From: nebusj-@-rpi-.edu   
      
   	For the rest of the taping of Late Night with Conan O'Brien I   
   don't remember any bits which appeared in the studio but were cut from   
   the airing.  Perhaps the biggest cut not earlier mentioned was from the   
   1860s Baseball.  A moment when the hurler Conan ordered around the   
   infield and the outfield making full use of the slang he'd leapt upon as   
   goofy and endearing to the era.  I suppose all the cuts had to have been   
   for time, although since the show ran long anyway it's still hard to   
   guess why they bothered.   
      
   	But the second round of clips with Conan and Andy Richter watching   
   was just what we saw in the studio, with the extra note that we watched   
   Conan or Andy or the producers or the band watching the clips along and   
   sometimes clearly being taken by surprise by bits they'd long-since   
   forgotten.   
      
   	Preparing for the band segment is an oddity in the production of   
   the show.  Normally the Max Weinberg 7 play for the entire commercial   
   break which runs about as long as the actual airing commercial break will   
   be and some title card or the like runs on the in-studio monitors.  But   
   going into a band performance the Max Weinberg 7 goes silent and they turn   
   over to prerecorded music as stagehands pull out the floating stage and   
   set up instruments for the performance, even if the 7 aren't playing with   
   the band.  (Musical groups are offered, but don't have to use, any or all   
   of the house band, as they like.)  Meanwhile, Andy ducked off stage and I   
   didn't see him again.   
      
   	I'm reliably fascinated by the directing and camera work of these   
   bits because it's really the only time that the cameras move around, with   
   two large fixed cameras, one guy with a handheld camera, and one guy with   
   a camera that's essentially fixed on a periscope providing overhead and   
   smoothly floating views.  I kept watching to compare the monitor, what was   
   actually on stage, and what was visible in the backs of the cameras and   
   comparing all these views of the same event.   
      
   	It always amazes me that they're able to keep their motions ---   
   which amount to drifting around in front of the musicians so that the   
   director has several angles to choose from --- choreographed well enough   
   that they don't get in front of one another in the shots, not just those   
   seen at home but also the ones seen on the monitors.  I suppose in   
   producing television shows like this you get to where you can manage that   
   movement in your sleep, but it's still impressive to someone like me who   
   imagines what an awful mess he'd make of it.   
      
   	Conan got up from his desk and hovered just out of all these   
   camera ranges while the band played `We're Gonna Be Friends'', and came   
   to shake their hands and thank them when that was over and the show was   
   shockingly soon in its final minutes.   
      
   --   
   								Joseph Nebus   
   ------------------------------------------------------------------------------   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)