Report from the Field, using HVX-200 on Documentary

Jason Scott

Jason Scott

Active member
Hey there. Thought I'd give back with a quick report of the first weekend of shooting my documentary with the new equipment. A more general form of this posting is also at http://ascii.textfiles.com/archives/000210.html

So here's the rundown, done in that fun bullet style "professionals" like.
  • My HVX200 arrived a week before shooting. Thank you Omega Broadcast!
  • I did not buy any P2 cards, because they were too expensive.
  • Streaming to Laptop seems dumb because I edit in Vegas...
  • ..why pay $1200 for the ability to use a capture utility?
  • (If they made the capture utilities a separate product, I'd have bought.)
  • I ended up renting two 8gb and two 4gb cards.
  • $460 for 5 days made more sense than dropping $4200, right?
  • Bought two 300gb external seagates for the laptop for card dumps
  • I used smelni's suggested film-esque settings.
OK, so that was setting things up. Bear in mind this means I got a whole 3 DAYS before my first shoot with the camera, and I'm the veteran of 200 interviews over the 4 years of the previous documentary. My previous camera was the Canon XL-1 (not even the S) so there was a lot to pull in after such a short time.

OK, so here's what my opinion in production is:
  • If I could afford it, I could live with P2 cards for shooting, even the 8gb ones. That is, if they were ~$200-$300 apiece, I'd buy a few and deal.
  • I got screwed a couple times with video and sound, because when I put the camera back into its case, it would knock against the switches. I would wonder why stuff was wrong the next time, and this is because on the XL-1 it's harder to knock the switches. That's a cultural issue, my fault, I'll not make that mistake again.
  • Images? Friggin' LOVE THEM. Totally the right choice.
  • When the sound wasn't messed by the aforementioned switch issue (I wouldn't double-check everything, just because there was so much I was learning on the job and getting down), it was spectacular as well. No complaints.
  • Camera feels good, I keep it on a tripod of course, so it's pretty easy to work with that way.
  • I call the LCD screen the "sweet little TV of lies". It has about as much to do with the final image in 720p as an oil painting does with a polaroid. I can live with this, but it means I'm living off the focus assist a lot.
All this said, since the P2 cards are not a serious option right now (I'd have to double the investment to have the right amount of stuff for bigger interviews), I'm waiting for the hard drives to come out and will get one, then keep shooting.

So, just to avoid any hen-pecking from the usual suspects on the board:
  • I shot with so little time to learn the camera because a "critical" subject was leaving the country permanently, and wasn't expecting to return even for visits anytime soon. So I had to move WAY quick.
  • I didn't double-check every single last thing because I was so wrapped up trying not to make other blunders, again because of the short learning period. I now have a laminated checklist I run down before a shot (I wrote it out after experiencing the mistakes I had) and won't have those issues again.
  • I actually don't mind the P2 cards; I have good knowledge of the "flow" of interviews and can keep interviewees in 20-40 minute segments. But they're just too expensive.
I'll answer any questions if people have them.
 
Good report. Are you shooting SD or HD (which kind)? What type of lighting do you do for your interviews? Are they sit down or walking around on location? Do you shoot b-roll (handheld or tripod)?

I'm just trying to imagine what kind of documentary this is (run and gun like Capturing the Friedmans or more traditional, like The Fog of War)? I love docs. and like that you are using this camera for the project. Some argue that P2 would not work for this type of shooting. I'm happy to know that you are doing it and that you like the camera.

Thanks!

Also, do you have a website where we can read more?
 
Lots of questions.

Shooting HD, specifically 720/24pn. Why own this camera, otherwise? :)
I use a set of Omni and Tota lights, which I prefer from my film days.
They are pretty much always sitting down, or will be.
In my previous documentary, I think maybe 3 people out of 200 stood up.
I don't know if Fog of War is "traditional", but it's more like that.
I just put in pre-order money for an external hard drive for the camera.
Likely I might get a 4gb P2 to have for "quick shots" in the future.

Current documentary: http://www.getlamp.com
Photos of shoots: http://www.getlamp.com/photos/interviews.html

Previous documentary: http://www.bbsdocumentary.com
 
No, those are a Canon EOS Digital Rebel (300D, if I recall without the thing in front of me). Taken with a flash, in between sets of questions. I appreciate the compliment either way, but only the two shots at the bottom of each page are screenshots. Click on them to see the full-size.
 
Thanks Jason,

Any chance you could send us your checklist? It's alway nice to see how other people do things, that way I keep on learning.

Cheers
 
This is a text transcription of my checklist. I figured that made more sense than some hyper-laid-out thing that you'd have to print out to see.

I've also expanded the description so you see what I'm talking about; the actual list is a little more compact so I can refer to it in the shooting location. Also bear in mind this isn't tested through a ton of shoots yet, it just stops the "stupid".

CAMERA SETTINGS (GENERAL)
Useful should the scene/settings go away

Camera Setup
OPERATION TYPE VIDEO CAM
FRAME RATE DEFAULT
SYNCHRO SCAN 1/48.0
DETAIL LEVEL +2
V DETAIL LEVEL 0
DETAIL CORING +3
CHROMA +2
CHROMA PHASE 0
COLOR TEMP 0
MASTER PED -3
A IRIS LEVEL 0
NEWS GAMMA OFF
GAMMA CINELIKE D
KNEE AUTO
MATRIX CINE-LIKE
SKIN TONE DTL OFF
V DETAIL FREQ

Recording Setup
REC FORMAT 720P/24PN


AT THE SHOOT SANITY CHECK

SWITCHES TO CHECK, LEFT TO RIGHT ALONG SIDE
  • FOCUS: M
  • ND FILTER: OFF
  • GAIN: L
  • WHITE BALANCE: B
  • AUTO-MANUAL: MANUAL
STUFF BEHIND LCD SCREEN YOU FORGET ABOUT
  • CH1 SELECT: INPUT 1
  • CH2 SELECT: INPUT 2
  • INPUT 1: ON
  • INPUT 2: ON
  • OIS: MAKE SURE IT'S OFF
BACK OF CAMERA
  • Check CH1 and CH2 AUDIO Levels
  • SCENE FILE: F1
  • CAMERA: P2/MCR (LEFT)
SOUND EQUIPMENT
  • BOOM MIC POWER ON
  • WIRELESS LAV MIC ON
FINAL
  • WHITE BALANCE (FRONT OF CAMERA)
Of course, bear in mind that further work with the camera may change some of this, likely towards tweaked settings and the rest. But this is what I will now check in the minutes before an interview. And again, a disclaimer, 99 percent of what I shoot are interviews. The rest are composed elsewhere, and "second unit work" involves other trickery. (Of course, I'm my own second unit.)
 
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