FEBRUARY 2014
Vol 199
Canon 1D C Action Welcome to 2014 one and all and let’s hope that we all enjoy some busy times this year. Starting us off is Brendon O’Hagan because Brendon’s got a Canon 1D C. My interest in this camera is because I was very impressed last year when I saw a short film made with the 1D C and I thought that finally, here’s a hybrid camera that puts out very good video. Ed: Now tell me Brendon, you have a history in still photography? Brendon: Yes, I’m predominantly a still photographer and then, about four years ago, we started doing video as well, just before the Mark II came out. Ed: So this was with a what …? Brendon: Originally I was with Sony actually. I had an EX1 – that was my first video camera which we used to do a relatively big project. Then I got a 5D Mark II and it works with my workflow very well because we still do stills as well as video and we’re able to switch between the two very easily and keep two of them going. Ed: Because the form factor … I mean, for somebody who has come from the video side, going to this form factor of camera is a transition, but for you, I guess, the EX1 was a transition? Brendon: Yes it was, but then going to the Digital SLRs after using something like an EX1, you automatically know the disadvantages to it. So you know that it’s got no XLR inputs, it’s got no decent sound and of course that’s a big thing for a still photographer to learn – you’ve got to suddenly learn this third dimension that you’re not used to. That was a big thing. I was doing a lot with super yachts where I didn’t need to worry too much about ambient sound or sound in general. We’d use the Sony EX1 when we needed the sound and we’d use the 5D Mark II for doing all the other stuff, and then I could shoot stills and build up the stills library with that as well. For me, I’ve got a Canon 5D Mark III as well and now I’ve just gone
to the 1D C. I’ve always had the 1D series cameras, but this is the first time I’ve spent a little bit more and gone the 1D C way instead of getting a 1D X. Ed: Just go back to the EX1 – if you compare the video pictures you were getting out of the EX1 compared to the 5D, how were they?
Brendon: They were okay. They are pretty comparable. I mean, you had a little bit more latitude with the EX1. The big downfall for me was, it wasn’t wide enough lens wise, because I’m used to shooting with wide lenses when it wasn’t really happening in the video world. So we struggled with that quite a bit but, no, quality wise it was great. Luckily we use editors who know how to handle the footage, which makes a big difference.
Brendon: Yeah, yeah, I guess that’s not a big thing for us most of the time. The majority of our work is web videos – like 90% - so we don’t worry too much about compression. But then, we do have some high end clients – my super yacht clients all want 4K and they want the lot, hence we’ll be using this on a couple of super yacht jobs.
Ed: Oh tell me, what are the things your editors know that some seem to have problems with?
Brendon: No, there’s a few things that we have used it on where we’ve actually cropped in quite a bit and that was one of the reasons we’ve gone that way as well, because it just gives us that little bit of flexibility. Last year, we did a lot with the America’s Cup and there were certain things that, you’ve just got to put it in there and you don’t have too much control over how things work. When they do come to me and ask for 4K, you’ve got to be able to provide it for them.
Brendon: The guys that we mainly use are used to them and they know the disadvantages of them – like they crush the blacks quite a bit and, because we shoot differently than like a video operator would – we shoot very much like a still operator – so whenever we’re
Ed: So you don’t think the 1D C is an overkill for web?
Ed: Do you find your still photography training easily transferable into the video world? Brendon: No. It took me a long time to learn – I was lucky that I had my wife there who could teach me a fair bit. Ed: So apart from the sound, what were your problems?
The 1D C capturing cricket at Eden Park.
doing jobs we’ll often have two operators going at once. A still photographer – and I’m guilty of this, I don’t shoot like a normal operator, I frame everything all up so it tells a story in one frame, because that’s what I’ve been used to doing for 20 years … Ed: The BBC have been doing that for centuries I believe. Brendon: Then we hire a video guy and, because my wife’s actually an ex-TV3 camera operator, she knows their stuff as well, so we’d mix in between, but it actually works out quite well, you get a very different look to your video piece because we have a different style than others out there. Ed: But that’s a very good option these days with compression because, if you keep that frame still and you have the bits moving in between, you’re maximising your compression?
Brendon: I’m terrible at doing sequences of shots, because I’m used to just going in and framing it all up and doing it in one hit, so I’ve had to learn that very well. Ed: So to give you continuity, those cut-aways? Brendon: The cut-aways and all those sorts of things. Ed: You’re not doing “nodding heads” though are you? Brendon: No, I’m not doing that. Composition wise, we’ve got that pretty much sorted and exposure wise, we know how to do that. It was a matter of learning what I could do in editing because, when I shoot a picture in stills, I quite often will shoot it with what I can do in Photoshop in mind. I can drop the sky down, I can do so much, whereas with video, I don’t have that degree of freedom and that was quite a transition for me. Ed: Okay, what are the specifics with the 1D C that you find make it a big step above anything you’ve used before? Brendon: Well having Canon Log is quite good. I don’t use Canon Log a lot, because it can slow us down in post, whereas we’re all about turning out our content very, very quickly, that’s our market. So we don’t have time to spend in post, but the tests that I have done, I’m quite impressed with. It matches up very well with all my other gear, which makes it a lot easier that I can have my C100 going and it matches up very, very nicely. It’s an excellent stills body you know, it takes
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fantastic stills pictures. The auto focus is quite sensational. I also do a lot of stills, I’m 50/50 down the middle. So it fits me in both worlds and it was purely the 4K that sold me on the 1D to future proof my offering, plus the high ISO is very good as well – the high ISO is a lot cleaner than the 5D Mark III. Ed: What about extra bits and pieces. I see you’ve just got the camera and a lens here, there’s all sorts of accessories you can buy for these things? Brendon: Yes, but with having the C100 I can put more of the sound work through that. I don’t actually like rigging up the Digital SLRs. By the time you’ve gone through and brought all the accessories for it, you just might as well go out and buy a C100 or whatever (4K aside), because you can spend $5-6,000 on the rigs etc and I don’t think they’re worth it. I’ve got a very basic rig that I hook it up onto. For me, the way that I run my business, because we run a stills side and a video side, I have a few people working with me on the video, so the gear’s got to be transitional. My rule of thumb is that I won’t usually buy anything unless it’s got dual purpose. Hence, for me, the 1D C can do stills and video and a lot of our business is like that. Ed: So you’re buying video tripods? Brendon: Yes we’ve got video tripods. We’ve converted all the heads so they’re all cross-compatible with all systems and we use the Kessler crane systems and they’ve been really good. We do a lot of time lapse too – time lapse is a big part of my business, so we have motion rigging as well. A lot of images are divided off and sent for stock library images so I’m constantly shooting and we have different markets for the range we produce.
