Shot On Varicam Issue No. 5

SHOT ON ISSUE NO. 5

LATE NIGHT MATTHEW CLARK SHOOTS AMAZON STUDIOS’ COMEDY FEATURE

CBS ALL ACCESS SERIES

NO ACTIVITY

SHOT ON EVA1

PROFILES

NETFLIX FEATURE

SOMEONE GREAT

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Welcome Letter For the Spring 2019 and fifth issue of Shot On VariCam, we’re covering a number of diverse projects, including a big hit at this year’s Sundance Film Festival, a horror film that deals with the notorious Manson murders, as well as one of one of the most successful television docuseries in history.

For our main features, we’re showcasing director Nisha Ganatra’s Late Night, which received a $13 million domestic distribution deal from Amazon Studios at Sundance 2019.

The comedy feature, which stars Emma Thompson as a late-night TV talk show host trying to revitalize her career with the help of a new writer (Mindy Kaling), was shot in 4K by DP Matthew Clark with the VariCam 35. Clark describes the many challenges in trying to create a cinematic look while still giving his actors enough space for their comic process. Netflix’s Someone Great, shot in 4K by DP Autumn Eakin on the VariCam 35, is receiving a lot of attention for its bold look. Eakin created two distinct looks to differentiate between present and flashback scenes, which she created on set instead of in post-production.

We’re also covering two low-budget indie films shot on the VariCam LT. For Saban Entertainment’s The Haunting of Sharon Tate, DP Carlo Rinaldi, AIC chose the VariCam LT because he wanted a small and lightweight body since he would be shooting entirely handheld in tight locations. Rinaldi also lit with natural light and practicals as much as possible, so he wanted to take advantage of the VariCam’s dual ISO sensitivity. Director Lije Sarki’s Concrete Kids, distributed by The Orchard, was shot almost entirely at night under ambient street lights with first time child actors.

According to DP Daron Keet, the LT was the only tool that could have accomplished the look they wanted with the small budget and crew they had.

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The new season (Season 15) of the Emmy Award-nominated docuseries Deadliest Catch on Discovery Channel recently made the switch to VariCam and EVA1. Original Productions used seven VariCam LT and 17 EVA1 cinema cameras aboard fishing vessels during the Alaskan king crab and snow crab fishing seasons. According to DP David Reichert, the VariCam LT/EVA1 combo produced a beautiful, cinema-style show that enhances the overall authenticity and naturalism of the series.

Another VariCam LT/EVA1 combination is CBS All Access’ No Activity, shot by cinematographer Judd Overton in UHD. He primarily used the EVA1 as their go-to camera to capture background plates for car stakeout scenes, which was a frequent location for the series. Overton reveals that the EVA1 cuts well with the VariCam LT and he would not hesitate to use it as a B-camera for upcoming projects.

Speaking of the VariCam LT, we just announced breakthrough instant savings in the form of a rebate, which will price the 4K cinema camera at only $9,995. Once considered more an aspirational camera, the VariCam LT is now attainable to a wider category of shooters.

Carter Hoskins

Director Broadcast/Cinema/Professional Video Systems

FREEDOM TO CREATE “I have always been a big fan of Panasonic color. We had a diverse cast with a variety of skin tones. With the VariCam LT, everyone always looked great.”

Joe Gabriel DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY FOR BRAINCHILD, A 13-EPISODE NETFLIX SERIES; CREATOR OF BRANDED & PROMOTIONAL CONTENT FOR NBC, CBS AND OTHER CLIENTS

The VariCam lineup of professional cinema cameras is the ideal solution for cinema, television, commercial, documentary, and live event production. The lineup, which includes VariCam 35, VariCam LT, and VariCam Pure, features exceptional 4K image quality, accurate colors, 14+ stops of dynamic range, Dual Native 800/5,000 ISOs, and more.

See what Joe has to say about the VariCam LT at us.panasonic.com/varicam © 2019 Panasonic Corporation of North America. All rights reserved.

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CONTENTS

LATE NIGHT ..................... p. 06

SOMEONE GREAT ..................... p. 12 THE HAUNTING OF SHARON TATE ..................... p. 18 NO ACTIVITY ..................... p. 20 CONCRETE KIDS ..................... p. 26 POLAR ..................... p. 30 THE ENEMY WITHIN ..................... p. 34 EVA1 PROFILES - JODI SAVITZ ..................... p. 36 EVA1 PROFILES - KYLE HEAD ..................... p. 38 ELEVATION CHURCH ..................... p.40 EVA 3.0 ..................... p.41

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COMIC TIMING Cinematographer Matthew Clark shoots Amazon Studios’ comedy feature Late Night with the VariCam 35 PHOTOS COURTESY OF AMAZON STUDIOS

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From Amazon Studios, Late Night, directed by Nisha Ganatra from a screenplay

by Mindy Kaling, follows late-night talk show host Katherine Newbury (Emma Thompson) teams up with new writer, Molly Patel (Kaling), to help revitalize the program…and her career. The comedy feature, which had its premiere at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival, was shot by cinematographer Matthew Clark (Pitch Perfect 3, Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates) with the VariCam 35 camera.

Clark got involved with Late Night through Ganatra, whom he had worked with on several projects since they both attended NYU Tisch School of the Arts years before. For Clark, one of the toughest tasks in shooting comedy is to make it look and feel natural for the audience while allowing the space for them to laugh. “The visuals has to have some depth to them, but you need to let the actors work things out on screen,” he explains.

“That was a big part for this film knowing the way Nisha likes to work. She’s visual but she’s also very actor oriented, so one of the things I wanted to do was make our technical footprint as small as possible to give the actors room to work and to find those comic moments.”

For Late Night, Clark describes the look as “heightened naturalism.” He created a look book that contained images from still photographers Gregory Crewdson’s “artificial reality” to Robert Frank’s “super naturalism” images. He also worked with Light Iron colorists Corinne Bogdanowicz in Los Angeles and Sean Dunckley in New York to develop the look during prep. “There were three distinct kind of looks we wanted,” describes Clark.

“One was for Catherine’s home, which was more elegant with warm tones. The television studio needed to be crisp and clean with more neutral

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tones and for the writers’ room office, the look was more chaotic and business-like with blue or cooler tones.”

Late Night was shot with the VariCam 35 with a small crew in a short 25-day schedule. During prep, Clark, gaffer Ken Shibata and key grip Tommy Kerwick, Jr. decided that if they went with a traditional lighting and grip package, there would not be enough man power to complete the days since they would be shooting sometimes three to four locations on the same day. “We didn’t have the money to put up condors three blocks away with four generators, so we went with the idea of going with the VariCam because of its native 5000 ISO,” explains Clark. “The camera allowed us to move fast and have a good base when we moved out to those night exteriors and even the night interiors. For example, working with a China ball, we could light an entire room. It’s a valuable resource to have if you need to shoot that way and in this instance we did. We were able to get that base and still have time to make it better on top of that, as well as allow for motion in and out of the light.”

With the VariCam 35, Clark captured 4K (4096x2160) 12-bit 444 AVC Intra files in V-log.

With Bogdanowicz, he developed a basic 709

LUT. For any night exterior or interior, Clark utilized the VariCam’s native 5000 ISO and for daytime sequences, he captured at native 800 ISO. For lenses, he used ‘70s era Superspeeds and Ultraspeeds from Panavision, which he feels added warmth and took some of the digital edge off. “My ACs, Pedro Corcega and Adriana Brunetto-Lipman, were so on it,” explains Clark.

“When you’re shooting with a 100mm lens and you’re on your fourth location of the day, people can get pretty tired, but they were always on top of things.” Clark occasionally made use of an 11 – 1 Primo zoom, which delivered a similar look to his primes.

Clark and Shibata cut generators out of their lighting package and went with smaller instruments that they could plug into a wall socket or run off a portable Putt-Putt. They mainly lit with small LED lights and an ARRI M18 1.8K open faced lamp. “We did it as lo-fi as possible,” explains Clark. “We had one day where we had a 4K and that was because we had a big window outside this house, and I wanted to light it from outside at night with no lights inside.”

