Advances in film and digital technologies result in an increasing number of options, and challenge filmmakers to innovate with new tools and workflows.
Commercial director/DP Peter Kagan of New York-based Streamline Content did that on a recent :30 for Subway titled “Get Inside the Five” and featuring Heisman Trophy winner Reggie Bush. Produced by Streamline via Source Communications, Hackensack, N.J., the spot aims to direct viewers to the Subway Web site that includes information about Bush and incorporates footage lensed by Kagan during the shoot.
“And the spot has a very short shelf life,” Kagan said, explaining that the story leads up to the NFL draft, “so the budget was constrained.”
After considering his options, Kagan decided to run with a cost-effective Panasonic HVX200 camera, which records to a P2 solid state memory card to create a tapeless production environment. The camera–launched in December–combines multiple HD and SD formats, multiple recording modes and variable frames rates, and a compact design.
“The HVX200 is a digital film camera; I don’t think of it as a video camera,” related Kagan. “[Panasonic] made a conscious effort to translate the language of cinematography into this camera, and they did it really successfully.
“[The spot features] Reggie Bush in a completely blank environment–white on white,” explained Kagan. “His uniform is white, the stage, white. He is waiting for the phone to ring. The draft is in a few weeks; he is positioned to break records and make a huge mark on pro football. There is a lack of color, but soon colors are going to land on him.
“In this instance we had white on white on white–so the only difference was the texture [of the jersey] to distinguish between those whites,” he continued. “I was able to mess with the camera’s gamma curve — and have all of the articulation that I needed in those shades of white.”
Kagan discovered advantages beyond the camera’s features–advantages that relaxed the talent (during what was his first shoot) as well as his agent and the clients. Rather than shooting film and watching “a monitor with flicker that is an approximation of what it will look like on film,” the team started by renting a 42-inch plasma screen set up on a video village, the helmer related.
“Reggie’s agent, the clients, everybody, walked in and saw the set on a 42-inch monitor; and everybody instantly relaxed,” Kagan said. “The technology affects the mood on the set. The technology is not just servicing the budget, now it is actually affecting something intangible, which is the spirit of confidence…That’s it. That’s when technology is really working for you. It’s not about dots of resolution, it’s a different mood.”
“With great technology, you are not only replicating what you could do with film; good technology creates new opportunities and there is value added,” he continued. “It’s not just about cost saving–if it were, it would not be as interesting… This is exciting.”
As for the full workflow, Kagan explained that he wanted to set up redundancies, so there were two backup systems on set recording the P2 material.
On set, they downconverted the information to a Digi Beta deck and the footage was sent to New York-based Rooftop Edit where Ed Kisberg cut the spot on an Avid running on a Mac platform. The intent was to finish the spot in SD, so from there it went through a traditional post process and was mastered in Digi Beta. New York-based Click 3X handled graphics. The work will be archived both on Digi Beta and as MXF files.
Apparently, Kagan was quite pleased with the HVX200 camera. “I bought one six days later,” Kagan revealed. “I’m bidding another job with it.”
Carolyn Giardina, SHOOT’s senior editor, technology and postproduction, can be reached at 310-822-0211 or at cgiardina@shootonline.com.
