ction Issue 2
exploring digital cinematography & beyond
DP Rob Scribner’s
“ Warbird Pilot” Keeping America’s vintage combat aircraft flying
Videographer Jeff Arballo on the FS700
Documentarian Philip Grossman returns to Chernobyl
LETTER from the EDITOR Welcome to the second edition of Sony’s @ction magazine. Once again, we’ve assembled a diverse line-up of production applications that tell the stories of Sony’s professional digital imaging products in use, by professionals. If you’ve ever wondered just what it takes to keep America’s vintage aircraft flying, Rob Scribner’s new documentary, Warbird Pilot, Behind the Visor, gives you the whole story. This Full Sail University graduate was able to combine his two passions — aviation and filmmaking — into a very personal film shot with the NEX-FS100 camera. You’ll read about the non-profit organization Notes for Notes and how it used three PXW-X180 camcorders to shoot a benefit concert and a music documentary. Jeff Arballo, a teacher-turnedvideographer, is shooting surfing competitions in 4K with the NEX‑FS700 camcorder. In this article, you’ll learn about the next “wave” in documentary filmmaking!
And we return to the site of the Chernobyl nuclear accident, picking up where we left off in our first issue, with Philip Grossman continuing to shoot his documentary 500,000 Voices using the FS700 and Convergent Design’s Odyssey 7Q. This magazine is meant to be a resource for professional documentarians and commercial videographers. You can learn tips and techniques from your colleagues, and also stay up‑to-date on the latest Sony professional technologies. The Sony technologies highlighted in this magazine are also interesting. The PXW-X180, used by Notes for Notes, is one of our newer professional camcorders, and our first with variable ND filters. A new version 2.0 upgrade adds wireless streaming so shooters can stream content live from the field through a wireless network such as 3G, 4G, LTE and Wi-Fi. Our other stories focus on two proven performers in Sony’s “FS” line: the NEX-FS700, now with added 4K recording capabilities when used with the Odyssey 7Q, and the NEX-FS100, one of
our first E-mount Super 35mm camcorders. Putting these technologies in the hands of production professionals is what @ction magazine is all about: sharing real-life stories from the user’s perspective on location or on the set of professional projects. @ction is designed to be a resource for you, to help you stay up-to-date on the latest production techniques. We hope you enjoy this issue, and please continue to send us your comments, your experiences and your stories. Send them to production@am.sony.com.
Thank you for reading!
Chiyoko Yannette Senior Marketing Manager Professional Solutions Americas Sony North America
Table of Contents
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Keeping the Warbirds Flying
Stepping up to the Sony FS700
Sony PXW-X180 is “Note Perfect”
A Second Look at Chernobyl
Keeping the Warbirds Flying By Rob Scribner Owner, Sky Tower Films
My recent film, Warbird Pilot, Behind the Visor, allowed me to combine two of my passions — filmmaking and aviation — into a unique documentary about a rare group of people committed to keeping the legacy of America’s vintage combat aircraft, known affectionately as “warbirds,” in flying condition. It also gave me hands-on time with Sony’s NEX-FS100 camcorder.
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Keeping the Warbirds Flying
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My background includes time serving in the Air Force, plus additional aviation experience through a job with Lockheed Martin. But I also knew that I wanted to go to film school. Full Sail University provided me the best opportunities. During my time at Full Sail, I focused on a digital cinematography curriculum, and graduated in August 2014. Some of my early experiences in professional video production included working as a DP for a company called www.Bodybuilding.com, and recently I formed my own production company, Sky Tower Films. This company is focused on all aspects of video production and distribution. The “Warbird Pilot� project had an interesting start. Since I spent six years in the Air Force, and worked at Lockheed for four, that gave me a strong foundation of experience in aviation. I always wanted to mix the two into a video project. During a drive in Idaho, I passed by the Warhawk Air Museum, stopped in and started talking with the people who worked there. I was fascinated by their passion, dedication and commitment to keeping these vintage war planes in flying condition. Our casual talks turned into more serious discussions about a documentary.
