Michael Belanger

As an argument for keeping the BPAV data from the camera as a backup, I recently had to re-transfer a clip shot on an EX1 to SXS because the .mov version had a 2 second 'drop-out' in the middle of a 20 minute shot. It's the first one I've seen in over a year of using the camera. If I'd dumped the BPAVs I'd be out of luck right now.

My eye for digital camera's isn't that good, but there are several shots in the behind-the-scenes footage titled "La Boca" at Tetro.com I seem to remember he bought a couple of sony HDCAMs of some sort for Youth Without Youth so it may be the same gear.

If you hate Facebook don't even look at MySpace. I tend to think of the social networking sites as your yellow pages ad. Just to get visitors to go to your website.

That's an excerpt from an AP article a couple of days ago about LA possibly hiring a "film czar" to help bring production back into town.

Glad your shoot went well. Just a footnote... DVCPro-HD is only 100mbps when you shoot 60 frames. In 24 fps it runs 40 mbps so much closer the the EX data rate.

The full viewfinder is 16:9 as that's the camera's native aspect ratio.

My day job is in post and we've seen a dramatic slow-down as well. I'm taking the opportunity to train in color correction and brush up my compositing skills. Now if I could find some time to shoot new demo footage... As for health care, that's the major advantage Europe has over us. Their coverage isn't tied to their jobs. The worst is being unemployed and loosing your health coverage all at the same time.

The focus ring on the EX cameras are actually servo driven. The ring slides forward or back to change operation modes. In the front position it's the normal mushy "focus-by-wire" feel, but in the rear position, the ring is stopped at each end and the servo responds instantly to ring changes, so it feels as if it's fully mechanical. I've not yet used a follow focus on the camera but I'm betting it will behave quite well and focus should be repeatable.

I'm waiting for their cell-phone baseplate. I hear it's amazing.

It's actualy the difference between 35mbps and 40mpbs. The Panasonic camera uses a set amount of data per FRAME. 100 mbps only applies to 60i. At 24p the HVX-200 uses only 40 mbps. I find that the full-HD chips, the 1/2" chip size, and the modern compression algorithm more than make up for the 5 mpbs lower data rate. You should also consider the Sony EX1 and the Panasonic HVX-170 (did I get the Pany model number right?). They're both lower-priced alternatives with most of the same features. M.

Along those lines for the far distance you can do black cardboard cutouts of 3 heads and shoulders side-by-side. Have an extra hold one on either side and you have 7 apparent extras. I think that trick was used for army scenes in one of the biblical epics back in the day.

There are a couple of different scenarios: 1. The clip copied but you somehow deleted that one .mov file from wherever XDCAM transfer was storing it. File recovery software might be able to bring it back, but don't use that drive in the mean time. 2. The clip never copied and the only version of the footage was on the card. If you can get the card back there may be recovery software that will work with the SXS format, but I haven't heard any success stories in that regard. 3. Same as 2 above but the card has been re-formatted or shot over again. You're out of luck. Just to confirm, you did an import through XDCAM Transfer, but did not make a direct backup copy of the BPAV folder from the card somewhere else, correct?

I was planning on an HVX-200 for a series of HD projects as well, but switched to the Sony PMW-EX1 when it became available.

Here's an article I wrote back in 2006 after my first experience with P2 on a feature film... Panasonic AG-HVX200 / P2 Workflow for Feature Films

Since Luke mentioned Hostel here's a tidbit. The scene that I found most disturbing in that movie was the torture scene with the blond tourist, drill bits, etc. There's a point where every muscle in his body is tensed in pain and he's struggling to get loose from the chair he's tied too, and you're just sick at how real the actor made that moment. It turns out that during the take they used, the actor was moving so much the chair broke loose from the set floor and came down on his foot, almost severing his toe. Not that I'm recommending maiming anyone in the name of cinema, but it shows how important it is for actors to connect with something real in a performance. As for on-screen deliberate creation of dread, there's a scene in a horror film from the 90's. I don't remember the exact franchise, but it's set in a mental hospital. There's a slo-motion shot of a nurse at the end of a hallway shot with a very long lens. She's crossing the hallway at a 90 degree angle to the camera, appearing at one side of the frame and slowly walking across to the other where she'll disappear behind the other wall. As she's progressing, a figure simply wearing a white sheet over it with it's arms outstretched follows behind her, reaching out to get her. The shot is of course timed perfectly so that the specter will reach her exactly when she's off screen. As the audience, we know she's doing to die and she doesn't. We have no way to warn her to just look around. But worst of all, we know it's going to happen just out of our view. Very creepy.

Hmm... can you define "affordable?" SD or HD?

Well, you've already tried with line power vs battery so you've eliminated one possible problem there. Have you tried with and without SXS cards in the camera? It seems like a major system crash to me, especially considering the power switch is inoperable as well.

