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the white house

My role as the Principal Presidential Videographer, and the Office of Digital Strategy, was created by President Obama as part of his mandate of transparency and inclusion. Our work aimed to connect people with purpose by meeting people where they are, which is online, and give unprecedented access to the experience of citizenship. It was, as I have mentioned elsewhere, the best job ever. It was also, by many measures, extremely challenging. The next iterations were the best jobs ever 2.0, first as Senator Warren's Senior Advisor for Video & Senior Road Videographer during 14 magical months of her presidential campaign, then as Director & Cinematographer for Mobilization Ads in Pennsylvania for Biden for President!

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Go Toward the Good

My contribution to the book: West Wingers 

Barack Hussein Obama. POTUS. 44. The first…so many firsts. I offer perhaps a lesser known first: first President to have a videographer. 

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Waking from the American Dream

Kelly Carlin podcast

Kelly sits down with Hope Hall, the Presidential Videographer for the White House during the Obama years, to discuss self-care in this new presidency and what we as individual and a country are learning about life.

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Career Insight - Hope Hall - Principal Presidential Videographer

CreativesGO

Hope tells us about her career, how she landed the job in the White House, her work with the President and what she plans to do next.

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The President’s Filmmakers Pick Their Favorite White House Videos

The Obama White House

After much consideration and time spent pouring over the thousands of videos that produced over the past eight years, these are the top picks for videos, as chosen by our resident White House filmmakers.

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President Obama's Principal Videographer at the White House - Filmmaker Hope Hall

Filmmaking Conversations with Damien Swaby

Filmmaking Conversations with Damien Swaby is a small fraction of the critical conversations currently taking place across the indie film community. The podcast reaches out to the next generation of filmmakers, who continue to look for inspiration and guidance.

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Hope Hall: Filming Barack Obama

Radio New Zealand interview, by Wallace Chapman

Sunday morning has a new bar, set by New Zealand...getting interviewed, broadcast live across the country, in RNZ's coolio studios, flat white in hand. Yes!

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“The Best Decision I Could Have Made”: Stories from 2008 Campaign Veterans

The Obama White House

Read the stories of some of the staffers who answered that call nine years ago — and still serve beside President Obama in the White House today. 

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Lessons from Hope Hall

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A 35-minute pep talk given to Government Services about what I've learned on the job (June 4, 2016)

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Beauty and Hope with Hope Hall

She Geeks Out Podcast

Hope Hall was President Obama’s second-ever & first female Principal Presidential Videographer in the Office of Digital Strategy (as she calls it, "the best job ever"). We talked about her journey toward having this incredible opportunity and what she's doing now. We were inspired by her vision of the world and we hope you will be too!

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Through the Lens of Hope: Obama’s Videographer Debriefs

UC Berkeley Alumni Magazine

For the last six years, she’s been Barack Obama’s presidential videographer (think of her as the national fly on the wall). She doesn’t shoot videos for the official record; that’s the job of the White House Communications Agency, which documents every public event in which the President participates. Her assignment is to film the President in his more informal moments...

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A Lens on the Government

American Legion

Hope Hall is the official videographer for the White House. But before she spent her workdays documenting the daily comings and goings of the president of the United States, she was a successful competitor in The American Legion’s Oratorical Contest.

Coverage
Videos

videos produced

The Final West Wing Week: "Obama, Farewell"

The Obama Administration's final - and 388th - episode of West Wing Week. It speaks for itself.

The President Takes a Surprise Walk

The President was heading over to the nearby Department of the Interior and decided to break with tradition and take a Springtime walk. On the way, he got a chance to meet with all sorts of folks, who weren't expecting to meet the President of the United States of America.

West Wing Week's 5th Anniversary Episode

We’d had a lot of fun with two previous, special editions — the 100th and 200th episodes — of our weekly series, but for this third and final big marker, we wanted to go for broke.

It’s special for a number of reasons: The first time I filmed in the President’s official vehicle “the Beast;” the first time the President himself both narrated the episode, and hosted each day with direct-to-camera, spontaneous explanations of what was happening; and one particular first that is better watched than described. (Spoiler alert: The week covers a certain holiday for fools and pranksters that happens every spring.)

Signs of Hope & Change

This throwback gem was crafted to premier at a very special time and place in history: preceding Obama’s acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention in Denver, on August 28, 2008. It was also my very first assignment after I joined the campaign's New Media/Video team, and hopefully augurs a stint as a music supervisor someday, a long-standing dream of mine. We traveled the country filming these incredible, hopeful folks. It's still one of my very favorite videos...

"What's the Secret to Still Dancing at 106?"

Watch 106 year-old Virginia McLaurin fulfill her dream of visiting the White House and meeting President Obama. It really doesn't get any better than this, in terms of being at the crossroads of so many historic trajectories. By many measures, this was the most successful piece of content our team posted during both terms, in terms of both reach and engagement.

The Bear is Loose

The President took a surprise walk, and brought us with him, resulting in one of the most watched videos of his presidency. Bears just need to get loose sometimes.

President Obama Visits Stonehenge

There were very few times during his Presidency that President Obama really had the opportunity to just revel in a quiet moment in a monumental place. It was a combination of the power of where he was, plus the logistics required to make it possible for him to visit, that added up to a powerful few minutes where he could take in the wind, the lichen, and the momentous history of those powerful stones. It’s a rare occasion to experience something quiet and internal alongside someone who is normally — by nature of the position he is holding — at the epicenter of the noise and thrum of history.

Couch Commander

Our last, and perhaps most epic, contribution to the President's toast and roast at the annual White House Correspondents Association dinner.

Greetings from the President: Hola, Alo, Namaste!

Stronger bonds between nations sometimes begin with a simple hello. Take a look back at the past 8 years of President Obama greeting people from around the world. As my dad used to say, "Smile, and say hello."

Obama plays Daniel Day-Lewis in hilarious movie spoof

This one still astounds me, all these years later.

Life Lessons from POTUS

A highlight from the President taking questions from White House interns, a ritual I looked forward to three times a year.

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