By Staff, January 10, 2008
"The Confessional", a twisty thriller in the vein of Hitchcock, chronicles the fate of a town in the thrall of a disturbed sculptor who assumes the identity of a local priest. The full-length feature, written and directed by James Anthony Cotton, was shot with Panasonic AG-HVX200 P2 HD camcorders; Morgan Schmidt was Director of Photography.
A production of The Lionfish Group, "The Confessional" stars Peter Quartaroli (Nash Bridges) as the sculptor Leonard, along with Victor Brown (Tremors) and Patrick Kilpatrick (CSI). The project, which filmmaker Cotton calls the first installment in a projected trilogy, has completed production and post and is currently being submitted to festivals.
“At the time we shot The Confessional, I was aware of no other features that had utilized the Redrock adapter,” said DP Schmidt, a veteran of several independent features and documentaries (Jackson Arms, Do the Math, Grocery Store Wars). ”I’d used an adapter on a short the year before, and was convinced that the shallow depth-of-field could offer a unique look to a psychological thriller while maintaining the cost-savings of shooting on small-format HD. I pitched the idea to James, and each of us purchased an HVX200, adapter and set of lenses. We shot entirely with these two cameras.”
Redrock Microsystems’ M2 cinema lens adapter allows 35mm lenses to be used with HD video cameras such as the HVX200 to create incredible depth-of-field, angle of view, and focus characteristic of high-end film productions.
Cotton explained that the production had only 24 shooting days to complete The Confessional. “The town of Sunol, CA came out in huge support of our production, and nearly all of our locations were located within a few miles. Much of our work was headquartered at the Little Brown Church, including the download station for the P2 cards,” he said.
The Confessional was shot in 1080i DVCPRO HD on four P2 cards in continuous rotation. Footage was offloaded to a laptop computer running two mirrored FireWire drives.
In terms of location workflow, Cotton said that each of the four P2 cards was labeled uniquely. “We slated each take with the name of the card. As cards were shot, they were labeled with red dry-erase on the reverse; returning from the download station, they were labeled green to show they could be erased and used again. The 2nd AC managed the download, while the 1st AC labeled and handed off cards.”
“I was particularly impressed by the ruggedness and simplicity of the P2 workflow once the crew became acclimated to it,” DP Schmidt added. “We shot hours of footage in the heat of summer, reusing each card hundreds of times, without a single lost or damaged clip.”
“We shot in CineGamma-D mode to maximize dynamic range, with a slight color desaturation,” he said
. “Maximizing light was critical, and shooting with the Redrock adapters we used a full set of the fastest Nikon prime lenses we could get, relying heavily on our larger lights (1200 HMI & 2K).”
The DP took advantage of the HVX200’s off-speed capabilities for a sequence in the climax of the movie (with a horse running and throwing up dust with its hooves), shooting 60fps at 720p.
“We wanted audiences to be immersed in the world we were creating, not taken out of the story through the recognizable look of small-format video,” Schmidt said. “We were greatly impressed by the overall filmic look of the HVX200 footage, which came through a combination of a shallow depth-of-field, natural skin tones, dynamic range, attractive grain structure and rich colors.”
The Confessional was edited on Apple Final Cut Pro. “We imported the drives directly into the timeline, which saved us a huge amount of time as we didn’t have to digitize the footage,” noted Cotton, who served as the feature’s co-editor.
“Panasonic’s HVX200 offers smaller productions great performance for a reasonable price coupled with a workflow that allows dailies to be quickly and easily screened and eliminates the time-intensive step of capturing from tape,” the director said. “The ruggedness and options on the camera make it the first choice in the independent filmmakers’ arsenal.”
For more information about The Confessional, visit www.theconfessionalmovie.com or http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0860837/ .
About the HVX200
The ultra-versatile HVX200 records in 1080i and 720p in production-proven 100 Mbps DVCPRO HD quality, with the ability to capture images in 21 record modes. The DVCPRO HD format offers users cost-effective, intra-frame compression, where each frame stands on its own for editing, and its full 4:2:2 color sampling allows the image to hold up under color correction. The camera records video on a P2 card as IT-friendly MXF files in 1080/60i, 30p and 24p; in 720/60p, 30p and 24p; in 50Mbps DVCPRO50 and in 25Mbps DVCPRO or DV. The HVX200 can capture fast or slow action in 720p at various frame rates--the first time this function is available in a hand-held camera. The shooting frame rate in 720p native mode can be set for any of 11 steps between 12fps and 60fps including 24fps and 30fps. For more information on the HVX200, visit www.panasonic.com/hvx200 .
About Panasonic Broadcast
Panasonic Broadcast & Television Systems Co. is a leading supplier of broadcast and professional video products and systems. Panasonic Broadcast is a unit company of Panasonic Corporation of North
America. The company is the North American headquarters of Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. (NYSE: MC) of Japan, and the hub of its U.S. marketing, sales, service and R&D operations. For more information on Panasonic Broadcast products, access the company’s web site at www.panasonic.com/broadcast.
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