Ed:
Canon lenses throughout?
Brendon: Yes, I’m all Canon, I’ve only ever been Canon. I’ve pretty much got one of every Canon lens. Ed: Have you tried other manufacturers of lenses? Brendon: No, I thought about it until I saw the price and decided it’s not cost effective for the market we’re in. At the moment, we’re predominantly creating web content with some high end product – super yachts, but I use all high end lenses – the L series lenses with the stills and I can’t really fault them. It’s not really a good business decision for me to go out and buy a bunch of Cine-lenses, because it just doesn’t translate the cost for me at this stage. Ed: For your business model? Brendon: For my business no, it doesn’t. Ed: So you find that, in certain situations, you can mix and match the pictures from the 1D C and the C100 and it works? Brendon: Yes it works well. We did our first decent comparison the other day and you’d struggle to tell the difference between the two. Ed: Yes but not looking at the 4K side of it? Brendon: No, not looking at the 4K side of it. done a few jobs in 4K now … Ed: Because you can upscale things you know?
I’ve
Brendon: Yeah, yeah, but it looks crap; it just doesn’t look right. I mean you’ve got to remember we come from a stills background where 5000 pixels is no longer standard. There’s some correlation between the stills and the video, but with stills we’re used to having so much more resolution and detail in the blacks, more more on page 8
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that we can manipulate, which we just don’t have in video. I guess if you went to a higher end Cine camera with 4K RAW and log, you might have more dynamic range but, for our sort of market, it’s not needed. The 4K that we’ve done is all wide-angle. We’ve had to mount the camera somewhere and just let it run, and then we’ve been able to zoom in and grab. I actually attached it to the roof racks of my car leading a bunch of bikes hooning down a hill at about 70k an hour and it was fabulous. Ed: Did you use rubber suckers or clamps? Brendon: I had a clamp. It was good and it worked well. Ed: When you’re shooting video with this, are you always shooting progressive or are you interlace? Brendon: Always progressive. Ed: Because you’ve got it locked off? Brendon: Pretty much yes. The only downfall I’ve got with it is that it doesn’t do 2K, it’s 1080 or 4K, so I would have liked it somewhere in the middle because when you have it on 4K, it’s pretty demanding on storage. Ed: But 1080 is very close to 2K? Brendon: Yes, but it just gives you that little bit more flexibility. If I zoom anything or rescale anything and it doesn’t work for me, I hate it. I think the quality’s too much of a drop. Maybe that’s just the background I come from, but we don’t like cropping, we don’t like rescaling. Ed: I was just going to ask you what would you like Canon to add and obviously you’d like them to add 2K? Anything else? Brendon: Yes, I’d like 2K. I wouldn’t mind autofocus. I’ll be interested to see how the C100 autofocus system is going to work with the new firmware update. I’ve got a Canon XF300 as well and the autofocus on that is actually pretty good. We do a lot of sporting events and the likes of that, so it would be quite good to have. Ed: Does the 1D C have autofocus? Brendon: No, D-SLR’s in general either haven’t had it or haven’t been high performers in that area traditionally but, as with any technology, it’s only a matter of time. But the C100 firmware upgrade coming with AF should be quite good. I’ve only had the 1D C for a couple of months and we’ve already put about 10,000 still frames on it. It’s very easy to use, all the menu systems match across the kits now, which is really good. I really like that, and you can customise your own settings on a menu page for the regular jobs, that makes it very quick to use. You can assign buttons, so you can setup everything like a normal camera. I’m going to look at getting an Atomos Ninja and hook that up as well. Ed: So that might give you the 2K option? Brendon: It might do, yes.
The C100 with a looong lens.
different kits lined up for exactly what we need, and this can be our lightweight kit quite happily. I did a job in Vietnam where I just took the Digital SLRs and it was okay, it was very lightweight and easy to carry, because everything I took, I had to carry, but it had its downfalls as well. Ed: What about lighting … do you need any lighting with this? Brendon: We do a bit. We’ve got a set of lights, we don’t use them a helluva lot. Quite often we’ll set up reflectors – that kind of comes back to our still background – we don’t use a lot of lights there either, you don’t really need to, and especially with a high ISO, it’s got very good sensitivity … Ed:
To give you an idea of what we do – a lot of run and gun, sports, we have location changes at the drop of a hat – you can’t be worrying about lights! It’s very, very quick. For bigger interviews and the like we do use lights, but while we have a set, the majority of our shoots don’t give us that luxury, it’s very quick, in and out. Ed: So basically you’re happy with Canon and their product? Brendon: Yes … well it’s good for me because I’ve got every lens from 8mm to 500mm, so I’ve got a pretty nice coverage there and there’s not much that we can’t do. I would like a slightly higher frame rate though – that would be nice. I think that’s where Canon is lacking at the moment, the higher frame rate we would use quite a bit. Ed:
Ed: So did you look at the C500 in comparison? Brendon: No, that’s out of my price range for the work I produce. I looked at the C300 and I honestly thought that, because of the way we work, is that what we need to take two kits with us? We take a C100 kit and I’ll take a still kit so I can do one or the other if I’m away, because we do travel a lot. Our whole design now is that we have lightweight gear for travelling and easily load it all into a car. We’ve got
Just to get that mood sometimes?
