producer-director wants me to shoot and edit a feature film in HD-which camera shall I use?

I've been offered an assignment: to shoot and edit a feature film in high definition. It's up to me to decide what camera to use. I'd like to use the Sony HVR Z1U. I know I can edit HDV in my FCP5. I've done this well a couple of times now. I'm wondering if the producer asks me to blow this up to 35mm which is the best workflow to use. Initially I'll be providing DVDs for screening and promotion, but later I'll have to provide an HD master so HD DVDs can be struck and, as I said, to go for the 35mm print. Please give me your best advice. I know this question has been answered a couple of months ago, but everything is different now. Every two days there's another camera out... Thanks in advance.

Vic

HDV blown up to 35mm? I'd test that first.

Seriously, HDV is the most highly compressed form of HD you can shoot with, and it doesn't shoot real frames per second, but proxies. Motion artifacting is common. So before you jump into this I'd shoot some test footage, edit it (like 1 min of stuff) and get that transferred to film. Shoot a variety of things...indoors, outdoors, fast motion...the like.

Also look for companies that have transferred HDv to film and see if they have examples if what it will look like, and get recommended workflows from them.

HDV is not a simple beast.

Vic I agree totally with Shane don't do it until you see HDV on the bigscreen after film transfer - I think you may balk at the compression artifacts - I do even on a 19" HD grade 1 monitor - It's also horrid to grade.

HDV is seriously nasty for good image quality unless converted to SD - if you do use it - make sure you shoot on brand new SONY HDV tapes.

Dropout is becoming a regular occurance on the HDV material shot on reused or even new DVCAM tapes and almost guaranteed on consumer DV tapes. Most of all make sure you review the scene footage on a monitor that will give you a chance to reshoot if their is an unacceptable amount of MPEG compression artifacts.

If you have the budget - I would seriously look into the HVX200 with a lens adaptor such as the Redrock M2 (you could of course use it on the Z1 as well) - it really does produce some wonderful images using 35mm primes and even with dirt cheap Nikon lenses.

Coming from the film background you will be familiar with the depth of field for these and I think would appreciate the extra control you will get. I would advise getting an HDD recorder for the HVX as well.

Shoot DVCproHD 720 24p on VariCam then to 35mm or DVCproHD 1080i 50 then convert as per PAL video to 35mm

Ben



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Bottom line - avoid any HDV like the plague. You need a 4:2:2 color space solution for the sake of pixels and right now - hasn't changed in several months - the HVX200 or the VariCam (read expensive) are the two DVCPRO HD cameras that can provide color space good enough to go to film.

If you go cheap now, you will pay later. That is just the way it works. Do you suppose studios have been renting PanaVision cameras because they way to spend BIG BUZ on a film? No, it is what is required to do it right.

> If you go cheap now, you will pay later. That is just the way it works.

Hell yes. And I'd like to add that while my HDV experience is limited, what I've seen of HDV isn't that much better than very well lit DV. Worse, if you factor in the motion artifacts, which in my cases made the footage look like it was shot with a strange shutter speed. The HDV I'd edited looked especially bland in natural-light outdoors with a DP who didn't know how to enhance the image when shooting natural-light.

I think a lot of people who get "wowed" by HDV samples forget the fact that those samples are probably lit and shot professionally. I think they're often wowed not by the format, but by the cinematographer who had lit and shot it. Whereas after editing professionally lit Uncompressed 10-bit SD for months on commercials, the first time I saw HDCam dailies lit and shot by the same standard of crew, I really *did* see the difference.


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It bears repeating: if you shoot HDV for broadcast, e-projection, or film release, plan to get it the hell out of HDV as your first post workflow step!!!

HDV properly lit looks great on any screen less than 42"-- bigger, as pro's have discovered, it begins to fall apart. Acquisition only! Better to shoot DVCO Pro 720 or HDCAM 1080i if you can afford it. And take the time to learn the camera menus, especially those settings for Record Run and End Search.

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Hello Vic.

I'm a HD video "hobbyist" of sorts. I'm not a pro video guy, but I work with, and listen to, many who are. I'm also a very happy owner and user of an FX1. For someone with a budget, the FX1/Z1 cameras are a great way to get into "HD" production - compared to NTSC, when properly done, the look of HDV is spectacular.

That said, if I was in your position, would I consider any of the HDV cameras for producing a feature? Heck no!

Here's why:

While I have been known to, and still do, argue that HDV has an important place in video production, it does have serious limitations. Though you CAN shoot and edit HDV in a way that will make the vast majority of people think you shot in film, it takes a great amount of effort to pull that off. People have been amazed at how good HDV can look when transferred to film, but again, there are serious limitations.

If you're making a student film, or medium-budget corporate piece, I would say "Yeah, HDV is perfect!", but if you're shooting a feature, you would end up saving a great deal of money by getting someone to put in a few extra grand up front. to pay for renting a "real" HD camera.

(The beginnings of my HDV project may be viewd, in HD, at: www.hd-vo.com)

...edited accidental double post... sorry.

Travis
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Please give me an estimate for rental of HVX 200 or the Varicam, and also add the cost of other decks, cards, plugins -- whatever I need to complete the movie in HD. I'd really appreciate it. Otherwise, I'll end up underestimating the budget and losing a lot of money. Forget the 35mm film output. I know what that is: $450 per minute of completed movie.

Vic...call Able Cinetech or Burns & Sawyer and see what their rental rates are.

No deck is required as there is no tape. But you will have to get hard drives to archive your P2 cards too. In the field, 2-3 60GB portable FW drives will do. Acomdata drives can be found at Fry's for $150. Then for master archiving get 250GB internal SATA drives for about $80 each and a SATA>Firewire cable (www.geeks.com) for $20...or a firewire case that you swap these drives out of ($60). Then all you need is your media drives for editing (FW800 minimum...internal SATA works as do SATA Raids).

Are you planning on Onlining and color correction? Then the HD cards and HD monitors come into play...

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