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San Francisco, greenscreen, varicam newbie questions
We’re considering renting a Varicam for a spec commercial shoot next weekend in San Francisco. The final format will be 4×3 NTSC video at 29.97 fps, masked to 2.35 aspect ratio. We’re used to shooting film, so we have some remedial questions I’m hoping you gurus won’t mind answering:
1) It’s a greenscreen shoot. Should we attempt to get an uncompressed recording out of the camera (or possibly try to capture directly to a kona workstation), or use the onboard recorder on the camera and go with DVCPro100?
2) If we go the easy way and stay with DVCPro100 and the 1200 deck, can we capture from that via firewire to a Powerbook on set? So we’d end up with nice 23.98 fps files?
3) How important is it to have a technician familiar with the camera on-set? Or are there somewhat safe settings we can use to capture a nice image for manipulation in post? We’ll have the camera for a day before the shoot, so we will have time to get to know it and test workflow a bit.
Thanks in advance for your help!
Mark Lyon
Mighty Max Films -
3 Replies
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Hmm,
Why not enter a Nascar race and bypass having a qualified pit crew to support the driver?
If you don’t plan then you only plan to fail. A generic card file settings has little to do with your specific job details and/or requirements.
Hire yourself a qualified video engineer to assist the DP and yourself on the job.
Tony Salgado
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A few answers: I shoot lots of chromakey stuff with the Varicam, recording in the camera. The post guys I work with are always able to pull a great key with the DVCPRO HD compression. Obviously appropriate lighting is essential, but that goes for all formats.
Yes, you can use the 1200 to capture on set to a Powerbook.
Now, as far as question 3-you definitely should use a DP who’s familiar with the camera, or at least have someone on set who knows it well. You’d be wasting your money otherwise. The SDX900 has a built-in setup that’s pretty decent as a starting point, but the Varicam doesn’t. I’ve rented bodies before that are set up really bad and had I used them straight from the shop, I would have been in trouble. Also, if you don’t have someone around who fully understands what the camera is capable of, you may really be missing out. I highly recommend a tech, or a DP with some great looking setups and a command of the camera.
I hope this helps!
Chris B.
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Thanks for the help. We’ll hire a good DIT for the shoot. Anybody want to recommend one in San Francisco?
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