Perhaps the most challenging location to light was the writers’ room office set, since they were several stories up and there were two half walls

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CINEMATOGRAPHER MATTHEW CLARK SETS UP A SHOT.

VARICAM TECH SPECS

CAMERA: VARICAM 35 RESOLUTION: 4K (4096X2160) ORIGINAL CAPTURE FORMAT: 12-BIT 444 AVC INTRA LENSES: ZEISS SUPERSPEEDS AND ULTRASPEEDS PRIMES AND PANAVISION 11 – 1 PRIMO ZOOM

that were windows. “Whenever we wanted to have light come from one side,” explains Clark, “we put up ND 3 and ND 6 hard gels that we’d either stack on one side and then allow the light to come in clean from the other side. It gives you that contrast so instead of getting two sides with a lot of light, you can expose for the outside, open up, and the light is coming in from one side of the building giving you your key light. When we turned around and looked towards those windows then you could move the hard gels to the other side.”

For shooting New York City night exteriors, Clark used a China ball for walk-and-talks. “New York street lamps used to be orange sodium vapor but now they’re changing everything out for these LED street lights that are super bright white and they’re hard,” reveals Clark. “There’s no romance about them. That was hard because they would sometimes overpower the 5000 ISO sensitivity and you’d have to figure out how to get something up on that light or when they walk under, you had to swing something out over them. We often picked streets based on the street lights they were going

to walk under because we really couldn’t fix that in the middle of the night.

“At 5000, you see everything so it’s about shaping what you see,” continues Clark. “You can shoot 5000 ISO at night under a street light, so your ratios have to be there. You still have to light it, but you don’t have to pull out big instruments to give you a good exposure. It’s more about figuring out where you need to be and then shape that exposure.”

Proper pre-planning with post made the color grade more effective. For Clark, he had to make several compromises throughout production, but he made sure he never compromised his look. On set, Clark’s main goal was not to clip his highlights so he could move up or down while maintaining the same contrast ratio. During the color grade, he lessened the contrast a bit to benefit the faces.

That’s pretty much the only difference I did in post from the LUT we created. Because we were shooting with such minimal lighting equipment, all of our day interiors were like exterior scenes where you’re beholden to the sun. If it’s cloudy one

take and sunny on the next, that’s what your scene will look like. We didn’t have enough lights to overpower when you have a wall of windows. That was a battle. But from the VariCam’s perspective, technically speaking, I didn’t see any slide. It was pretty much a one to one where we landed.

Working closely with Light Iron beforehand, I knew what to expect.

“I was very happy with the end results,” reveals Clark. “The VariCam 35 was the right camera for that project and I would choose it again for that scenario without a doubt.”

Offical trailer for Late Night https://youtu.be/DxefiCjQirw

For more information on the VariCam 35, please visit https://info.panasonic.com/varicam-35.html

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NEON 12

NIGHT DP Autumn Eakin creates two distinct looks for Netflix feature, Someone Great, with the VariCam 35 PHOTOS COURTESY OF NETFLIX

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DP AUTUMN EAKIN (RIGHT) SETS UP A SHOT WITH DIRECTOR JENNIFER KAYTIN ROBINSON.

In Someone Great, aspiring music journalist Jenny (Gina Rodriguez) lands her dream job at a magazine and is about to move to San Francisco.

Instead of doing a long-distance relationship, her boyfriend, Nate (Lakeith Stanfield), breaks it off.

To ease the pain, Jenny and her two best friends Erin (DeWanda Wise) and Blair (Brittany Snow) take one last adventure in New York City. Directed

by Jennifer Kaytin Robinson (Sweet/Vicious), the Netflix feature film was shot by cinematographer Autumn Eakin (The Light of the Moon, Can You Keep a Secret?) with the VariCam 35.

Growing up in Branson, MO, Eakin learned still photography from her father and went on to study film with an emphasis in cinematography at Webster University in St. Louis. After graduating, she immediately began working, joined the union and eventually moved to New York where she began working as a camera assistant to DPs Vanja Cernjul, ASC and Maryse Alberti, as well as operator Peter Agliata before making the transition to DP. After reading the script for Someone Great, the biggest challenge Eakin envisioned was trying to keep the film visually interesting when dealing with multiple characters in conversation. “There are three main characters and they’re often in conversation with a fourth or fifth character,” she explains. “I think that’s a constant challenge for DPs. How can you cover this conversation in a more interesting way? Also, we wanted to

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differentiate visually from the present and the flashback scenes. I like to do that in camera and on set as much as possible through lens and filtration choices. It was going to be a challenge, but that’s the fun of it.”

For the look, Kaytin Robinson gave a description to Eakin and production designer Lisa Myers that she wanted people to “feel as if they had been vomited on by neon after watching the movie,” reveals Eakin. “So, we started there. The lighting didn’t have to be realistic or make sense because this is a movie. We wanted to play with the look of the film inside and outside of reality.”

Since Eakin and Kaytin Robinson hadn’t worked together, visual references were important in developing good communication. Although it had a different color palette, they felt Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind’s (shot by Ellen Kuras, ASC) raw emotion in its visuals, as well as its playfulness, fit the flashback sequences. “Also, I love the richness of Netflix’s End of the F***ing World (shot by Justin Brown and Ben Fordesman) and felt drawn to the visuals for this project,” says Eakin. “Battle of the Sexes (shot by Linus Sandgren) is also a beautifully rich film that still has a natural touch. Many times, my visual references are from films of the 70s, but for this project it felt right to pull inspiration from more modern films.

“Jenn really liked the way [Netflix’s] Master of None looked, and (DP) Mark Schwartzbard is a good friend of mine,” continues Eakin. “He’s one

of the big reasons why I felt comfortable using this camera for the movie because he had extensive experience with it.”

With the VariCam 35, Eakin captured 12-bit 444 AVC Intra files in 4K V-Log. Eakin worked with DIT Malika Franklin to create viewing LUTs, which she fine-tuned with colorist Brian Gibson at SIM New York. “Malika and Brian did a wonderful job and were on top of making sure the dailies came out accurately every day,” says Eakin. “We also were able to talk to the camera wirelessly on set to [Pomfort] LiveGrade, so everyone could view easily and know what the final image would most accurately look like. I wanted to have a rich feel which tends to have warm highlights. I also wanted full rich blacks, moving away from this trend of milky blacks, which I like for other projects, but for this one we wanted it to feel rich and full.”

VariCam’s Dual ISO feature was the major reason why Eakin chose the VariCam 35 because she knew she would be shooting a number of night exteriors in New York City. Her sweet spot for night exteriors was ISO 5000 base dialed down to 1600 but the majority of the film was shot at native ISO 800. “It’s counterintuitive to what you’ve been told your entire career,” reveals Eakin. “If you’re doing night exteriors then you need a lot of light.

You need big lights and you need a lot of them. But with this camera, you actually have to – you still need units and you need light but you’re relying

“You’re relying on the locations department a lot to take out street lights or porch lights, or things like that because [the Varicam 35] can see so deep.”

DP Autumn Eakin

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on the locations department a lot to take out street lights or porch lights, or things like that because it can see so deep. You’re actually dealing with practical bulbs that are blown out.”

Someone Great had two worlds that Eakin wanted to capture and there had to be a distinction between the two. One if the present and the other is Jenny’s memories of her relationship with Nate and with her friends. Eakin decided to create the two looks mainly through lens choice. “For the present, I chose Zeiss Master Primes for their clarity, their T1.3 stop and their beautiful fall off on faces,” explains Eakin. “For the past, I wanted to go a little bit bold with color and softness. A lot of the memories are emotional and heightened and we wanted to play with that, evoking memories as feelings rather than their accuracy. I chose Zeiss uncoated Superspeeds and embraced their qualities for those memories. We wanted to experiment a bit and we had great support from Carl Cook at VER who supplied me with what I

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needed, even shipping in a coated set for me in case for some nights when I worried the flares might be too much.”

