Cityhall Videos

Expertise The camera should take on human qualities and roam around playfully looking for something suspicious or exiting. This allows the audience to feel like they are involved in uncovering the story. Scenes can often begin by panning th arena showing close-ups of objects that explain plot elements. This goes back to the beginnings in silent film. Without sound, filmmakers had to create ways to tell the story visually in a succession of images and ideas. Hitchcock said this trend changed drastically when sound finally came to film in the 1930's. Suddenly everything went toward dialogue oriented material based on scripts from the stage. Movies began to rely on actors talking, and visual storytelling was almost forgotten. (Truffaut) Always use the camera as more than just a camera.

Location shooting is the practice of filming in an actual setting rather than on a sound stage or back lot. In filmmaking a location is any place where a film crew will be filming actors and recording their dialog. A location where dialog is not recorded may be considered as a second unit photography site. Often filmmakers choose to shoot on location because they believe that greater realism can be achieved in a "real" place, however location shooting is also often motivated by the film's budget. Many films shoot interior scenes on a sound stage and exterior scenes on location. On location is a term used to describe the filming on such a real site. The term is often mistakenly believed to mean that the production is being filmed on the actual location in which its story is set, but this is not necessarily the case.

Focal length The use of different focal lengths in combination with different camera to subject distances creates different rendering. Changing the focal length only while keeping the same camera position doesn't affect perspective but the angle of view only. A Zoom lens allows a camera operator to change their focal length within a shot or quickly between setups for shots. As prime lenses offer greater optical quality and are "faster" (larger aperture openings, usable in less light) than zoom lenses, they are often employed in professional cinematography over zoom lenses. Certain scenes or even types of filmmaking, however, may require the use of zooms for speed or ease of use, as well as shots involving a zoom move.

On Dec 20th, 2007 several hundred citizens convened in protest before New Orleans City Hall. Tempers flared and the protest quickly became violent. Under duress from these protesters turned rioters, the NOPD took measures to maintain order both inside and outside the City Council chambers. While not present at the melee, we did have a correspondent in the midst, so we tell you all about the (insert number here) most embarrassing moment for New Orleans! Don't taze us- we just report the truth. Then, we devolve to poop- because nothing cures a bad case of seriousness like feces!