Brendon: Yes, but once again, like I said, a lot of our work, we just don’t have the time for that.
We’ll make sure we tell Gordon.
Brendon: Oh I tell Gordon on a regular basis I can assure you. It’s interesting though … I mean they’re dropping in some pretty good firmware updates now, so it will be interesting to see what comes up. I tried a C300 for a while and I quite liked that, but I really rate the C100. It fits my workflow just perfectly – really, really good, especially now if we get an Atomos Ninja or an Atomos Blade, that will give us 422 output, which would be really nice! NZVN
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Dolly-up Your Production We are on the set of “Step Dave” with Dennis Thompson from the Dolly Shop. Ed: Dennis, there are lots of people here, there are lots of lights and cameras, there’s all sorts of equipment and in amongst the lot there is some Dolly Shop gear. What are they using? Dennis: We’ve got a GFM dolly, their grip kit dolly with a bazooka … Ed:
Is this the one on the rails?
Dennis: It’s the one on the rails, yes. In addition to that we’ve got the Silent Cat Slider, which is a 60cm long slider they use for just small moves off a tripod or off a high hat. We’ve also got something called a Solid Grip System, which is similar to a slider – it sits on scaffold pipe on a couple of lighting stands and just gives you the ability to build a track to whatever length just off a lighting stand. Ed: Now the reason we’re here today is because I know Dolly Shop has got some really high tech equipment – we’ve seen the Technocrane for example as to what you can go to – but with even greater cost consciousness coming into television and screen production, there are alternatives available? Dennis: Yes there are many options out there with more cost effective ways of achieving camera movement. As you say, you don’t need to be going to the high end hydraulic dollies or electromechanical dollies like the Panthers and Chapmans, you can use ones that have a lot of accessories that allow you to adjust your height, to get down low seating and run nice and smoothly. Ed: I guess the downside is that they either take a little bit longer to set up or you need more skill? Dennis: Not at all, they’re lightweight so you’re able to move around a lot more easily and set up a lot quicker than you would with a heavier dolly. With heavier dollies, you’re restricted a little bit with some of your locations where you can take them, so these provide the ability to pretty well go anywhere and get a little bit of movement whether it’s in a vehicle, on a boat or on a normal set or location. Ed:
What are the advantages of a heavier dolly?
Dennis: A heavier dolly gives you the ability to more easily get up and down movement. A camera on a slider is at a fixed height, you can’t adjust the height while you’re moving; similarly with the GFM dolly you’re at a fixed height, you can’t adjust it, so the Panther dollies and the Chapman dollies for instance, offer an ability to raise and lower the height of the camera while you’re actually filming. So that’s of greater production value. Ed: So it’s like what we see in the television studios where they have those pedestals that move around. They can move across the floor and also raise and lower at the same time? Dennis:
Well similar – effectively yes.
Ed: But that requires that very smooth floor and quite a bit of technology? Dennis: Oh usually if it’s a reasonable floor they can run them on the floor; they put down what they call “dance floor” which is a laminate over the floor to get a nice smooth surface, or they run track, and they would do that with even a simple dolly. We do have a castor system where you can run it over a floor just for quick repositioning but not for “in shot” moves. What they’ve
Dennis with one of his dollies.
got here is certainly reasonably priced and it offers them 80% of what they would get out of the higher end dollies. Ed: So these are creative options for people in the television industry who perhaps are just using a tripod, so they’ve got locked off shots and have people move around. Dollies or sliders give you that little bit more “oomph” to your production – just a bit of movement – it makes it look so much better? Dennis: Well what you achieve with these simple devices is that “high end” look but cost effectively. Whereas in the past, you would have been fixed on a tripod, we’ve got a whole raft of different options for a reasonable price. I think our cheapest dolly is around $65 for instance … Ed:
For a day?
Dennis:
For a day, yes.
Ed: Because I imagine also with these sliders, you can put them on an angle, even the one that you have on your scaffolding, you could actually move it, you don’t have to have it totally horizontal? Dennis: You could put it on an angle – it depends what you’re trying to achieve. If you want the camera to remain level even though the slider’s on an angle, you’d have to adjust it in a way that gets it back to being level. We’ve got other sliders, the Kessler ones, they have bracketry, you can undersling them for instance, so you can have the camera underneath the slider and running right across the floor. So if you’re down shooting really low, these little brackets enable you to do that. The cheapest slider I do for $75 a day. Ed:
For a whole day?
Dennis:
Page 10
For a whole day, yes.