For Eakin, the most difficult sequence to shoot was the opening shot where A-camera Steadicam operator, Korey Robinson, was 25 feet in the air, craned down and had to step off to seamlessly follow the main characters into a bar and run the scene where we’re introduced to all the main characters. “I had a wonderful gaffer in Jason Velez and an amazing key grip in Chris Beattie,” says Eakin. “They and their crew executed a complex shot that required lighting the exterior and the interior and seeing almost 360 degrees.

This is the amazing luxury of having crew that is experienced and still excited about accomplishing something ambitious. I think we only needed to do 8 or 9 takes while we had a crane crossing into the street, Korey being unlocked from a platform, squeezing through a tiny doorway, 50 or so extras to navigate. It all went off without a hitch and was

safe for everyone involved.”

SIM New York handled the post with colorist Rob Sciarratta doing the grade. Since the vast majority of the film’s look was created in camera and on set, the grade went smoothly since they didn’t have to create any new looks. “I was in production on another feature at the time of our grade, so Jenn and I were only able to sit with Rob for a full day together,” explains Eakin. “I had previously noted scenes that I knew I would want him to pay special attention to, so we started there.

I respect good colorists immensely and want them to feel free to collaborate and not just execute. The blessing of working with a talented colorist is that before the end of that day he had understood what I was looking for, not just in details, but in essence for the project. It just makes you know that you’re in good hands and you can confidently leave and let them do their work. We came back in for a few days of final review and made tweaks, but we were in great shape.”

VARICAM TECH SPECS

CAMERA: VARICAM 35 RESOLUTION: 4K (4096X2160) ORIGINAL CAPTURE FORMAT: 12-BIT 444 AVC INTRA LENSES: ZEISS MASTER PRIMES AND UNCOATED SUPERSPEEDS Official trailer for Someone Great https://youtu.be/BBd9gcrj2Wk

For more information on the VariCam 35, please visit https://info.panasonic.com/varicam-35.html

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THE 18

This summer marks the 50th anniversary of one of Los Angeles’ most notorious murder cases.

The Haunting of Sharon Tate follows 26-year-old actress Sharon Tate (Hilary Duff), a rising star about to have her first baby with her husband, director Roman Polanski. Fraught by terrifying dreams, Tate’s worst nightmares come to life with the appearance of Charles Manson and his deadly cult. The horror/thriller feature film was directed

by Daniel Farrands (Amityville: The Awakening) and shot by cinematographer Carlo Rinaldi, AIC with VariCam LT cinema cameras.

Growing up in Rome, Italy, Rinaldi graduated with a degree in mathematics but was more interested in pursuing a career in the arts.

With a background in photography, Rinaldi went on to attend the Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia, where his mentor was the legendary cinematographer Giuseppe Rotunno, AIC, ASC, who shot classic films for Federico Fellini and Luchino Visconti. After graduating, Rinaldi immediately started working as a camera assistant. “My English was decent at that time,” says Rinaldi, “so I began working on American productions that were shooting in Italy. My first job was on HBO’s Rome, and through the years I got to work with amazing DPs like Matthew Libatique, ASC, Salvatore Totino, ASC, AIC, Greig Fraser, ASC,

ACS, Alik Sakarov, ASC, and Jonathan Freeman, ASC.” Rinaldi tested VariCam at Panavision Woodland Hills and was impressed with the results. He mainly tested the dual ISO sensitivity and how skin tones looked at higher ISOs. “I started discussing lenses with David Dodson at Panavision Woodland Hills and he offered to let me try an amazing set of Baltars [built by Bausch & Lomb].

Not the Super Baltars but the real Baltars that I think came from the ‘40s. You cannot emulate that look anymore. I tested the lenses and they were really beautiful but because they were old glass, they’re not superfast.”

For The Haunting of Sharon Tate, Farrands and Rinaldi wanted to create more of an indie film look, which would include handheld camera and naturalistic lighting. Alejandro G. Iñárritu’s Babel (2006) was an influence for its frantic camera work, as well as Roman Polanski’s Rosemary’s Baby (1968) for its use of contrasty, dark faces and backlit subjects. “We also researched old photos of Sharon Tate from that era,” explains Rinaldi. “but it mainly came down to naturalistic handheld camerawork with the look of ‘60s or ‘70s film stock.”

Because of the location, Rinaldi wanted a lightweight and compact body, so he chose the VariCam LT over the VariCam 35. “I knew I had

to operate so that camera body had to be on my shoulders for the entire movie,” he reveals.

“I wanted to have something smaller. You can compare the size of the LT to the [ALEXA] Mini or the new REDs. It gives you an advantage. Having a larger body, especially when you’re shooting on location, is not a good idea.”

Rinaldi discussed with the producers on whether to shoot 4K or 2K. Because he was shooting with the LT and there wasn’t a 4K requirement, Rinaldi decided to shoot in 2K in 12-bit 4:4:4 for more versatility in his color grade. “Once we decided to go 2K, I had the option to go ProRes or AVC-Intra,” says Rinaldi. “ProRes is the standard and I initially thought about going ProRes and then I tested the AVC Intra with my DIT and the capture was really good, plus I could capture proxy files on small SD cards. We used the proxy files as our dailies. Because I typically operate, I don’t have time to go to video village and play around with color grading. I’d rather create a few LUTs, get the looks into the camera and then have a data manager rather than a full DIT color grading on set.”

Rinaldi primarily used the V709 LUT and had two different versions with two different levels of saturation. “I use the 709 as a reference for exposure,” explains Rinaldi. “I don’t want to mess

HORROR Carlo Rinaldi, AIC captures The Haunting of Sharon Tate with VariCam LTs

PHOTOS COURTESY OF SABAN FILMS

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CINEMATOGRAPHER CARLO RINALDI, AIC

VARICAM TECH SPECS

CAMERA: VARICAM LT RESOLUTION: 2K (2048 X 1080) ORIGINAL CAPTURE FORMAT: 12-BIT 444 AVC INTRA LENSES: PANAVISION BALTARS

up the gamma at all because I want to know exactly where I am. This is only for monitors, which is just to give the producers and the director an idea of the look. Obviously, color grading is a completely different thing.”

In working with the VariCam LT’s dual ISO sensitivity, Rinaldi shot every day scene at native 800 ISO. For night exteriors and interiors, he captured in a range between 1600 and 3200, dialed down from 5000 base. “I tested 5000 at Panavision,” explains Rinaldi, “but the truth is I didn’t need it.

Even with a little light, you often need to flag things down. Between 1600 and 3200, you really have no noise at all. We wanted to have a clean capture and add a little texture in the grading session. Also, the house location has a major overlook to downtown Los Angeles, and I wanted to keep those lights as a part of the story. There are some beautiful shots, even in action sequences, where you see all of these beautiful LA lights in the background.”

For lighting, Rinaldi tried to use natural light as much as possible for exteriors and interiors and as many practicals for interior night scenes. He used a combination of small HMIs, Skypanels, LiteMats and Quasars. “The lighting idea was to have a very small footprint inside the house,” says Rinaldi.

“I had a few lights outside through the windows whether it was a punch for the day or a little moonlight for night. The ceiling had wood rafters so I could hang some small lights from above for some top lighting. I also lit people from the ground

just taping a Quasar on the floor.”

He also had the challenge of shooting sequences that were described in the script as “in the dark” since members of the Manson family cut the power before entering the house. Rinaldi had to shoot a complicated stunt sequence with six or seven actors performing a violent fight choreography in a dark environment. He also had to have enough light to properly expose a good digital negative. “The actors would walk on to the set and say, ‘Oh my God, this is so dark,’ but the dark environment actually helped with their performance,” says Rinaldi. “They were not walking into a studio where everything is bright, and you have to pretend that a mystery is going on.

They were entering a real location in the same kind of house, dressed in period clothes in the dark, and they were performing that terrible moment.

“It also helped me logistically,” continues Rinaldi. “You don’t have many wires or stands lying around, so I had the opportunity to shoot 180-degrees, or sometimes even 360-degrees.

