David Thies Interview - DP of Jamie Kennedy Blowin up

Great interview Jarred, I just watched the show and was looking for some info on how they got the shots in the Hummer. The giant picture at the top of the thread answered that question. Dave made your job easy...he sure gives detailed answers. Very cool.
 
Just listened to the interview Jarred. Great stuff! Very informative! Thanks!

I just wish I could have seen the show. I found out when it was over but it's ok, I'm sure I'll catch a rerun.
 
yeah it plays tonight at 10:30pm PST, but they are replayin it tommorow at 10:30am PST, 4:30pm PST, and 11:00pm tommorow night PST... im sure you can catch it.
 
Jarred,
Thanks for taking the time to come out and speak with me. It is nice to meet someone in this biz that is taller than me. I, like a lot of people out there that do this kind of work, am always checking out the tv and wondering how they do some of the things i see. Then I try to replicate it with no money. The suction mount kits that we used you can get through. www.filmtools.com. and they work fairly well as you can see in the show. Ep 1 was also the pilot and I had time to perfect it as the show filming went on. The shows get funnier and funnier. I am proud to be a part of it.
Thanks again for getting the word out there
dave thies
 
New press release just came in :)

MTV has just premiered the comedic reality series, Jamie Kennedy’s Blowin' Up, which follows the hilarious Kennedy and his sidekick Stu Stone as they attempt to fulfill their lifelong dream of Hip-Hop superstardom. All the comic, quixotic action for eight half-hour episodes was captured with six AG-DVX100B mini-DV 3-CCD 24p camcorders from Panasonic Broadcast.

The duo set out on an unstoppable and brilliantly funny mission to take on the music industry by storm. Driven by their own original music, which they write, record and perform together, Jamie and Stu knock on every door, meeting with top music executives and seeking advice from Hip-Hop’s biggest stars, only to discover that while rappers have no problem breaking into acting, it isn't so simple the other way around. Throughout their journey, Jamie and Stu encounter Three 6 Mafia, Jason Biggs, Russell Simmons, Bow Wow, Bob Saget, Paul Wall, George Lucas, Ice-T, Mena Suvari, DJ AM, Tara Reid, Method Man, Mike Jones, Ed McMahon and other celebrity talent.

Blowin' Up will air Tuesday nights at 10:30 (ET/PT), and then will run many more times during the week across MTV platforms. The show can also be downloaded through ITunes.

Los Angeles-based Hoosick Falls Productions and MTV hired David Thies to be the Director of Photography for Blowin' Up. Thies is himself the principal of full-service production company Tvacom Film and TV, with locations both in LA and Cincinnati, OH.

Thies currently owns three DVX100As, and he used that camera to shoot the Blowin' Up pilot last October. Hoosick Falls Products took delivery of six AG-DVX100B upgrade models immediately before the eight-week, LA-based Blowin' Up shoot began.

“I was responsible for the six cameras and three operators,” Thies recounted. “We mounted three cameras on a Hummer H2, used three cameras hand-held, and let Jamie and Stu go about their business as we documented them in their pursuit to make it in the hip hop, rap world. The Hummer was used as a location because so much great conversation happened in there. Sometimes, during the pair’s music performances, we would shoot all six cameras, jib-mounted.”

“The DVX100B’s camera features allowed us to set up our look in one camera and use a four-pin Firewire cable to send that look to the other five cameras,” Thies continued. “We shot the series in 24p with a few tweaks to the factory settings on scene file 5. It was challenging at times because when you’re shooting reality, it’s run and gun, and lighting isn’t always the greatest.”

“It was a constant struggle driving around in the Hummers because you could see out the window, and every time we made a turn the sun would be blasting from a new angle,” he said. “But with the Panasonic cameras, I had all the confidence in the world because I had shot with them for so long that I knew that I could gain up to 9db and I wouldn’t get any noise to be worried about. Jamie and Stu both came up to me to talk about the great picture we are getting out of such a small camera.

”Of course, the DVX100B also allowed us to have a smaller footprint when we went out in public, whether to record company meetings or red carpet events. The camera is so unobtrusive than most subjects would simply look at us once, and then go about their business. Bigger cameras sometimes turn people off or spook them. With the DVX100B, we could jump in and out of cars, and move through crowds more easily.”

Thies also “slid into a post-production position” as the on-line editor for the Blowin' Up. He cited a Final Cut Pro post workflow, with network deliverables mastered to Digi Beta.

