NBC's Community - shot with gear that appears in the episode?

[dishan]

I just watched a recent episode of Community entitled "Advanced Documentary Filmmaking", in which the aspberger-y character Abed makes the show into his own documentary project. They have done this more than once, and I remember recognizing some of the camera equipment he is shown using as a relatively expensive (at least, for a college student) prosumer HD camcorder.

I've always wondered, when shows like NBC's community depict characters shooting with HD Pro-sumer cameras, do they bring in props? Or do they have the actors use the same equipment that the production crew already has on set?

I'm sure NBC can afford whatever cameras they want, but with "Its always sunny in Philadelphia" using DVX100s for all those years, the Canon 5D finding its way into all kinds of TV production, and even the cheap-as-heck GH2 being used on BBC's Top Gear, it makes me wonder what kind of camera Community is shot with.

I mean, for Abed's role on the show, he could have easily been depicted with a simple handycam-style device. But it was clearly a larger ENG style camera, one that could have easily been used to create the look that this show has.

Tried Googling for BTS footage of Community or anything related to production equipment- the name is very difficult to search for because "community" is such a common term.

 

[David Jimerson]

Looked to me like he was carrying an EX3.

According to IMDb, the series is shot on:

Arriflex D-21, Cooke S4 and Angenieux Optimo Lenses

 

[M. Gilden]

You know, I was wondering the same thing about this season of The Office. The documentary crew that is supposedly following the characters around ended up on camera for the first time in the show's history. The boom guy, Brian, appears multiple times with his equipment and at least one camera operator for a second. "Brian the boom guy" is played by an actor, but I can't help wondering if he was also actually booming the scene. Do they trust the actors to do the job with the actual production equipment? And when the camera panned over to show "brian" and the other camera operator behind him, was that the actual equipment used for production or was it all props. Can't say for sure.

 

[dishan]

Looked to me like he was carrying an EX3.

According to IMDb, the series is shot on:

Arriflex D-21, Cooke S4 and Angenieux Optimo Lenses

Ah, well there goes that theory! Interesting choice of camera for the character I guess. I loved all the low budget filmmaking gags like the home-made steadicam that caused that guy to topple over, or his explanation of the crane shot (and how he coerced Winger into renting him one). Interesting stuff.