That scene required a little more work in post, but we knocked that scene out in a day where bigger movies would have spent a few days, if not a week.”

The Haunting of Sharon Tate was posted and graded by colorist Joel Ides at Anarchy Post in Burbank, CA. According to Rinaldi, since the look was mainly captured in camera, Ides leveled everything for the pre-grade and then applied the V709 LUT. For inspiration, they also looked

at Kodak’s 5384 color print stock, which Oliver Stone used to print The Doors (1991). “There was so much natural light and the sun has a different angle in January. The only thing I tried to do was to introduce some colder tones in the shadows.

This was an independent movie, so we didn’t have a lot of time and there were a lot of different sequences. We spent most of the time making the color look consistent between days, nights, stunts and different exposures.”

Overall Rinaldi was extremely satisfied with the result. “The VariCam made a big difference in using less light and changing my lighting approach. Obviously, the sensor helps me a lot when I was in trouble in terms of shooting complicated sequences with small lights and no stands. My philosophy is you must turn every disadvantage into your advantage and be creative.

If you’re creative and you don’t see that as an issue, it might become a signature style.”

Official trailer for The Haunting of Sharon Tate https://youtu.be/I-L0dk6zuyE

For more information on the VariCam LT, please visit https://info.panasonic.com/varicam-LT.html

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STAKEOUT DP Judd Overton creates a crime drama look for CBS All Access comedy series No Activity PHOTOS COURTESY OF CBS ALL ACCESS

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CINEMATOGRAPHER JUDD OVERTON ON SET.

No Activity, from Funny Or Die and executive producers Will Ferrell and Adam McKay, is CBS All Access’ first original comedy series. CBS All Access is an over-the-top video on demand service created

by CBS Interactive and offers original content, new content from CBS’s broadcast properties, and content from CBS’s classic television library. Set in the high-stakes world of crime sting operations, No Activity celebrates the boring aspects of police work. In Season 2, detectives Cullen (Patrick Brammall) and Tolbeck (Tim Meadows) are two low-level San Diego cops who are staking out an illegal cockfighting ring while their department is being rocked by a corruption scandal.

The original series was an Australian production for two seasons and the concept of the U.S. version is similar with two characters playing off each other – two detectives on a stakeout, two police dispatchers at the police station and two criminals. The series was shot by cinematographer Judd Overton with a variety of cameras, including VariCam LT and EVA1 cinema cameras. “When the show got pitched over here, one of the first things everyone said was how much they loved the look,” says Overton. “I think for every sea-son and episode, we’ve been able to challenge ourselves to make it bigger and better than the last one. You must do that to keep it organic and interesting.”

Overton and director/executive producer Trent O’Donnell have worked previously on commercials and TV pilots. When No Activity came together, they wanted to create a darker look than a typical comedy series – more like a procedural crime drama. They looked at AMC TV’s hit series, The

Killing, which according to Overton, always “has a look as if it had just been raining.” They were also influenced by Gregory Crewdson’s cinematic still photography with its heightened reality. “The one note that I got from Trent was that it couldn’t look too dark,” reveals Overton. “Trent had done a lot of network comedy shows like New Girl, and this was the antithesis of that. In comedy, you’re always being told we need to see both their eyes – we need to see the comedy on their faces.”

The EVA1 was their go-to camera to capture background plates for car stakeout scenes, which Overton shot on sound stages using rear projection.

Because the car does not move, Overton found interesting moving backgrounds that he could tie to the location’s establishing shots, which he captures with DJI Zenmuse X7 drones. “I’ll go out with a splinter crew during pre-production, depending on where we find the locations, and shoot those plates,” explains Overton. “That was the main thing about having the higher ISO and having such a small camera was that I could move quickly and capture all those plates with very little need for additional lighting. We found out that shooting in with high ISOs in 4K, even though we’re doing an HD delivery for CBS, the noise almost disappears when you’re squeezing it back down to 1920 x 1080. Suddenly any grain that was there was invisible. That was a real win for us.”

With the VariCam LT, Overton captured UHD (3840x2160) 10-bit 422 AVC Intra files on Panavision Primo zooms. The VariCam LT’s high ISO capability helped him out with his use of slower zoom lenses.

Overton generally would set his ISO at 5,000 base

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VARICAM TECH SPECS

CAMERA: VARICAM LT RESOLUTION: UHD (3840X2160) ORIGINAL CAPTURE FORMAT: 10-BIT 422 AVC INTRA LENSES: PANAVISION PRIMO ZOOMS

and dial down to 2,500, which he felt was the sweet spot for low light environments. “With the EVA1, I shot at native 2,500 because I knew it would be squeezed down and the process of resizing back down to HD helped eliminate that noise,” says Overton. “Once you get the projector plate footage on stage, it looks amazing.”

Overton captured most scenes using three cameras, whether they were shooting on stage, or on location. This made lighting a little more challenging since he had to keep the key light out of the shot and avoid flat lighting for wide shots.

“My solution was to backlight so everything is backlit, either rigged above them on boom kits, or with bigger sources far back,” says Overton. “Really what I’m doing is bringing in a little bit of eye light and a little bit of fill adjusted to the eye. Because we’re shooting in V-Log, I make sure there’s enough image information there. I had a D.I.T. on set, Dane Brehm, who exported stills, so I had lighting references for the colorist.”

For his car work on stage, Overton ran all his lights through DMX on a dimmer board, so he could change from one lighting set-up to another. By the time the projectionist changed to the rear plate and

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the characters step out to make a costume change, Overton could hit a button on the dimmer board and change all the colors and values to their next lighting location. Overton lit everything on stage with LEDs and then for exteriors, he used a mix of HMIs, Tungsten, and a bit of LEDs, depending on the location. “If we’re in a funky warehouse environment, I like to use fluorescents because it feels like those type of lights should be there,” reveals Overton. “When you need more of a throw and you’re putting things up on cranes, you need bigger lights like 4Ks, which are as big as you need when working with these high iso cameras.”

Most of the camera movement on No Activity is done on sliders and Overton would typically run two cameras on sliders and then a wide camera on a dolly. Overton also includes handheld work, Steadicam and a “few crazy rigs” his grips have created for the show.

The color grade is performed by Tim Vincent at Technicolor. Overton and Vincent created a handful of base looks which the dailies colorist added to all the footage so that the editor had a look like the final piece to cut with. “Once you get into the grade, you really want to throw that look away

and see how it works as a piece,” says Overton.

“Tim and I would set up a general look for the three or four main locations we have, and then we work our way through it.”

According to Overton, the EVA1 cuts well with the VariCam LT and he’s not afraid to use it as a second camera for coverage. “It’s fantastic to have a small unit,” reveals Overton on shooting with the EVA1. “I think people get very used to shooting with iPhones,” continues Overton, “so you really can’t tell someone, I can’t get that shot. You really need to be able to put a camera anywhere the mind can wander, which I think is a really big advantage today.”

Official trailer for Season 2 of No Activity https://youtu.be/SQ4NhEP36So

For more information on the VariCam LT, please visit https://info.panasonic.com/varicam-LT.html

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SKATE CROSS-TOWN

Cinematographer Daron Keet and director Lije Sarki shoot on the fly with the VariCam LT PHOTO COURTESY OF LIJE SARKI

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Part Vittorio De Sica’s Bicycle Thieves, part Goonies on skateboards, director Lije Sarki’s Concrete Kids tells the story of two nine-year-old boys from Venice, CA, who set off on a mission to cross Los Angeles on skateboards at night to reach the Staples Center by morning for a contest. The low-budget feature from The Orchard was shot by cinematographer Daron Keet with the VariCam LT in available light at night.

There were many challenges to shooting Concrete Kids, including working with child actors, who could only shoot for three hours per night. “17 nights at three hours per night, that really only equals like four days of shooting,” reveals Sarki. “The only way we could shoot and be that mobile and fast was if we used ambient light with Daron holding the camera and using the occasional sticks for wide shots. I also didn’t want to use kids that didn’t skate because I don’t like to cheat authenticity. It would have been hard to have actor kids and then stunt kids come in for the skating. I really wanted to make everything small – just a camera and someone doing sound.”