Ah, good catch. DVC Pro HD uses the same amount of data per frame so for 24p footage its more like 40 mbps.

HDCAM EX workflows are in place for FCP, Premiere and Vegas, no problem. I'm an EX1 owner and love the camera as well. The compressed data rate is roughly the same as the Panasonic HVX-200, but the imagers have true 1920x1080 resolution which makes a huge difference. They're 1/2" which means it's actually possible to get out-of-focus backgrounds at telephoto. As supplied the camera is wildly unbalanced, but the addition of a shoulder rest does tons to fix this. I love the fact that the camera is so tiny with extras removed though. Perfect for fitting into tight spaces.

Unless the new form or media offers new possibilities. An AC can unload and safe film from a magazine, but he can't develop it, print it, or look at the footage nearly instantly. He's also re-loading magazines with fresh stock, not re-using the actual film to shoot again, so the two media aren't equivalent. While the loaders job is detail oriented and has no room for error on a film shoot, that portion of his job stops once the load is done. For tapeless there's more to do after that initial transfer (assuming you want to take advantage of those new possibilities of course). So your 3 options are probably: #1 - your loader does the download and verify and then recycles the media. Everything else gets handled by editorial later on off site. #2 - same as above but with an Media Manager on site. The loader is pulling the media and delivering it to the MM and returning and loading blank media. #3 - some verison of the above, but with an editor or assistant editor around somewhere doing some "editor stuff" with the footage once it's downloaded. I think it comes down to what the Producer and Director are looking to get out of the tapeless workflow. If they're big on viewing footage, rough cutting as they go, etc they'll go with an AE. If they have a really detail oriented and tech-savy loader they'll skip everyone else. I think its important no matter what that the integrity of the camera unit stays intact so cards are still in and out of camera by an AC.

In my view it's definitely an important enough job to warrant it's own position and it doesn't really belong to either the traditional roles of the Camera Department or Editoral. It's replacing what used to be done off-site by the lab, mainly safeguarding the original footage from the camera making copies available for editing. The only reason this is an issue right now is the price of tapeless media. Because most productions don't have enough cards/etc on hand to shoot a days worth of footage we're forced to do the backing up and downloading on set instead of over-night at a lab. I'm not suggesting that on individual shoots it might not make sense for this to be a Loader's job or an AE's job but it can also certainly be a job for a 3rd individual as well. The question of having an AE on set for instance really comes down to the tastes of the producer and director. If they want production and post to overlap a bit then more power to them. And in fact that's been going on on some shoots long before cards got into the mix. Another thing we haven't talked about much is the ability to screen footage the day it's shot for the director, DP, etc. One one of my features we had at least one day where lunch turned into a screening session for a difficult sequence shot that morning (the producers and I did try to keep this to a minimum because it tends to grind things to a halt). I also did a few extracted still frames from previous days footage to check prop placement, etc for reshoots. I don't know if I'd consider that "editor work" since I wasn't really worried about shot selection for the actual edit, etc. Again it's more of that no-mans-land between camera and edit. On another film I consulted on their P2 downloading (they had a third AC I believe doing it, but delivering footage to an on-site editor as well). I also did their over-night dailies onto DVD, so in that instance I was much more of the "lab" for the project.

You're looking for something around 100 to 150 mbps for editing then... DVC Pro HD Apple ProRes 422 Cineform HD-CAM (not SR) Your transfer house should be able to output to any of these. Part of the decision will be what editing program you'll be using.

I'd think aging it nicely unspooled in a cardboard box, in sunlight for a couple of weeks, turning ever so often (use a pitch fork if you must) would be a good start. Then several runs in reverse through the project. I've also heard of people winding film with various objects in contact with the film for scratches.

Blame this on Star Wars. I remember watching it in the theaters when I was 7 years old, and leaving thinking it was an amazing thrill ride, like a roller coaster basically but on screen. Watching it now from a story perspective is a bit painful. I've seen Dark Night and like you I was unimpressed. it's interesting that Bat Man is almost barely in these movies. They all seem to be about the villain who is a much more interesting character. You'd think a story about a rich, secluded billionaire who was traumatized by the death of his parents and has taken on an alternate personality to vainly avenge their deaths while fighting crime in a corrupt metropolis would have something to say about the actual guy. Especially considering they're using the actor from the Machinist. Oh, and that's not just a CGI monster thing. Stop Motion monsters do that too. As do guy-in-rubber-suit monsters, kung fu bad guys, crazed mobsters with machine guns... I guess everyone does that. That's what makes it so relevant I guess. Who hasn't had the neighbors dog or a drunk guy at a night club roar at the top of their lungs (while a camera moves 180 degrees around them) before they charge toward us full steam?

You can actually re-use the cards without formatting them. Just drag the BPAV folder to the trash and delete it. The camera will record on it no problem on the fly.