
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, August 22, 1993                   TAG: 9308220075
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: E4   EDITION: STATE 
SOURCE: Newport News Daily Press
DATELINE: HAMPTON                                LENGTH: Medium

FOR COMMERCIAL, ARMY PICKS HAMPTON, A CITY WITH SMALL-TOWN LOOK

When the Army went looking for the perfect example of a small, "really quaint," Middle American town to film a parade scene for a recruiting commercial, they didn't pick Gloucester or Phoebus or Smithfield, Va.

They picked Hampton, a city of more than 133,000 people.

"We scouted a lot of places, but those towns widened their streets which took away the intimacy," said director Rip Charbonnet of Zuzu Inc., a Richmond-based film company. "This place looks like a small town that kept its friendly flavor."

More than 100 brightly dressed extras, mostly from Richmond, filled Queens Way Wednesday to film parts of a commercial for the U.S. Army Recruiting Command, based at Fort Knox, Ky.

The 30-second commercial - designed to show the humanitarian side of the Army - is expected to air nationally by mid-November.

In addition to the Hampton parade scene, the commercial will include an Army helicopter rescuing a family from flood waters, troops feeding the hungry in Somalia and a Desert Storm welcome-home scene.

These scenes were re-created and filmed at nearby Fort Eustis and Langley Air Force Base over the last three days. Queens Way's cobblestone street, the red brick and wood storefronts and an added touch of patriotism - flags, banners and a military marching band - provided the perfect backdrop for a hometown military parade that the director was aiming to capture on film.

"Hampton has done a beautiful job of restoration," said Lenny Brisendine of Church Hill Production Services in Richmond, who chose the location for the parade scene. "Hampton won the prize because it's well put together. It's a film crew's dream."

Brisendine said he was on his way to scout another location when Deborah Wakefield, media relations manager of Hampton Conventions and Tourism, suggested downtown Hampton.

The Army Training and Doctrine Command at Fort Monroe helped to produce the commercial, said executive producer Nancy Mulvey, TRADOC's audio-visual production officer. Mulvey, who came up with the concept for the commercial, said this was the first time the Army has had a hand in producing one of its commercials.

Copies of the commercial will go to recruiting battalions throughout the country, then to local markets.

If approved by the Armed Forces Network, it will also air overseas.

by CNB