby”. You can also see an amazing animation that takes you through all nine months of pregnancy, week by week. When you see the growing fetus force the mom’s digestive organs up into her diaphragm, you get a whole new level of appreciation for your own mother!

The museum has made the interactive available online so you don’t even have to leave your computer to play with it. Check it out!

Make Room for Baby interactive