Ed: And all you need to do is add your camera to it, or your tripod head … I guess you have to have your own tripod? Dennis: No, we supply two Manfrotto tripods with it – without a head, just the stills tripods. People generally have their own heads, so we don’t supply them. Ed: So for someone looking at their production schedule, they could save all the shots that might look better on a slider, get all of their locked off shots done and then just come along and do all the slider shots in one day? Dennis:
No, not really …
Ed: Alright, I know you want a longer hire Dennis, but …? Dennis: Well it’s just practicality. You’re there, you want to be shooting everything at the same time, so they’d tend to shoot everything while they were on that particular location. It’s practical and cost effective to do it at the time. The other thing I was going to say with the Kessler slider is that we add a remote head to it too. Everything is motorised so you can get time lapse. The camera movement becomes controllable and repeatable, including the remote head. So if you’re doing a typical one of the night sky or even just day with the clouds, you are able to pan and tilt during the course of your time lapse movement. They used it on a cooking show, just to show the whole process of what they were doing with the meal they were creating. Ed: So you can show a roast being cooked in 10 seconds? Dennis: Effectively, yes. GoPro did a launch and they were here for about a month shooting and they used the slider quite a bit for that launch. Ed: Now one thing I don’t see on this set is a crane and I know, at the Dolly Shop, you’ve got lots and lots of cranes – the big Technocrane we talked about, but also pretty small one man jobs? Dennis: It’s often the nature of the show. It might be quite a close, tight sort of drama that isn’t very expansive in what it has to show, so the requirement to get a bit more expansive with your shots isn’t there. Over the years, different jobs at South Pacific Pictures have had a higher requirement because of the nature of what they’re trying to shoot. With Outrageous Fortune for instance, they used quite large cranes to scene set and to conclude scenes as well. Ed: So if people want to see what some of this equipment can do, the crane or the slider, they can go onto your website, have a look at the types that you’ve got available, but can they actually see how some of them work? Dennis: There is footage from the cranes and I’ve recently added some for the sliders. With the Sliders you are basically moving the camera from one end to another to show how they are used. Generally, it’s about getting small moves – you know, maybe you want to get a tiny wee push in easily, quickly. It’s already on, attached to the tripod, you don’t have to put it on a dolly, the cameraman can create the whole move himself, he isn’t having to deal with a grip and the grip hitting their mark, or they’re shooting at the time and doing an over the shoulder shot.
Rewa Hare on the set of “Step Dave”.
At this point, I handed the recorder to Dennis and let him loose with his questions for Rewa Harre and Marty Smith, the co DOPs on the shoot. Dennis: Rewa, what affected your equipment decisions on Step Dave?
overall
grip
Rewa: Camera movement for me is all about creating emotion, adding a third dimension, and production value. Step Dave, the current show I am working on, being a drama/comedy, lends itself to a variety of shooting styles. We use a lot of handheld, but also Steadicam and dolly movement. We needed a compact and lightweight grip package to complement the Steadicam we have permanently on set. I became familiar with the Solid Grip Systems scaff dolly only about six months ago and was impressed by its simplicity and smoothness. It takes up very little floor space on set, can be moved around very quickly and can be used in underslung mode for table top shots and very low angles. Marty: When we were prepping Nothing Trivial 3 and Gary showed me the Solid Grip scaff dolly, I was sceptical at first, as it was so simple and could run on 2 pieces of scaff pipe. Many sliders trap dirt and dust in the channels and need frequent cleaning. The skateboard wheels collect none, and the pipes can be a bit rough and pitted and the system still works smoothly. It's also completely silent, which is very important. With the quick change brackets that Dennis made, you can swing it to whatever length tubes you need. Three metres is probably the longest we've done, and naturally there's a bit of support required in the middle. The 1'1/8 spigots on the brackets mean you can use it on light stands quite easily. It's superb for getting over the top of subjects ( looking down at people in bed ) and requires a much smaller footprint than using a dolly and jib for the same shot. In tight locations, apart from not being able to rise in shot, you can get moves into much smaller spaces than you can do with a dolly. You can almost track wall to wall in a room with no dolly base to accommodate. Dennis:
Page 12
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Marty: It’s extremely versatile with its modular design and is easy to move around. The gas riser allows quick height changes. Ed: Thanks Rewa and Marty – I’ll get back to Dennis now. Moving on to a wider field, I know you’re heavily involved in the screen industry through the Cinematographers Association and there’s certainly been a lot of discussion recently about the doldrums of the screen industry. It sounds as though there’s a little bit of movement there, but is it a last gasp of our screen industry or do you think there is life yet to come? Dennis: It’s a moving feast. Nothing remains the same, it’s changing. Ed: And the people need to change with it? Dennis: Basically that’s the bottom line. For instance, there’s a shoot happening in Malaysia at the moment Marty Smith operates the Solid Grip System. and it’s employed a whole heap of Kiwis with good experience in long form drama. Rewa: At the speeds we are working at, it’s very nice to be able to throw in a dolly shot at the last Ed: And that’s only been possible because there is no minute! work here or is it that the producers are looking for the Dennis:
experience of the New Zealanders?
And the GFM Grip Kit Dolly?
Rewa: The GFM dolly kit can be quickly carried in by one person, laid and ready to go in minutes.
Dennis: Well we’re not talking about one or two people; we’re talking about quite a few, so that’s based on reputation. So they’re grabbing people because of their skills and their expertise. There would be other options out there with these people, because we’ve got a bit of a track record of doing this stuff now. But there’s a little bit of concern about drama going forward with TV3. Because of the commercial imperative there of making a profit, there’s a bit of a question mark about how much they will continue to support television drama because some of them haven’t been as successful as they would have hoped. So whether they will continue to commit to New Zealand drama is uncertain. They really need to make a profit, these shows need to succeed. Ed: So not necessarily as a comment from the Cinematographers Association, but from someone of long experience, what can the industry itself do to help get out of this situation? Dennis: Well it’s just as it continues to do, seeing a variety of sources of income for us. We see it out of a show like Step Dave, this one, a television drama; we see it out of local television commercials and overseas commercial shooting here; then we see an increasing number of just general television programming. There’s a Cadbury show that TV3 is doing at the moment – the slider that you saw before, the Solid Grip Systems slider, we had that on there and they loved it. TVNZ have just done a programme last year on architects and it went all round the country. It was easy for them to take it on a plane, set it up in a location anywhere around the country and they got a bit of camera movement out of it. And the internet, we’ve done a few jobs using some of the high end gear for things that will only be seen via the internet, they won’t go to television at all. Ed: So the industry really has to move with the times; it’s got to, using the old cliché “think outside the square”, think of new avenues?