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Keeping the Warbirds Flying
When John-Curtiss Paul got involved, the project really got off the ground. He is not only an experienced airman, but had credits in several films like “Pearl Harbor” and “Valkyrie,” so he really knew the type of look we were after. He’s seen and knows what it takes and he’s lived the life, as a pilot. This topic really captivated me. These people work really hard and nobody knows what they do or how much dedication it takes to keep these planes alive and flying. These are older planes. Every time they go up, there is the potential that they can lose the engine and have to ditch in the middle 5
of nowhere and possibly die. They make these sacrifices just to keep these legacies and traditions alive. It’s pretty amazing. That’s how I got really sucked into the story, especially since I was now able to use my background in aviation, knowing personally what the guys fixing the planes go through. That’s what really captivated me. This is a unique story, and needed to be told right.
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Keeping the Warbirds Flying
I wanted Warbird Pilot to have a very specific look. I knew from the moment I started talking to John-Curtiss Paul, this needed a more “filmic” style. I also didn’t want it to have too much contrast or have the colors be too crushed, but instead I wanted to give it a softer, lighter feel. I tried to give a lighter tone to everything, nothing too dark at all. That was the whole approach. The Sony NEX-FS100 helped me achieve these goals. I’m a big believer in the “right camera for the right job.” The FS100 gave me the ability to shoot in 60P and to achieve the nice, filmic slow motion look that proved to be very inspirational. I wanted this to be the highest resolution I could get for my budget, and especially considering the fact that it did 60P at 1080 — hands down that was the coolest thing about the FS100. The footage looked beautiful and I loved the fact that once I took it into Premiere to edit, even though it’s already shot in 60P it will playback in 24P, so I could just drop it into my timeline. With other cameras I’ve had to do a lot of upscaling, and de-noising and softening of the pictures. With the FS100 content, there’s no converting needed. You just drop the content in and start working and I loved that. I didn’t have to render anything before I watched it, there was no bottlenecking, and everything just played back super smoothly. This camera saved me a ton of time because we only had a month to edit this entire project. I wouldn’t have been able to hit my deadline with any other camera. It allowed me to focus on the story, and not the technology or the production.
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The FS100 gave me the ability to shoot in 60P and to achieve the nice, filmic slow motion look that proved to be very inspirational.
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Keeping the Warbirds Flying
The FS100 adapted perfectly to very challenging and changing shooting conditions. In low light, for example, I only had to turn up the gain a few times, and even when I had the gain up all the way to 18, there was a little bit of noise, but it was the “good” kind of noise; almost like a film grain that was perfect for the look we were going after. I was totally cool with it because it added a unique element. Using the FS100, I could film in super low light without sacrificing the quality of my work. Even when it was getting dark, I could just bump up the gain and still get exactly what I need, without needing to bring in extra lights — and I could do it on the fly.
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Also, a lot of this project was very run and gun and like most documentaries, we only had once chance at each shot. It wasn’t like we could come back next week and do a shot again. That’s why the FS100 was the perfect camera for this job; it gave us the confidence that we were getting the shots every time. On the FS100, I used an 18 to 200 mm f/3.5-6.3 lens. That was my primary lens for the whole shoot.
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Keeping the Warbirds Flying
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...the FS100 was the perfect camera for this job; it gave us the confidence that we were getting the shots every time.
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Keeping the Warbirds Flying
The interview scenes were also very unique. There are only about 100 people in the world who do this and you have this one-time opportunity to have this person tell you what it’s like to do what he does. These guys are pretty crazy, but awesome. The interview scenes were mostly shot inside a hangar at 24P, with stock lenses and a matte box. I didn’t want to go too wide with anything, so I kept everything tight, close and intimate, to give the viewer the feeling you’re sitting across the table from the person who’s speaking. That’s why I framed things the way I did, to keep things very tight and personal.
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There are only about 100 people in the world who do this and you have this one-time opportunity to have this person tell you what it’s like to do what he does. These guys are pretty crazy, but awesome.
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Keeping the Warbirds Flying
Since completing this film, I’ve also purchased Sony’s new FS7 camera, and look forward to using that. But now that I’m on to other projects, I can say that the FS100 will remain as one of my “go‑to” cameras. I like the Super 35 mm large sensor, its low light capabilities, its ability to record 1080/60P. It’s hard to pick just one thing.
