JohnT
12-07-2004, 01:42 PM
Prior to 9/11 I would sometimes catch a local PBS-digital station showing their own mesmerizing productions called “Visions of Italy” or “Visions of Rome” or even “Visions of Southern Italy”. They would mount an HD camera on a helicopter and fly around till they got dizzy.
When the WTC antenna went down, so did my local PBS digital broadcasts. The station has since been bought by the (larger) NYC PBS station and just recently, local cable started passing the digital-HD signal through. Last week, I stumbled upon “Visions of NYC” and let me tell you, it knocked my socks off even though it wasn’t shown in HD.
Basically it was the same style as the old programs but because of the density of NYC, they would fly by, zoom in, then switch to a land based camera to finish telling the viewer about the point of interest, all the while backed by nice classical music. Pretty well done I’d say.
It was also the first NYC aerial shots I’ve seen since 9/11 that instead of panning away from downtown and ground zero, they spun the camera around and flew you into it. And not just for a 5 second clip. Blew me away. The narrator chatted about the resiliency of the NYC people and how it’ll eventually be better than ever.
One other scene that chilled me to the bone came from the upper west side. The panning camera zoomed into a familiar looking stately old building and as the camera zoomed in, they inserted “The Dakota” into one of the corners of the screen. No narrator this time as they switched to the land based camera and zoomed to that corridor of death. Geeez, hitchcock couldn’t have spooked me more.
All in all, if you like documentaries and get the opportunity to see this, go for it as it is well done. They said it was recorded in HD, but it was shown in enhanced widescreen. I would love to see the HD version of this one sometime.
When the WTC antenna went down, so did my local PBS digital broadcasts. The station has since been bought by the (larger) NYC PBS station and just recently, local cable started passing the digital-HD signal through. Last week, I stumbled upon “Visions of NYC” and let me tell you, it knocked my socks off even though it wasn’t shown in HD.
Basically it was the same style as the old programs but because of the density of NYC, they would fly by, zoom in, then switch to a land based camera to finish telling the viewer about the point of interest, all the while backed by nice classical music. Pretty well done I’d say.
It was also the first NYC aerial shots I’ve seen since 9/11 that instead of panning away from downtown and ground zero, they spun the camera around and flew you into it. And not just for a 5 second clip. Blew me away. The narrator chatted about the resiliency of the NYC people and how it’ll eventually be better than ever.
One other scene that chilled me to the bone came from the upper west side. The panning camera zoomed into a familiar looking stately old building and as the camera zoomed in, they inserted “The Dakota” into one of the corners of the screen. No narrator this time as they switched to the land based camera and zoomed to that corridor of death. Geeez, hitchcock couldn’t have spooked me more.
All in all, if you like documentaries and get the opportunity to see this, go for it as it is well done. They said it was recorded in HD, but it was shown in enhanced widescreen. I would love to see the HD version of this one sometime.