The first picture appears to be a fungus commonly seen on woody shrubs and trees. The second image is to blurry for me to tell for sure what it is. Might be scale insects or might be the same little white fruiting bodies of fungus.

It might be the fungus that grows on dead trunks.
Follow them up and see if there are any leaves on the ends of them.
Mike

Thanks for the comments. here's another shot. if it's scale, i spray with dormat oil, right? I'm in NJ

Backtracking now. The first shot does look like fungus rather than scale. We need to see the second stuff closer. However, the hedge is Privet and it certainly looks like white scale to me.

Yes, I think the 1st and 2nd are different, looking up close. Here's another shot of the second

White scale

Yes, for scale a horticultural oil is often effective. Sometimes, I'll mix in some insecticidal soap to give it a little extra zing. do be wary though of using heavier-weight, old-school dormant oils during the growing season. Much damage to the plants can ensue. Modern, lighter-weight oils have been developed-Sunspray is one such item-and so long as label is read and followed, can be used right through the growing season.

+oM