Posted by Steve Guidry on 09/15/05 17:38

I had the pleasure/horror of working in New Orleans and the Mississippi
Coast this past week shooting News for RTE, Ireland's National TV Network.
For what it's worth, here are some of my impressions . . .

On a human level, the devastation was just horrendous. The pictures on TV
just don't do the devastation justice. Thousands upon thousands are
completely homeless. The Point Cadet section of Biloxi was particularly
hard hit. This is particularly notable because of the population density.
Whole city blocks now look like one giant pile of used lumber. St. Bernard
Parish was inundated with a foot of oily sludge from the refineries, and
will likely have to be demolished. Venice and Port Sulphur are basically
gone. Nature has reclaimed much of its own.

While the human tragedy was immense, the gig was, from a professional point
of view, quite fulfilling. Here are some observations on working the event
:

- First, the Irish were great to work with. Paul Cunningham and Robert
Shortt were great folks, and true professionals in the news arena.

- I found that most European News agencies use Beta SX as their mastering
format. They send their folks out with a luggable "laptop" editor,
although I wouldn't want it on MY lap for any length of time. Basically,
it's two Beta SX decks built into a suitcase-sized case, with 2 LCD screens.
Machine-to-machine editing is done with BVW-75 type front-panel controls.
The networks put in the graphics.

- Deadlines for European TV are murderous. With a 6 hour time difference,
we were feeding the 6 PM news about 11 AM. This effectively cut the day in
half, as the reporter had to do a live report at the same time. We then had
about 3 hours to grab lunch and shoot something nearby before he had to do a
live for the 9 PM news at 2:30 or so.

- The days were long, starting at 8 AM or so, and finishing about 1 AM.

- Production and editing are time-crunched as well. One day, we had to beg
a power tap from the side of the sat truck on Canal St. and edit in the
shadow of the RV sitting next to it. We sat on milk crates, and balanced
the editor on its own case, all the while breathing exhaust from the
generators. We finished most of the editing by feed time, (see below) and
fed a comp reel of stock raw video to the network for them to finish it.
Ain't news grand.

- Feed times are absolute. They are typically booked in 15-minute
increments, and cost several hundred dollars per window. If you miss yours,
not only do you have to pay for it anyway (probably), it's unlikely that
you'll get another before your newscast. AND you'll endure the scorn of
your editors and derision of your fellow broadcasters.

- Sat truck guys work the longest hours of all. They're "on" from early to
late, working 12-hour shifts, typically.

- Sleeping arrangements are prized. We were lucky enough to have a travel
trailer, but some guys slept in their cars, and others drove 2-3 hours out
for a hotel. Also, I'll never head into another emergency zone like this
without a generator. So many things would have been easier with a stable
source of power.

That's my observations. More later, if there's interest. Check the audio
and video clips at www.rte.ie/news. Click on the archive date; anything
from 9/5 to 9/13 related to Hurricane Katrina is ours.


--
Steve Guidry
Video Works, Inc.
Live events for TV and Video
www.videoworksinc.com
800.844.4404

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