My secret reason for loving the HVX: a confession

B

brianluce

Carbonite Member
There is no logic to this but as a guy who many moons ago started playing with Super 8 film, I love the p2's similarity to the film shooting style of conserving your shots and footage. An 8 gig p2 forces you to think about what you're shooting, measure your shots, conceptualize them, think them through before hitting the record button. I've always been a stingy shooter, I hate filling up tapes with useless footage. the p2 mindset is like the film mindset, quality of footage--not quantity.

The variable frame rate also is film camera like.


anyone relate to this?
 
yep !

I like the image produced by the HVX.
It looks natural, filmic, rich, warm.
It is far from being perfect but it looks so good !

I dont care anymore about the specs, they did it right, i like what i'm seeing.
It has the Mojo.
 
The similarity between shooting a limited roll of film and a 4GB P2 card has been discussed oodles of times, but I am one of the people on your side of the camp. It will be lots of fun.
 
Haakon said:
The similarity between shooting a limited roll of film and a 4GB P2 card has been discussed oodles of times, but I am one of the people on your side of the camp. It will be lots of fun.
Click to expand...


Yeah it's been discussed but always in the context of "P2 emulates film workflow so shut up and quit complaining."

what I'm saying is the similarity to film workflow is a turn on. It's not something to be tolerated, it's something I actually like and see as a plus. Less is more.
 
When I was a poor teenager with a still camera, I made every shot count, as processing pictures was an expensive proposition (you pay for the lousy shots too.) I had a large proportion of "keepers". Same with my ventures with super 8 film.

With the advent of digital dslrs, I went hogwild, shooting anything that was remotely of interest, having a blast. Ofcourse, I edited ruthlessly, most of the time in-camera, and sometimes you get great shots which can happen by accident.

The problem with going hogwild with tape is that you're forced to sit through hours of crap to find the good moments.... it's linear. Fast forward.. back... forth... headwear city.

Great thing about P2 is that you can dump crap right away, and shot review is really fast.

For my projects (indie production) getting 10 minutes of usable footage per day suits me fine. I am comforted by the knowledge that P2 capacity will double in the next year.
 
No, I totally get what you're saying Brian; perhaps some of the posts that agree with your way of thinking have just been overshadowed by the countless other posts that have been more of the "shut up and stop complaining" type. They're still there, though, I promise; especially around the time Panasonic first dropped the P2 bomb on us (about a year ago), a lot of people came to the defense of limited recording times as a shift back to the way people would think about what they were shooting (as opposed to the "firehosing" method Barry would allude to). The search function on this site isn't that great, or I could probably find some posts more easily for you, but believe me, there are others who feel just like you (and it has been discussed before).
 
Those memorable days that the beautiful action is taking place on the moment there is only 5 seconds left on the reel. And the glorious yellow light flashes that abrupt it to soon. Oh, I can´t wait for those emotional times.

But I know your ideas brianluce, even shooting documentary on P2 cards brings the old film ' do I realy need this' questions above, sometimes shooting tape is just lazy.
 
Does this mean you'll hate having those 48 GB p2 cards in 2008-9? I understand where you're coming from and I'm very much the same way --- I've been shooting direct to disk for several years now, and I'm as stingy as can be with that record button. But I must confess, I'll dig having a couple of 32 or 48 GB p2 cards.
 
The slow-motion is also such an amazing advance. We don't hear it enough here,.. I mean it's a deal breaker for me with the other cameras. I shoot a lot of action sports and this will be an incredible asset. I can also think of how this will revolutionize the music video business. So many options with this camera. I just think people like to ***** for there own agendas and a lot of people like to pee in the punch if the party seems to damn fun. Being a canon guy.. I'm selling out and moving to where my interests seem best served. I just wish they included a film stock scratch and sniff with the P2 cards to give it that added ummmmph...

Ahh the smell of celluloid.. an expense I hope not to have to undertake again.
 
P2 has always been the thing I liked least about the HVX. I want to move on from tape, but I want A BUILT IN ARCHIVE. I don't want to save all that capturing time after shooting only to waste it backing everything up after the edit.

At present I also HATE the idea of being limited to 4 minutes of footage. But hey, that is my opinion, and I can see where you are coming from. There are so many limitations in trying to get a film made, I don't want my record times to be one of them.

Put it like this - imagine doing an interview or a emotional drama scene, do you want to have to interrupt the flow by changing cards? If you only have 2 cards, you may have to stop for several minutes, on have an additional assistant constantly off-loading the data.