“When Lije said he didn’t want to have a crew,” says Keet, “I was a little Godsmacked because I’m used to having a full crew and I like using traditional film tools. I also don’t like making movies as documentaries. But I always like to push myself and have different challenges. One reason I didn’t hesitate in doing the film is that Lije is very organized.

The more work you do up front, the easier the shoot will be.”

Keet shot the film with the VariCam LT cinema camera and according to the DP, he could not have shot the movie without it. For Keet, the look was going to be determined by the actual environment, not influenced by his lighting.

“We were working at such low light levels,” explains Keet.

“We shot in alleys that to your eye, looked black. I would just aim the VariCam down this alley and then you would see something different to what your eye was seeing. It was amazing. We even had experiences where a traffic light would change from green to red and change the illumination from a green ambiance to a red ambiance. For me it was an incredible challenge and a different way of working where I’m not just looking for opportunities for available light but I’m looking for opportunities where I’m needing the camera to find those opportunities. This camera was the only tool to have done what we did.

“It’s really nice to have a tool where you can tell the story you want with the tools you have,” continues Keet. “A lot of people don’t like night-shooting, but I actually love it because as a DP you have more control at night because everything is turned off and you can place lights where you want. Concrete Kids was a much different challenge because I was shooting at night, but I didn’t have much control. I had to be able to see things in a different way.”

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With the VariCam LT, Keet captured 10-bit 422 4K (4096x2160) AVC-Intra files in V-Log while monitoring his footage with the Panasonic V-709 LUT. Since over 90% of the movie was shot at night in available light, Keet captured at native 5000 ISO. For certain shots he even used the LT’s internal ND for night sequences where he wanted more shallow depth of field.

Although he stuck to mainly available street lights, Keet occasionally used a magnetized one-foot tube light that he kept in his back pocket. “There was one scene that was very well illuminated in the background, but the foreground was dark, so I wanted to balance it out,” explains Keet. “I stuck the light onto a stop sign and it balanced the light perfectly.

With digital I’m pretty good at knowing what’s going to overexpose. It’s more about camera angles and always trying to have things backlit because you’re always getting enough light to bounce around.”

For lenses, Keet employed a vintage set of Super Baltar prime lenses, which the production received from Steve Gelb at LensWorksRentals.com. Keet loved how the lenses spread the light throughout the frame. “A lot of the new lights will hold the flares,” explains Keet. “The Super Baltars spreads the flares and makes the image look really creamy and it gives you more of a rounded bokeh. If you look at anamorphic for example, it would you give you an oblong shape. With the Baltars, the iris is smooth and rounded. If you see an out of focus street lamp, the outer edge on newer glass might be sharp but with older glass, it will be much softer. A creamy look is also very forgiving on faces.”

Keet shot wide open most of the time and relied on his skill working as a focus puller years prior. Sarki also had a wireless director’s monitor so he could see check focus for Keet as well.

The film was edited by Pete Lazarus on Premiere Pro and Studio Unknown out of Baltimore did the sound mix remotely. The film was color graded by Asa Fox at The Mill LA pro bono. Fox gave Sarki a few different options for the look and Keet and Sarki would make adjustments so the film would feel consistent. Because they didn’t have a lot of time for the color grade, Keet relied on a trick he learned to keep things moving. He and Sarki would find their favorite moment that encapsulates a certain scene and work on that color before moving on to the next scene. “When you do that, you can work pretty quickly and then just walk away, leaving the colorist to do his job since we didn’t want to waste any time.”

“So many people helped make this project work because of their contributions without financial benefit,” says Sarki.

“I’m super happy with the end result.”

VARICAM TECH SPECS

CAMERA: VARICAM LT RESOLUTION: 4K (4096 X 2160) ORIGINAL CAPTURE FORMAT: 10-BIT 422 AVC INTRA LENSES: VINTAGE SUPER BALTAR PRIMES Official Trailer for Concrete Kids https://youtu.be/uAHq7HR1lBg

For more information on the VariCam LT, please visit https://info.panasonic.com/varicam-LT.html

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HITMAN Cinematographer Pär M. Ekberg translates a graphic novel into a visual extravaganza for Netflix feature film Polar PHOTO COURTESY OF NETFLIX

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In Polar, the world’s top assassin, Duncan Vizla (Mads Mikkelsen), aka The Black Kaiser, is settling into retirement when his former employer marks him as a liability. Against his will, Vizla returns to the business and faces off with a group of younger, faster and ruthless killers who will stop at nothing to have him killed. The action thriller also stars Vanessa Hudgens, Katheryn Winnick, Fei Ren, and many others.

Based on the acclaimed Dark Horse action noir graphic novel, Polar: Came From the Cold

by Victor Santos, the Netflix feature film was directed by Jonas Åkerlund (Lords of Chaos) and shot by cinematographer Pär M. Ekberg with VariCam Pure cinema cameras. Born and raised in Sweden, Ekberg got his start as a still photographer at a young age and eventually transitioned into cinematography. He has shot features, commercials and music videos for established artists such as Beyoncé, Pink, Lady Gaga, Taylor Swift, Katy Perry and U2, and many others. Åkerlund’s vision for Polar is mixed with intense realism and comic book surrealism. The 40-day shoot took place in several locations in and around Toronto. For Ekberg, there were many challenges – shooting in multiple locations, dealing with snow storms, and intense action scenes involving both fighting and shooting. “For me, the biggest challenge was finding a visual balance between Duncan’s two worlds,” says Ekberg. “The weird colorful, violent world that he tries to leave behind, and the new more toned down, realistic one that he tries to set his new life up in. To convey that and still keep the elements of the graphic novel was a big challenge.”

Ekberg wasn’t familiar with the graphic novel, but he read it to see if he could acquire additional visual inspiration. “We knew early on that we didn’t want to make it seem silly or stylized in the wrong way, but we still wanted to put elements of the graphic novel into the film,” reveals Ekberg.

“We tried to find that balance with different references, as well as a lot of discussions and tests.

If you look at these graphic novels, images are graphically presented in colors and composition but also through collages on each page where you might go from an extreme close-up of a face to a wide landscape. That kind of storytelling where it’s pieced together with different, dramatic sizes of

scope. I think that was the big inspiration I received from reading the novel.”

Ekberg’s color inspiration came from still photography and films. “We wanted to mix his (Vizla’s) old world, which is very colorful and twisted to something more realistic. It wasn’t exactly from the graphic novel but close to visuals that Jonas and I have explored before. We like adding a lot of strong color themes into the storytelling.”

Ekberg tested the VariCam Pure, but also cameras from ARRI, Sony and RED. Right off the bat, Ekberg was very impressed with the picture the Pure delivered. “The Pure gave me the opportunity to shoot high-speed 4K without cropping,” explains Ekberg. “There was also the Dual ISO capability that I took advantage of frequently. The Pure’s color has a sharp but silky texture to it that I really enjoy, and it really fits my frame of reference.”

Ekberg captured 4K (4096 x 2160) V-Raw files at 23.98-fps all the way up to 120-fps. Rented from Sim in Toronto, Ekberg employed three VariCam Pure bodies with A and B cameras working on the main set and a third shooting second unit or splinter unit sequences. Although he did make use of camera dollies, drones, and Steadicam, Ekberg said most of the film was captured handheld for more dynamic shots.

For lenses, Ekberg used a combination of Zeiss Ultra primes, as well as Zeiss Super Speeds. “The Ultra Primes were my workhorse lenses,” reveals Ekberg. “I am a big fan of that glass. It has very nice color and nice texture. It just fits me because it’s very straightforward and clean. I know exactly what they’re doing, and I like the kind of image they deliver.

“This film was shot just slightly stopped down,” continues Ekberg, “so I would say most of this film landed somewhere at around a T-4. It gives you just a little bit of edge and you still get shallow focus to tell the story that way.”

Since he was working in multiple locations, Ekberg did not have a single technique or philosophy on lighting Polar. He had to mix and match lighting sources depending on the situation.