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Dennis: In the end, to an extent, we depend on that phone ringing. We aren’t generators of programming; we aren’t generators of work. We are the providers to whomever … all we can do is offer what we already have and respond to whatever their needs may be going forward and those will change. What’s happening, as I’ve tried to show you today, is there’s definitely a movement towards smaller, lighter, nimble equipment that can be used in a medium range sort of television drama like this, in a real low end music video, short film, television programme, whatever – just a general informational programme where you want to get a bit of extra camera movement. That’s where it’s going. It’s definitely a trend towards a lot of smaller productions with relatively small needs, but who have a desire to add value. Of all the things you can do, camera movement is the one that generally says “oh, there’s a bit more value in what I’m watching than a static camera.” Ed:
What do you think of handheld Dennis?
Dennis: Well unless it’s for a dramatic purpose, generally it suggests that maybe the budget isn’t there. It has traditionally suggested that. Ed: Do you think there’s a bit too much of it these days?
Silent cat slider awaits.
Dennis: I’ve got to be careful because these guys do quite a bit of handheld … I think if it’s used properly it’s fine, and I would say sparingly too, but it depends on the nature of the programme. If you’re shooting something that’s very intense and a lot of energy in it, handheld’s totally appropriate. As a rule of thumb, using it all the time, I wouldn’t have thought so. That’s television according to Dennis. Go to www.dolly.co.nz and see some of the kit that could enhance your next production. NZVN
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Proactive Lighting Team We are at PLS with Chris McKenzie and another two gentlemen, Clive Shingleton and Cory Shultz. Ed: Chris, some months ago, you took on two new sales staff who, one would hope, are now doing good things for you? Chris: Yes they are. We decided that we needed to up our sales efforts with a bigger team and so … Ed: What, actually get people out on the road? Chris: Yes, out on the road, rather than expecting our customers to fall off the bus as they went past. We have Clive doing outside sales, going round and door Cory and Clive in the PLS showroom. knocking our unsuspecting customers, and Cory who what they can do, what their kit can do and questions – will probably be the first voice on the phone when you the idiot questions that people don’t necessarily want to call us. ask the supplier, but if they can go onto the YouTube Ed: So why is it necessary to have somebody out link and find the answer then that’s good and it saves door knocking? Surely people can go on your website us dealing with the obvious questions. and see everything you’ve got? Chris: To a point yes, especially now that we have our new website up and running, glossy, shiny and all things to all men, so don’t forget that. We have stayed away from the sales model of doing web sales because we want to talk to our customers. We want to be able to help them with their decisions, rather than them making the decisions and, without being rude to most of our customers, they do need help with their decision making.
We don’t mind doing that, and that’s again going back to why we want to talk to our customers. I had the example yesterday of a guy “I want to buy an LED hardwired.” Well yes sir, we’ve got a range of them. “Oh well I’ve had a look at this one and I like that one.” So I was able to have a 15 minute conversation with him and say well here’s the opportunities, what are you doing, what do you actually want to achieve …
Ed: I would concur with that; I’m in that category myself and I would say that I’ve had excellent advice from PLS in the past, so good thinking. Chris: Thank you Grant – and I was looking at you as I said that! So it’s an old fashioned concept but we find that it works. Clive’s finding that most of our customers are fairly receptive to stopping and having a chat, but we’re also very aware that a lot of our customers are working from home and particularly freelance people are very protective of their “away from work” time, so we keep an eye on that. We don’t want to annoy them, customers are customers and we do want to make sure that they’re happy talking to us. Ed: What’s the website?
Chris: He did … he went “no, I’ll go and spend my money somewhere else thanks.”
Chris: www.kelpls.co.nz Ed: And that’s because it’s got Kenderdine Electrical in there as well as PLS? Chris: Yes, the “kel” part is Kenderdine and the PLS … it’s a common website but at the opening page it splits into the two companies. If you want rental prices, there are two obviously different schedules for the two companies, and then links out to all of our suppliers, plus we’re adding more and more resources. We had quite a lot of resources on the original page, but it was a fairly “John Deere” looking page that we’ve had for close to 10 years and it needed upping to the 21st century look and more links. More interlinks into what our suppliers are doing as well, because a lot of them are very good at putting up information and tutorials on
Ed:
Ed:
And in the end he bought a BBQ?
Oh, are you not selling BBQs anymore?
Chris: No, no, this season of MasterChef is over. Anyone interested in that sort of kit will have to come back probably in December this year and we’ll have a new line of ex-kitchenware available! Ed: Right, that’s enough of him. To bring some sanity to this interview, Clive, in your visits to customers, what have you gathered to be the main need out there? Clive: Probably information, keeping up to date, new products, new lines, what’s going on. It’s an education. A lot of them are used to what they have been using and it’s a case of “well, this is a new product, this is better, this is LED” – so it’s an educational process; and also reminding them that we are still around. Ed:
Is there a lot of interest in LED?
Clive: Yes, there is. I find a lot of film people reluctant to make the move at the moment, but certainly on the other side, museums and that … Ed: We don’t deal with museums; we’re just into the professional television industry here. Clive: It’s certainly coming on board, yes. People are getting to know it, they’re using it, and they’re liking it.