If P2 cards were 60GB and cost a few pounds, then that would be cool.
 
darwinandpaine said:
Does this mean you'll hate having those 48 GB p2 cards in 2008-9? cards.
Click to expand...

I'm not sure how i feel about it. but i'm already thinking i might need therapy when they're released.
 
brianluce said:
There is no logic to this but as a guy who many moons ago started playing with Super 8 film, I love the p2's similarity to the film shooting style of conserving your shots and footage. An 8 gig p2 forces you to think about what you're shooting, measure your shots, conceptualize them, think them through before hitting the record button. I've always been a stingy shooter, I hate filling up tapes with useless footage. the p2 mindset is like the film mindset, quality of footage--not quantity.

anyone relate to this?
Click to expand...

Yes it does force you into thinking more like you did when you shot super 8 - but I dont think thats a good thing. I remember shooting 16mm and literally we had minutes of footage left. So the performances hit the 'That'll do' category. Or it was probably good enough camerawork....

Since I've shot digitally, yup I have hoursssss of take after take to look through - but it means the end product is more like whst I imagined in the first place. If I had shot film style Im sure I'd have a few more ropey shots in there.

Im just completing a 25 min short where I shot 10 hours!!!! yes I know..... 10 hours :-(. But this was mainly to do with trying to get that smooth tracking shot looking good on a shoestring budget take after take...

I guess tho the great thing with P2 is you can delete the bad takes -but you can only really do that when you get the good take you know is going to work. So I hope that my workflow will change and I dont have to wade through all the crap in the NLE anymore. Thats one good thing.

The workflow is good practice, but Im sure we'd all prefer 128GB P2 cards :-)
 
Darkline said:
Yes it does force you into thinking more like you did when you shot super 8 - but I dont think thats a good thing. I remember shooting 16mm and literally we had minutes of footage left. So the performances hit the 'That'll do' category. Or it was probably good enough camerawork....
Click to expand...
Ah, but this is how P2 differs from film. Although the runtime "per load" is very similar, with P2 you offload the data and continue to shoot. In effect, you're only limited by the space you have on your offload device. If you come to set properly prepared, there should be no such thing as "minutes of footage left." You're constrained by the length of the shot, but not the total running length. Life is good. :)
 
i think that there is an important issue about filmmakers... i mean.. good issue, and this is ROMANTIC WAY... we are ARTIST, we react to stimuli and i think this short recording time is one of them. That PUSH YOU UP to think faster, to think making better scenes, doing your best each frame you shoot and direct.. So, i think this is good, i mean, life go up and go down every age, is that pendulum, and rigth here, right now is down again... and we must take advantage of that... learning about shooting PERFECT, no wasting time and footage... is like a retroprespective, alot of old filmmakers learned this way... and they learned PREFECTLY rigth.

Is just like going back to the old fashion school!!!... is like Miyaggi (karate kit master)
teaching his student been patience whit this catching flys stuff..
(i hope you understand my indy-english)

And.. well... i just CAN´T wait an other day to buy my HVX... pleaseeee... some info
about this reseller with HVX´s in STOCK is really really WELLCOME!!!

Thanks

Fernando

BTW: This LERNING OLD FASHION SCHOOLL AGE is not forever, these 60G P2 cards will be here
maybe next year... so, it is just a few time of learning time... dont waist this time.
 
brianluce said:
I'm not sure how i feel about it. but i'm already thinking i might need therapy when they're released.
Click to expand...
Brian... you caracter are THE MAN!!.. hahaha...
therapy???? lol
you know... i think A LOT of indy film makers would be need therapy affter this HVX huge wave stop... i mean... all that exited guys with its brand new camaras, some of them too much happy (insane happyness), some others really desapointed... (in this huge depress) ... so.. yep... therapy is coming...

(i know is comming there is going to be violence... im taking as much as im willing to take... ROBBIE W.)

Maybe we would set up some in group therapy... some thing like... HVX THERAPY GROUP...

here is my name...

1-Fernando Kurezyn Jr.
2- ???

please join us.. hahaha

www.hvxtherapygroup.org

c-ya

Fer:grin:
 
We shot some shorts using the dvx and I can tell you that there was always a stress for time. We had actors and crew working for free on the weekends and we werent lazing around improvising just because we had the luxury of unlimited recording time. I just dont buy this idea that somehow being liberated from the limitations of film cause people to be less disciplined. The camera setup has never really been the limiting factors. Its other people's time restriction that limits production.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top