“It was a mix of light sources and locations from big exteriors, night and day, and we pulled every tool out of the box to make it happen,” explains Ekberg.

“There were also locations where there were tons

of practical lights that I could use. Sometimes I wanted things colorful, so I had to add color. It was a big mix of lighting techniques and tools.”

Using the VariCam’s Dual ISO technology, Ekberg shot most of the film at Native 800 ISO but for low light situations or high-speed situations, he shot at 5000 Base and cranked it back down to 3200. “It gave me two more stops without adding any annoying noise, or weird artifacts or color,” he explains. “There were no visible downsides to it. If we ran out of time, or light, whatever the reason was, I had an extra gear to put in whenever needed.

It looks beautiful and it works really well.”

Polar was posted in Toronto at Deluxe and the colorist was Bill Ferwerda. Because of Ekberg’s precise testing, he was able to keep track of the material during the shoot. “The look was set before we went into post, but it still felt like we were starting from scratch, even though the results straight out of camera was close to what we intended. I was really helped by all the work we did prior to the shoot. We had a very clear path and we followed it.”

For the Netflix release, Polar was also graded in Dolby Vision for HDR delivery. Ekberg did not change his production approach, even with the knowledge of having increased dynamic range for the HDR delivery. “Although it did not change my approach, it certainly changed my view on post-production and what HDR actually does,” explains Ekberg. “After watching HDR on a proper monitor at the post facility, it was very hard to go back and look at SDR. The only problem I had was compromising to make the SDR look OK. HDR is highly addictive. The fact that I will get such richness in the low register and especially the highlights is amazing.

“It was a very adventurous job and we shot a lot,” continues Ekberg. “I am very happy with the VariCam because it delivered exactly what I wanted it to do. I think the final product is excellent.”

Official trailer for Polar https://youtu.be/oMHwRal-AR8

For more information on the VariCam Pure, please visit https://info.panasonic.com/varicam-PURE.html

VARICAM TECH SPECS

CAMERA: VARICAM PURE RESOLUTION: 4K (4096 X 2160) ORIGINAL CAPTURE FORMAT: V-RAW LENSES: ZEISS ULTRA PRIMES AND SUPER SPEEDS

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The new season of the Emmy Award-winning docuseries Deadliest Catch on Discovery Channel was shot on the forbidding Bering Sea with seven VariCam LT and 17 AU-EVA1 cinema cameras.

Produced for Discovery by Original Productions, Deadliest Catch portrays the real-life events aboard fishing vessels during the Alaskan king crab and snow crab fishing seasons.

The Aleutian Islands port of Dutch Harbor, Alaska, is the base of operations for the fishing fleet, and the show’s title derives from the inherent high risk of injury or death associated with the work. The show emphasizes the dangers on deck to the fishermen, as well as the camera operators.

Filming of this 15th season began last October and continued through early March. A two-person TV crew lived on each of the seven boats profiled and could count on many 20-hour shooting days.

Generally, one cameraman, operating a VariCam LT, was assigned to document the captain stationed in the wheelhouse, while the second camera operator, working run-and-gun with an EVA1, followed the crew on the deck.

Ernie Montagna, Director of Equipment Operations, Original Productions, explained that the company owns all the cameras that it deploys to shoot its portfolio of shows (which also includes docuseries Jay Leno’s Garage, Storage Wars, Ice Road Truckers, and more). “Adding Panasonic cameras to our department was key, affording our DPs an enhanced variety of cameras from which to choose,” explains Montagna. “We’re always looking for the best technology for our shows. We had our eye on the EVA1 since its introduction, and its compact, lightweight form factor, image quality, dual native ISOs and compatibility with the VariCam LT made these the best cameras for Deadliest Catch.”

David Reichert, the series’ Director of Photography, described the disparate shooting scenarios on each boat. “Capturing the captain in his wheelhouse entailed much less salt water than on the decks, and the situation was minimally runand-gun,” he says. “The money shot would often be a beautiful image of the captain in front of surrounding windows – here dynamic range was key – or, at night, the captain at watch through these same windows, with absolute restrictions imposed on us regarding lighting. Given these criteria of expansive dynamic range, superb image

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rendition and extreme low-light handling, the VariCam LT was ideal.

“Alternately, the shooting on the deck involved salty mists and wet, slippery footing,” continues Reichert. “The camera operator needs to maneuver, pivot and hold that camera all day and well into the night. In a sense, the cameras must be expendable because inevitably, we’re going to lose some. Low-light handling again comes into play.

The EVA1 – rugged, lightweight and with native ISOs complementing those of the VariCam LT – was the choice deck camera.”

Reichert, a veteran DP for the series, noted this season’s epic cold weather with violent winter storms. “I believe we’ve captured the action in a way no one has ever seen before,” he reveals. “I’ve always admired the Panasonic film-like ‘look,’ and the VariCam LT/EVA1 combo has produced a beautiful, cinema-style show. The cameras enhanced the overall authenticity and naturalism of the series – we were able to spend less time stopping to light and more time in the moment.”

Deadliest Catch was shot in ProRes 422HQ (VariCam LT) and 4:2:2 All-Intra 1080p (EVA1).

The VariCam LTs were outfitted with Canon L series lenses (EF 16-35mm, EF 24-70mm, EF 70-200mm, and EF 35mm and 50mm Primes,) and the EVA1s with Canon EF 24-105mm lenses.

Max Post (like Original Productions, a Fremantle Media company) is handling the edit on Avid Media Composer. More hours of content were shot this season than ever before, 25 hours plus an additional six hours for special and recap shows.

Original Productions is currently utilizing the VariCam LTs and EVA1s on an original series for a premium content provider. “Having these Panasonic cameras places us at the forefront of camera technology and enables us to meet the strict criteria of established and emerging premier content producers,” says Montagna.

A Scene from Season 15 of Deadliest Catch https://youtu.be/lM4jpEY_l2I

GONE For more information on the VariCam LT, please visit

https://info.panasonic.com/varicam-LT.html

FISHING DEADLIEST CATCH PRODUCER BENJAMIN STALEY WITH VARICAM LT ON THE F/V SUMMER BAY. (PHOTO COURTESY OF ORIGINAL PRODUCTIONS)

DP David Reichert shoots season 15 of Deadliest Catch with VariCam LT and EVA1 cinema cameras

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Emmy Award-winning cinematographer Frank Prinzi, ASC chose VariCam LT 4K cinema cameras to shoot The Enemy Within, a prime-time psychological thriller that recently premiered on NBC. The hour-long show follows the exploits of a former CIA operative serving a life sentence for treason who is freed by the FBI to help track down a dangerous and elusive criminal.

Prinzi has been a prominent member of the New York filmmaking community for decades, with credits ranging from feature films to television movies, from episodic to documentaries, commercials and short films. His television work includes long stints as DP for Northern Exposure and Law and Order: Criminal Intent. The cinematographer has shot his last several projects with VariCam; in addition to The Enemy Within, these include the award-winning short It’s a Mess and three feature films, An Interview with God, Hot Air (release date, June 20), and the just-completed Virtuoso.

Prinzi has made Panasonic VariCam his acquisition tool of choice based on the VariCam’s dual-native ISOs and color palette. When approached by the producers of The Enemy Within, he recommended the VariCam LT as the ideal option for the show. “We shot The Enemy

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Within close to 90% handheld, with tons of coverage, gun battles, stunts,” explains Prinzi.

“The LT, lighter and smaller than the VariCam 35 but with so many of its light handling and color space characteristics, was my top choice.”

Production on the series took place from last fall through mid-February of this year, with location work throughout northern New Jersey and on soundstages built in the East Rutherford Meadowlands Arena. During pre-production, Prinzi worked alongside DIT Lewis Rothenberg to light and design the look of the show. Prinzi served as DP for half of the series’ episodes, with DP Frank DeMarco, ASC shooting the other half.