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Ed: Do you get a chance to look at their setups and advise them as to maybe what could be added to their setup to make it better? Clive: Certainly the studios … yes, we have a look, see what they’ve got, see how we can improve it. Sometimes it’s just a matter of updating small things. But, as I say, it just comes back to keeping them informed about what’s out there. Ed: So by going out there and talking to them, they’re prodded to think about what they might need? Clive: Yes. It’s reminding them that there are better options now. If one gets into their day to day running of things and they perhaps don’t read all the publicity, read all the input that comes through, you just go and jog their memory and hopefully they’ll come back to us. Ed: How far afield have you been travelling – have you done Bluff yet? Clive: No, no, not quite. I’m still trying to get through Auckland. There’s a lot of work in Auckland at the moment, but we’ll get there. Ed: I guess it’s a fairly hard technology to learn for someone coming from outside the television and film industry? Clive: It is. For the tricky things I get them to talk to Chris! Ed: Probably a very wise choice. What about talking to Cory? Does anybody talk to Cory apart from me? Cory: Every now and then … a lot of the customers come in here, they know we have a wonderful showroom with all the really good products, so they’re keen to come and get a “hands on” look at it. Ed: And you’re able to show them everything? Cory: Yes absolutely. We have all the best of the Matthews and Dedo and ARRI and Kino and Lowel stuff set up in our showroom and we have all the newest gear from around the world, so it’s good. And they can bring their cameras in and really do a proper test, you know play with the new bicolour LEDs etc. Ed: So that’s a good thing, actually having that studio setup so people can bring their own camera and do the test with their own gear to see the difference? Cory: Yes that’s right. You need to let people know how it’s going to work with their equipment; a lot of the new low light sensors in the latest cameras need testing to see exactly what you’re going to get from your one foot panels and your 150 Watt Dedos, etc.
Ed: Oh, so you’ll actually let them take it out and try it? Cory: Yes, if they can put a good case forward! Ed: And what about your background? Cory: I’ve worked for ICT in software sales for IBM and I sold Big Data for NZ Post and I’ve sold Business to Business plans for various telcos, but I’ve always wanted to get closer to film and TV and this was a good opportunity. Ed: So lighting’s something new for you? Cory: Very much so. Ed: Well I guess you’ve got a good teacher here haven’t you? Cory: Oh absolutely, absolutely. Chris is one of the best in the industry. What an opportunity for anyone. Chris: I think I’m going to be ill! Ed: And you’ve also been given the task of doing the ads for NZ Video News I understand? Cory: I have, yes, a real opportunity to use some Microsoft Paint and some Microsoft Word and some Photoshop skills. Ed: Now coming back to the master – Chris you’re obviously happy with your apprentices? Chris: Yes, well, they both passed their 90 day period. Ed: So you’re now paying them? Chris: Yes, and we’re now paying them. They’re both very fit for the purpose and both fast learning. One of the real benefits of taking these guys on was that it forced me to document a lot of information that I had to pass over, so we now have some large video files of Lighting 101 to about 103. These guys are not going to last forever – either us with them or them with us, so there will be new people, or as the business grows exponentially we’ll be taking on thousands more staff. Ed: Neither of them have had a real lighting background, but that actually can be a positive because you’re not trying to correct what they thought they knew? Chris: Yes, that’s very true. We’ve previously always employed from within the industry, but this time we consciously went for people who had sales experience and had a track record in sales, and both of these guys came up with that. I mean, Clive’s look at
Ed: Is there any common thread? Cory: I think those that have used inferior products are quite impressed by the difference they can immediately see when they use something like a Dedo LED with a high CRI in it and a good sort of soft wash. So people who have used maybe cheaper gear, who are considering upgrading, they come in and see what’s available at the mid and top end and they can immediately see a difference. Ed: Do you offer them the chance to rent it for a while? Cory: Well they get the whole shop here at PLS obviously, so they can choose to rent it or if they have a specific need and they can put a case forward to try to use it for a night to test it out in their own real world scenarios, then we’re open to having those conversations.
Cory surrounded by a light selection. Page 18
department’s going to be fairly empty. We’ll see how that goes, but no, it’s good and they’re both very enthusiastic about what they’re doing and sucking up the information. Ed: Lastly, as a bit of a tease, I believe that there’s a new product line that you might be bringing in? Chris: Well it’s another evolution in LED lighting. We’ve been looking long and hard at 2 or 3 suppliers and we’ve settled on one supplier who seems to be doing the best work. They’ve offered to come out and do a bit of a road show, so you never say no. You have to realise that they are Europeans and that February is the coldest part of the year for them, so we’re expecting a few more approaches from our European suppliers too, to come out and have a bit of warmth for a week or so, but you’ll get the invite Grant. Clive trying a tune on his tie.
the electrical industry was a help to a point where he had some understanding; Cory as a rabid filmmaker is the only person I know who went to 38 films at the Film Festival and he also indulges in the 48 hour Film Festival. He understands “roll” and “cut” and “dolly” so we’ve given him a bit more of the jargon and I’m guessing that in the next 48 hour, our hire
Ed: And also, at any of these events, they get to meet you, they get to meet these guys and a chance to have a look through the studio here? Chris: Yes well that’s right, and this particular company is relatively new. We’ve known them for a few years in another guise and where they’re going with their product is very interesting and quite exciting what NZVN they’re intending to do with what they’re doing.
