"Jersey City: 24 Hours in Public Places," a video documentary produced by New Jersey City University media arts students that explores the City’s diverse cultural, historic, gritty, and eccentric places, will premiere in Jersey City at The Beacon, one of the historic sites featured in the production.
Inspired by National Public Radio’s “NYC: 24 Hours in Public Places,” a documentary created in the 1980s by audio producers, the NJCU filmmakers, like the producers, recorded life at various locations at different times of the day and night.
The NJCU students worked in teams covering sound, video, and still photography. Each team produced a 60-second segment at locations ranging from the Justice Brennan Courthouse and the Colgate Clock to the Landmark Loew’s Jersey Theatre and White Mana fast food diner.
The screening will be paired with a lecture/presentation by author Leonard Vernon, who has written a history of the Jersey City Medical Center for the “Images in America” series.
“Jersey City: 24 Hours in Public Places” is the first major production completed in the NJCU Media Arts Department to be shot entirely on digital SLR and high definition video cameras.
Jason Roque, NJCU supervisor of audio-visual services in the NJCU Media Arts Department, served as technical director on the project. The musical score was written and performed by Jose Ahumada, an NJCU senior majoring in music education who also specializes in composition for film and video.
The project grew out of a class created and taught last fall by Jane Steuerwald, an NJCU professor of media arts, as part of “The Urban Experience,” the first themed semester offered by NJCU’s William J. Maxwell College of Arts and Sciences. Themed semesters feature a concentration of classes and extracurricular activities and events that address one particular topic of inquiry.
"Jersey City: 24 Hours in Public Places," is available for screenings. For further information contact Ms. Steuerwald at (201)200-3414 or e-mail her at
jsteuerwald@njcu.edu.