The production utilized three VariCam LTs, with an AU-EVA1 5.7K handheld often used as a fourth camera for challenging handheld (e.g., out a car window) and hidden shots. Recording formats were Full HD (1920x1080) 12-bit 444 AVC Intra, with high-speed shot in 10-bit 422 AVC Intra (VariCam LTs) and 4K All-I 400 (EVA1). The VariCam LTs were outfitted with a whole set of Angenieux zoom lenses, as well as Cooke S4 Primes. EF-mount Sigma lenses were used on the EVA1.

“The VariCam’s dual ISO sensor is brilliant—I can go to any location and make it work, which is especially valuable for TV,” says Prinzi. “It’s like

SPY

a safety net—you always feel safe taking chances and there isn’t anything you can’t shoot. The camera is equally adept with underexposure and overexposure, with exceptional dynamic range. I want to push the edges, and with the VariCam I can easily move from bright to dark.

“The camera’s color palette is cinematic, and its texture has film-like grain, with skin tones I really like,” he continues. “[DIT] Rothenberg and I were essentially able to seamlessly color match the whole series as we went along, giving post production a guide to follow. Altogether, the texture and color tone are magnificent, and the LT affords me the possibility to shoot at any stop.”

The Enemy Within was created by Ken Woodruff, who executive produced alongside Matt Corman, Steve Shill, Chris Ord and Charles Beeson.

The series is produced by Universal Television.

Official first look for The Enemy Within https://youtu.be/fSDI_R40IZI

For more information on the VariCam LT, please visit https://info.panasonic.com/varicam-LT.html

HUNTER Cinematographer Frank Prinzi, ASC shoots NBC thriller The Enemy Within with VariCam LTs

DP FRANK PRINZI, ASC ON SET. (PHOTO COURTESY OF FRANK PRINZI, ASC)

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NEW YORK INDIE Filmmaker/DP Jodi Savitz uses her AU-EVA1 and VariCam LT to create socially conscious films

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Filmmaker Jodi Savitz works as a filmmaker and cinematographer in New York City and has created content for NBC Left Field, NBC OUT, NowThis, Elite Daily, Teen Vogue, and Conde Nast’s LGBTQ+ publication. “I do a lot of short pieces about politics, religion, and LGBTQ issues,” says Savitz. “In 2016 and 2017, it was a really good time to be a one-person band documentary filmmaker because every major media company began to create more video content. I decided after directing and shooting [documentary] Girl on Girl that the most exciting thing for me was being behind the camera. I love playing with light. I am mostly self-taught and rely on my eye and instincts, so my goal is to understand why I make the choices I make behind the camera and broaden my knowledge of cinematography as a craft. Through my work with mentors, I gained more technical expertise, and now I’m shooting both narrative and documentary projects.”

Under them.’s concept, vision and direction, Savitz produced, shot, and edited the Condé Nast publication’s Like a Prayer: Can You Be Queer and Religious?, which was one of the standout projects of the EVA1 “Share Your Vision” Film Contest.

The mini doc was created for them., Condé Nast’s LGBTQ+ publication, and was shot with the EVA1 with some B-camera interview footage with the Lumix GH5S. “I was interested in creating a piece that celebrated the intersectionality of religion and sexual orientation,” explains Savitz, “and asked, how do you reconcile a belief in God with your LGBTQ identity? To most people, being queer and religious is inherently antithetical. This piece explores the grey area there.”

For Religious Queers, Savitz’s main challenge was time since the project was completed from start to finish in a month, including her edit. “The biggest obstacle was not knowing our locations beforehand, not knowing the lighting situation we would be in, and not knowing how much time we would have,” reveals Savitz. “We had a fiveperson team working on the project, so we only had a few hands-on deck while moving around New York City.”

The most difficult sequence to capture took

place in a large church where Savitz had limited time to get full coverage. Shooting in a handheld, run-and-gun style, Savitz created her own “Easy Rig” for longer takes throughout the day. “I captured the arc of the church service by weaving in and out of pews, navigating a narrow staircase, and chasing the light streaming through the stained-glass windows – all the while, my camera is dangling out in front of me,” explains Savitz.

“I can only imagine what the congregation was thinking. During the two morning services, the light wavered constantly. I was facing super harsh shadows and hot spots, and so I adapted to the sudden changes by swapping out my lenses, going from wide to close-ups, to accomplish the best shot in the moment. I was shooting alone and only had two hours, so I improvised and moved quickly to get all of the coverage I needed.”

Savitz captured 10-bit 422 (ALL-I) in 4K DCI (4096x2160) files in V-Log. For dimly lit locations, like the New York City subway, she captured footage at 2500 Base rated down to 2000 or 1600 ISO. For everything else, she captured at native 800 ISO since she feels that’s the camera’s sweet spot. For lensing, she shot with Canon L-series zooms (24-70mm f/2.8 and 70-200mm f/2.8). For wide shots, she employed a Rokinon 14mm f/2.8 manual prime lens.

Savitz edited and colored the film in Adobe Premiere Pro. She typically starts each shot with the basic V-709 LUT, but if she didn’t like where the grade was going, she would start from scratch in V-Log. “The EVA 1 is the first cinema camera system I decided to invest in,” explains Savitz. “I wanted to own a camera that felt truly versatile and lightweight, that was efficient for documentary shoots, but had a cinematic look.

The dual-ISO, the color science, the ALL-I codecs, and the form factor are my favorite things about the EVA 1, and I couldn’t be happier with my decision to go with Panasonic.”

For more information on the EVA1, please visit http://bit.ly/2SWBFMm

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SAVING THE PLANET Filmmaker Kyle Head creates an out-of-this-world look with the EVA1 for Goldilocks

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As a short film, Kyle Head’s Goldilocks, shot on the AU-EVA1, delivers the goods – beautiful cinematography, thoughtful art direction and costumes, and most importantly, a great story. The low-budget yet highly ambitious short re-works the classic story of Goldilocks and the Three Bears in a sci-fi setting. It also invokes mankind’s last-ditch effort to save the planet. “A lot of the work I do is for small businesses, mainly commercials, corporate and industrial videos,” explains Head. “I'm trying to find more time making more short films like Goldilocks. Telling stories is what I really love to do, and I also like to dabble in different genres – more comical or serious. Goldilocks was a lot of fun for me.”

Goldilocks uses the EVA1’s IR feature in a near genius way. “I wanted to do something a little bit different,” reveals Head. “I just started messing around with it and I liked the look of it so I wanted to find a way to incorporate it into my short but still do it in a way that would help tell the story rather than just being different looking shots.”

The look of Goldilocks was inspired by mainly NASA photos Head found through Google image searches. He also watched movies like Interstellar and The Martian. He ended up creating the character’s space suit inspired by The Martian out of molded EVA foam. “The hardest thing to get a reference for was the infrared look because it’s not super common,” says Head. “I went and looked at

the Vin Diesel movie, Pitch Black, which has a sequence where a second sun comes up and it has a very bleached look with blues and overexposed highlights.”

In shooting in IR mode, the first thing you need is an IR pass filter and Head went with the standard 720nm, which gave him the look he was going for – white trees and blue sky. He also garnered advice from users in many of the EVA1 Facebook user groups about creating a custom scene file instead of trying to push the image in post. Head shot Goldilocks in 4K (4096x2160) and alternated between 24 and 60p. When he wasn’t shooting IR sequences, he captured V-Log files while monitoring in V709.

Since many of the scenes are day exteriors, Head mainly stayed at native 800 Base. To light the bedroom scenes when the mother is telling the story to her son, Head used LED panels and adjusted his ISO from 800 base. For lenses, Head used Sigma 18-35mm F1.8 and 50-100mm F1.8 ART zoom lenses fitted with lens gears for accurate manual focusing.

Besides the IR scenes, Head also created impressive visuals to illustrate space travel. Like with IR, the planning took more time than the actual shooting and Head wanted to capture most of it in camera rather than build in post. “I created a few light speed scenes in Adobe After Effects and I did one profile scene out the side window and then one scene looking through the front windshield,”

explains Head. “I actually just took two TVs and I put one on the profile side of our astronaut and then the other up front to light the scenes playing the televisions.”

