By Jon Silberg, June 10, 2006
As the HDV format works its way into the world of professional production, the "pro" part of the "prosumer" designation is being put to some real-world tests. Director of Photography Laura Merians uses three HDV camcorders-Canon XL H1 cameras, with three 1/3-inch native 16:9 CCDs, shooting 1080/24F-to capture the improvised action on the Lifetime comedy series Lovespring. The brainchild of writer/director Guy Shalem, Lovespring is set at a particularly odd L.A.-area dating service and follows neurotic employees and love-starved clients in a format similar to that of The Office and Curb Your Enthusiasm. "Guy has a vision," says Merians. "He and Writer Brad Isaacs like to work with an outline of a script. The actors have specific points to hit in every scene, but the performances are pretty much improvisational. We shoot with handheld cameras covering the space 360 degrees with minimal blocking."
It was important that the cameras be small enough to remain relatively unobtrusive, light enough that the operators could shoot for as much as a half-hour at a time without requiring disk replacement surgery and flexible enough that they could catch any surprise that was added to the mix. "Guy will throw an actor into a scene who isn't supposed to be there," says Merians, "and nobody knows except Guy and the actor that it's about to happen. The operators have to be prepared for any possibility and be able to react to it quickly."
Given the weight and size requirements when considering a camera for the show, it looked from the start that one of the smaller formats--Mini DV or HDV--would work best. Merians and Shalem had been following the development of HDV and had been very happy with some projects they'd done together in the format. "The image quality is way beyond any of the Mini DV cameras like Canon's XL1 and XL2 or Panasonic's DVX100," she says. "It's a huge quality improvement in terms of dynamic range, color, image quality and all the things you look for when considering a camera."
Merians then tested the various HDV cameras available by shooting charts and other images and upresing the results to HDCAM. She used footage from the higher-end Panasonic VariCam as a reference to compare the HDV with true HD images. "I was just drawn to the Canon XL H1 in the tests," she says. "The images really held up well. It was close enough [to the VariCam pictures] that I could say it really wouldn't make a significant difference once you're sitting in your living room watching what's actually transmitted."Which was good, she reports, because it would have been logistically impossible to shoot the show with the bigger, heavier VariCam. Canon's XL H1 weighs 8.3 lb. fully loaded, while the VariCam is 15.4 lb. She notes that even the XL H1 "grew into a pretty big, very professional looking camera once we accessorized it. I generally like using support rods to operate with, and we'd usually use a matte box and shoulder support, too. I'd let each of the three operators choose how they wanted it set up. We tried to make it as light as possible because we were doing these marathon takes."
After each day's shoot on Lovespring, HDCAM and Digital Beta copies are made of the HDV tapes. The HDCAM becomes the new master and archiving element, and the Beta version is sent to editorial. When picture is locked, the HDCAM versions are conformed and color corrected, again to HDCAM format, for delivery by Westwind Media.
Merians observes that the camera has a lot of internal settings that she might use in another situation to fine-tune a look, but for the style of this show, she says, "I've chosen to pretty much dial in a mid-range setting, with the intention of adjusting the image in post. I love that this camera leaves me latitude to do that. I can go into the color-timing session with all those options.
"For me, this is a more efficient way of shooting projects such as Lovespring, where there are so many variables. As much as we plan, an improvisational setting is just too unpredictable, which is why I feel that I have the most control by just shooting nominally. Given some of the unexpected conditions, I found that the image quality of the XL H1 really held up."
Though she was pleased with the XL H1's image quality, Merians expresses reservations about some features of the camera that she believes make it less than an ideal choice for professional production. She notes that the weight distribution could be improved. "The camera is really front-heavy," Merians notes. "We attached some scuba weights to the back of the shoulder-mount to help balance the camera."
The cinematographer would also like to see greater resolution and contrast in the eyepiece monitor. (The XL H1 ships with a 2.4-inch, 215,000-pixel, 16:9 electronic viewfinder that can be operated in either EVF or LCD mode.)
Via the camera's HD-SDI out, Merians was able to preview footage on an HD monitor and get a good idea of what the images really looked like, but her operators, she says, "really couldn't tell anything from what they could see in the eyepiece." She expresses some optimism that Canon is working on this issue.
Her biggest issue with the camera in its current form, however, is its lens. She's pleased with the actual optics of Canon's 20x zoom, but the handling is a different story. She felt constrained by a lens that isn't manual and doesn't offer accurate, clear markings for pulling focus. Operators could not rely on distance indicators and instead had to zoom in frequently on a subject to check focus. Naturally, the increased resolution of the HDV image can amplify focusing problems that would be less noticeable in standard definition. Merians notes that Canon reps have told her a manual lens is forthcoming and she looks forward to getting her hands on it.
In the meantime, she would light for a fairly deep stop in the 5.6 range to give the operators enough depth of field to work within the limitations of the lens. "I think that video generally looks better when you shoot it wide open," she says. "You can be more selective about what's in focus that way, but I couldn't do that with the lenses as they are now."
Merians-who has worked as a gaffer and electrician for cinematographers including Bill Pope, ASC, and Ramsey Nickell-lit the Lovespring sets with a lot of soft light, usually sourced from above, and practicals, which allowed the actors the greatest possible freedom of movement. She would generally light to an HD monitor and a waveform, occasionally using the camera's internal meter to get spot readings.
"I used more Kino Flos than I normally would," she says. Given a choice, she prefers the character of tungsten lights, especially on actors' skin. "The gaffer, Richard Tibbetts, also worked on Curb Your Enthusiasm. He has a lot of experience with improvisational comedy. A lot of the work on Lovespring is in a small office location with drop ceilings, which isn't great for lighting. We'll lift ceiling panels and use a lot of [Mole-Richardson] 750 Softlites, China balls and Gem balls, and I'll bounce open-faced Redheads and Blondes. I balance the camera to tungsten and color-correct and ND the windows. I know incandescent lights are hotter on a practical location and it's not always that comfortable, but I prefer the look you get with them. I can spot when someone uses fluorescent or HMIs on people's skin-I just like the look of tungsten light better."
For exterior locations, Merians tries to silk harsh sunlight and uses bounced light when possible. "It depends with this kind of show," she says. "Sometimes it's a scene where you don't know how long it's going go or where the actors are going to be, so in that sense you are limited. I think the camera can handle the contrast of day exteriors well, but there's only so much you can do about very bright areas clipping."
Merians enjoys working in all different formats but cautions those curious about the XL H1 to test any new format, camera and workflow as thoroughly as possible. She found, for example, that the XL H1 works better with a different type of diffusion and color correction than she's used to. "I usually use heavier diffusion and I like to use muslin a lot, but with this camera, that approach tended to make things milky or hazy." She adds, "I'd just recommend to anyone: Do as many tests as you can before you commit to a new format or camera. Everybody has things they like to use, ways they like to work, but you don't know exactly how something's going to look until you try it."
Merians stresses that she is essentially very pleased with the XL H1's image quality and its suitability for an improvisational show like Lovespring. "There are always surprises with a new format," she says, "and most of the surprises I've had with this camera have been good ones."
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