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Since completing this film, I’ve also purchased Sony’s new FS7 camera, and look forward to using that. But now that I’m on to other projects, I can say that the FS100 will remain as one of my “go‑to” cameras.
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Stepping up to the Sony FS700 By Jeff Arballo Arballo Entertainment
For a professional videographer, purchasing a new camera is a very personal decision. My earliest cameras were always Sony and I loved them for their ease of use and performance. So, to tell the story of why I recently invested in the Sony NEX‑FS700, it’s important to go back over my history with Sony professional cameras to understand the connection between shooter and camera. About 10 years ago, I started using the Sony HVR-Z1U (one of Sony’s earliest HDV models) and it changed the way I approach my business. I had been a teacher, athletic director, and coach for more than 20 years, but I was always shooting video on the side during school breaks. If I wasn’t coaching, I was at my students’ games shooting video for their year-end sports awards.
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Stepping up to the Sony FS700
As my shooting increased, I began to evaluate new HD compact camera technologies. I saw a Z1U demo at NAB, and I was sold. I started shooting with it, and immediately started picking up new jobs. Soon I was “the guy in San Diego with the HD cameras.” After purchasing the Z1U, I began to shoot student films, commercials, music videos, and infomercials, while focusing mostly on documentaries. One of my first documentaries was about my nephew who was trying to make it in surfing despite his heart condition. At one of the shoots, the hired videographer didn’t show up so the director asked me if I had enough footage to make a 3-minute video. I told him I did and a whole new life began.
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I soon started shooting all the Surfing America contests, which highlight the best young surfers in America. I also shot footage of a longboard contest for “Longboard” Magazine. After a few years, and several documentaries and commercial side productions, I did my first webcast. It was a simple production but soon I was shooting with a few other webcast companies and travelling even more. I was getting so much work that I quit the teaching job I had for more than 20 years and was soon traveling the world shooting surf contests with my Sony Z1U. I had started my own company — Arballo Entertainment.
I have traveled all over the world with the Z1U: from China, Puerto Rico and Ecuador to Northern California, Florida, El Salvador, Hawaii and more. I shot everything from the Association of Surfing Professionals and International Surfing Association contests, to the Junior National Championships and Junior World Championships, the Nike 6.0, Quiksilver El Salvador, Hurley Pro, and the biggest surf contest in the world, The U.S. Open of Surfing in Huntington Beach, California. I loved shooting with the Z1U and had captured everything I could with it, but I was ready to jump up a step and expand what I was shooting even further.
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Stepping up to the Sony FS700
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I was also becoming more involved in producing and directing other companies’ projects, which were increasingly calling for 2K and 4K production capabilities. I saw an opportunity to expand my business if I could upgrade my camera capabilities. Throughout my research, the one camera I kept coming back to was Sony’s FS700. It had everything I was looking for — HD, 2K and 4K capabilities, HFR 240 fps in 2K, SDI out, 8-10-12 bit capabilities and interchangeable lenses. The camera seemed to fit the whole gamut. I looked at every option for what it would take to get the camera 4K-capable, without needing a heavy rig when I came across the Odyssey 7Q monitor/recorder solution. The 7Q and the 700 gave me a light and mobile 4K recorder and monitor all in one package. The 7Q could shoot in 4:2:2 or 4:4:4, 2K or 4K 10-bit or 12-bit and just had a slew of options. Plus it was a monitor so I could play back a scene on location, connect to a director’s monitor if needed or I could hook 4 cameras into it for a live production or a multi-camera movie shoot. This was it I realized! I could shoot my sports, action, movies, commercials, change lenses and the price was right.
through my wife’s family. I had told my father-in-law I would shoot a reunion ceremony for his Navy unit from Vietnam on the SS Midway, which was docked in San Diego. My initial goal was to just press play and record a wide open shot of the group for him to have as a keepsake, but after speaking with the guys and interviewing them I was blown away by their stories. They were real heroes whose stories needed to be told. After some extensive research and meetings with the veterans’ communities, I started production on a full documentary of the Hal-3 Seawolves in August 2014, all shot with the Sony FS700 and 7Q. This might become the first 4K documentary about Vietnam.
