John Harrison

I will be in NY for a week towards the end of the month shooting a documentary with the D90 and the HVX200. Imagine the places you can go with a small DSLR that you couldn't dream of going with a camcorder, even one as small as the HVX200! We'll be on the subway shooting 720p with the D90, and everyone will think I'm just another tourist snapping photos for my scrapbook... sounds like something Mr. Maysles would very quickly fall in love with ("What you must do in documentary filmmaking is get close, get very, very close." -A. Maysles).

Thanks for all of your responses. He ended up choosing to purchase the Z1. I haven't had a chance to see it yet but am anxious to try it out. Thanks again, I really appreciate your input.

Hello, I am interviewing for a music video tomorrow (6/27) and recently received a treatment of the project to review before meeting with the director. I am wondering if anybody has any advice on the following visual trick described in the treatment: One of the band members is writing on a postcard in a medium shot; when he finishes writing on it, he flips it over and we see that the image on the front of the postcard is a video of his band rockin' out. It's a magical postcard of sorts, one with moving images on the front. Throughout the video, we see the postcard in different locations as it makes its way across the country via the postal service. There is always some moving images on the front of the postcard. My question is, does anybody have any thoughts on how to shoot these scenes so that the post-production process is as simple as possible for the visual fx team that will be making the postcard come to life? Is it enough to simply give the band member a green-sided postcard to hold, and then expect the visual fx team to make it work? Or are there specific angles, qualities of light, even color temp.'s that I should be aware of? Any thoughts would be helpful. As would any links you may have to videos or films that do something similar. Thanks so much, John

Thanks for all your responses...here are a few more notes: --the director hopes to screen the doc in film festivals, and most of the festivals he's looking at would accept HDCAM and some would require DigiBeta; no film-out required from the sound of it, though I suppose most directors are tempted to submit to Cannes...So in this case, if I were to recommend an HDV camera, does anybody have any experience shooting HDV and finishing to HDCAM? Any thoughts on how it will look projected? --the director would like it to look as film-like as possible...I am still a bit confused about progressive versus interlaced when it comes to the "film loook." Any thoughts on one versus the other? --finally, one of the characters in the doc is a trapeze artist (!) so I imagine there will be some high-flying, quick-moving action to cover. Should this affect the decision made regarding interlaced vs. progressive capture? Again, thanks so much. Your thoughts and advice have been very helpful. John

Hello, I am beginning discussions with an experienced TV director who wants to step out of the TV world and into the world of small-budget, indie documentary filmmaking. He contacted me recently to get some advice on which camera he should use for his first project. He would like to do the majority of the shooting himself, but has very, very limited shooting experience. However, thanks to his lengthy exposure to television production, he has seen and been surrounded by various video technologies and has a good eye. He has around $6000 to spend on his camera, and wants to get the highest quality image possible for his doc. So, to sum it up: he has $6000, wants high quality images, wants something that is small and lightweight, and would like to shoot much of the doc himself, even with his very limited shooting experience (probably not a good idea...) Anybody have any advice? I was going to recommend the HVX200, as it is the camera that I have used the most that fits in his price range and, I think, would be easy (enough) for him to use. However, he will be conducting interviews and will be hindered by the p2 card's limited recording time, especially since I don't get the impression that he is tech-savvy enough to be able to download the footage to his laptop quickly and with confidence. Does this situation strike a chord with anyone? Any thoughts? Thanks so much, John

Most of the shoot will take place in a small apartment, so I suppose there won't be an extreme difference between the near and far focus distances. What I'm most curious to know is if there is such a thing as a "doc style" lense with a focus ring that rotates, say, 90 degrees, instead of the 270 or so degrees that a focus ring on a studio lense will rotate. I am used to shooting docs on video, using ENG style lenses, which have a relatively narrow distance between the extreme near and far marks on the focus ring. Perhaps there is nothing similar for Super 16 lenses?

Hello, I am shooting a documentary with the SR-3, Super 16, and need to be able to pull focus myself as I follow our subject through his apartment, outside in the park, etc. I need to be able to rotate the focus ring from the shallowest point in one smooth turn of the wrist. All the lenses I can find are studio lenses with focus rings that would require me to take my hand off the ring, grip the ring again, and then continue pulling focus in order to make such a pull. Does anybody know of any special lenses for Super 16 that have a focus ring with a small range of revolution, so that I can make extreme focus pulls without having to lift my hand off the lense? Or would there be a way to do this by using a special kind of follow focus knob? Thank you in advance for any advice you might offer, John

Hello, I need to capture a flower blossoming over the course of 12 hours with the F900. Has anybody ever used this camera for a similar interval shot, and have any advice for me? Thanks in advance.