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On the
Road Again - Roger Macie on Location with Chef Tyler Florence - Part 1
 For
the last seventeen years, I have been “Tied to the bench”, performing
video service on cameras, decks, and camera alignment set-ups. Prior
to “Macie Video Service” I worked in the broadcast industry as a video
technician (shader) and maintenance tech. The function I liked the
best was working with field cameras used on small to large remotes.
Here you get a chance to improve the picture quality and please a lot
of people. Compare that to just fixing a deck.
At Macie Video I perform the same basic function I did prior, but
never actually going out on remotes. I did however sneak out of
the shop for a PBS digibeta shoot a few years ago. All the cameras
were pre-matched in the shop, and I helped out on the engineering end
with the set-up. Prior to September 2006, I was the only one in the
shop that performed camera alignments. Our five other technicians and
I were too busy keeping up with the work load to find the time for
training.
Finally, in September of 2006, I was able to break the cycle, and
found the time to get Paul Celona involved with camera set-up and
matching. This was terrific, because with this I could take a vacation
for more than just one week! Well to say the least, Paul took to
cameras like a duck takes to water!
In December just two days before leaving on a two week Florida
vacation I had an accident and severely fractured my ankle and could
not work for five weeks. Not a problem! Paul took over and life at
Macie Video went on with out loss of a single heart beat.
My time at home, leg up, turned out to be a blessing from God. I
decided to concentrate on a total make-over of www.broadcastvideo.com -
the site I co-own with Barbara Holler of New Pro Video. I took more
than five hundred online lessons with Dreamweaver and other web
development software. I am now currently finishing up my training on
another web-based database program for our Freelance Listing Guide and
Net Police, but that’s another story.
Anyway, in February, I got a call from Jeff Christian of “Reel Shorts”
who was doing an HD shoot for the Food Network with chef Tyler
Florence. He asked if I could help with the engineering set-up and
look of the show. Both cameras were already set-up in our shop. I
said, what the heck, it was just a train ride a way in New York City.
With Paul taking care of camera business back in the shop I felt
comfortable with this new adventure of leaving the shop. It turned out
to be a great experience being back in the field with a terrific HD
production.
The kitchen used for the show was set-up in a small studio in the
city. Two cameras were used - a Panasonic AJ-HDC27 Varicam and an
AJ-HDX900, both of which were already set-up in our shop. What I found
interesting and different from that previous remote I had done, was
that it was shot “Film Style”, a method that was different than what I
was used to. Instead of having a video operator actually shading the
shows as they were shot, the lighting was set-up so that little if any
“iris” control was needed during the taping.
The lighting director - Tony Gotta from LA, was the best I have ever
worked with on any location shoot. Using a key combination of a strong
side light and front lighting, shots from any angle looked great.
While having this dramatic lighting combination, riding a remote iris
was not necessary. That is part of the “Film Style” method used along
with recording in camcorder. Camera cutting was performed later in
editing.
Back in the old days, with many of the remote shoots, we would either
use a remote truck, or build a “control room” complete with monitor
bank, and video switcher, a Director, Technical Director (who switches
cameras), and video technician who shaded cameras during taping.
Shooting film style sure simplifies things. Of course the extra work
load of the project is made up by the Editor who pretty much replaces
the missing switching gear and technical director I mentioned.
On the Road Again -
Roger Macie on Location with Chef Tyler Florence - Part 2
 In
part one of this article series I mentioned about my involvement as an
HD Video Technician or DIT, (Digital Imaging Technician) as it is being
called in the HD production community. I was hired by Jeff Christian
of “Reel Shorts” to help with a Food Network series with Chef Tyler
Florence in New York City. The picture by the way in part one was
Myself with Jeff Christian, not the chef.
The production was shot
“Film Style” with a Panasonic Varicam and an AJ-HDX-900 camcorder.
Camera operational control was done with remote operating panels, or
ROPs back in a video shading area. For reference color chart, a DSC
Lab's Chroma DuMonde was used along with a Leader LV-5750 waveform
vector scope. Video monitoring was done with a Panasonic Professional
series LCD monitor and a broadcast BVM series CRT monitor with a down
converter.
While both cameras were
set-up and matched in our shop using 3,200 k lighting, HMIs were used as
key lights for this kitchen set. HMIs are more in the 5,600 k range,
and with the use of internal 5,600k electronic color correction, the
preset came close to correct white balance. This daylight color
correction is similar to dialing in a 5,600k optical filter wheel
without any loss of sensitivity that would either require increased
noise from boosting gain, or reduction in depth of field, and softening
up the HD image as well.
The chart was set-up and
with the use of the ROP red and blue gain controls, both cameras
matched perfectly on the Leader scope and color monitors. At this
point, with the cameras matched, we began to look at the lighting on the
set. We found that the color tint varied around the set. A quick
check with a color temperature meter showed that the front and side HMIs
differed in color temperature by 300k. Tony Gotta, the LD from LA,
added gel on one of the lights, and with another ROP tweak, they matched
perfectly. The back light was off by about 100k but was left alone for
effect.
At this point, a Tiffen
soft effects filter was added to one camera and a warm soft effects to
the other. With the DSC chart and Leader HD scope, the warm color was
dialed out to reproduce the whites properly.
As with any production,
genlocking and proper time code syncing is very important. In a
previous article “Time Code and Genlocking”
I wrote about the need for this, which is as important in HD as it was
in SD productions. What you should be
aware of is that some HD gears uses Tri-level Sync and some uses NTSC
Black signal. The Varicam uses only the Tri-level sync, while with the
AJ-HDX900 can use either. Hard wiring of Genlock Sync and Time Code is
the simplest way, but plan out the cabling and additional hardware that
may be needed.
For multiple cameras that
can not be cabled, allowing cameras to be jam-synced in Free Run time
of day mode works for a short period of time. Over time the time code
will drift between cameras due to slightly different internal clock
frequencies. With the use of camera mounted TC/Genlock boxes cameras
can roll for long periods of time with very close Time Code. The
Ambient Recording ACL 202CT and the Denecke SB-T time code / sync
generator boxes are two popular units. Each one is battery powered and
mounted on each camera. A short cable is used to jam sync the slaves to
the master and will allow accurate time code for the better part of a
day due to the very accurate internal clocks.
Needless to say, it was
truly a blessing to get back in the field, and be able to assist Jeff
Christian with his transition to HD production. He later mentioned
another upcoming shoot with ESPNs World Poker Tour that will be done in
HD. Sounds interesting.
Roger |
