A piece of World Trade Center history goes home again

PR Log (Press Release) – Sep 10, 2009 – A piece of World Trade Center history goes home again


WOODLAND HILLS, Ca. – Before the world changed forever on September 11, 2001, the Top of the World observation deck atop Tower 2 at New York’s World Trade Center was a major destination for tourists.  It provided dazzling views of the city’s fabled skyline along with significant historical footage – and a thrill ride to boot.

The unique experience was lost with the crumbling of the buildings, but it will soon be relived.

Beginning in 1996, viewers in any of the three motion theaters atop tower 2 experienced the film “Manhattan Magic,” a sweeping aerial tour of the town.

The motion-theater and observation-deck media, produced by Woodland Hills’ Image Work Communications, also featured 24 interactive kiosks highlighting and providing information about Manhattan points of interest. It was all in place until the towers went down in the terrorist attacks.

“The Top of the World observation deck was an important national icon and an experience that helped millions of visitors understand New York City.  It meant so much to so many people,” said John Lawrence, Image Work president.  “It was truly a point of destination – a must-see.”

Now, Image Work will donate all original master footage, some unseen video of the towers and skyline, master transparencies used in the kiosks, shooting storyboards and other items to the National September 11 Memorial and Museum at the World Trade Center. The material will be scheduled for future use on the memorial’s collection, www.national911memorial.org and later at the memorial itself.

The eight-acre memorial will consist of two massive pools set within the footprints of the Twin Towers, with the largest manmade waterfalls in the country cascading down their sides. The names of the nearly 3,000 individuals who were killed in the September 11 attacks in New York City, Pennsylvania, and at the Pentagon, and in the February 1993 World Trade Center bombing, will be inscribed around the edges of the memorial pools.

“It’s great to see how the towers were marketed before September 11, and the close-up footage of the towers is just breathtaking,” said Katie Edgerton, the nonprofit memorial’s Exhibition Researcher. “There will also be an exhibit on the life and history of the World Trade Center – a space that IWC’s story would certainly enliven. This video is an amazing historical resource.”

“We’re happy that we finally made this connection,” Lawrence said. “We’ve had this material for such a long time, and the question was always, ‘This media has wonderful historic importance…where and how can people experience it?’ Now we have the answer.”

IWC is a firm of visual storytellers and content creators, producing original media and innovative Web experiences for business communications, virtual environments and live events as well as permanent installations and museums

For more information about Image Work Communications, call 818/712-9439, visit www.stopcreativeboredom.com or e-mail john@imageworkcom.com  To view photos of views from the top of the world please visit the link    http://www.imageworkcom.com/Samples/WTC_Photos.zip. Credit given to photographer Richard Gross.