Documentary workflow with HVX?

O

ObiMcD

Member
Hi, I was just offered a great deal on an HVX and am looking at the practical aspect of using an HVX to shoot a documentary. I'm going to be in Scotland shooting with a somewhat new MacBook (would give you more specs but since its not my computer, I dont have them available at the moment) for offloading. But would the HVX with a 16gb, 8gb, and 4gb p2 allow me to shoot enough without major pauses for unloading? I suppose the more proper question is with a MacBook can I unload and keep shooting at the same time even if I had to do the unloading with firewire? (Unless new-ish MacBooks have the necessary card slot for p2). I also would like to know if I can hotswap the cards. My other option is shooting with HDV, but if I can make a P2 workflow work, that would be ideal. Most of my interviews are scheduled for about an hour so I'd like to be able to keep shooting constantly while unloading and swapping out the cards.
 
All those cards would give you a pretty large amount of recording time. If you have a crew member who can concentrate on offloading footage you could just keep going without pausing at all. You could also do it yourself, but your interview subject would be quite distracted if you weren't giving them an eye line.
 
I guess this all depends on your needs..!
28GB total (with swapping cards..) is possible do do a documentary, if you think about shooting DVCPRO 50 or 720pn you will end up with nearly one hour of more or less continious shooting.

So depending from your Interviews, shots and so on you can make it..when i started a complex documentary 3 years ago, there was just 4GB cards and we used 6 of them!
Today i do pay the same price for on 32GB E-series card as i payed for one 4GB Card.

So i would always recommend buying/renting one more Card to be "safe".
You can still download while shooting, but you will soon discover that this puts you under stress, if you dont have somebody doing that for you.
I had to cut long interviews into 2 parts, as we needed time to download...i still did this for some TV stuff few weeks ago..but i am very happy to have the luxery of a new 32GB card which gives you more room.

I dont know about MAC for downloading..just that there was some serious issues while downloading...to prevent that, ALWAYS change the P2 card to "protected"..you know what i mean with my limited english..!
I guess you need an Adapter for the macbook, as there is no PCMCI-drive on those macs.
Or you do a break and download from HVX via USB...possible too, if you put the right drivers on the Computer before!

Good luck!

p.s. To get the correct sharpness is pain in the ass with the HVX..never use Auto-focus and better shoot in HD (where you can use focus assist) and take your time to find the correct sharpness, otherwise you will hate your best shots, ending up unsharp in the end..!
 
ObiMcD said:
Hi, I was just offered a great deal on an HVX and am looking at the practical aspect of using an HVX to shoot a documentary. ...

Most of my interviews are scheduled for about an hour so I'd like to be able to keep shooting constantly while unloading and swapping out the cards.
Click to expand...

ObiMcD,

I've used HVX200's for documentaries since they were first available. I think they're great tools for documentary because of their portable size.

You seem concerned about recording times, and yes, you should be concerned unless you have an assistant swapping cards for you. Rent more P2 cards, or....

If you own a copy of Final Cut Pro, you can use it to record DVCPro-HD straight to your MacBook's hard drive. I'd recommend another hard drive for long interviews; launch FCP and set it to capture video to an external FireWire hard drive.

Happy shooting,
Andrew Burke
 
ObiMcD,

Have you been recording awesome footage into your MacBook? Or did you decide to shoot HDV instead?
 
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