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PLS INVITE You are cordially invited to an evening with the NZCS with Jelle Moerman from Brother Brother and Son in Denmark. PLS are introducing the BBS Area 48 LED softlight along with other products in the BBS line to the NZ market for the first time. Time: 1800 (6PM) onwards on the 13th February 2014 at PLS 66 Cook St. For Wellington customers, visit details contact me. Chris McKenzie 66 Cook St, CBD, Auckland, 1010, New Zealand. Ph:+64-9-3024100 DDI:+64-9-3740247 Fax:+64-9-3024102 Mob:+64-21-658475 Skype: Chris.McK
Issue 200 of NZVN is next month! To celebrate this publishing milestone, we have had a number of ideas. Write or email us with a few words on – 1. Something you first saw in NZVN – and just had to buy – that really improved your workflow ( or was just a really neat toy.) 2. Some technique or operation method you learned through reading our interviews. 3. Just an interesting story that somehow relates to what you have read over the years in NZVN. 4. Suggesting some new topic that you would like to hear more about in the next hundred issues. 5. A favourite photo from years back that you would think others might like reprinted. 6. A past explanation.
topic
that
needs
further
investigation
or
Do let us know before the end of the month so that we can include your reader feedback in issue #200. Email finnzed@xtra.co.nz and put “NZVN” in the header. Thanking you in anticipation. This is what I was doing when NZVN started.
Ed. NZVN
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New Year Picks from DVT One of the thoughts I had over the holidays was a topic running through various issues and that’s “ -- does it -- than anyone else” but we’ll get onto that a little bit later. First though, Stuart has got a nice little camera here at DVT that we saw at IBC. Now the production model is in stock and Stuart has one here that you can come and have a look at and try it out but, by the look of it, if you’re familiar with any of this particular brand of camera at this level, you’ll say “oh, I know how that works.” Ed: Stuart, it looks a very familiar form factor? Stuart: Yes absolutely. It’s taken on the same form factor of a lot of the medium sized cameras lately, which is the handle on the top and the LCD screen mounted on the top as well, so similar to the EX1 and the PMW-200.
Stuart has the Sony 4K camcorder, the TriCaster and a cup of coffee for you.
Ed: Are we actually going to tell the readers what camera this is? Stuart: Why not! This is the new Sony PXW-Z100 4K camcorder style camera. From a functional perspective, anyone familiar with the mid-sized Sony cameras would be able to use it straightaway; same types of menus, button layouts and the battery system is similar as well. Ed: Is it in fact the same battery as the EX1? Stuart: Yes it is. The ”U” series batteries, the BPU60s and BPU90s, that sort of style of battery. Ed: So this really fits in that niche, an entry level 4K camera, but shall we say this has more potential than other people’s entry level 4K? Stuart: Yes, this 4K camera has got a very good codec ( XAVC ) that it records inside the camera on the cards. It also allows you to shoot today in HD if you want to, or to shoot 4K. For anyone looking at buying a new camera, if they’re considering a PMW-200 for example, this would be something that they would seriously look at if they think that they might need to have 4K production capabilities in the future. Ed: So it is using the EX codec for the high def, but it has its own codec for the 4K? Stuart: It uses the XAVC codec for HD and 4K. It’s a full broadcast spec camera in terms of its high definition recording, and in 4K it’s using the new XAVC codec which is the same codec in use on the F5 and the F55 cameras as well. Ed: And this is a codec that, in that 4K form, is editable by all the major platforms currently? Stuart: Yes absolutely. There’s workflows for Adobe, for DaVinci Resolve, for Autodesk Smoke – so just about anything you’d want to do you can edit quite easily in that method. If you want to edit in something like Avid Media Composer, they don’t support 4K, so you’d need to use one of the HD codecs instead, or downconvert to HD to be able to edit Media Composer, but Media Composer’s really an offline tool, so if you wanted to online it you’d do it in …
Ed:
Media Composer’s a what?
Stuart: Well it can’t edit 4K, so you can’t online in Media Composer; it’s not designed for that. In fact, Avid’s solution for onlining was their DS system, which they’ve now discontinued. They actually don’t have an online tool, so you’d need to go into something like Adobe Premiere or Autodesk Smoke that can do stuff natively in 4K. Ed: What about those out there who are holding onto their Final Cut Pro 7’s? Stuart: Yes, Final Cut Pro 7 is good, but it’s getting increasingly difficult to keep that product alive and you can’t do 4K in that either; you need to use Final Cut Pro X, which has 4K support, so it’s a very, very powerful package for doing 4K editing. Ed: So Final Cut Pro X has now undergone some changes and is potentially a good product? Stuart: Yes absolutely. One of the bad things that Apple did is that they discontinued Final Cut Pro 7, brought out Final Cut Pro X, deserted a bunch of really key features that the community came to rely on in Final Cut Pro 7 and, as a consequence, have alienated a huge raft of the population. There are, of course, some people out there who are still commercially using Final Cut Pro X regardless of all of that and, in the last 12 months, Apple have done a lot of work putting a lot of those refinements and extra features back in, supporting all the new codecs, 4K, and particularly with the use of the new Mac Pro, they’ve redesigned Final Cut Pro X to better support the new Mac Pro and 4K and a whole bunch of other workflows as well. So it’s a very capable product but most people in the commercial world have moved on to either Media Composer if they’re just doing editing, or to the Adobe range of products if they’re doing editing and grading and compositing and other bits and pieces as well, or to other higher end applications like Autodesk Smoke or Resolve for grading. Ed: Right, now this sort of continues our story that DVT have all of these options available here and you can take people through and show them, and now we get onto the product that I want to put in this new
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Lacklands LP | 09 6300753 | sales@lacklands.co.nz
