By ERIN BRIDGES, The Daily Transcript

Tuesday, July 28, 2009

A local company is helping the Marine Corps reach out to service members in a new way.

Groovy Like a Movie, a San Diego-based film and movie company, spent about six months working with the Marine Corps Mobilization Command to create a film that would help individual ready reserve Marines and their families better cope with returning from a deployment.

“This is not a typical Marine training video,” said Brent Altomare, owner and executive producer for the company. “Because these (Marines) have specialized needs, they really wanted us to reach out and connect with them emotionally.”

And that’s exactly what they did.

The first half of the film is a dramatic representation of what Marines might experience from preparing to leave a war zone to adjusting to civilian life back at home. The second half includes interviews with Marines and their family members who watched the video and compare their experiences to the ones played by the actors.

The video, which was made on a $125,000 budget, was posted to the command’s Web site June 24. So far, the feedback has been positive.

“The thing I hear over and over is how emotional it made them,” said Shanon Glezen, the individual ready reserve family readiness officer for the mobilization command. “When you get to the end, they realize there are other families out there like them.”

While there are many resources out there for returning service members to help them adjust, Glezen said there was nothing quite like this film specifically dealing with the unique needs of the individual ready reserve experience.

These men and women are spread across the country, often in places where they do not have easy access to military installations and the resources provided to active duty service members.

Through surveys, focus groups and first-hand accounts, the Marine Corps command and Groovy Like a Movie identified the needs of the individual ready reservists, the needs of the families and the best way to meet those needs.

Altomare, who has a deep respect for service members but has not served himself, said he learned that the return and reunion process for these particular Marines is especially interesting.

“They’re not your typical Marines,” he said. “They’re not career guys. They’re not the young gun, gung-ho guys.

“These are the guys who did their job, thought they were done, and now have been called back because of the wars we’re in.”

As a result, news of their deployment can be unexpected and given on short notice — potentially creating a stressful and emotionally trying situation for both the service member and his or her family. Such experiences are discussed in the second half of the film.

Instead of focusing only on the experiences of the Marine, the film touches on experiences of a spouse, parent or friend when their loved one returns.

Glezen said most families chose not to watch the film alone. Sharing it helps them explain what they’re going through and can be like “translating a foreign language for them,” she said.

“That was the goal — educate a parent, spouses, for what to expect,” she said. “That’s a really hard transition period.”

Right now, the video is available online in a few places, including www.groovylikeamovie.com.

Glezen said 1,000 DVD versions will be distributed in the coming weeks to families of currently mobilized and forward deployed Marines.

Groovy Like a Movie, which also created television advertisements for San Diego Metropolitan Transit System, is working on finalizing a deal to make a film for Marine Corps Air Station Yuma that will target alcohol and drug use.

As they did with the mobilization command video, Altomare and his team will again stray from the traditional military video to reach their audience.

“They want to use a little bit of humor to try to attack this problem,” he said. “Once again, we’re encouraging them to try different things and reach out to these young men and women in a way they understand.”