The final decision to purchase the Sony FS700 along with the 7Q was a documentary project I stumbled onto
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Throughout my research, the one camera I kept coming back to was Sony’s FS700. It had everything I was looking for — HD, 2K and 4K capabilities, HFR 240 fps in 2K, SDI out, 8-10-12 bit capabilities and interchangeable lenses. The camera seemed to fit the whole gamut.
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Stepping up to the Sony FS700
Meanwhile, I’m still busy shooting surfing competitions, and I just recently finished shooting the biggest surf contest in the world — the U.S Open of Surfing in Huntington Beach, Calif. This was my first chance to really give the FS700 a true “in the field” production test. Before shooting began, I spent a lot of time trying to figure out a lens that I could use that’s quick enough zooming in and out, has quick focus, and has the distance zoom capabilities I need has been interesting. I was going to be doing the judges’ replay, which is one of the most critical shots. It’s what the judges look at if there is any question of scoring, so the focus, zoom and every other element needed to be spot-on perfect. Plus the best surfers in the world are there.
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Stepping up to the Sony FS700
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I was really excited to shoot with my FS 700 and 7Q combination. I knew there would be some limitations only because I was sending the feed to the judges’ monitor and they needed it to be a certain format. The FS700 and the 7Q set up was perfect, the camera worked like a charm and the 7Q helped me to see what colors looked best and send a great-looking feed out to the judges monitor. I was even able to replay some shots
off the 7Q for the judges when the replay system was down. All the long board heats were shot in 2K 240 FPS. I wanted to shoot the short board sections in 240 FPS. The judges were able to see the footage at regular speed while I was recording in 240 FPS. The footage looked great, and held up really well through the post process.
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Stepping up to the Sony FS700
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So far everything I have shot with it has come out really nice and I love the camera.
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Purchasing the FS700 was a huge decision for me. So far everything I have shot with it has come out really nice and I love the camera. Of course, I still have my trusty Z1U and use it often. It doesn’t have the features that may of the newer cameras have — you need a converter for SDI out, it only records to tape and not memory cards. However, it has the most important feature of all — reliability! I’ve seen other cameras fall apart after a year or two but my Z1U is going on more than 10 years now without a hitch! It has traveled around the world, airport to airport, through sand, salt, rain and wind and has simply just continued to work amazingly! After only a few projects, the FS700 is quickly proving itself to be the same type of camera, one that will stay with me as a go-to choice for a range of projects.
Jeff Arballo Arballo Entertainment
www.arballoentertainment.com
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Sony PXW-X180 is
“Note Perfect” for Music Benefit Concert Film and Documentary By Tom Di Nome
Notes for Notes® has a unique mission: designing, equipping, and staffing free after-school recording studios inside Boys & Girls Clubs. These “drop-in” recording studio environments give youth aged six to 18 the opportunity to explore, create and record music — from engineering and theory to instrumentals and songwriting. The non-profit organization recently held its annual benefit concert with Santa Barbara-based Seymour Duncan to support its efforts, assembling a power line‑up of music greats, including Joe Bonamassa, Jimmy Vivino & the Basic Cable Band, Laith Al-Saadi, Robben Ford, Rich Robinson, Peter Noone, Shari Puorto and Seymour Duncan. Notes for Notes® also got some support of its own from Sony’s PXW-X180 pro camcorder, which was used to capture the concert for an upcoming promotional film about the benefit. Separately, Notes for Notes® also used the Sony camcorder to shoot interviews with noted artists about their personal music — life moments for a documentary called “This is Eleven.” @ction Magazine spoke with N4N’s Philip Gilley, N4N CEO/co-founder; Seamus Frawley, Director; and Rocker Meadows, the DP for this project, talk about their experiences shooting both pieces with the Sony PXW-X180.
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Robben Ford. Š Tony Molina 2015
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PXM-X180 is “Note Perfect”
@ction: Shooting live events always presents a unique set of production challenges. What did you encounter on this project, and how did the X180 help? Seamus Frawley (SF): We were shooting in a concert environment where we didn’t have any control over the lighting, where our subjects were going to be, or even where we could be positioned. First and foremost, this event was about raising money for the organization. The people that paid to see the show wanted to enjoy the show without having their experience interrupted by a film crew. It was really important that we didn’t negatively impact that experience. Rocker Meadows (RM): The size of this camera and the length of the reach of the zoom were fantastic. The fact that it has focus stops was great. The image quality was great, the ability to turn the gain up and be able to get shots in low light — all that helped us do what we needed to do.
