Feature Length Documentary...

S

scheer2@mac.com

New member
I am highly considering purchasing an HVX, but wanted some feedback in regards to workflow.

Being that I will be shooting hours of footage, it seems that P2 cards are not as much of an option. Could you give me some ideas of how I could work around this (i.e. hard drive, laptop, etc.)

Thanks,
Ryan
 
Firestore, citidisk, or upcoming cineporter.

Firestore and citidisk use firewire to record
Cineporter will use p2 slot to record.
 
There are also a number of programs that can record directly from the DV port, including FCP, Edius, and DV Rack HD.
 
scheer2@mac.com said:
I am highly considering purchasing an HVX, but wanted some feedback in regards to workflow.

Being that I will be shooting hours of footage, it seems that P2 cards are not as much of an option. Could you give me some ideas of how I could work around this (i.e. hard drive, laptop, etc.)

Thanks,
Ryan
Click to expand...
I am looking at the same situation and trying to decide if the HVX is up too a feature length doco shoot. The only real answer is the firestore. I have used this on a commercial before shooting at 1080.
If shooting 720 you can get 200mins record time on the firestore. And luckily it sounds like the latest firmware allows you do do variable frame rates (in native mode).
My plan is to record only to the firestore (which worries me if it is dropped or rain or dust gets in) then at the end of the day use a laptop to transfer to an external hardrive (and make sure its got a fast connection, transfer times on a USB 2 hardrive are way to slow).
When this is done then perhaps copy to a 2nd external drive for redundancy.
This sets the director up really well for viewing and logging in 'P2 log' (or not so good P2 viewer).

To me thats the easier bit. I am looking at maybe 40 or more hours of footage, so where do you store it ? More and more portable hardrives ?

I am thinking maybe I get the raw footage transferred to DVCPRO-HD tape to use for an HD online, and perhaps get mini DV's (with burnt timecode) for an SD offline (to save costs in edit suite time).

Now I know I can just have hardrives but to me this is not a long term storage solution. Call me old fashion but having a DVCPRO-HD tape seems like the best solution to 40+ hrs of footage.

If someone can suggest a better way to deal with this much footage I would love to hear it.

PS. I Just did a job of P2 where i spent my lunchtime and end of day tranferrring P2 cards, and another job with 1-2hrs of firestore transfer time at the end of my already long day.

So i worry about doing a doco on this format.
 
PS. I Just did a job of P2 where i spent my lunchtime and end of day tranferrring P2 cards, and another job with 1-2hrs of firestore transfer time at the end of my already long day..


...but then you were done, right? No capturing, true? It had to take less tiime than transferring footage in real time from tape to your computer

I make 2 DVDs of each card and have not had problems restoring files.
 
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ksteiger said:
PS. I Just did a job of P2 where i spent my lunchtime and end of day tranferrring P2 cards, and another job with 1-2hrs of firestore transfer time at the end of my already long day..


...but then you were done, right? No capturing, true? It had to take less tiime than transferring footage in real time from tape to your computer

I make 2 DVDs of each card and have not had problems restoring files.
Click to expand...

Yeah, but that is work you normally do not do yourself, working with P2 brings you in a working situation normally done by an editor. For P2 shoots viewing the director needs material, and you need to backup the P2 directly. Spending lunch en diner time for transfers (* battery loading..) to hard disk is a pain in the stomach.

I prefer for documentary work a situation with harddisk recording and tape in the same time, like the new sony is doing. Tape you save in the shell, and the disk you use for a transfer and editing. Also battery use (and need) is a question sometimes, portable computers and diskdrives need power.
 
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