jlames
Well-known member
I wanted to take a minute and thank everyone from DVXUser.com who worked on-set for “2nd Unit” Saturday and Jarred for stopping by to lend his support. As most know, the show debuts Wednesday, June 21st at www.2nd-Unit.tv but Saturday the crew was at Lite Panels’ factory where their amazing LED technology lit the way for three (3) JVC100HDs. The hour-long opening show on cinematography and lighting spotlighted 6-time Emmy winner George Spiro Dibie and I have to tell you, working with an icon like George who scrutinizes everything with the eye of a cinematic genius was more daunting than I thought it would be. I mean how do you tell George what you think is a good shot when he sees something else? But he was great…and right I might add.
For the first show, Paolo Ciccone drove 5-hours from Santa Cruz to balance the three HD 100s for cameramen and DVInfo members Scott C. Chambers and Jeff Sheldon while another board member Tip McPartland wired the cast. And he stuck around to pilot one himself as they rolled through Lite Panel’s halls and warehouse to the corner set where George was to be interviewed. While the cameras rolled, producers and directors tracked the action through a trio of Panasonic LH1700W 17-Inch Widescreen HD/SDI LCD monitors provided by Abel Cine Tech. Abel also provided the 50" Panasonic Plasma display that George used to illustrate his techniques after an idiot producer (OK it was me) knocked over and broke the new 42” monitor just purchased for the show. In fact, there was such interest in the production that Abel Cine’s own General Manager Ron Ayers had ambled over on a Saturday to watch things unfold and with the crash, it was a good thing he did.
Why take the time to post this? Because it was one of those rare days when everything came together to support a belief that this and other board’s knowledgeable independent filmmakers can combine with today's "prosumer" equipment to produce incredible results. Is our production "Gone With the Wind" or "24"? No. It's a 13-week episodic webcast destined for streaming, download, podcast and DVD distribution that we hope helps the independent filmmaker achieve better results through the insight provided by industry veterans like George Spiro Dibie, Rob Kositchek, Rodney Charters and others. But that doesn't mean it can't be technically and optically perfect and that's exactly what the team achieved.
On an imperfect set being white-walled in background and black-to-dark gray in setting with actors dressed in dark to black wardrobe, the cameras and the crew had every opportunity to fall short… but they didn’t. The JVC’s latitudes, working hand-in-hand with LitePanel’s lighting, achieved results that were nothing short of terrific as blacks held true through a long range of gray-to-black transitions instead of crushing and whites held texture without peaking; all this while writing 4:2:0 to tape and not 4:2:2 out the back. Stopped anywhere from 4 to 5.6 but opening as wide as 1.4, the JVCs had the range to work with the lighting proving that million-dollar results don’t need million-dollar budgets.
Do we hope you tune into the site come Wednesday for the education, humor and insight of our guests? Absolutely. Do we hope you continue to tune in over the course of 13 weeks? Again, absolutely. But we also hope you tune in to see just how good the equipment and the board members who pilot them can be. Remember, 2nd Unit doesn’t get paid by sponsors if we say nice things. Pictures don’t lie and after week one, we think you’ll admit after seeing the show, we picked a pair of winners in both JVC and Lite Panels… and another one completely out of the blue in Abel Cine Tech. I mean, a 50”plasma HD monitor on a Saturday without even asking if we’d like their help gratis after a catastrophe? Now that’s customer service!
For the first show, Paolo Ciccone drove 5-hours from Santa Cruz to balance the three HD 100s for cameramen and DVInfo members Scott C. Chambers and Jeff Sheldon while another board member Tip McPartland wired the cast. And he stuck around to pilot one himself as they rolled through Lite Panel’s halls and warehouse to the corner set where George was to be interviewed. While the cameras rolled, producers and directors tracked the action through a trio of Panasonic LH1700W 17-Inch Widescreen HD/SDI LCD monitors provided by Abel Cine Tech. Abel also provided the 50" Panasonic Plasma display that George used to illustrate his techniques after an idiot producer (OK it was me) knocked over and broke the new 42” monitor just purchased for the show. In fact, there was such interest in the production that Abel Cine’s own General Manager Ron Ayers had ambled over on a Saturday to watch things unfold and with the crash, it was a good thing he did.
Why take the time to post this? Because it was one of those rare days when everything came together to support a belief that this and other board’s knowledgeable independent filmmakers can combine with today's "prosumer" equipment to produce incredible results. Is our production "Gone With the Wind" or "24"? No. It's a 13-week episodic webcast destined for streaming, download, podcast and DVD distribution that we hope helps the independent filmmaker achieve better results through the insight provided by industry veterans like George Spiro Dibie, Rob Kositchek, Rodney Charters and others. But that doesn't mean it can't be technically and optically perfect and that's exactly what the team achieved.
On an imperfect set being white-walled in background and black-to-dark gray in setting with actors dressed in dark to black wardrobe, the cameras and the crew had every opportunity to fall short… but they didn’t. The JVC’s latitudes, working hand-in-hand with LitePanel’s lighting, achieved results that were nothing short of terrific as blacks held true through a long range of gray-to-black transitions instead of crushing and whites held texture without peaking; all this while writing 4:2:0 to tape and not 4:2:2 out the back. Stopped anywhere from 4 to 5.6 but opening as wide as 1.4, the JVCs had the range to work with the lighting proving that million-dollar results don’t need million-dollar budgets.
Do we hope you tune into the site come Wednesday for the education, humor and insight of our guests? Absolutely. Do we hope you continue to tune in over the course of 13 weeks? Again, absolutely. But we also hope you tune in to see just how good the equipment and the board members who pilot them can be. Remember, 2nd Unit doesn’t get paid by sponsors if we say nice things. Pictures don’t lie and after week one, we think you’ll admit after seeing the show, we picked a pair of winners in both JVC and Lite Panels… and another one completely out of the blue in Abel Cine Tech. I mean, a 50”plasma HD monitor on a Saturday without even asking if we’d like their help gratis after a catastrophe? Now that’s customer service!