@ction: Did you evaluate other cameras before choosing the PXW-X180? RM: We looked at a range of cameras, including larger-format models. A camera is a tool. I’ve been doing this nearly 30 years as a cameraman and I would never pick any one camera for every job. A camera for me is always dictated by the parameters of the project. For this project, the X180 was the perfect tool for what we were doing. This camera is simple to operate, and very user‑friendly. You can put a follow focus on it because it has the lens stops. It has all the right buttons in familiar places. You can put it on a tripod and get really good, balanced audio in. You can upload the content into a format that’s almost instantly digestible by the editing team. When we started to evaluate cameras for this project, one question that came up [about the X180] was “why is Sony making a one-third inch
“This camera is simple to operate, and very user‑friendly. You can put a follow focus on it because it has the lens stops.”
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camera. Isn’t everybody else going bigger?” That might be true, but in this case, for what we do, a one-third inch chip was a great choice. I would not have wanted a bigger chip because it makes everything related to grabbing images that you don’t have control over much more difficult. It requires you to have bigger lenses, it means focus is shallower — everything is much harder. So while the industry may be moving away from one-third, [Sony] is making a product that really fills the bill here. @ction: What did you like about the camera? RM: The images weren’t too “contrast-y.” You see deep enough into the shadows and the highlights held really nicely. We didn’t have to pump up the gain so much, which is great because eventually you end up losing detail in your shadows because you’re trying to get some kind of lighting control over the image. It worked out really well. I was able to get images that were very pleasing, especially
in a situation where we didn’t have much control. That’s always a challenge and I think that this camera is great for that type of shooting. The camera menus themselves are very well‑designed. I could find where I wanted to go even though I wasn’t totally familiar with the layout. I could easily navigate my way toward where I wanted to go and what I wanted to do. @ction: Were you able to be flexible and inconspicuous, while still getting the shots you needed? RM: Yes, the cameras handled very well. Their size was great for this type of job where you have to be fast-moving and out of the way; a little non‑descript. You don’t want to be there with a gigantic rig; you want to be incognito and still get amazing pictures. This is a great tool for that.
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PXM-X180 is “Note Perfect”
@ction: What type of footage were you shooting for these project?
@ction: Talk about the different shooting conditions.
RM: We were shooting concert footage [for the promotional film] ; a lot of run-and-gun type of production; and interviews [for “This is Eleven]. For the concert, we used three X180’s: one each at stage left and right, and then one at the FOH soundboard basically centerstage in the middle of the venue.
RM: The first night was a concert. It was all interior shooting. It was typical concert lighting so we had to deal with everything from the very bright highlights to areas with virtually no light at all. We had some musicians in the spotlight and others in varying intensities of other colored lights. There was a lot of variable color temperature. The lights would go brighter and dimmer at any old time they felt like it. We could never depend on
“Interview with Martin Gore (Depeche Mode) for Notes for Notes® “This is Eleven” documentary.”
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one constant lighting situation. It was all tungsten lighting so all the lights started as tungsten at 3200 Kelvin and they were colored with different gels. We balanced the cameras at 3200, and shot some of it in the median gain setting, but mostly with the iris a little bit closed down; not completely wide open. The interview footage was shot inside a recording studio in Santa Barbara. For that we used LED lights that were balanced to 5600. That lighting was much more balanced and even because we had control over it.
@ction: How did the camera adapt to different lighting — bright lights, low lights. How did it perform under varying elements? RM: The camera performed great. The general rule is you protect for your highlights to keep things from clipping. So it was very easy to set the camera up for that. It handled the bright lights really well and it has good latitude going into the shadows. It handled the changing intensities and the colors very well. It makes a very pleasing picture.
