Angels and Demons

About five years ago I decided that I wanted to give video editing a try. With the help of my best friend Josh we started playing with cameras to see how they worked, and started shooting video and editing. It's more of a hobby then anything, but fun nonetheless. In 2004 my mom bought me a rather expensive (MSRP: $2,700) video camera, and off we went. We filmed everything from live music performances to weddings to church videos, anything we could shoot we would. As you all know by now, I am into photography, but still keep my video skills in my back pocket in case they are needed. I think of video editing as a compliment to my love of photography.
Anyways, while we are in Rome this summer Ron Howard is filming his new movie Angels and Demons (the sequel to The Da Vinci Code), starring Tom Hanks. They have been shooting various scenes all around our school and on Monday June 9th I got to witness them filming a scene in front of the Pantheon. They yelled "rolling" and Tom walked in front of the Pantheon (full of extras) and to the entrance, all while holding his co-stars (Ayelet Zurer) hand. They had to shoot it multiple times because people kept taking pictures of the filming and there were random flashes that kept showing up. The best part about seeing this shot was that as they neared the entrance to the Pantheon a man selling flowers walked up behind Tom and offered him the opportunity to buy is lady friend some flowers, to which he said "no." If you have ever been to Rome, then you will find this quite funny seeing as this is a very common occurrence. Other than this though, the shot looked nothing like the Pantheon would actually look on a normal day. There were nuns everywhere and everyone was quickly rushing to get somewhere, when in reality most people stand in front of the Pantheon for what seems to be hours. I wish they would have made it more realistic, but it is their movie and not mine. It was great to finally see a multi-million dollar movie being filmed, as I have been waiting for this for a while. It sure made me want to start filming again when I get back home, that is, if I'm not too busy with photography! Ciao.