Question:How was the decision made to use VariCam on "Conscientious Objector"?

Medencevic: I'd followed HD since its early days, watching as cameras became less expensive and more mobile, with attendant developments in tape-to-film transfer. Once I saw the AJ-HDC27 at a preview seminar for cinematographers, I felt the economics of the Doss documentary were in favor of the Panasonic vs. the Sony camera, and I wanted to try it out. There are numerous advantages to shooting documentaries on tape--it's cheaper, faster, with the longer tape times leading to more flexibility and spontaneity during interviews--and I felt that 720p delivered plenty of resolution. The director, Terry Benedict, and I were both impressed by how good, how filmic the material shot with the AJ-HDC27 was. We felt that, of all the HD camera systems surveyed, with 720p we won't be bogged down in post with the need to create a non-electronic look.

Question: How did that shoot go?

Medencevic: I was very pleased with the camera. The design and accessory package were familiar to a film practitioner. The camera performed robustly on exterior work, which included my running across a field and getting caught in the rain. We also worked in above-normal heat. I really pushed the camera to achieve stylized, poetic images, treating it as if it were film. I was protective of the highlights, and used a filter to take electronic edge off and get the visually pleasing softness of the overall image. It affected the resolution somewhat, but that was OK--the emotion was more important. I got a shallower depth of field by staying around the 2.8 f stop for a very pleasing cinematic look. Overall, we shot "Conscientious Objector" cinema-style, for the big screen.

Question: What was different about shooting "Inner Circle"?

Medencevic: As an independent film, "Inner Circle" was essentially a labor of love for many of the principals, whom I know very well. It was my call to choose the camera technology, and I returned to VariCam for several reasons. The story is character-driven, with heavy emotion, and I felt the best way to sustain that intensity was to be able to roll take after take. The camera's 46-minute recording time gave our director much more freedom to work with the actors.

Question: By this time, were you working with the CineGamma software?

Medencevic: Yes, and it represented the biggest difference from my first documentary shoot. We shot "Inner Circle" in a spectacular house in Hermosa Beach, California, but it was full of glass windows. I was confident that the CineGamma software, which takes full advantage of the camera's wide latitude, would allow me to control the brightness behind the windows, which it did. We had to shoot through the windows, as it was critical to the story to see the ocean and beach from inside the house. The amount of light needed to balance the contrast of the scene between interiors and the exterior would be much greater than we could have otherwise afforded. The CineGamma capability was exactly what we needed. I was able to go about an extra two stops in the highlights with no clipping. Color rendition was superb. I kept the matrix settings on standard, and in terms of an overall color palette, worked in the warm part of the spectrum. I used filtration on the Canon HD cine-style lens, and achieved even, warm colors without becoming monochromatic.

Question: It sounds like the lighting was tricky on the feature shoot?

Medencevic: All the action happens in real-time over the course of a late afternoon and evening, with the crucial events set between 5 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. I was very pleased with how the camera handled extremes of light, allowing me to capture nuances that differentiated among afternoon light, dusk and dark. By playing with the lighting, and watching how the color temperature dropped, I was able to simulate times of day using my film lights, and break down scenes into 30-minute time blocks. We were able to gradually increase a difference in color temperature between characters and the backdrop, a view through the window. I really pushed color to extremes, and the skin tones in particular were very realistic. I was able to precisely match settings the next day, and exactly adjust color.

Question: What would you say to fellow filmmakers about working with the VariCam?

Medencevic: The camera is extremely user friendly. Spending some time to learn how to use its various menus is a great tool in achieving different looks. Having a good on- board viewing monitor is very helpful in field work, letting you immediately evaluate the look that is desired. Manipulating the settings and taking the camera to more unconventional values can give very interesting results, and I would encourage everybody to spend some time with the camera and experiment with it.