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PXM-X180 is “Note Perfect”
@ction: It was compact, high quality, flexible — everything you wanted in one camera for this project? RM: Absolutely. For this project, something that was small, compact, lightweight and made a great picture was the perfect combination. This camera delivered all that exceptionally well. I found the ergonomics to be very good. Two of our cameras were on tripods for the concert, and I used one on a monopod. Because this camera is so nice and nimble, I was able to manage that easily. If it had been a larger format camera, I couldn’t have done it. But even on the monopod I could go all the way to the end of the lens. I could stabilize myself against a pillar or even just hold the camera on the monopod and it still worked really well. I don’t think you could do that with many other cameras. @ction: Any final thoughts on the concert and using the Sony PXW-X180? Philip Gilley (PG): It’s very exciting for me and for us as an organization, to not only do what we do but to also have the opportunity to introduce an exciting new technology like this camcorder to our team and even to the youth we serve. We’ve always been focused on audio but video is an equally important component as well, and this project let us dance in both worlds and perhaps expand into making accompanying music videos. This is the fourth year we’ve done this type of concert, and we’ve really raised our game each time, both in terms of what we’re able to raise financially, and also our level of production value. A big part of putting together next year’s show 35
is being able to show potential artists this year’s lineup, what we did and how well we’re able to showcase the artists’ talent. And then we can attract talent for the next show with a great-looking, visually exciting piece. Using such an advanced but easy-to-use camera like this is invaluable in that process. @ction: What are your plans for the footage you shot? PG: We’ll put together a few different pieces that we can use not only as a marketing tool, but as an archival piece for our organization. It’s just so rewarding to be able to highlight the stories of our youth. We sent one of them from Nashville out to California to be part of the concert’s opening, playing a set with Jimmy. It was his first time on a plane, and his mom’s first plane trip in 30 years! Now we have great footage of him at his very first concert performing with rock stars to a sold-out crowd. It was so crucial for us to have awesome footage to document that and we couldn’t have done that without Sony’s help and these cameras.
NOTE: With the initial phase of production on the documentary complete, Notes for Notes® is gearing up to shoot more footage and is exploring using a crowdfunding campaign to help fund the remainder of the production. The team there says, the finished piece is sure to amaze and all that can be said at this point is that “it goes to 11!” To learn more about Notes for Notes® and the upcoming documentary please visit notesfornotes.org
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A Second Look at Chernobyl Documentarian Philip Grossman returns to Chernobyl with Sony’s FS700 and Convergent’s Odyssey 7Q
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A Second Look at Chernobyl
In mid-2014, Sony’s @ction magazine spoke to videographer and production veteran Philip Grossman. He had just completed the early phases of shooting a video project that was part documentary, part personal passion: “500,000 Voices,” a retelling of the Chernobyl tragedy featuring interviews with survivors and examining the long‑term effects on the region. In addition to shooting thousands of stills, Grossman used Sony’s NEX-FS700 professional camcorder as his primary camera. He had also begun using the FS700 with Convergent Designs’ Odyssey 7Q, which he describes as further enhancing his ability to tell his story by giving him “the flexibility to do 4K raw in the field with a small set-up. I get 4K quality, autofocus, auto exposure and manual controls, plus the “scopes” with the Odyssey 7Q — all in a lightweight package.” (To read the original story, click here.) In this production update, Grossman recounts his most recent trip to Chernobyl with the FS700 and 7Q.
Philip Grossman: I continued to be extremely pleased with the FS700’s performance; in fact I keep giving Sony a hard time asking when the next version of the camera which can do on-board 4K and RAW comes out. They’re probably tired of hearing me ask about it! When we returned to Chernobyl, the total video recording solution that the FS700 and 7Q gave me was perfect. The camera performed amazingly, we had the motorized zoom lens which really helped. I came back with 16 terabytes of material. In the villages closest to the reactor, most of the homes were completely empty because the material was so radioactive inside. The further out we went, many of them have been picked over by looters. It’s rare that you find a village that is still intact so we always make a point of going to a few different villages each time we come out. We came across one village that was almost completely intact. 39
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When we returned to Chernobyl, the total video recording solution that the FS700 and 7Q gave me was perfect.