Thies has begun pre-production on two more pilots for Hoosick Fall Productions and George Verschoor, Executive Producer and owner of the company. The DP recently purchased Panasonic’s hand-held, solid-state AG-HVX200 DVCPRO HD camcorder, with the intentions of offering fast-paced HD program production to his clients.

As a boutique, full-service production company, Thies’ Tvacom Film and TV handles all phases of production and attributes part of its success to the ability to shoot efficiently and docu-style with minimum interference during performances and events. The company shoots exclusively with the Panasonic cameras. For more information, visit www.tvacom.com.

Rod Aissa is executive producer of Blowin' Up. Jamie Kennedy and Stu Stone also serve as executive producers. George Verschoor is executive producer and show runner. Pamela Kohl and Michael Rotenberg are also executive producers. Michael Ireland is Manager of Series Development. The series will be produced for MTV through Kennedy's Jizzy Entertainment and Verschoor's Hoosick Falls Productions. For complete information on Blowin' Up, visit www.mtv.com.
 
Jarred Land said:
“It was a constant struggle driving around in the Hummers because you could see out the window, and every time we made a turn the sun would be blasting from a new angle,” he said. “But with the Panasonic cameras, I had all the confidence in the world because I had shot with them for so long that I knew that I could gain up to 9db and I wouldn’t get any noise to be worried about. Jamie and Stu both came up to me to talk about the great picture we are getting out of such a small camera.
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This should be a sticky in the HVX forum where so much complaint about noise is going on.

:thumbsup:
 
Jarred Land said:
wrong camera, but i do agree.
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That's the point, if the DVX can handle the noise gained up for a nat'l broadcast show with an experienced DP, then I would think the HVX would be just as good, and IMO, hopefully better.
 
Itunes Free download of Jamie Kennedys show

Itunes Free download of Jamie Kennedys show

Hey I wanted to let you guys know that you can download Jamie Kennedy's Blowin Up the pilot episode for free from ITunes if you want to check it out. Can't hurt and the price is right. They are also running it like 15-18 times a week.
dave
 
Thanks for the interview, I think DVXUser should do more interviews and put them out their as podcasts -- that'd be awesome.

But I have a question. As someone about to buy a 100B, I was curious what was the problem with the timecode sync that was mentioned several times. They couldn't get it to work on the 100Bs they had? They ended up using good old slating instead? He even said something to the effect that not all of the kinks had been worked out -- and I took that to infer that the timecode sync functionality in the 100Bs was buggy or usless or something like that. Can anyone shed any light on this for me? THANKS!
 
The timecode jamming over firewire worked like it should from a syncing standpoint but within minute all the cameras would start to drift. So as a back for post I brought in a digital slate that was jammed to our Cantar 8 track digital recorder that audio carried around with them. (At about 45lbs with all the wireless units attached) It wasnt a big deal. I tried everything I could to figure out why it wasnt working. I charged the internal battery went through the manuel etc. But for the price and the quality that we got out of the camera it is worth every penny. MTV and VH1 use these cameras on majority of their shows from what I have heard.
dave
 
tvacom said:
The timecode jamming over firewire worked like it should from a syncing standpoint but within minute all the cameras would start to drift. So as a back for post I brought in a digital slate that was jammed to our Cantar 8 track digital recorder that audio carried around with them. (At about 45lbs with all the wireless units attached) It wasnt a big deal. I tried everything I could to figure out why it wasnt working. I charged the internal battery went through the manuel etc. But for the price and the quality that we got out of the camera it is worth every penny. MTV and VH1 use these cameras on majority of their shows from what I have heard.
dave
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Thanks, I'm wondering if anyone else has had any success with the timecode sync features of the B? I haven't really heard much chatter on that front.

Also, I was under the impression (but I am in NO position to even know), that MTV and VH1 were using a lot of PD150/170's on their shows? Those shoot DVCAM right? Could that be true?
 
MTV is using a alot of DVX's.. they have been for a couple years now.

The Drift problem with the B's seems to be still an issue.
 
They were using a lot of the 150/170's. But Jarred us right about the couple of years thing. We had similar drift problems with the 100a's last year on a 13 cam show for VH1.
 
tvacom said:
They were using a lot of the 150/170's. But Jarred us right about the couple of years thing. We had similar drift problems with the 100a's last year on a 13 cam show for VH1.
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Were you syncing the A's with the "one remote" workaround to start all at the same point using Free Run Timecode? Just curious, thanks!
 
Exactly. It was funny looking to see me with 13 camera all set (Hoping they could all see the little red light) up free run time of day and I would get a count down from my audio guy and I would press the button when we got to the code on his system. I was usually with in a second of audio. But then the drift would start.
d
 
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