Director/DP of Breaking Bonaduce on VH1

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Breaking Bonaduce

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Hi all! Just registered to DVXUSER and would love any feedback on the look of the show. VH1 is airing all 11 episodes this Sunday from 4:30 PM to 11 PM if you care to look at the final "locked" look of the show. We ran four teams capturing the manic/crazy/drug induced life of Danny Bonaduce. As Director/DP, I was fortunate enough to be able to push the limits of the DVX100A and run the final "locked" shows through a Davinci. The end result is what you see on VH1. I do have a selects reel of scenes on my website http://homepage.mac.com/mark.13/index.html Anyway, great to be part of this professional community forum. DV magazine is currrently doing an article on the process that I used and we are currently ramping up on the second season of the show. I just finished "Biggest Loser-Stand Alone" for NBC with the same camera and a pilot for Lifetime called "Walk a Week in My Shoes". I am sincerely hoping to utilize the HDX for second season of BB, especially if Panasonic considers us a Beta series to show off the new camera and P2's.
 
i would just like to say, i think you did an amazing job with the show. unlike other reality shows, i felt that your show really focused on the needs of the people involved (i.e. - danny and his wife) rather than just trying to exploit them like most reality shows would. i am an aspiring documentary filmmaker, and your show has been a great influence to me. looking forward to season 2!
 
yes.. very good work Marc. Its interesting how that show kinda turned into something unexpected from what I heard.. but the show looked great.
 
Mark,

:beer: Cheers on what ended up as one hell of an accomplishment. You did an outstanding job wearing both director and DP hats. Congratulations on the show's well deserved success (Breaking Bonaduce was my wife's favorite show of the year.)

Keep up the good work.
:thumbup: :thumbup:
 
hey mark,

Definately a great show. Breaking Bonnaducci is one of the only reality shows I've ever enjoyed. Seems like it would have been a fun shoot too. Having worked on a reality program before I know they can be rediculously monotonous, however I think Danny probably kept it pretty interesting. I'm curious, on average, how many tapes went into each show and how many shooters did you have at a time?
 
Looks like your cameras could benefit from a stabilizer--- have you tried the Dv Rig Pro?
 
eddavid said:
Looks like your cameras could benefit from a stabilizer--- have you tried the Dv Rig Pro?
Click to expand...


i disagree... i think for a documentary styled production, camera stabilizing systems would really take away from it all...
 
Good Job!

Good Job!

I was really surprised to see you guys pull off such an original look for your show. At work, I talk about how good the camera work on Bonaduce is _all the time_.

Needless to say. I am a fan. Great job!

I have to say that the camera work on Bonaduce really stands out as an excellent accomplishment. I believe that it is a really strong aspect of the show that definitely contributed to its success. I also love the editing - the fact that they only use music when necessary. The overall style of your show is an example of (much needed) original thinking at work.

Congrats to you and everyone at 3 Ball.
 
show looks great to me and I knew it was shot with a DVX, I caught a glimps of a camera guy on one episode and shouted it out..... my wife still thinks I'm nuts..
 
The dvrig pro is not like a steadicam, more like gives the camera the feel of a heavier shoulder-mounted camera. I think any production would benefit from getting rid of the "shakes." I don't think in any way, shape or form is the "Blair Witch" shakiness of small, handheld cameras a desired look in any production, even if it's a documentary.
 
I have to say that the show is my favorite. I love how the show is put together, it's got a cutting edge style to it, especialy at the end of the show where it turns into more of a music video. Very cool indeed.

Danny seems like a super cool guy that makes your job all the more fun, and at the same time scary because boy he looked like he could kill a bunch of people the night his wife had that party at the hotel with the male strippers.

Great job.
 
I never would've guessed it was DVX. It sounds like its gone through some sort of process I don't fully understand but still...I think it looks great. Really unexpected, thought-provoking show too. Great work! Welcome to DVXUser. I look forward to your contributions.
-Ryan
 
eddavid said:
Looks like your cameras could benefit from a stabilizer--- have you tried the Dv Rig Pro?
Click to expand...


The DVrig pro is entirely too cumbersome for reality TV, I find it too be too cumbersome for pretty much all run and gun work. Perhaps the Bauer Stasis would work in this situation, however I think the shakes didn't really take away from the final product.

The show has a great look, I knew it was put through some kind of high end color correction machine, but I'm curious what kind of in-camera setting they were using. Any guesses?

-Colin
 
I like the look of the show and as a doc maker myself I like the style. I shoot very similar. My only complaint is that the DVX gets very noisy, especially with cinegamma on. I have been using the 100B and it is much improved. I would have been tempted to shoot as much as possible with an SDX900 but I know how it goes. I also know what it is like to have another shooter who captures a moment...but doesnt shoot it well. Still, content is king... Congrats! I have a similar show in develpoment with Fremantle Media about the music industry.



ash =o)
 
WOW! There is quite a "buzz" about the show but I never expected the kind words and compliments from this community. Thanks to all who have written a post in the past few days. This Sunday starting at 4:30 PM every episode including the final episode will be airing in order. Just for info, there isn't any single technique utilized that allowed for the look and feel of the show. It was definately a "collabrative" effort. Yes I did use my personal settings while capturing the show, yes I did have an awsome crew (we shot the show with four teams in four vans), yes I was very blessed to be surrounded by people that trusted my abilities and strange "break the rules" style. One thing I do as a director is to listen to every crew members opinions and ideas. All of us work with all kinds of professionals and learn from them, so each and every member of the team has value. By acknowledging that you offer "ownership" in what we are doing. Then everyone looks forward to coming to work everyday and they have my back and I have theirs. Thanks again for all the support.
 
Could you summarize for the non US dvxusers what the show is about?
An could you further explain that unique post process you used, because what I can see on the web looks really good, but I have seen a lot of stuff coming from small chip camcorders that looks amazing...
Don´t get me wrong guys, maybe its my lack of technical insight, but a lot of people here just use their editing prog and good CC and get excellent results, so if someone throws in a DaVinci and "special settings" my expectations are harder met...
Nevertheless I think content is still king in documentaries (at least in reality shows), this seems to be the case with this show, so I hope to get a chance to see Bonaduce aired over here too.

- Chris
 
I had a quick look on google - but can't find anything - is this available on DVD at all? Being in Australia - we don't get this; would love to have a look and check it out.

Cheers, Nathan.
 
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