category, and that is “TriCaster does it better than any other switching solution studio in a box”. We talked about TriCaster at DVT in our December issue, but the big news is …? Stuart: Well the big news now is the new range of TriCasters that were launched and we talked about last year, are now on the ground in New Zealand and these solutions are really a studio in a box. They do everything from character generators to animated graphics buffers to media players, media recorders, streaming devices, all the way through to advanced control surfaces to control all of that. They’re extremely sophisticated and very, very easy to use and there are wonderful training resources available to get up to speed with them as well. So when you look at the costs of individual aspects of that, it would cost you many, many more times than the cost of a suitable TriCaster to do the job, so it really is an awesome solution and the customers that are getting the TriCasters now are just absolutely ecstatic about what that allows them to achieve in their businesses. Ed: And the good thing is you’ve got one here and so you can show people how it works? Stuart: Yes, we’ve got a demo version here, so it’s available for them to come in and have a good look at it. When you see the awesome power that you get out of the capabilities of these TriCasters, particularly with multiple mix and effects buses layered on top of each other, they have an enormous amount of power and allow you to very easily set up a production that you can then do live in a very sophisticated fashion, without having to get too carried away with complexity … they’ve done a remarkable job with the new interface and the new models that they’ve released to make that happen. Ed: What’s the level of the one you’ve got here – is it the top end or middle, or where? Stuart: The only difference between the top three models, which are the TriCaster 460, the 860 and the 8000, is really just the number of streams that it has. The model that we’ve got has four camera inputs, the two models above it have got eight camera inputs, but in terms of the functionality, they’re all very similar. So we can certainly show all of the capabilities of the animated graphics buffers for example, or the CG system, or the mix and effects buses on the unit that we’ve got here and that’s why we’ve chosen the unit we’ve got, so that we can show all of the features of a TriCaster 8000 – we just can’t layer eight mix and effects buses together, we can only do four. Ed:
corporate video on this in 4K; you can then take the cards out of the camera, put them into an iMac, transfer the data into it, open it in Adobe Premiere natively in 4K, you can get a Blackmagic UltraStudio 4K Thunderbolt adapter which will give you a 4K output; you can take that 4K output and plug it into any of the number of 4K TVs that are available on the market today – the big screen teles that they’ve now been selling for the last six months in New Zealand. Also now you can take 4K out of the system into computer type displays. So for example, at a consumer electronics show this year, a range of electronics manufacturers such as Dell and LG and Samsung have all come out with 4K computer desktop monitors, which range in size from 27 to 30, 32 inch type size that you can have on your desktop, so that again you can look at that content in 4K. So you know it is possible to shoot, edit, grade 4K, display 4K either on a monitor locally on your desk, or on a big screen for clients to watch, and then you can encode that 4K content using either the existing H.264 type codecs that we’ve been using now in our Freeview, My Sky and Blu-ray distribution systems, or you could move onto the newer codec, the new high efficiency video codec and encode in that as well, which is the H.265 codec. So there are ways of being able to produce that content, edit it, grade it, encode it – you can even upload your 4K stuff onto YouTube if you want to be able to distribute it that way. So it really is an option now to do everything in 4K if you so choose to or have the requirement to do it. Ed: And to me the good thing is that this is actually a 4K video camera, as opposed to a 4K cinema camera, so for us video users, we finally have a very user friendly 4K video camera. Comment Stuart? Stuart: Yes that’s correct. We’ve actually seen a change in the last 5-6 years of people wanting to have
And it wouldn’t take 4K surely would it?
Stuart: No. These switchers are all SD and HD at this stage. Blackmagic have some options available for 4K but in terms of mainstream live production 4K is not all that practical. 4K is certainly capable to do documentary, drama or feature film type productions no problem. Would you use 4K in a live switching environment? Potentially not. HD is probably the right tool for that job currently, because still there’s a reasonable amount of complexity in terms of piping 4K around. Ed: We’ve talked about future proofing in previous issues and over the years with various formats and it has been the buzz word that some manufacturers have come out to say “oh, you buy this device and you’re going to future proof your archives” but 4K really is a future proof product? Stuart: Not only is 4K future proof, but it really is a “now” product. You can do everything in 4K if you want to. So this Z100 camera is a good example of a low cost 4K acquisition solution. You can go out and film a Page 24
PRODUCTION | POST | VISUAL EFFECTS
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larger image sensor cameras so that they get a shallower depth of field and make their images what they used to call “more cinematic looking” but now of course, that doesn’t fit everybody in the market. Some people just want to be able to product normal video type images … Ed:
And lots more should, I might say here.
Stuart: Potentially – certainly for some applications. So you know we’ve always had standard definition camcorder type cameras, then when high definition came out, we had high definition camcorder type video cameras, and now 4K has come out we’ve got the same thing. If you were going to shoot a reality TV show, these Z100 cameras would be ideal for that, because they do have a larger depth of field which you will want if you’re unable to run around and focus on
things, or if you’re shooting scenery and stuff like that where you actually want to be able to see everything, you don’t want only one tree on the hillside to be in focus and everything else to be blurry. So they’d be great cameras to choose for that application. Ed: But for some people, having most of the picture out of focus is an artistic choice isn’t it? Stuart: Well that’s right, this shallow depth of field stuff is great for specific applications, you know interviews and things like that, it’s awesome, but sometimes you want to see more in the shot that you’ve got. That way you need a larger depth of field and these cameras are perfect for that. Ed: So you can come in and try it at DVT and see what it really looks like? Stuart:
Page 26
Absolutely. It’s an awesome camera, you’ll be amazed at how simple and easy it is to use because we’ve been using these types of cameras for decades now and there’s only a few things to think about with 4K. It’s not that difficult, we’ve all done the transition from standard definition to high definition and going from high definition to 4K is actually a lot easier. Also, in terms of editing, all of this stuff and the workflows that you use from a postproduction perspective, they’re exactly the same types of workflows we’ve been using for years with all of our solid state based high definition cameras. So it’s a doddle really. NZVN
Finally. Editing Meets Effects.
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www.dvt.co.nz
Digital Video Technologies (NZ) Ltd
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Phone: 09 525 0788
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Email: sales@dvt.co.nz
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45 Fairfax Avenue, Penrose, Auckland