After Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, everyone and their momma that was in the news business ended up in New Orleans. I, personally, went to New Orleans twice, and after the second trip I made a ready-for-television half hour special.

It's designed as a half-hour spot, and is segmented into three parts (for commercials). The idea was long, slow, fades, lots of voice over (provided by yours truly), and enough personal interviews to make the video touch the viewer on a base level.

To see the second and third section of the video, click here and here.

I stayed in New Orleans for a total of two weeks, interviewing volunteers at Catholic Charities, the President of N.I.N.A. (a non-profit group), and driving around through the lower Ninth Ward a lot.

A lot of the challenge was finding the people I needed to talk to about the rebuild effort. I eventually got some original footage from the hurricane itself (shot by Bryan Jacobs, from his house in the Seventh Ward), and ended up having to film myself eating soul food because I couldn't get someone to do it otherwise (third piece).

I didn't have much of a problem convincing the college students to talk to me... one of them kept flexing the whole time... it was really funny :)

Overall, the lengthy passages and long interviews make this special a good one, albeit slower than I think most people are used to seeing. I was quite happy to be able to use the Coast Guard's footage, and was trying to show that "other side" of the well known story of Katrina. In today's world of "hit you in the face with the fast tempo and short scenes," this video tends to stick out!