I have just returned from New Orleans where I shot 5 hours of HD documentary footage. My aim in going there was to paint a picture of the scale of the destruction the city has suffered both in terms of physical structure and emotionally. I am not interested in the politics of the situation. I believe many are stirring up trouble and attempting to utilize this natural disaster to advance their agendas.
We drove down to New Orleans from New York in about 24 hours. This was the best way to get there with all the gear and be flexible and hit the ground running. I shot with a Sony HDV Z1U in 1080i / 60i. This was in order to get as much image information as possible with the view of later converting it to the desired 16x9 format: possibly 24p or film. My focus was to make sure the images were well lit and well composed. In a later post I will give my impressions of the camera performance and the technical diffuculties I came across. However on the whole I felt it was the right package for the situation.
The experience was tiring and I lost 6 pounds in a week. Although I have family in New Orleans and relatives who have lost their homes, no one is missing. I lived in New Orleans both as a child and as an adult for many years and that made this trip emotionally demanding. All in all though my goal was to remain unattached and document what I saw. Because the city is in such an altered state this was easy to do. Not much is recognizable. I did have the advantage of knowing my way around and that helped me save a lot of time.
Ultimately I would like to air this at festivals with the view of making a DVD or broadcasting in HD.
Beau Tardy /
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