Friday, February 16, 2007

Downtown CGI Blues

Paving Texas Street

Dear Downtown Development Authority,

What's up with movie of downtown Shreveport that's mostly computer generated imagery? When we went to your home page and clicked on the cool purple "Destination: Downtown! Video" icon a little movie that was almost all CGI popped up. What are you saying -- Shreveport is better when presented as a figment of someone else's imagination?

Please reshoot your film so you can include real shots of the now one year old convention center, West Edge Artist's Co-op, artspace, The MultiCultural Center of the South, The Strand Theatre, Tipitina's, Municipal Auditorium, Sci-Port's new Space Center addition, our beloved Elvis statue and street sign, the scary Oakland cemetery, the hundred year old live oaks at the Caddo Parish Courthouse, and all the fine old architecture we have.

I do want to say thank you for showing Meg Saligman Once in a Millennium Moon mural in the side of the AT&T building. However you missed a bunch of other public art pieces but showing a CGI SporTran artWorks bus was a nice touch (get the real thing on this next shoot!). The neon bridge and big roses on the riverfront are really sexy when you shoot them at night. Don't forget the dancing waters fountain --- colored lights galore!!!

A couple more production notes: Hollywood Casino is no longer in Shreveport nor is Harrah's.

Here's an idea. Make it like those "Fall in Love with Louisiana All Over Again" commercials. Everybody wants to visit that place! That campaign sells the sizzle even with it's mind boggling use of humans and real locations. Not a single CGI in there.

Worried about production costs? Low budget shaky camera stuff is in. Think Blair Witch Project.

Sincerely,
Red River Blog Jam

P.S. We hate to be total bitches but here's a note on the music selection! BLEEECH! So very generic. We have many great singers and song writers here... USE THEIR STUFF. The fine folks at Tipitina's can point you in the right direction. Now get busy and promote our area using our images and sounds.

4 comments:

Kevan Smith said...

LOL! That video was so lame! It has Softdisk cheesiness written all over it.

I'm with you, Kathryn. Get the real stuff going on!

Unknown said...

Kevan -- you should write the script.

Noma -- That's me, nosy old broad, um, I mean CITIZEN JOURNALIST!

Robert E Trudeau said...

There is the possibility of shooting an alternative video and putting it on youtube. You guys pool the ideas, script, etc. I volunteer as cinematographer. Kathryn or Kevan, would you edit it?

Unknown said...

Trudeau -- interesting idear.

Kev - what you say? Sounds like fun. I've edited stories, posts, audio recordings but never video... it could be trippy trippy.