DVX, HVX and three questions.

[David_M_Payne]

DVX, HVX and three questions.

First off I've taken out a second on my house to finish Holy War and I'm going to have some money to spare after cast, location and crew costs, about $10,000. So I'm looking at the HVX and the best way to integrate it into my film, if possible and desirable.

The first one is; would the HVX be a good match with my two DVX100a's with the Panasonic 16X9 lens on them? They would all shoot in 16X9, so that would be a plus I think. But can you combine HD and SD into the same film and is it worth doing? I have some (A little) of the film shot now, but most of the close ups are not done, and I'm in the process of getting the script re-written so there is some time, a few months before I'll be ready for round two of my movie making experience with Holy War. (I got my ass kicked in round one, but I learned a lot and like Arnold, I'll be back!)

What is the best way to go with the HVX camera HD storage device wise, the P-2 cards, or have a laptop set up to capture the film? Or some other storage devices like a couple that have been talked about here? (Well, it isn't film but you know what I mean.)
What would the costs be for in the other scenarios and is one better than the other for filming longer scenes? One of the things I like about the DVX is you can leave the tape running if you are short on crew and pick which take is best with out much hassle. It sounds like with the P-2 you need to be short and to the point on every take.

The last question is my computer program for the DVX's is the Premiere Pro 1.5 as well as the rest of the Adobe pro suite, including Audition 1.5, After Affects professional 6.5 and Encore DVD 1.5. Is this going to work OK with the HVX?

Thoughts, suggestions?

David

 

[pookie_old]

"combine HD and SD into the same film "........

 

[Jarred Land]

you can uprez your SD or downrez your HD.. or shoot SD with the HVX. There are some software companies ready to release some HD uprez software for SD work, just like when 24p came out and a few companies made 24p conversion software.

As for your NLE.. We cant say much until we actually get the footage to play with how each system will handle DVCpro-HD.

 

[pookie_old]

It's still gonna show.

 

[taubkin]

Mix SD and HD? Only if it's motivated by the story because it's going to be really noticeable. IN fact, throwing HD in your film will make your SD look bad. If you keep it all SD you have a better chance of nobody noticing it...

Still, Buy the darn thing, it's going to be the best camcorder there is!

 

[alpi69]

i would also shoot SD (DVCpro50) with it. Continuity is definitely better than a part of the film being noticable "better".

 

[David_M_Payne]

you can uprez your SD or downrez your HD.. or shoot SD with the HVX. There are some software companies ready to release some HD uprez software for SD work, just like when 24p came out and a few companies made 24p conversion software.

As for your NLE.. We cant say much until we actually get the footage to play with how each system will handle DVCpro-HD.

Thanks Jarred and the rest of you guys for the input.
I brought up the question because one ad I read for the new camera said that it would work well in tandom with the DVX and I wondered if it would. Looks like it is not a good match for now.

David

 

[David_M_Payne]

Mix SD and HD? Only if it's motivated by the story because it's going to be really noticeable. IN fact, throwing HD in your film will make your SD look bad. If you keep it all SD you have a better chance of nobody noticing it...

Still, Buy the darn thing, it's going to be the best camcorder there is!

This got me to thinking about the film and how it is going to be shot, and I think that using both may indeed be a good idea after all. There are two main states for the lead character, the regular world, shot with the DVX's, and his time in his dreams and later his time under the control of Baal's, shot with the HVX. As you guys have noted movies are a visual medium and I think that using the two different cameras like that would make it visually easier to tell the story and display the differences in the two worlds. I guess the question is not will there be differences between the two, but how noticeable will they be? Will the SD scenes truly look bad as taubkin said, or just not as sharp as the HD scenes? I think that in this film the differences between the two will work to show the story more clearly.


So I guess I'm leaning toward buying one after all and get a little OJT of if this idea is viable. I think that having a laptop modified for the camera that has a HD screen, a big hard drive and all the other stuff would make it a little easier to work with for my cameraman and I. I also see that there are some issues to work out first on the storage end so best wait to see how the first experiences turn out on the HVX + storage solutions.

David

 

[Yuval Shrem]

how noticeable will they be? Will the SD scenes truly look bad as taubkin said, or just not as sharp as the HD scenes? I think that in this film the differences between the two will work to show the story more clearly.


David

I believe the difference in the "look" between the HVX200 and the DVX100 would be comparable to the difference between 16mm film and 35mm film. That is for two reasons:

1) Both 35mm and HD are capable of generating a more detailed image than 16mm (for film) or DV25 (as for mini-DV)

2) more specifically, 16mm film has more grain than 35mm film, while the DVX has more video noise than the HVX200, because of the improved signal to noise ratio the HVX200 has which is far superior than the signal to noise ratio of the DVX100.

As far as choosing a camera and a recording format, it really depends on your desired output. If you're planning to go to a film-out process and a theatrical release, than I would personally reshoot the parts you've shut with your DVX and use the HVX only, and take care of the visual differences with lighting and possibly in post. However, if shooting with multiple cameras is required, then your "reality" vs. "dream" idea should work well.

Good luck with your film!!!

Yuval.

 

[David_M_Payne]

I believe the difference in the "look" between the HVX200 and the DVX100 would be comparable to the difference between 16mm film and 35mm film. That is for two reasons:

1) Both 35mm and HD are capable of generating a more detailed image than 16mm (for film) or DV25 (as for mini-DV)

2) more specifically, 16mm film has more grain than 35mm film, while the DVX has more video noise than the HVX200, because of the improved signal to noise ratio the HVX200 has which is far superior than the signal to noise ratio of the DVX100.

As far as choosing a camera and a recording format, it really depends on your desired output. If you're planning to go to a film-out process and a theatrical release, than I would personally reshoot the parts you've shut with your DVX and use the HVX only, and take care of the visual differences with lighting and possibly in post. However, if shooting with multiple cameras is required, then your "reality" vs. "dream" idea should work well.

Good luck with your film!!!

Yuval.

Well you have me thinking about going with the HVX and using the time spent shooting with the DVX as a learning experience. In fact thanks to my girlfriend who sold me her old car and saved me about $12,000 from what I had planned to spend on a new car, I'm probably going to buy two HVX200 and a couple of laptops to record the footage on, and start over on the movie. (I've budgeted about $18,000 for the cameras and laptops plus a couple of better tripods than I have now. I'm thinking a couple of Davis and Sanford Provista 7518's for $245 or the air 18's at $260 at EVS should do the trick.)

I've taken out a second on my house and now I have the one thing that I needed the most to progress from trying to get people to act for free, (Think herding cats) to the ability to get a few local actors and be able to pay them and some of my crew. Next up is getting my script in shooting shape, and I have a script doctor, Shawn Bell who is giving me a hand on that chore for the screen credit. (That’s all he will take, he says I can't afford him otherwise. I sure appreciate his help, which has been very good so far from what I've seen.)

Now for that laptop…

David

 

[izoneguy]

What about distribution? That is the one thing most filmakers hate to deal with.

 

[David_M_Payne]

What about distribution? That is the one thing most filmmakers hate to deal with.

My plan is to get it to DVD and then I'll have something to show to the powers that be at film festivals like Sundance, the Reno film festival etc. I think that is the best I can do with the resources I have at my disposal now. If I do a good job and the right person sees it, who knows? I'll take my chances on that route, though I'll also be looking at the Internet itself as a way to get it out. The main thing is that I go from seeing this film in my head, to being able to show it to people.

David