Head edited the film in Adobe Premiere Pro and graded the IR scenes in DaVinci Resolve. For his V-Log footage, Head took advantage of the newly released VariCam LUT Library and used the Nicest 709 and Golden 1 LUTs with slight tweaks.

“I was very happy with the EVA1,” says Head.

“Overall, it checked all the boxes for the work I like to do. The colors and skin tones were great straight out of camera. I also appreciate the camera’s dynamic range, multiple frame rate options, and flexibility. I wanted a professional camera that could work for agency spots but also something that I can take with me when my wife and I travel. EVA1 has a lot of power inside and excellent image quality but it’s still light and compact and easy to customize to scale for any shoot.”

To view Goldilocks, visit https://youtu.be/xRjMr_zNbtg

For more information on the EVA1, please visit http://bit.ly/2SWBFMm

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ELEVATION CHURCH

Elevation Church, a multi-site church and member of the Southern Baptist Convention with its main campus in Charlotte, NC, has recently upgraded to Panasonic VariCam LT cameras and the CineLive system for live production of its weekend worship services. Elevation’s ministry reaches over 25,000 weekly attendees at its 17 locations, as well as a growing online and TV audience each week. Simulcasts of one Saturday and two Sunday services allow its sixteen satellite locations, as well as the live-streaming audience online, to sync up for one shared worship service.

According to Zach Kimrey, Technical Director for Elevation Ballantyne (the church’s broadcast location), live transmission of weekly services was formerly handled by Panasonic’s AK-HC3500 studio camera systems. “We’d had a successful run of close to a decade with the HC3500s, but it was time to upgrade to cameras that would position us for eventual 4K production,” explains Kimrey. “We did a competitive shoot-out, and the VariCam LT displayed truer colors than any other camera. That, coupled with our comfort level with the Panasonic team, significantly influenced our decision.”

Eight VariCam LTs are positioned throughout the church’s sanctuary, which seats 1,750 congregants: cameras 1 and 2 in front of the house for wide and tight shots; camera 3 in a “towercam” configuration that flies on a 100-foot track extending from the back to the front of the worship space; cameras 4 and 5 used handheld on stage; camera 6 on a 24-foot Jimmy jib in the back; and cameras 7 and 8 typically utilized in the lobby or

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outside the church to produce cutaways with a pastor who leads the live online service.

The VariCam LTs are outfitted with a variety of Fujinon Cabrio S35 lenses including the ZK12x25 (25-300), ZK4.7x19 (19-90), ZK3.5x85 (85-300), ZK2.5x14 (14-35) and XK6x20 (20-120).

Using a DTS fiber system, the cameras are connected to the control room, where they are connected to Panasonic HRP1000 Remote Operating Panels. The VariCam LT and HRP1000 combination, aka CineLive, allows complete control and shading of the camera from the control room. Elevation Church utilizes preset Scene Files with live shading for instant precision adjustments of the VariCam LTs on the fly. While the CineLive system is capable of internal recording and 4K output, Elevation Church is mostly utilizing an HD output to interface with its LED video walls and live streaming service.

During services at Elevation Ballantyne, images are displayed on 9’ x 16’ LED walls. Beyond live transmissions, all services are recorded on external hard drives. The church’s TV team edits the footage down to a 28-minute version that airs on the Trinity Broadcasting Network as a teaching and ministry program, Elevation with Steven Furtick (Furtick is the church’s senior pastor).

Elevation Broadcast Video Producer Chelsea Gribble cited the VariCam LT’s cinematic image handling as the key factor in the church broadcasts’ new look, which has the feel of a concert film. “The VariCam LT displays great dynamic range,” explains Gribble. “Our operators can now expose for wide shots of the audience without

blowing out the stage. The camera’s color science is definitely the most true to our environment, with vibrant rendition of the blues and purples we tend to use a lot, as well as excellent skin tones.”

Technical Director Kimrey adds, “The dual ISOs are so beneficial – we make constant use of native ISO 5000 because our musical performances are typically low-lit with deep colors. Having that extreme low light capability at our fingertips gives our director exactly the exposure she’s looking for.”

The CineLive system allows all major control and imaging matching of the cameras to happen in the control room. An engineer can even remotely navigate the camera menus without the camera operator knowing. The CineLive system also feeds tally, return video and a callback from the control room to the camera for two-way communications.

Kimrey noted that Elevation’s camera operators are 100% volunteers. “The LT’s intuitive operative and focus assist features have really helped us out,” he said. “Our congregations are remarking on a noticeable difference in their worship experiences. The LTs were definitely the right decision for us--we love the cameras and they are performing with zero issues.”

For more information about Elevation Church, visitt www.elevationchurch.org

For more information on the VariCam LT, visit https://info.panasonic.com/varicam-LT.html

EVA 3.0 4K60p 10-bit Capture And Hardwire Remote Control

Earlier this year, Panasonic announced a free firmware upgrade, Ver. 3.0 (aka EVA 3.0), for the AU-EVA1 cinema camera that greatly improves the camera’s capabilities, including 4K60p 10-bit capture, hardwire remote control via USB-Ethernet adapters, and the addition of a user button function for quick switching of shooting modes and frame rates.

“With its small size and weight combined with great features, the EVA1 represents the best value in its class,” said Mitch Gross, Cinema Product Manager.

“New features like 4K60p 10-bit and hardwire Ethernet connectivity for remote control expand the use for new clients, while QuickSwitch between setup files is an improvement based on specific requests from current users. Panasonic is committed to continually improving and expanding the capabilities of the EVA1.”

Key Features of EVA 3.0 EVA 3.0 adds HEVC (High Efficiency Video Coding) H.265 recording for 4K 10-bit recording up to 60 frames per second. The EVA1’s other recording modes allow 4K 10-bit up to 30 frames or 4K up to 60 frames in 8-bit.

HEVC H.265 has twice the efficiency of H.264, allowing 4K30p 10-bit recording at 150Mbps and 4K60p 10bit recording at 200Mbps. 10-bit recording allows use of V-Log and HLG capture without banding or other artifacts. 4K60p 10-bit at 200Mbps can be recorded to V30-class SDXC cards. Most of the popular NLEs (Adobe Premiere Pro CC, Apple Final Cut Pro X, Blackmagic DaVinci Resolve, etc.) support the HEVC codecs, and computers using Intel Core i7 chips (7th generation or higher) can utilize hardware acceleration on HEVC files

for efficient performance.

In addition to supporting the AJ-WM50 WiFi Adapter, the EVA1’s USB port now supports several inexpensive third party USB-LAN adapters. These enable hardwired remote control of the EVA1 over Ethernet from Android and iOS devices running the free EVA ROP app.

Additionally, third party remote operation controllers can be used to integrate the EVA1 into Live and NearLive multi-camera production. Panasonic has worked with CyanView to enable communication and painting of multiple EVA1 cameras with a single controller.

Quick Switch adds User Button shortcuts, which allow fast changes to all camera settings. At the press of a button appears a menu of preset settings shortcuts one has saved to an SD card. Select one and in a few seconds all the camera settings can be reset, including frame rate, resolution, recording mode, color setting, and more. Another user button can switch the camera in and out of variable frame rate for slow motion.

Additional features of EVA 3.0 include a Focus Position Indicator in meters or feet for the EVA1 On Screen Display. When recording or playing back HLG (Hyper Log Gamma) material, the LCD, SDI and HDMI video outputs can be individually set to display in HDR or SDR for proper monitoring. A second Auto White Balance memory position now allows quickly scrolling to two AWB selections as well as up to eight preset white balances. And Still Image Capture enables JPEG frame captures to an SD card during playback, along with an intuitive frame advance added to the playback controls.

For more information on the EVA1, visit http://bit.ly/2SWBFMm

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Website: us.panasonic.com/varicam If you would like to subscribe to Shot On VariCam, please email us at VideoProductionSolutions@us.panasonic.com To demo a Panasonic cinema camera, email us at VideoProductionSolutions@us.panasonic.com