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A Second Look at Chernobyl
The accident happened on April 26, 1986. The city of Pripyat was not evacuated until April 29 and many of the surrounding villages were evacuated days following. In one of the outlying villages we came upon, there was a house we were shooting in that had one of those calendars where you tear the pages off and the day they left was May 3. That was five days after the accident and it’s still sitting on the table. Their plates and salt shaker are still on the table, and the level of detail I got with the FS700 shooting RAW with the Odyssey 7Q was just amazing. This latest time around, I’d say I shot 98% video, and just a few stills. I probably shot 1,000 to 1,500 stills but this time was I mostly focused on video — footage and some interviews. We always try to do interviews, but due to recent developments in Russia there weren’t a lot of people around — just ancillary people around town. We still have permission to go into the reactor, but we were just waiting for the ceasefire to be in place, because they wouldn’t let non-essential personnel in the reactor.
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A Second Look at Chernobyl
We also used the Sony PXW-Z100 4K camera. It certainly enhanced our video work. First of all, it’s a very easy camera to carry around. The FS700 always took a little more set‑up because we wanted to shoot RAW so I had to have an external recorder. Sometimes we chose the Z100 over the FS700 just because of where we were going. One of the locations we went to was the top of what is known as the Duga‑3, which is a series of 500-foot towers that are all connected and form a radar array to detect intercontinental ballistic missiles. There is one in the Ukraine and one in Siberia — either end of the [former] Soviet Empire. So this facility has basically been abandoned for 28 years now. My father and fiancé Elizabeth were upset, but I climbed to the top and, of course with the Z100, I could obviously stick in a very light‑weight backpack with my tripod. Rebar ladders go up 40 feet per section to the top, and it took about 25 minutes to climb to the top. I was able to shoot from up there in 4K with that camera, and using the 422 10-bit profile, I could paint the camera and get a picture really close to the FS700 when I would grade it. The two cameras intermatch real well and it’s just a fantastic camera to have as a B camera. The FS700 shooting RAW was even better.
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There’s an interesting story about how FS700 and the Odyssey 7Q really saved my rear end. We had permission to be in the zone from 4:00 am to 10:00 pm so we could go in after dark. It’s very hard to get that permission, but we got it. We wanted to film sunsets so we had to decide on the best place to do that. We used every app we had and found the best place to capture sunsets was on top of reactors 5 and 6, which were under construction at the top. Those locations would enable the sunset to be right behind reactor number 4 and the new dome being built. So
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we were up on the roof, where you’re not really supposed to be — but we were there shooting. The sun went down, I gathered up all of my gear and my partner had already gone down and I was coming out with the production assistant. As soon as we exited the building all of sudden there are flashlights and guns in my face. They were yelling in Russian. Of course I know a little bit of Russian and I knew enough to say something that translates to “I don’t understand Russian, I speak English. Do you understand English?”
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The two cameras intermatch real well and it’s just a fantastic camera to have as a B camera.
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A Second Look at Chernobyl
They said “da nemnogo,” which means “yes, a little bit.” I held out my camera and said “fotograffa, fotograffa.” They put their guns and flashlights down, walked us back to a vehicle. The lieutenant was there, we got in our car and he got in with us and drove us back to their headquarters, which happened to be the reactor headquarters. As it turns out, there was a bomb threat earlier to the new sarcophagus they’re building and so their snipers were out looking around. So we went over and I tried to convince them that we were only taking sunset photos with our phones since you are not really supposed to take pictures of the reactors. So I’m going through the photos on my phone and he sees a picture of the FS700 with the 7Q connected to it and he asks “what’s that?” I said it’s just for photos and he goes to get the colonel. I delete the photo immediately and then pulled out the 7Q, which just looks like a regular monitor. I convinced them I had it connected to my little still camera and luckily they didn’t ask me to see that work since I didn’t have a cable with me to make it work. So they made me go through the still camera and delete photos I had from the reactor on the roof but never asked for the 7Q, which had about 15‑18 minutes of RAW 4K DNG files from the FS700. So not only do I have the video, but I was able to use those as 8.2 MP stills, which saved my rear end and I have images that I can say “I got held up at gunpoint for.” The size of the FS700 with 7Q really struck me as ideal. I tried a lot of Sony cameras, knowing I wanted to do 4K. Others were heavier, or needed to be used with lenses that didn’t have autofocus. I saw the 7Q and FS700 pairing and said, “That’s the system for me.” It lived up to all of my expectations in the field and I expect it to continue to do so for many years.
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THE NEW WORLD OF DOCUMENTARIES
Bob Poole with the F5 in Mozambique
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