Andrew Cuomo Campaign

I recently directed a project for Andrew Cuomo's run for Governor of New York. The video was written by Jonathan Cranin, former Worldwide Creative Director for McCann and produced by Concentric Entertainment (Craig Anderson), DPs myself, Ben Jacks and Chris Bierlein. I worked with a small crew and shot the spot on both the 5d M2 and the Varicam 3700. I will limit my comments on this blog mostly to production matters.

So the shots with people, I shot on the 5d (myself as DP/Sound and few PAs, producer, staff) and Cuomo on the Varicam (full crew gaffer/sound, staff etc...) Surprisingly, I think the 5d not only holds up against the $60,000 + camera, but in image quality/depth of field, it arguably surpasses it. But when it came down to it, it's the "not ready for prime time" shortcomings in audio and output capabilities that caused us to go with the other camera.

Another main reason we shot with the Varicam for the shots of Cuomo was the monitoring aspect. We wanted to be able to have two monitors: one for the clients and one for myself as well as a viewing option for the DP, and that is just not possible on the 5d. There are solutions with an HDMI splitter but they are not reliable.  Another important reason to choose the Varicam was the need for a quick turnaround for audio since we were also recording Cuomo's longer policy address as well. Again a big short coming for the 5d.

But for the outdoor, man on the street shots, the 5d was amazing. And my Tascam Dr-100, combined with Sennheiser wireless mics and my think tank multimedia bag worked like a gem for the MOS shots.

So what's the lesson here? It's important in this HDSLR revolution to know the limits of these cameras. It's not the be all and end all. It's just a tool like anything else and it should be used as such when it is appropriate. I ran into a fellow doc filmmaker in B&H recently and she was asking me whether to buy an HDSLR or an EX3. Listening to her thoughts, I ended up agreeing with her to go for the EX3. It's a much more common camera, and btw, a lot of networks have not approved the 5d for use on TV shows.

On another note, I was truly moved to be a part of this moment. As a documentary filmmaker, I am usually in the business of capturing a moment from a distance or retelling the history of a moment. But in this instance, I was actually helping create it. And that was thrilling. And seeing this particular politician at this juncture in his his career was both fascinating and a privilege.

Another note,  thanks so much to an amazing crew particularly Scott Olnhausen, Tiffany Faigus (extraordinary production manage and producer) and literally the god of locations - Ernie Karpeles. Literally the best location scout I have ever had the privilege to work with.

Sony enters HDSLR Game - but is it enough?

Anyone who has been reading this blog will know that I'm a huge supporter of HDSLR technology and have been shooting on the 5d for over a year now and invested more money than I would like on equipment. In return though, I have made back my investment almost immediately and the camera has allowed me to be involved with some amazing projects I otherwise would not have the opportunity to direct. (I can't reveal at the moment but stay tuned... will blog about the latest developments).

Now having said that, many of my friends and colleagues in the tv and film business have wanted to delve into the technology. But given the ridiculous 5d rig I've built and how completely jerry rigged the whole thing is, I haven't really recommended it. I mean there have been times where I forget to push record on my Tascam or plug it into the camera in run and gun situations and have no sound. A lot of the time I'm shooting I am alone and it's a lot to have to think about.

That's why there new hybrid cameras like Panasonic's AG-AF100 and now Sony's entry with an interchangeable lens HD camcorder are welcome news. This new sony entry takes the technology it's developed for its tiny EXMOR 4/3rds chip from their NEX-3 and NEX-5 and put it in a standard camcorder body.  From what I can see from the video below though, there are no XLR inputs, and also I couldn't find an adapter that would allow one to use Canon, Nikon or PL mount lenses on it.  In addition, like the Panasonic AF100 the camera records in the inferior AVCHD codec.  Not broadcast quality.

Yes it's been over a year and a half and HDSLR revolution has changed my career, but at the same time the love affair is starting to fade.  Are these cameras the answer?  From the specs, I would say no.  The chips are still not full frame, and price point for entry is much higher by about 2 to 3 times. But the silver lining in all this is that Big Companies like Sony are starting to jump on the HDSLR bandwagon and are listening and responding to those of us who have a love hate relationship with these cameras.

Tascam Dr-100 and 5d2

A few months ago, I purchased the beachtek 5d unit. While it worked wonders for the first two months, the unit completely conked out while on a commercial shoot in Miami. This is totally unacceptable and after talking to fellow filmmakers, they had similiar experiences. I decided to go for a dual system sound option.

After testing both the Tascam DR-100 and the Zoom h4n (the go to model for 5d mark II), I decided to go for the Tascam. Here's why. The first difference were the on-board mikes. TASCAM is a pro-level brand and the sound quality was shockingly much better than the H4n.

Secondly, the TASCAM has both a headphone out with dial controls and a line out, which means that you can send a signal to your camera while simultaneously monitoring the Tascam. Because of the headphone dial you can use it like a built in attenuator and if you set the headphone dial to roughly 3, the signal is clean into the camera eliminating the need to sync sound later in post. This is a huge advantage over the H4n which only has one output.

Furthermore, the unit has separate volume controls for the XLR inputs another short coming from the H4N.

The build quality is excellent with most of the controls you need to use easily accessible with switches. The body is all metal. The pre-amps on the XLR inputs are excellent. It has two batteries a rechargeable lithium battery as well as AA batteries. Like the H4n, you can easily mount the unit on your camera with a hot shoe adapter. My tests allowed for about 7 hours recording time with the two batteries.

I bought the unit for $329 at Dale audio but i did notice that the price has gone up since my last purchase. You can still buy the unit for about $310 on Amazon.

CONCLUSION: HIGHLY RECOMMENDED. The TASCAM out preforms the H4N in every category except for one and that is the option of 4 channel recording from the H4N. But since I was so disappointed in the on-board h4n mikes, I concluded i would probably never use it. It is the ideal system for external sound for the 5d.