Panasonic Professional Video Products - Applications: HD Quanda

Director of Photography Mark Smith of OH 7 Films, Jersey City, NJ, recently used the AJ-HDC27 VariCam™ HD Cinema Camera to shoot an independent film titled "The Look." The VariCam was rented from rental company, Bexel, New York, NY. We chatted with Mark Smith to learn more about "The Look" and the "look" he was able to obtain with VariCam.

To read Mark's Bio, click here.

Question: Tell me about "The Look," the new film you've shot.

Smith: "The Look" is a coming-of-age story set in the competitive world of modeling. The movie focuses on the adventures of a group of teenage wannabe models who come to New York to enter a modeling contest seeking their fame, fortune or a way to escape to a more glamorous life. The film has an ensemble cast and stars actress/model Carol Alt, who plays the contest manager, and actress and Elite model Carrie Southworth. The director is David Sigal and this is his directorial debut. The producer is Seth Carmichael of Carmichael Films.

Question: How demanding was the shoot?

Smith: It was a very demanding shoot. The director wanted to combine the elements of 24 frame story telling and some very particular stylistic choices with some elements of a reality television look/documentary feel, which he felt were appropriate to the subject matter and the audience the film is directed towards. To satisfy this required a tremendous amount of hand held and steadi-cam work. Over 22 days, we shot 122 scenes, and with the exception of a couple of scenes in very tight interior spaces that proved very challenging, every scene was covered with multiple angles and setups. Most of the footage was acquired in the Gershwin Hotel and Prince George Hotel in Manhattan.

Question: What cameras did you evaluate for the film?

Smith: The Sony F900 HDCAM has been the default choice when shooting in HD. I used the F900 on "Errors, Freaks & Oddities," a feature I shot last year. However, I wasn't happy with the camera for a number of reasons. It's a heavier camera and can also get very hot, which makes it a challenge for hand-held work.

At Bexel in New York, I did apples-to-apples demonstrations of the VariCam and the F900. I choose the Panasonic because it is excellent at motion and color rendering, much friendlier to faces, producing better flesh tones. We were going to shoot beautiful models in beautiful clothing and the VariCam just looked better. And the Panasonic camera is a true progressive scanning camera at every frame rate, a key issue for slow motion effects work.

I'm not a slave to pixel count, but I am very concerned with a camera's sensitivity. For nighttime exteriors and for interiors in low light, sensitivity matters tremendously. In our testing, I felt the Panasonic AJ-HDC27 to be more sensitive and flexible to use.

Question: How did the AJ-HDC27 VariCam perform during the 22-day shoot?

Smith: The VariCam performed really well and stacked up positively to all the production challenges. It is highly efficient to set-up with easy-to-navigate menus, which allowed us to change gamma settings, shutter speeds and parameters. We could shoot faster, which sped up production. The camera's lightweight was also a big plus. As I mentioned, we did a lot of hand-held work and I was happy to have a lighter and smaller camera. In addition, we didn't have a budget for a Steadi-cam operator, so I used my own Steadi-cam system that holds a camera up to 20 pounds. The AJ-HDC27 worked nicely and is a great size and weight for steadi-cam work.

I also have to mention the camera's viewfinder. The Panasonic viewfinder provides a better sense of sharpness when the subject is moving. I had confidence that when looking through the viewfinder, I could tell whether the image was sharp or not. This is an intangible, but a big intangible. We had a 24" monitor on set for checking focus, but at times I had to say "yes" or "no" from what I saw in the viewfinder. We had to be assured of sharpness because our film-out is going onto the big screen. It was a huge plus to know that you can be assured of sharpness when looking through the viewfinder.

Question: Did you use the camera's variable frame rate capabilities?

Smith: Variable frame shooting is a very important, but basic, creative tool that all top shooters need. While the amount of tools to create effects in post continues to grow, sometimes there just is not a substitute for the way the image is originally captured. We overcranked some scenes for the slow-motion effect and there were a few we undercranked as well. Variable frame capture helped extend the feel or moment of a scene.

We also experimented with the camera's time lapse shooting capabilities. We did a wide shot of the Queensboro Bridge transitioning from light to dark. It provided us with yet another creative tool.

Question: What would you tell other cinematographers about VariCam?

Smith: That I have a preference for the AJ-HDC27 because of its size, form factor, sensitivity, color rendition and variable frame rate capabilities that gives you a very creative tool

I have a strong documentary background. When shooting hand held style, I like to get close and hands-on with the camera. It doesn't just sit still on a tripod. The Panasonic camera is ergonomically friendly and fit my bill. I found it easy to get comfortable with the camera.

Question: Do you plan to utilize VariCam for future projects?

Smith: No question, in a heartbeat. I would definitely use it depending on the project. It's a great camera and I'm impressed with what Panasonic could put in such a small package.

Mark Smith is a Director of Photography, with a background drawn from the many facets of the production world. Mark draws from experience gained in shooting documentaries, sports at the Olympic Games, commercials and feature films. The path to that goal has had many twists and turns through the television and film world: editing, producing live television, and writing, as well as learning all the technical positons along the way. In the past year, Mark has also shot several independent dramatic features Returning Mickey Stern, winner of the Grand Jury Prize 2002 Rome (Italy)film festival, Errors, Freaks,and Oddities, and most recently The Look

Documentary assignments have taken him from tenement hallways of the South Bronx to uninhabited islands in the South Pacific. Some recent documentary projects include On Hallowed Ground, an Emmy award winning documentary for Turner Broadcasting. Set in Harlem, this documentary traces the history and place that basketball occupies in the culture of African Americans living in Harlem, NY. Passion Uncovered is a bi-racial woman's journey through West Africa in search of her future and her past. The Search for Amelia Earhart involved a month-long expedition to a remote, uninhabited, Pacific Island that could very likely prove to be the final resting-place of the famous American woman aviator. Terror Town shot in Jersey City, N,J over a period of eight months, digs into the post 9/11 psyche of an ethnically diverse city that is trying to cope with the reverberating after effects of the World Trade Center attack and is home to one of the largest Muslim communities in the U.S.