First-time viewers of Durham’s city council meetings may find their jaws on the floor when they see the epic introduction video that calls the Bull City’s sessions to order.
When the clock strikes the hour, the screens behind the council members flash the colors of Durham’s flag. A lyricless yet robust beat begins to roll and a clip of Mayor Leonardo Williams (suited up, smiling, and setting his hands in Angela Merkel’s “triangle of power” gesture) appears, superimposed over Durham’s Main Street skyline. After Williams, the rest of the council members each get their own moment, striking poses over shots of the Bull City.
Mark-Anthony Middleton and Nate Baker cross their arms; Javiera Caballero and DeDreana Freeman put a hand or two, respectively, on their hips; Carl Rist tosses a baseball from hand to hand in a slow arc.
Just as he catches it, the video cuts to an exterior shot of City Hall, the flag flashes back across the screen, and it’s time for the council to get to the people’s work.
In just about two dozen seconds, the video has called the meeting to order, introduced residents to their council members, and maybe, just maybe, gotten viewers a little bit more excited about sitting through a municipal government meeting. It’s a piece of Durham politics and culture that only exists because the city’s communications department had a grand vision.
“It’s a great way for us to educate residents on who the council members are, what districts they represent,” says Nathan Rittenhouse, media production specialist for Durham’s city government.
Rittenhouse was originally looking just to redo some of the graphics of the council meetings, so he watched a lot of council meetings from other cities (New York, Atlanta, Seattle, Minneapolis) for inspiration. Los Angeles, in particular, had an introduction that stood out to him.
He pitched the idea to his department, and the first iteration of Durham’s intro video premiered in a March 2019 council meeting, to the delight of nearly everyone.
“I did not vote for that,” said then-council member Charlie Reece over the cheers of the audience and laughter of his peers. But he still seemed to enjoy it.
“The city attorney said that she thought it was like the opening of Parks and Rec, and that kind of hurt my feelings,” said then-Mayor Steve Schewel, referencing a sitcom centered around the dysfunction of a city hall.
Rittenhouse says that while some council members are initially shy on camera, they seem to really enjoy the final product—seeing themselves posing to stock music that Rittenhouse describes as “J Dilla meets Rocky.” Like Durham, he says, it’s got some soul.
“Most people don’t come from a media background, so everyone’s silly, and everyone feels apprehensive,” he says. Rittenhouse shoots a few different options of the council member posing in front of a green screen, and then lets the member pick the one they like best.
First-term council member Carl Rist, who made his video debut this month, is a fan of such a simple way to connect people to their government.
“There’re a lot of hard decisions the council makes,” Rist says. And no politician, of course, wants to be seen as having too much fun when there are so many serious issues in the city they work for. But he hopes the video helps residents “know a little bit about” their elected representatives beyond just a placard on the dais.
“At first, to be honest, I thought it was kind of a little bit silly,” Rist admits. But he fully committed to the process and, by tossing a baseball (the first ever prop in a Durham council intro video), he’s raised the bar for future council members and their digital likenesses.
Rittenhouse hopes that the video, only about 23 seconds at the beginning of an often hours-long slog through municipal government business, helps to remind viewers of the great experiment of American government.
“This is something kind of exciting,” he says. “This is democracy. This is our chance, our opportunity, to govern our city and to make it better.”
Reach Reporter Chase Pellegrini de Paur at [email protected]. Comment on this story at [email protected].
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